I'm so excited!!

I'm so excited! For Christmas my hubby wrapped and gave me this kitchen wall cabinet. No, I don't need new kitchen cabinets! This is one of 5 matching cabinets that we will build a base, set the 5 on top of the base and secure them, and add a counter top! and I will have a dedicated cutting table!!


Isn't the front of the door beautiful!! It is unfinished, and we went and bought stain to finish them. And the insides are finished already. and have a shelf. These are 24 inches wide, so there will be two cabinets on each side, back to back. and one sideways on the end. We did not get base cabinets - I would have had to special order one because I wanted doors on both sides. (I hate deep base cabinets!)



I'm so excited about having a cutting table, and all the additional storage space below it. One side will have supplies for sewing/quilting, and the other side will have craft items and cub scout supplies. The end will hold magazines! (At least that is the current plan)

I love living in a small town!

Just a quick post to share some things with you. First, just another reason I like living in a small town. Where else would Santa make an appearance on Christmas Day, and hand out Candy Canes to everyone??? They announced them selves with their siren. It was such fun!

Then I want to share a garland I started making out of fabric Yo-Yos. I saw a picture in the "Holiday 2010-2011 issue of Quilting Arts Magazine" I started it just a couple of weeks before Christmas, and had very little "spare" time so I couldn't get very far. It's 35 inches long now, and I plan to make it longer for next year. I'm keeping it just red and white.

That's it for now. I started this post a few days ago, and got distracted. Thank goodness it auto-saved. So what do you think of my garland?

New Years 2010-2011.

I'm sitting here, thinking about what I've accomplished this last year, and what I want to do this next year. I had really wanted to do more sewing, but it seems that once again, I've spread myself really thin. (I'm doing web sites for 3 different organizations besides my husbands business, and also on the board for one of these groups. Add the charity quilt group at church, the Cub Scout Den, and ESA, and it seems I'm always doing "stuff")

My sewing space has not been working for me either, even tho it should be big enough to do what I want. The beginning of December I sat down with graph paper, drew the room, and cut out the furniture I have. Then I shoved it all around, trying to make it work. The result? I'm swapping sides between the guest room half and the sewing room half. I started moving furniture around, got sick with the sinus virus stuff going around and had NO energy for two weeks. Then it was "do or die" to get ready for Christmas. So much for thinking I would have sewn items for gifts. So the few items I've got in process will wait for next year, or some other occasion.

I've been using the kitchen counter for a cutting table. In working with my graph paper, I realized I wanted a cutting table in the sewing room (should help the look of the kitchen - hee hee). My hubby gave me kitchen cabinets that we will work to put together into a cutting table. They are utility cabinets, unfinished, so I have a project! My hubby will build a base, and we will put a top on top. I'm pretty excited as it will provide storage under the entire top. It will be about 2 foot wide, and 5 foot long. The counter will hang over the edges. I'm hoping to store supplies for all my sewing and crafting on one side, and Cub Scout "stuff" on the other side, with space for quilt books and magazines at the end.

So what have I accomplished this last year? Several small quilt projects are ready for quilting. I used my 'stash' for most of the projects I did. I've done all the block of the month blocks, and have the first boarder on the quilt that finished up in August. I also had my first vegetable garden, and learned a lot. We started composting, and added a rain barrel (and learned we really need more or bigger barrels!) And basically we just lived life.

What do I plan for next year? No I'm not calling them resolutions. Resolutions seem to me to be promises that always get broken. So I make plans. Yes, some plans get accomplished, and some do not. So, what are my plans? First, I received a very cute calendar from sister in law. I plan to organize my year on that calendar. Mostly What I want to do for Christmas, and schedule the stuff out, to make it less stressful next year. No this year was not bad, but after the sinus I just decided what got done, got done; and I ignored all the other things I wanted to do. If I put all those things on the calendar, I hope to realize dates that I need to finish tasks, and so that they all don't happen in the last few weeks. I want to get my sewing room organized, cutting table created and get projects finished. I want to continue to use my stash for my projects. I want to do a better job of thanking people for all they do for me. I want to go through the boxes we have stored. I'd like to set a goal of going through 2 boxes a month. I want to do my vegetable garden again next summer, and harvest more food. I want to get the patio enclosed, and make more progress on the landscaping. I need to do some deep cleaning on the house, and probably some painting. Plus keep all my groups going, and keeping up to date on what I need to do for them. And I want to blog on a regular basis this year.

