Heart and Hand Warmers

Here are a couple of pictures showing my latest project which I've been doing while I watch TV. I wore them to work today and even though it was only 30 degrees, I was happy and they match my red coat perfectly! They are so fun to wear. The mittens are made from the sleeves of an old lambswool sweater that I got at Goodwill and felted. I have lots more of the sweater left over and think I might make another pair and a scarf. I found this pattern in Heartfelt. I love this book and want to make every project in it! The next pair I make I will line with flannel or some fleece to keep my rings from catching on the backside of the needlework.

I am still working on my February TIF. The top is done but I hope to complete the quilting before the end of the week. I want to show a finished project.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Belated Birthday Surprise and Update

Well, I'm back! Work has been CRaZy so very little time to blog. We also made a trip to Vermont to check on Alex. He has been doing his internship at Jay Peak since December. Boy what a drive! 5/12 hours. Now I know why he doesn't come home very often. His place with two roomies is nice but space is tight! Bob and I got the tour of Jay Peak and a ride up the mountain on the tram. It was snowing while we were there but it didn't stop the skiers at all! We brought lots of food, had dinner with Alex and stayed overnight. Then headed back to Connecticut. We probably won't see him now until April. But he is fine as you can see.






I have been doing some quilting. I finished my Africa PCs which I can't share today since they are on their way to England. But have a pic of some of the beauties I have received from the super talented gals in England with whom I am exchanging. These are a couple of the Angel PCs which was the January theme, and Africa for February. It's so nice to get something other than junk mail and bills in the mailbox.

You may remember the Round Robin I started back in February last year. It was with four gals and there was no pressure. Well, we finally all finished and we did our exchange last week. If you want to see how mine got started, take a look here. And this is the finished product!

My angel even has glasses that she wears on her head like me. The yoyos have bells in the center that ring. The three rounds were 1. a border with curves, 2. embellishments and 3. rectangles. I absolutely love her! We have already set the parameters for the next one which will start in April.

Finally, these pics are of my surprise birthday present from my DH! I have been oogling this for some time. My DH went ahead and ordered it. The insert and quilting extension are still to be delivered. I love, love, love it! If these are the presents you get for turning 50, I wouldn't have waited sooo long! Of course, once it was all together we had to totally rearrange my sewing room. We spent about 3 hours rearranging and straightening everything. Now my sewing room is perfect!


That is my little Jem in the picture. My true love, the Janome QC 4800, is in the shop. She was making a funny noise so I took her to see Dr. Warren. But she is fine and I am picking her up today. We got 10 inches of snow yesterday and I stayed home from work. Now we have to shovel out and I have to get some food!

Cowboys and Cheerleaders

I can't believe that the weekend is over! It really flew by! Of course, I didn't get as much finished as I had planned. Friday was spent doing the shopping, picking up dry cleaning, laundry and house cleaning. On Saturday, I met up with my SIL and my two lovely nieces, Erin and Kyla. They are into competitve cheering and they had a competition in Hartford. I had never been to one before so it was fun. Lots of spangles, and smiley smiles. These are my two sweeties, Erin (not smiling because she has braces) on the left and Kyla (never stops smiling)on the right. They are two of the triplets. Mikey is not interested in cheerleading for some reason.

Their birthday was February 1st and they turned 13 so I was also able to give them their presents which was 2 pair of flannel PJ pants for each of them. Kyla's were pink and purple and very girly. Erin wanted "dark colors, Auntie Ann, no pinky stuff". I think she is entering her "difficult" years! Good luck, little brother!

I also completed my first UFO of 2008~~ Yahoo!~ It is a charity quilt for a local shelter. I went through a cowboy phase and this is all western fabric. Some of this fabric is also part of Debra's rodeo quilt.

I have not started my TIF project but have pulled the fabric for it as well as for my February postcards. The theme is Africa. As I am watching TV, I am working on a knitted shawl for work. I hope to have TIF progress to show later in the week. Hope everyone had a great weekend.

January recap and TIF challenge for February

Well, February is here which means winter is in full swing. Bah! Anywho, I'll keep my mind off of the weather by quilting. Before heading into February, I thought I would recap my doings in January and see if I am actually keeping with my resolutions.



January -


1. Completed the TIF challenge with my lilies and fabric vase

2. Made my Fairy Postcards ( by the skin of my teeth, LOL)

3. Worked on two UFOs (homespun lap quilt and Thangles blocks) almost to the point of completion

4. Read one book and I'm 3/4 of the way through another

5. Have really tried to use only items in my stash before buying new stuff. It's amazing (and scary at the same time YIKES!) what I have pulled out of that closet.

I have done quilty stuff on my blog at least once a week, I've definitely tried new things with the felted flowers and the fabric vase. The only thing I think I've missed is Keeping Christmas all through the Year. Just didn't have the time! So for February, I will try to get to a Christmas project.

There now my housekeeping is done~

Now, as part of the TIF challenge, we are supposed to track our progress on our blog. For February, the color scheme did nothing for me but the concept theme is interesting.

What do you remember?

Sharon B. talked about things that she remembered as a child that are either obsolete or have changed dramatically. I started pondering this and thought about how we played as children of the 60's and 7o's. I thought about playing jumprope (double-dutch and chinese jumprope) and hopscotch, and dodge ball. Then I thought about the great board games we had. I remember every Christmas there was one game that you just had to have, like Hands Down, Go to the Head of the Class, Mousetrap, Ants in the Pants, Sorry, Trouble, Don't break the Ice, and of course Twister! Kids "now a days" don't know how to play board games, everything is video or TV oriented. It's kind of sad :( Anyway, I think that my piece will be a quilt about the size of a board game which reflects those games. I'm still twirling it around in my head but images are forming.