Happy New Year!

Hope 2014 brings peace, love, happiness, and prosperity to all.

PS: No, I did not attempt this last night. I stayed home and went to bed early LOL!

photo: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

New Year's Eve and a Last Finish for 2013

I finally finished sewing the rows of "Long Road Home" together today while watching The Walking Dead marathon.

I love this quilt (a swap with my quilting buddies) and I can't wait to get the backing sorted out and get it quilted.  I think I'll quilt it myself with diagonal lines so I can use it in the new year. I have more packing to do before that luxury though.  My plan is still to get to Santa Fe by the end of January/beginning of February so I best get a move on the remaining things (mostly the dreaded cleaning out the attic).

No plans for tonight--well except for the zombie watching and Skype-ing with the family in Michigan and Mr. SBQ and the cats in Santa Fe.

For all those Remy fans out there (especially Nancy), here's a Remy photo to take you into the new year.

Happy New Year to all and Happy Quilting in 2014!

"I'm not supposed to be on the table....but I'm too cute to move."

Christmas Eve

I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!  Happy Christmas Eve to those who celebrate.
I have been busy working, making cookies for my fellow coffee slingers, and sewing.  The house sale is progressing s--l--o--w--l--y and I may have more of an idea of a time frame after the holidays (keeping fingers & paws crossed that it will be done by end of January). It's a complicated and aggravating story so I won't go into all the details. Let's just concentrate on getting done with it all soon.

Oh how I wish I was in Santa Fe with Mr. SBQ and the cats.  I had Mr. SBQ send me a photo of the Plaza with the lights and snow.

I will have to wait until next year to to experience the wonderful tradition of the Farolito Walk on Canyon Road.  Thousands of farolitos (also called luminaries) line Canyon Road on Christmas Eve and there are carolers, cider and hot chocolate, bonfires, and festivities.  It sounds simply wonderful (if a bit crowded).  This article has more about holiday traditions in the area.


This year, I'll be working tonight and all day tomorrow at Starbucks for all those last minute shoppers and coffee fanatics.

I also have been requesting more cat photos from Mr. SBQ.  I explained to him that there are hundreds if not thousands of cat photos NOT being taken because I'm not there to capture every cutemous moment.  

I don't think he quite understood. 

This cutemous photo of Remy and Edgar Poe arrived via text one day.  Awww.  

Design Floor

Taking advantage of my four sewing helpers being in Santa Fe, I've had this quilt-in-progress spread out on the living room floor for a few days.  (It also helps that nearly all the furniture is in Santa Fe too).  There is no way the cats' would've left this alone for two seconds without rearranging the blocks.

[sorry for the dark photo--I'll get a better one when it's finished & not night & not overcast]

This was a fun fabric swap that my quilt friends and I did a couple of years back. The pattern is "Long Road Home" by Red Crinoline Quilts.  My friends and I swapped the neutral alternating blocks and strips of shirtings and dark/mediums for the pieced blocks.  I think this was the fourth fabric swap we did and I also think I'm the last one to finish up this quilt.  Instead of a red solid for the setting triangles, I'm using a yummy purple tone-on-tone floral.  This is a warm and cozy looking quilt--perfect for cold winter nights.

Have you done a fabric swap with friends?  It's a great way to make quilts that call for lots of different fabrics.  It's also a great way to use fabrics that are a bit outside of your box. It's also helpful to have a math wizard in your swap.  We had Kristie, who figured out the math and created charts with participants, how many strips of fabric to cut, etc.

More tomorrow. I need to get busy on my Christmas cards before Christmas is over LOL.

Lucky Black Cat Friday the 13th

Remy and Gomez

Still Life: A Quiet December

Quilt Blocks:  pieced blocks from the pattern "A Long Road Home" by Red Crinoline Quilts
Tea:  Allegro's Organic Breakfast Blend with a smidgen of honey
Cookies: one of my absolute favorites -- Chewy Sugar Cookies #2 from Food 52

A Finish for a Long-Aging Project

 

One of the zillions many UFOs I found while packing up the sewing room was a table runner that was layered with top, batting and backing but not quilted.  Why it has been languishing at the bottom of a pile of tops I can't recall but it was long past the time to get this done. I thought I had put it aside during a busy December.  A quick word search of my blog resulted in no such good excuse--I made the top way back in August 2008 LOL.   It was quilted and bound in a jiffy.  I still love this fabric line; it's "Winter" by Minick & Simpson for Moda.

Here it is on my sideboard all ready for the holiday season.