Coming Unraveled...

Remember the Granny Stripe Afghan I mentioned here?

This was to be a leisure project for me…no rules, no deadline…just something to do for FUN. 

Well, I was having fun…until my pattern repeated a couple of times, then I realized two things:

1)    It is too wide for my purpose, and

2)  I didn’t like the variegated yarn I placed in the middle of the cream yarn.  It just didn’t “go” so…. it had to GO!

Guess you know what I’ll be doing during the Super Bowl on Sunday J

Anyone with a ball winder want to come over?

I’ll be back to share a…get ready for it…a FINISH!  I know, right?  Just need a little sunshine to get a decent picture.  Weather man can’t decide what tomorrow will bring, always a mystery.

Have a great weekend J

Goodnight Irene Sew-Along: January Blocks

After way too many days weeks, I finally made it back into the sewing room today. (Insert Happy Dance!)  I am very pleased to report that I am on schedule with my Goodnight Irene sew-along with Terry.  Granted it is only the first month… J

I chose to use 5” pre-cut batiks from Hoffman called Breakers for the print fabric.  The background fabric is some crisp white yardage I picked up at a new fabric store in town.

Missouri Quilt Company has a couple of YouTube tutorials on how to make a scrappy4-patch as well as the X block.  I used their methods to create these… 

Hopefully the links above will take you to the correct videos as they are very helpful and I found their techniques to be fast and accurate.

This month’s goal was to create the first row of blocks for the quilt but NOT sew them together.  Since it is supposed to be scrappy, we may need to rearrange some blocks later.

On my design wall…

In the dining room, was hoping for better light…

It isn’t too late to join Terry’s sew-along.  Check out the links on her sidebar and see everyone’s progress so far.

Hope you all have a blessed week…now time for me to clean up my mess J

2014...Already?

It is day 11 of 2014 and I am just now getting around to writing a blog post.  I've drafted something 3 or 4 times but could never get around to finishing it.  Let’s hope this isn’t indicative of what the year will be like.

First, Happy 2014 to you, my wonderful friends.  I haven’t posted anything so far this year but I have kept up with you.  I’ve read so many blogs recapping 2013 with all the quilty and creative accomplishments as well as some pretty impressive goals for 2014.  This post is not about my accomplishments nor goals but a short recap about our holidays.

As you know from my holiday greeting to you here, my son was home for Christmas.  We enjoyed having our little family together one more time.  He returned to his post December 26^th and went right back to work. 

 

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I received a nice package on Christmas Eve…not from Santa but from Darlene.  Darlene is a good friend of Kaaren’s at The Painted Quilt.  Kaaren has a fun feature on her blog 4 times a year (March, June, September and December) called First Friday Freebie.  She generously offers her readers a free pattern design on the first Friday of those months. 

 Last December’s FFF was Bells & Bows and you can see a picture of it here.

Where does Darlene come into the picture?  Well, Darlene just opened a new quilt store in Nova Scotia appropriately named A Needle Pulling Thread.  You can read more about the store and see some amazing photos by going to this post at Kaaren's.

 

Darlene kindly put together a kit for Kaaren’s Bell & Bows which I just had to have...

Not only does this kit include a generous amount of fabric but also the embroidery floss, batting and even a Pigma pen for tracing the pattern.

This project is definitely on my list to complete soon so it will be ready for this year’s holiday décor.  I'm so grateful to Kaaren and Darlene for teaming up on this one.  I tend to finish 'kitted' projects in a more timely fashion...is it just me?

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My DH, DD, her boyfriend and I flew to Philadelphia two days after Christmas to spend time with my in-laws.  It was a very special time with family.

This was the display in the hotel lobby.  Doesn’t it remind you of balls of yarn?

