Ode to January

I love a snowy January.   There ... I said it.  I know most people are droning on about how they hate the snow and can't wait until summer's loooong days, but not me.  I miss my peaceful, long evenings of sewing, baking, puttering and rearranging.  When the boys were younger we'd fit puzzles and board games in there too.  I love to read the January magazines full of new hope and clean, organized houses.

January such a nice relaxing, no pressure month after the craziness of the holidays.   You can stay in your house all weekend and not be embarrassed at work on Monday morning when people ask what you did over the past two days.

So far this weekend I made chili and bread, starting cutting up some fabric and making crazy nine patch blocks, experimented with handquilting on the pinwheel quilt I threw together last weekend, cleaned out my junk drawers and watched the first season of St. Elsewhere on netflix.  My house feels super warm and cozy with the windows covered with a lacy frost.  How could anyone even be dreaming of hot, sticky days and blazing sunlight until 10 p.m.??   I save that for the muddy days of March.

Back in the groove

That binding looks good enough to eat

I’ve got my sewing room back until Easter dinner (when it’s turned back into a dining room) so I’m slowly easing back into the sewing groove. I had bought a layer cake and a jelly roll last summer for a project and ended up using very little of each so I’ve been staring at those for months. Guilty feelings over the money spent makes me hesitate to buy new fabric.  Then after the holidays I saw an awesome way to make pinwheels on one of my reader blogs (apologies but I can’t find you again) … it is TRULY amazing … and I just threw those squares together and made a pinwheel quilt top this week. It’s going to be an easy, yet adorable, baby quilt and the best part is I didn’t buy one scrap of fabric or batting.  Guilty feelings abated .....

I have some interesting new projects ahead in January. The ORB flickr group I began quilting with is starting their ninth round very soon and we are making a ticker tape quilt.  I haven't done a quilt a long in a while and I miss the comradeship of sewing with a group.  I'm also going to teach my friend Mary how to quilt and we are starting this very weekend. I'm using her as my test student and seeing how I do with teaching quilting to someone with no sewing experience. I've already gotten two women I work with into quilting so pretty soon I'll be able to start my own guild of quilters. Wouldn’t that be fun! 

Well, hopefully the video that amazed me is here ... and if you are the person that originally posted it … THANK YOU!

Fresh New Calendar

I love this lull after the holidays before the beginning of the new year.  I slowly putter around the house and clear up the chaos putting the house back to rights.  I feel like I have a license to throw out stuff I would otherwise hold back on. Half bottles of condiments in the refrigerator ... gone!  Magazines and catalogs .... gone!  Boxes in the basement to things I bought over the year  ... gone!   The odd pair of shoes in the laundry room that don't belong to anyone that lives here .... gone!  Clean out the file cabinets and junk drawers too while we're at it and throw out all the mystery keys and tangled shoelaces. 

I keep a big calendar in my kitchen that holds all the important events and appointments for the family.  On a quiet evening I take down my old, worn out calendar and transfer all the birthdays and anniversaries over to my shiny new model.  Reading through all the scribblings on the pages of each month reminds me of what we were all doing throughout the past twelve months.  Years ago it was pediatricians and orthdontists and birthday parties for friends.  Lots school plays, open houses and band concerts and soccer games.  Then it was driver ed courses and road tests and regents exams.  Soon it was college visits and proms and senior teas.  Now it's pretty much just my hair appointments and the heart worm reminder for the assistant.   I feel a little sad when I go through the past year now and see all the blank spaces staring at me.  How did the boys grow up so fast? 

Well, here we are embarking on a shiny new year with a shiny new calendar and I'm getting a little morose.  This year will have lots of new adventures in it and lot of new quilts and sewing projects.  I'm teaching my friend Mary to make a quilt soon and the ORB quilt group is starting it's NINTH round next week.  I'm getting my dining room turned back into a sewing room this weekend as I put away the tree and I'll be all set to start sewing again in 2011. 