Hmm, well, that is a good start for a list. It is now just minutes before midnight, so I need to get this saved. Have a great New Year everyone!

Odds and Ends...

My china hutch has finally been dusted/polished. No, not the quick, outside type cleaning, but the inside. Everything came out, mirrored back and glass shelved cleaned with glass cleaner, wood with wood cleaner, all items dusted/polished/cleaned as needed and put back inside. Door glass cleaned inside and out. It has needed this for a long time, and is now very sparkly! At least I've done one productive thing today. And this chore should not need to be done for hopefully another year!!

Last night, my hubby and I attended a very nice wedding. The bride was beautiful, and the groom was dashing. Both were warm and cordial to all the guests. We had a great time, and wish them both a wonderful marriage!

Molly update: She still does not like to be touched. Well let me rephrase that... She begs to be loved, "but don't touch me". It is taking us 15 minutes to catch her to go somewhere, and I think that is setting her back a little. We now are leaving her leash on, as it makes it a little easier to catch her. But we will take it off tonight, so she does not get into trouble while we are sleeping! We are watching her pretty closely with the leash on her. She is such a smart dog, but then she would have had to be to survive 5 weeks in the cold. She seems to like to collect things - bubble wrap, the bare floor brush for the vacuum, dad's shoes and socks, Jenny's food bowl as well as her own food bowl, plastic bags... well you get the idea. OH, the best thing, (and the one she did not want to let go of) was she managed to get a meat can out of the recycle bin. Oh, that was a prize. We played tease mom with it for about 5 minutes. Today I took her on a walk, and maybe she will get another walk before the evening. -- Jeff, she rivals KD, maybe even more so!!

Oh, and funny! We can't get our fence installed until June. So we have a temporary fence up so Molly could have a little freedom outside. Today, I was on the other side of the temp fence, doing things in the yard, and Molly was in the fenced area. I went around the house and in the other door. Looking through the window, I could see the fence was really sagging next to the house. Sure enough, I went outside, and Molly was looking at me from the outside of the fence. D***. I quickly went back through the house to head out the other door, but something made me turn around and look back. Molly was now inside the door, give me a "now where are you going" look. Just too funny. And very good to know that she didn't take off. I think she likes it here, she just doesn't feel totally safe with us yet. Yes, we secured the fence back up. Hopefully it will hold her until the real fence is in.

Molly

Just want to share a couple of pictures of Molly. She is making great strides in being a puppy. He is a pic of Molly and Jenny. The two of them were being silly as I came into the house from church. There were moving around so fast that I only got this one good picture of the two of them. Note that Molly's tail is UP! Finally! Every so often she forgets that she is scared of everything thing, and acts like a puppy. They I reach out to pet her, and she shy's away.


Tonight, Molly managed to crawl under the lower rungs of the chair. She really does feel safer when she is under stuff. It was funny tho that her behind was sticking out the other side. Hubby went over and pet her - once in a while we can get a chance to love her.

Oh, and puppy stuff... she picked up the kleenix box and I caught her carrying it across the room. Later I heard a "funny" noise... she had hubby's shoe and was just starting to chew on it. No damage, and it was his old shoes for painting, etc. And a pair of socks were in the same area. And just a little while ago, I caught her trying to pick up the paper scissors off the coffee table. (Not my sewing scissors!) Why these were interesting, I don't know. She is so gentle when she picks things up. I can just look at her and say "NO Molly" in a firm voice, and she stops what she is doing. She always acts so surprised that I catch her. She is really smart, and is learning to "talk" from Jenny.

