2nd UFO done for the year!!

I am on a roll!

But I'm ashamed to say that I actually wore this jacket once without it being finished! The whole class was supposed to wear our jackets to guild last June. My sleeves weren't 'bound' or hemmed or whatever you want to call it!! But I figured no one could tell with a raw edge jacket!! And they couldn't! ... til I told them!! Why do we do that????

My DH doesn't like this jacket. And I purposefully made it all one color - but it's still too 'quilty' for the likes of him. I picked dark blues because 1) I have a truckload of blues, 2)it's my favorite color and 3) I have a jeans kind-of lifestyle! I just heard all my friends say "Duh!" LOL! Definitely describes my lifestyle, especially now that we are retired and live on the 'casual' coast!

We cut 2x4 inch pieces of our fabrics - tons of them! We slit up the side seams following that seam all the way out to our cuffs. The sweatshirt was prewashed and the right size! We started tiling the fabrics up from the bottom edge. You overlap the fabric 1/4 inch so that the edges stay together and don't show the sweatshirt. We didn't cut the front - but did draw a line that showed us where we would cut when we were done piecing. A whole lot of "Glue-Baste It" was used!! Along with spools of thread, small zigzag stitch and parallel lines of quilting a quarter inch away from each other.

There were a few of us in class making 1 color jackets. But there were some wonderful jackets using Bali-pops too!

Anyway, I finally bound the sleeves and covered the inside jacket seams and threw it in the wash. That helped lose some of the loose threads that are all over this jacket. Unfortunately it also split some of the too scant overlaps! DARN! So I "patched" over the bad seams with more of the same fabrics - and I'm not telling you where!!

That patching took longer than I thought - next time I think I'll wash it on "gentle"!!

I'm not planning on ever making this jacket again - but if I did, I would sew the pieces together like patchwork and then 'quilt' it onto the sweatshirt. Those loose threads drive me nuts!!! [is that just my Type A personality showing???] After dealing with this project, on a hunch, I'm never going to make a rag quilt!!

I'm joining some Newport friends at the Stitches in Bloom Quilt show in Silverton after babysitting for my daughter Monday. And I think I'll wear my jacket with no guilt because it's DONE-DONE!!! Hooray!!

First UFO done for the year!!! Hip hip hoorah!!

I was named Queen of the UFOs this morning and my reign is OVER!! My first UFO finish of the year ... the first of many, I hope. Here is '8 tiny reindeer'! My first ever table runner.

The pattern is from "The Night Before Christmas" by Art to Heart. I love this book. Not only are there other cool projects that I'd like to make ... there is an AWESOME embroidery alphabet to use on stockings. I make alot of stockings and it's HARD to fit long names on that six inch stretch!

This project, traced in 2009, resided in a World Atlas for over a year. I cut the
wonder-under and didn't want it to curl ... and forgot about it over our move!

I love the embroidery - don't you just love that casual alphabet?? And then there was all the finish work. 8 embroidered sets of antlers, 8 red noses, 8 harness buttons, 16 tiny reindeer eyes, 6 doorknobs and some button holly! Add blush to Santa's cheeks ... more work than a baby quilt!!

The pattern called for 1 blue for the sky. Well, I tend to buy a third of a yard and didn't have an acceptable blue big enough - it's ridiculous for me to buy any more blues [among other colors!] so I used 3 of my favorites! And I love it!

Why do I feel this is bigger than it is?? 26" x 37" - entirely from stash including the back - so I'll say 1.5 yards! Not too much, but a start for the 100 yard dash in 2011!

It's machine pieced, machine appliqued, there's both machine and hand quilting! And all that hand embellishment! Fun project!

My DH even commented on it - asking why 8 schnauzers were pulling the sleigh! I said - 'they're reindeer, silly'. and he said, 'they have too much tummy - they'll never get off the ground!'

On Pepper, on Lassie, on Tonka and Rocky. Go Trei, BJ, Scout and Buffy!! LOL!




This year for Christmas DH got me flowers from a local florist each month! What a sweetie. We got our first bouquet this week. Those lilies are 8" across! It's been fun and we used the vase we bought in Newport on our way home from Christmas.

He's a keeper!

Family Questionaires!!

My DD started this on her blog - Ladybird and Fellow. And although we're not nearly as cute as the grandkids - here are our answers:

DH
Favorite color: purple
Favorite sport & team: Baseball - Boston Red Socks
Favorite animal: Penguin
Favorite food: Mussels
Favorite "date" place: One if by Land Two if by Sea in NYC
Favorite books: Revolutionary War History
Favorite movies: The Graduate, The Godfather
Favorite t.v. shows: Weeds, M*A*S*H, any football game!
Favorite things about your children: Their optimism
Favorite things about your spouse: her joyful outlook on life
Place you most want to travel to: New Zealand
Craziest thing you've ever done: Hill jumping on the backroads of Nebraska

Me
Favorite color: blue
Favorite sport & team: I love watching the Olympics. Nebraska Huskers
Favorite animal: Whales
Favorite food: Ice cream! Alright, someone had to say it!!
Favorite "date" place: We used to sneak out without the kids and go to Great Adventure Amusement park!
Favorite books: "adult Nancy Drew"-ish books! Mysteries with a feisty female - authors like Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich and John Sandford
Favorite movies: SF - romantic comedies: Independence Day; Deep Impact; It's Complicated, Mama Mia
Favorite t.v. shows: NCIS, Biggest Loser, Parenthood, West Wing
Favorite things about your children: I love how I can see how they evolved into such great adults! And the relief that they still like us! -or pretend to!!
Favorite things about your spouse: His sense of humor and general sexiness!!
Place you most want to travel to: Italy - all those Mary Stewart books read in HS!
Craziest thing you've ever done: Drove 60 miles at night with my nephew to T-P my fiance's house!! It was fun and DH did marry me in spite of it!!

Your turn - send me an email if you don't have a blog!!

Now this is a great new year!

We've had six days of wonderful, sunny weather. Okay - it's not summer, so the temps have been 40-50 and it IS cold in the shade ... but sun, beautiful sun! It makes you feel that anything is possible!!

I'm late with my Year End Review!! But I'm retired now and no one really cares - including me!! LOL!

I only read 49 books this year - that's a low count for me. Of course, we moved and my son got married last summer, so I have my excuses. There were several books this year that were really good - and I highly recommend them.

The Justice Game by Randy Singer
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Gone Tomorrow by Lee Childs - Read the whole "Jack Reacher" series
The Last Child by John Hart

I've already started reading a favorite of 2011 - it's cutting into my quilting time! I'll let you know if it stays good!

I finished 19-ish projects this year! Some were numbered groups like '8 totebags for the wedding party'. Six projects were UFOs including the king-size log cabin wedding quilt. I have high hopes for finishing many more UFOs this year!

And I lost weight rather than gaining! Hip, hip hooray! I'm superstitious about mentioning numbers - but hoping to continue the downward trend this year!

Hmmm, that book is calling me again. If I can tear myself away from it - I need to frame the table runner. I'm #3 Lady in waiting in the Stashbusters UFO Challenge - I should be more motivated to work on it ... oh well!!

Happy new year, everyone!