Thanks for all the concern for the assistant.  The vet checked her leg out pretty thoroughly and he didn't feel any evidence of tears or breaks.  Whew!! It seems it's an inflamed knee, probably from slipping on the ice.  She got some cortisone shots and is on some meds and was told to rest.  She is taking her resting orders very seriously and has been faithfully snoozing away almost all day lately.  She is already walking better so if all goes well she will soon be back to one hundred percent.

Sick little girl

The assistant is down

I wouldn't share this with too many people but I know I have a lot of animal lovers among my bloggy friends. My poor assistant hurt her leg last week. We're not sure what happened but last Sunday she was limping pretty badly. Being a large dog and prone to strains I didn't think too much of it at first .... especially when she seemed to be getting better on Tuesday. But soon she was not putting any weight on her back leg again. She has been very lethargic all weekend and today we made an appointment for her at the vet for tomorrow afternoon.

When someone just can't communicate how they feel I'm left feeling so helpless. I hope she understands that we are taking care of her and will not let her be in pain much longer.

Wrapping up a year

Well I never got to make anything with the Merry Modern fabric.  One of the problems of having your sewing room in your dining room is that you just have to give it up at a certain point and put all your tools and mats and piles away.  It's kind of nice to have that cut-off though because the pressure is off ..... you really don't have the option of trying to whip up a last minute gift.  You can just close off that part of  your life and concentrate on other areas. Before I put everything away I did make some new pillows for my couch with the leftover fabric from my Sampler quilt and I about twenty felt mittens for small gifts.

It seems every year I don't have enough time to do everything I have in my mind so next year I am planning on doing some sewing in July with my tons of Christmas fabric and maybe even designing some original cards with my photos from this year.  I'm thinking the assistant with some reindeer antlers under our tree.  Hee Hee.  I think of that every single year but not usually until the middle of December when I'm receiving cool original cards.  Of course this grand idea will be 100% dependent on the humidity level so I can't say for sure how much I'll actually be doing.

Another benefit of not having access to my sewing is that is that I'm getting antsy to start a new project or two.  My notebook is getting full of ideas and I'm constantly surfing fabric sites.  I just won a signed copy of Malka Dubrawsky's book Fresh Quilting on her blog tour stop at Pink Chalk Studio.  I can't wait to get it and start marking pages.  I'm sure that as soon as the new year starts I'll be ready to jump right into the sewing with both feet.

Saturday was my family Bailey Girl Christmas party here and we had such a fun time and lots of good food and good laughs.  I gave my niece Jamie the star quilt I made for her and her reaction was perfect!

My nieces Jamie and Lisa

Jamie snuggled up with her new quilt the next morning.

 Hope you all have a wonderful happy and healthy holiday! 

Mad Men made me do it

Oh dear.

Look what watching marathons of Mad Men while sewing will get you.  I innocently went on line the other night to do some Christmas shopping and somehow stumbled onto the Fabric Shack site.  Oops!   Today some Alexander Henry Merry Modern fabric just appeared in my mailbox with a credit card slip. 

I was planning on NOT getting into a sewing frenzy with a deadline this December but now I've just GOT to make something with these fabrics.  And before my Mad Men craze is over too.  Hmmmm.... I'm thinking pillows ..... any other ideas??   I need to redeem myself by producing something supercool. 

Gnome from Utah and the Tree from Minnesota

Along with getting this fabulous fabric in the mail today I also received two sweet ornaments from a Flickr ornament swap.   December mail is soooo much nicer than January mail :)

Thankful

I have such a blessed life and I try and be thankful every single day for all the bounty in my life.  Great children, loving and supportive partner, my family, my assistant, warm home, health, jobs, our great country, etc, etc.    My list of things to be thankful for can go on forever.  I love that we have one day to relax and just revel in our blessings and the only obligation is to be thankful.  

I'm also thankful for all my readers.  Finding a community of people to share my quilting journey with has also been a blessing in my life.  Thanks guys!  You really do rock!!    Even if it's not your Thanksgiving Day I hope you all have things to be thankful for today and can spend a moment to relax and enjoy. 

After the meal ..... Thanksgiving Dinner 2009