Introducing Molly!

I'd like to introduce Molly to you. But first you need to know a little about Molly's story. She is currently about 7 months old. When Molly was about 4 month old, she had been abandoned. We know this because she was sighted in various places around town. But no one could catch her. This was in early March. There was still quilt a bit of snow on the ground, and it was below freezing every night and probably in the 40's during the days.

Still Molly survived. People caught sight of her as she ate road kill beside the highways. She is very scared of everything. For the last 5 weeks, she has been living with Lori, a foster parent. Lori tells us for the first two weeks, Molly would stay inside her kennel. Molly had been given toys, and at night Molly would sneak out and gather her toys and put them in her kennel, so that became a game to get Molly to come out. Then they took the top off the kennel so she couldn't hide all the time.

Several people came to see Molly. But no one wanted the puppy who would not come play, and who would run away from them. We saw her picture around town, and thought about her. Then decided we would like to see her. She wouldn't come to see us either. But after an hour, we finally picked her up and held her.

But we have Jenny. Jenny is now 14 years old, and we got her when she was a year old for our son Chris. Jenny has her own issues, the biggest is separation anxiety. We brought Jenny in to see Molly. We were told that Molly growls at the neighbor dog, and Lori was not sure what Molly would do. Jenny sniffed at Molly a little, but was more interested in the house (we were in the kitchen!) Molly seemed to be fine with Jenny, and Jenny was good with Molly. ( I guess because neither one was jumping on the other). So we decided to bring Molly home. So here is Molly:

Yes, this is one of Molly's favorite spots, under the kitchen table, between the chairs. She seems to feel safe there. She will now sometimes let us pet her, but is still very afraid. She does not like outside very well, but does better when it is dark. Last night Steve held her and pet her, trying to make her feel safe. As she sat there, I noticed she was watching the TV. As the weatherman reached his hand out to point to areas on the weather map, Molly would shy away. She really was confused when people walked out the side of the TV and disappeared! She finally gave up on the TV, and went to sleep in Steve's lap.

She had another trauma today as she NEEDED a bath. She now smells good, and got a greenie tooth cleaning bone as a reward for being so good in the tub. (Mom only got half soaked.) She seems to watch Jenny and take cues from her as to what is good and what is not. So far the two dogs have been fine together.

I'll keep you updated on Molly's progress as we go along.


So here is the finished Horse Quilt. The top three water lines were done with a white glittery thread. I also used that thread to outline the horse. The bottom two water lines (one is in the darker blue water) is a verigated blue that is a little glittery. I was very pleased with how this turned out, and so was my secret sister! We had our gift sharing at a resturant, and the tables on either side of us wanted to see the quilt also. I'm glad it turned out so well.

And a final picture of my String X flimsy for my charity quilt group. It is 6 blocks by 6 blocks. For you non-quilters, a flimsy is the quilt top, before it is layered. This is now at church, waiting to be layered next week.

Bits of Progress

I need to make the blocks and sew on one more row to the bottom of this quilt. Then I'm going to call it ready for batting and backing! The reason the last row is not done, is that I will take it to my neighborhood quilt group tomorrow morning (Monday). I want to show them how I add the yellow corners on each block, then how I trim the blocks. One of the other ladies was just given THREE kitchen trash bags FULL of scraps. So we think this will be an appropriate quilt to demo tomorrow. I have enjoyed making this quilt, and think it is really pretty. Just don't look at my seams! They don't always meet correctly, and I really didn't care as I sewed it together.


Then I also made a little progress on my horse quilt. I have permanently set all the fusible, and added the border "frame". next, I will pillowcase it, and then quilt it. I'm going to first try sewing a small sleeve to the back before putting the front and back together. I'll keep the sleeve in the border, as I don't plan to quilt in that area. I'm pretty happy with this too.

But I need to get to bed, so I can think tomorrow at the neighborhood quilt group. Have a great day tomorrow!!