Speaking of yarn, I found a cute little yarn shop in Chadds Ford, PA filled to the brim with all kinds of yummy yarn.  Sadly, I did not get pictures of the inside of the store but will ask when I visit again.  The owner was so kind…knowing that I do not visit the area often, she wrote on my receipt “NO limit on returns for store credit.”   This was in case I needed to return any of the yarn I bought.  (We all know that won’t happen)

Now I bought all of this yarn because a couple of special people inspired me with their own plans for a Granny Stripe Afghan.  Thank you Candace and Stephanie, I’m having fun with this one J

So sorry the colors aren't coming through well...it's been raining here for days :(
Can't get good photos

Most of the ten days we spent up north (well, north from Florida) was spending time with my MIL and FIL at their home in Wilmington, DE.  However, we did take the kids to Philly on New Year’s Eve where they ice skated for the first time.  We've been up north many times in the winter but never considered ice skating.  The kids hit the ice at Penn’s Landing and after a few minutes, they looked like they had done this before.

Aren't they the cutest?

We also took an afternoon to visit one of DD’s favorite museums.  I'll tell you more about that in a future post.

I am off now to finish putting away holiday decorations and start my Good Night Irene quilt that I told you about here.

Have a wonderful weekend...I'll be back soon.

 

Merry Christmas

I'm Still Here...

….and I haven't been run over by a reindeer.  Oh, I guess it’s still a little too early for that.

I have been so busy with my day job, Christmas shopping, baking and getting ready for my Sailor to come home TOMORROW morning that I haven’t had time to take any photos or write a blog post.

I’ve just recently attempted to catch up on blog reading.  Since I was using my lunch hour at work for this, our firewall prevented me from commenting on some of your blogs.  So if you have wondered “Where is Jeanna?”, I’ve followed but was blocked from commenting.  I have to figure out why I was able to comment on some and not others.  (I’ll add that to my list for 2014)
Speaking of 2014…do you make New Year’s Resolutions?  Do you set secret goals?  For as long as I can remember my New Year’s Resolution was to NEVER make one because I felt it was a way to set myself up for failure.  Then for 2013 I set some ‘goals.’  Figuring it wouldn’t be so brutal if I didn’t meet them all.  (Please don't ask for a status report...)

My birthday was in November so I was treated to a combined birthday - Christmas gift…I’ll share about that after the holidays.  It’s a little overwhelming for me but fun at the same time…intrigued?

Before the holiday Slammin’ occurred I made a couple of other items to go with my ironing set that I posted about here.

 A tool Bag

A thread catcher / trash bag

The complete little set

 

Now I have all the tools I need to take classes...when I'm a little less overwhelmed with the new gift ;)

 

I'm hopeful things are going to slow down a bit for me soon and I'll have lots to share...the gift...our holidays...our vacation...my plans for 2014...not necessarily in that order.

 

Hope you are enjoying your Season ... with love,

 

Wishes

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

 

From My Family to Yours

Love,

Operation: Warm and Fuzzy III

The third campaign of Operation: Warm & Fuzzy has come to an end.  My co-worker and friend Debbie is the coordinator of this effort and she does a wonderful job.  I asked her for some facts…just the facts…from this year’s campaign.  Here is what she shared…

55 volunteers (company employees as well as friends and family from Montreal, Wisconsin, and Miami)

321 liners knitted (277 last year)

Length of time it takes to knit each liner: anywhere from 7-12 hours depending on skill level

Approximately 12 volunteers learned how to knit this year. (Debbie will teach anyone to knit and will provide the supplies needed as long as they commit to knitting at least one liner)  She taught me to knit last year :)

Dollars for Doers program:  our company's way of rewarding those employees who volunteer within the community and input their hours into our volunteer database.  Grants, which go directly to, in this case, the Forgotten Soldiers Outreach, varied from $100 (total of 20 volunteer hours) to $250 (total of 40 volunteer hours) for a possible grand total of $350 per volunteer.

Third quarter grant total $5750

Year to date grant total (for the 2nd and 3rd quarters) $7850

Total grant money given to the FSO over three years as result of O:W&F $18,000+

As a reminder, I posted about O:W&F and Forgotten Soldiers here.

Last Saturday was the FSO Holiday Packing Event and they included our 321 helmet liners in the soldier's boxes.  Here is a picture of some of the knitters at the event (I am on the far left and Debbie is second from the right).

I hope you all have an amazing loooonnngggg weekend ;)