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Got some more done in my quilting room today.  Progress is slow but steady. 

We had to say goodbye to a dear friend this afternoon.  LaVerne Thomas who with her husband were founding members of my quilt guild.  She was a lovely lady and I will miss her very much.  Neither of us felt like cooking afterward, so hubby and I treated ourselves to the Chinese buffet nearby.  It was so good. 

I’ve been doing some knitting this evening.  I’m making a scarf for my daughter.  Next the kids want slippers.  So I sorted out my yarn and got my projects in order.  I like to knit or crochet at night while watching TV with hubby.  Heading to bed early tonight. 

http://platform.twitter.com/widgets/hub.1324331373.htmlI spent most of the day working in my quilting room.  I am happy to report that I have gotten a lot done.  My fabric closet has been reorganized and I have begun sorting through the scraps.  One of my favorite quilters, Bonnie Hunter,  makes use of everything and she makes the most beautiful quilts.  I am attempting to follow her scrap organization guidelines by separating scraps into squares, strips and strings.  I know that once I get what I have organized, it won’t be such a job to keep it up.  I have her Orca Bay Mystery Button on my blog because I plan to make it as soon as I get the room done.  🙂  Gary is going to help me move furniture around in there tomorrow.  I have my long arm in my room, and it makes it a bit tight.  So, we are investigating other options.  I may move it into another room.  We’ll see.

Well so much for our cold front.  They are talking about temperatures in the high 60’s.  Gotta love the south.  One of my favorite things about living down here is the pretty winters.  Pennsylvania has a tendency to be ugly in the winter.  Grey skies, dirty snow.  Depressing.  But down here you have that beautiful Carolina Blue sky.

I have added the Autism banner to the top of my blog.  My two grandsons are on the Autism Spectrum and this is a cause that is near and dear to my heart.  My daughter Kelly is my hero.  She is so wonderful with the boys.  She’s taught me so much about Autism and about the misconceptions of it.  I am so very proud of her.  Andrew and Aidan are beautiful and wonderful little boys and so very smart.  They keep Kelly on her toes for sure.  I was in PA with them for a month right before Christmas.  I came home tired, but incredibly happy to have had the time with them.  

Until next time….”Our family is a patchwork of love.” Anonymous

Well another day not spent in my sewing room.  I had an appointment late morning today.  And some more errands.  But, in the midst of those errands I visited a Quilt Shop!  There is nothing like walking around a quilt shop looking, touching and imagining what you could do with all that  fabric.  I could spend hours in one.  Yes, I have been told it’s a sickness, but what a way to go.  🙂  Anyway, that’s just what I needed to get me motivated here at the house.  I have made my list for tomorrow.  Bright and early I’ll be attacking that room. 

I have always wanted to learn how to quilt.  So much so that when I was injured and had to give up work, I made virtual quilts on my website.  In 2005 after moving to NC I finally got my wish. 
My mentor, Donna and another friend Joyce have gotten me into doll quilts.  Of course it didn’t take much for me to jump on board.  I love dolls.  I have dolls.  So making them quilts just seemed like the natural thing to do.  Actually, the very first quilt retreat I ever went to back in 2005, I won a raffle for a doll bed that Donna made.  She even made a mattress and pillow out of ticking and made covers for them both.  And of course she made a beautiful quilt to go with it.  The quilt guild I belong to, Brunswick Quilters had a quilt show in 2010 and I had it on display. 

My doll bed. 

 I am blessed to have found  a wonderful guild with such talented members who share so willingly. 
And I have learned that, “Quilting with friends will keep you in stitches.”  Anonymous.

So much for my plan to attack my quilting room today.  I over slept, and found out about a meeting 45 minutes before I was to be there.  I made it on time too.  So, since I was out of the house, I got the oil changed in the car, ran several errands and got take out for dinner. Heading to the living room now to watch NCIS.  You gotta love Mark Harmon!

  That’s for those of you who are celebrating your legal holiday off from work. It seems strange for me to watch the parades and games on the day after. 

 I just finished left over pork roast and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes for supper.  It our traditional New Year’s Day dinner.  It’s one of my favorite meals.  Definitely comfort food.  My kids always complained that we had it every year saying that it didn’t bring us much luck in the past year.  I would answer, just think how bad our luck would have been if we hadn’t had it.  Then they would all put one little strand of sauerkraut on their plates, cover it up with mashed potatoes and a small piece of pork and force it down.  Ha ha.  Now hubby and I get to enjoy our meal in peace. 🙂

 I have surveyed my quilting room and have determined it is a disaster.  I can’t find anything, and I can’t even fit in there to sew.  Tomorrow is the day I will begin to de-clutter, reorganize and purge its contents.  I am anxious to start working on my Orca Bay Mystery Quilt from Bonnie Hunter.  But, the deal I made with my self is that I must finish a UFO before I can begin.  I guess I have made a New Year’s resolution.  I don’t  usually do that as I am guilty of not aways following through, but circumstances dictate I get with the program this year.  I did have some fun today.  I made Alannah some doll clothes.  Jumpers, blouses, nightgown, pillow and doll quilt and aprons for her and her dolly.  They were supposed to be done by Christmas, but the joy of being 3 is that you don’t realize that your gift is late. 🙂  I’ll get them in the mail to her tomorrow.

I guess you are wondering what a Cowabash is.  It’s a nick name I was given by my late father-in-law back in 1994 after we purchased a vacation home in Calabash, NC.  I decided that I wanted to decorate the kitchen with cows.  Well you know how it goes, once people find out you like something everybody gives you one.  So, my bovine decorations spread all through the house and my father-in-law dubbed our place Cowabash.  He is also responsible for the huge collection of cows I have acquired over the years.  Hey, you gotta blame somebody don’t you? 

I can’t believe that 2011 is gone.  It was a busy year with many changes.  While I was sitting here thinking about what 2011 brought to me, I realized I can’t remember so much.  I do remember turning 60 in September!  I can remember when I thought my dad was so old at 35.  I guess  I was really wrong about that since I’m not old at 60.  I was busy quilting with my guild which always makes me happy.  I had my son and his new wife home for four months which was wonderful since they spend most of the year on a cruise ship.  They had a beautiful wedding which gave me the chance to see friends and family I hadn’t seen in such a long time.  I  actually got on the beach for a change, and  had the opportunity to spend time with my grandchildren Andrew 7, Aidan 5, and Alannah 3.  They are the light of my life.  Alannah was the flower girl in the wedding.  She was just too cute.  But getting back to my original thought.  I decided that I was going to keep a journal of sorts…a blog.  Well actually I started to set up this blog in 2009.  Can anyone say Procrastination?  I’m hoping that when 2012 comes to an end, I’ll be able to recall with much more clarity the events that passed the days.  At least I’ll be able to remember what project I worked on when and if it got finished. 🙂  I’ll share what’s going on in my little world and maybe make some new friends doing it.  Until next time….HAPPY NEW YEAR I hope you are blessed with good health, happiness and peace.