Happy New Year to Everyone!

I think one of my goals for 2011 needs to be that I post something new to my blog at least twice a month, if not once a week!  I get busy and read everyone else's blog but forget to update mine. 

We had a nice quiet Christmas, we spent the evening with friends down the block.  We had a nice dinner and lots of conversation.  She does not quilt but has some antique quilts made by her mother-in-law.  She has talked about them in the past, but she got them out to show me.  She was concerned they were faded and had some worn spots.  I told her to enjoy them the way they are.  One is a nine patch, faded quite a bit and hand quilted.  It has lots of character.  One is a wedding ring pattern and it hangs on her wall.  It too is very faded but beautiful and hand quilted as well.  She was concerned they were faded and old that maybe her kids wouldn't want them.  I told her they are still valuable and to enjoy them.

I have been busy with my quilts.  The Snowbound is ready to start quilting but I want to practice on something else with my new machine before I start on it.  I have started hand quilting Two Piece Puzzle.  I have two and a half rows done and I am loving it.  I think I have five and a half rows to go so it is going to take a while, but it is in progress.  I also started putting the APQ swap quilt together.  I set the blocks on point, never did that before, and I'm liking what I've got so far.  I feel good that these three quilts are all in progress.  Do they still count as UFOs?

I want to take some pictures of everything but it was too cold to go outside today.  Temps are in the low 20's and headed down for a couple of days.  It is suppose to warm up a bit next week.  I know that doesn't sound too bad to some of you, but it is unseasonably cold here.  We have snow on the mountain but what little fell over the last couple of days has melted out of my yard.  I can't complain about that.

I want to take a picture of the table runner my sister sent me for Christmas, too.  I love it.  Maybe tomorrow will be sunny enough to go outside for a bit.

I want to wish you all a very safe, healthy, and prosperous Happy New Year!  I hope we all get to quilt ALOT in 2011!

Busy, busy, busy

Wow, it's been a while since I posted anything!  Not to worry, I have been busy.  We worked to get the leaves raked and the yard cleaned up early in the week.  We have been on a couple of motorcycle rides since my last post.  The weather warmed up a bit, so we had some fun.  We still had to bundle up, but riding was nice.  One day we drove the car down to see the Bosque del Apache.  We left home at about 5:00 am and got there around 6:30 am.  It was nice to watch the sunrise over the mountains and the sky light up.  We saw a few bats, some mule deer and thousands of birds, mostly sandhill cranes and snow geese.  Here are some pictures:

These are mostly snow geese, the white geese with the black wing tips.  The larger grey birds on stilts are the sandhill cranes and there are a few other ducks in the water, too.  Here is a better picture of some sandhills:

They are mostly grey but the red on their faces is really pretty and they have some black feathers, too. 

Here is one of the mule deer, he had just one doe with him when we saw them.  He is about a 12 point and just beautiful. 

I finally got my Christmas decorations up on Monday, too.  I debated on not putting anything up this year.  Our kids are scattered out in Wisconsin, Florida, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon and Washington.  Our other family, my folks and brothers and sisters are in Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas and Texas.  So no one to spend the holidays with.  It will be very quiet this year.  Also, since we have made some big purchases this year, including my sewing machine, we have decided that we already have all the gifts we need.  I had a really hard time getting into the holiday spirit.  Since I did get the tree and other decorations out, I am feeling lots better.  Now for us, everything is done, gifts have all been sent and we can just sit back and enjoy things.

I have been sewing, too.  I purchased a kit for this table runner and got it finished:

This is the first kit I have used.  I love the colors in the fabrics.  I don't know if you can see or not but one of the fabrics has some tiny stripes in it.  I played with it trying to figure out how to cut it out so the stripes would all go the same direction, but failed at that.  I thought I had it until I started putting the pieces together and since it was a kit, I didn't have enough of the fabric left to re-cut the pieces that don't line up right.  I still like it, it goes well with the colors in my family room couch. 

I also cut the original binding off of a Christmas table runner that I made several years ago and re-did it.  I like it much better with a red binding:

See, much better in red!

Here are the last two snowmen for Snowbound:

Here is Mr. November  and Miss December:

I really enjoyed working on these little snow people this year.  I'm going to miss them once the quilt is all done.  I plan to stitch them all together tomorrow.  I have the borders all cut, so this top will go together pretty quickly (I think).  There are twelve stars that need to be appliqued on the outer border, but that will be fun to do.  I don't know how long it will take to get it quilted.  I still have the large red, cream and blue quilt to baste and get ready to quilt.

I also trimmed up the blocks I have for the swap quilt.  I want to get the sashing strips and corner stones cut for it soon.  I can't wait to start putting it together but I have the other two quilts to work on, too.  I guess everything will get finished eventually.  But there are so many new projects I want to work on, too!  There is just never enough time for everything, I wish I could work faster.

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy, prosperous New Year!  I also want to tell you all how much you mean to me and how lucky I am to have gotten to "know" you through our blogs.  This has been a great year of blogging for me.  So, enjoy your families for the holidays and keep on quilting!