A lot to be thankful for!

Another year ends, with the promise of a new and even better one starting tomorrow. I am a lucky woman and each day I try to remember all that I have been given and all that I should give in return.

Some things I am happy for this year!

1. My family

2. My job

3. All of the many friends I have made this year and those that have been with me through both good times and bad for many, many, many years!! :)

4. Great books

5. Fabric (oh yeah...more of that to come this year I am sure!)

6. My chickens, dogs and cats

7. My house (even with all of that work!)

8. Each day that I wake up!

Hope your New Year's Eve is as eventful or not as you want it to be!

Also, a big Happy Birthday to my momma!! She is in the land of heat and sun! Florida.

HERE IT IS!! Not quilted yet though!

I got the entire quilt top ready for quilting today. I am especially crazy about reproduction fabrics and I used only those I already had on hand! Plus, all of the off-white fabric used came from curtains that were never going to be used again.

My promise to myself during these hard economic times (someone's lying if they keep telling us about all the economic good news--no one I know is in a better place financially this year!) is that I will use up what I have for my sewing and quilting unless I need a bigger piece for the project. In fact, I am purposely looking at scrappy quilts only so that I can use what I have.

Another gray day today with a hint of snow in the air. Stew is in the crock pot and the woodstove is about to be put into use again for the rest of the day and night. Time for tea!

So good to be home!

I have been sleeping so well while on vacation! Even though I love my job and enjoy going in every day, it is still stressful coming up with all of those lesson plans, calling parents, grading papers (holy mackeral--who knew how much time that would devour??) and doing the discipline needed daily. So, during the week I have no trouble falling asleep, but I wake up a lot during the night and cannot get right back to sleep. This is nice! Sleeping later, sleeping soundly and being relaxed.

Today I am planning to finish my blocks for the quilt I started a few days ago. Maybe I will be done before I go back to work next week. I got the house clean already, right down to washing floors and everything, so now I can do whatever I want.

It's dreary and damp today, but I still got to sit outside and have my tea with the chickens. I am reading those GOOD OLD DAYS books and THE AMISH COOK during the day. At night, I read the new Jan Karon book while I lay in the bathtub for a while.

Great day for sewing and outdoor chores!

The weather was sunny and warm today so I got outside to clean my henhouse. I am not used to having this many hens now because for a few years I only had 4 chickens. Now I am back to almost 20 and I had totally forgotten about the stink factor! Whew!! Even though they wander around the yard half of the day, they still do a lot of DOO in the pen and in their house. So tomorrow I will work on the inside and put new straw and shavings down and additional lime to keep the girls fresh and clean. After turning over the dirt/sand in the pen, I was so warm that I was able to sit outside and read in the backyard. It almost seems like spring is coming instead of tons of cold yet.

Today I put the crockpot on to make split pea soup for the first time ever. I would never eat it as a kid and last year I had some out of desperation at a friend's farm and fell in love. My son loves it too, so I put it on and tomorrow we will have it. Tonight I made turkey soup for dinner and the rolls are cooking now.

Here is what the quilt I am making will look like when it's done.

The blocks are made and then cut to look like this. So far it is going nicely. Can anything be better than working with colors and fabric in the dead of winter? Tonight I will sit by the woodstove and cut the circles again to iron the rest on tomorrow. Then I can put it all together.

Got some new books in the mail today too. Even though I was born in the 60s, I love the 30s, 40s and 50s. I listen to the music and read books about those days. Our local radio station is a lot like those old fashioned ones that I see on TV. I listen most mornings.

Dreary day with a payoff!

Well, today I was a dark, rainy day that was not fit for much other than reading, cooking and sewing. My husband and I went out for a quick breakfast and then ran some errands. I stopped at the quilt shop and got a few things (only $25.00 spent!!) that I needed for a new quilt I am determined to make this vacation. I got the blocks all ready to be put together, so I am happy.

Since I am broke right now and am planning to pay off a few bills this year, I promised myself that I would not really buy any fabric, but that I would make quilts that could use up my stash. Not exactly a hardship since I have an attic full of fabric that is gorgeous and varied. I could quilt myself through a very long economic depression if I had to. Tomorrow I have to put a few pictures of the project I am doing on this blog so I can measure my progress day by day.

My kids got me some fabbo old movies for Christmas. My friend and I watched the 1949 version of "A Letter to Three Wives" last night. What a great story!! Today while I was ironing my quilt pieces, I watched "All About Eve" and that was excellent as well. I had not seen either in many years. What a great way to spend some time. The women sure were gorgeous during that time with that great hair and those clothes!! AND!!! they are all normal sized! People thought they were beautiful and sexy, and that still holds true for today, in my opinion. Who in the world ever thought that forcing yourself to be a size zero was gorgeous?

Anyway, I do not want to get crazed on that topic:) Being inside all day paid off in quilt blocks and classic movie watching. It doesn't get better than that.

Thinking about a new quilt!! I did not make these, though!

Today my best friend in the world is coming over for our post-Christmas shopping adventure. Ok, so what if I do not have any money left (and I really don't). I go along with her to get all the huge sales at the holiday shops...she buys and I ooh and ahh. I will be taking her out to a great little Mexican restaurant called Funchos, which is my only real spending today. Total cost: about 20 bucks. Time with a friend who is unconditionally true to you: Priceless!


My husband got me a huge pile of quilting magazines for my stocking and now I am in the process of picking out a new quilt to make over the vacation. I have been dying to make an entire quilt using the churn-dash block. There is another one that I love in the magazine. I'll see if I can scan a picture in to look at later.

The quilt on the top is a variation of the churn dash and the one on the bottom is traditional. I have to decide which one I like better. (I got these pictures online.)

Oh!! Last night my husband and I watched THE KINGDOM!! What a great, intense film about Saudi Arabia. Very interesting and suspenseful. Makes me even more proud and fortunate to live here in America, even with its faults.

Christmas 2007!!

Well, this blog has been created and unused for about one year now! I start something and then I can't figure out how to use it, so it just sits there. Well, I am on the verge of being smart with this thing after reading so many fabulous blogs out there and figured I would try it one more time.

I will try to post pictures tomorrow of some of the things that have kept me busy all year. I teach 7th and 8th graders English and when I am not doing that, I am reading, sewing, cooking or just hanging around with friends and family. We truly try to keep it simple here. Hope to learn much this year and to make more friends!