Snow Day

Now, I'm a girl that was raised in the Northeast. For the first 18 years of my life, I had piles of snow every winter and negotiating a snow storm was just another typical winter day. I own more scarves, mittens and hats than I'd like to admit, but they were alowasy put to good use. Now, fast forward a couple of years - living in the Carolinas - and it's a rare occasion when I have to pull my now infamous (more on that in another post) pink boots out.

But, today it's snowing like crazy here. They're predicting we'll have seen over 7 inches fall by the time the storm is over. So, we have a snow day - which in truth is a rather odd experience for me. You see...I live where I work. No, I don't work from home, but rather have an office in the building in which I live. So, in actuality, my commute is maybe 50 feet or so down a hallway. Yet, offices are closed, so I'm tucked away in my apartment enjoying the pretty snow before the wintry mix gets here. (I do have a meeting I have to go to later today at 2 pm, and then again at 9:15 pm, but we'll just ignore that fact right now.)

Anyways, Mr. Gnomemade decided despite being rather well versed in winter driving himself, he'd work from home today - a decision thankfully his work agreed with. So we're both here at home. Now, while he works away, I'm enjoying my snow day and cutting into this...

The majority of the fabrics are from "In the Pink II" and I'm using a pattern I found online through AllPeopleQuilt.com. While not a UFO, it does meet my criteria of working on projects I already have the fabric for - didn't buy anything new for it this year (though some of it did come in on New Year's Eve!)

So, that's my snow day. Well, that and trying to unearth our cars. And maybe some hot cocoa.

Two Steps Back...

...from my promise that I would complete my UFOs before starting something new. But sometimes, you just have to break that type of promise.

It started with a book. Camille Roskelley's beautiful, wonderful, inspirational book - Simplify. Then add in a wonderful jelly roll from Fig Tree Quilt's Fig & Plum line and that would be enough to tempt me to stray.

However, I was committed to sticking to my resolution of working on my UFOs. But, this quilt needed to be made, because it was going to a good home. Mr. Gnomemade's sister-in-law...one of his brother's wife...was diagnosed with lung cancer in the fall. We wanted to do something special for her, and these were the perfect colors for her...so I consider that a good reason to break away from my plan.

We saw Mr. Gnomemade's family for the Christmas holidays, so I finished it up in time (putting the binding on while on the plane there).

Like with all the quilts I make and give away, I really hope that she liked it. This is one of my favorites that I've made. It's a lap quilt size, so perfect for snuggling during the snowy winter.

I really love the pattern from the book, and I look forward to making other quilts from the book...but I guess I should finish up the others that I have pending - or that I've started over the holidays!

One Step Closer...

...to completing my own personal UFO challenge! This is the final product of the long-ago finished Old Red Barn Co. Quilt-A-Long. When did that happen? 2009? Whoops! I guess I take a while to make quilts. I've been working on it for quite a while now...and even longer than that!

Well, here it is in its finished glory. It's very busy and loud - not quite my style, but the fabric was perfect for its receipient - a wonderful woman who has been very good to Mr. Gnomemade and I since we moved here. This was our way of saying thank you to her.

I apologize for the rather poor photo. It was snapped very quickly at the end of November in a hallway when we hadn't seen the sunlight in a week or so. One of my students took it and I was running out the door to bring it to its receipient.

It's recipient was very gracious and seemed to like the quilt - or at least that's what she told me! I hope it's true!

Happy 2011

Happy 2011!

Like almost everyone, it seems, 2010 flew by and I'm not quite sure where it went. I had such grand plans for the last quarter of the year, but it just got crazy. Work truly became the main event in mine and Mr. Gnomemade's lives, so there wasn't much else that got done. In fact, we haven't even looked through our professional wedding photos!

With a new year, comes new goals. I like everyone else would like 2011 to be a year where I can accomplish a great many things, but more than anything I'm looking for balance - the opportunity to find some harmony in my life that allows us to be happy. Now 2010 was great - Mr. Gnomemade and I made it official, we spent time with family, had some wonderful vacations/getaways, and more. But, I'd love for 2011 to be even beter.

One thing I wish I had done more in 2010 is craft. I have so many projects that I want to work on - not to mention so much fabric I've stashed away. So, while I didn't do too well with my personal UFO challenge for 2010, I'm going to work on it for the New Year!

So, for 2011, I'm going to try to craft something every day. Now, it may just mean taking a couple of embroidery stitches, or working on a binding, or perhaps like these past four days doing more! 2011 was off to a great start - on New Year's Eve, Mr. Gnomemade took me out fabric shopping to start off the new year right. On Saturday and Sunday, I got several hours to myself where I put together most of a quilt top and finished up the borders on my Parents-in-Law Surprise Quilt! Last night, I put the borders on my new quilt top and today I put together the quilt sandwich on my Parents-in-Law's quilt. Now that's the way I want to kick off 2011 and hopefully keep it going!

I also want to be better about blogging - if I'm going to be crafting more, I love having it all recorded. Not to mention maybe it'll keep me on track for crafting!

Now, there's lots of other stuff I want to accomplish - go to the gym more, eat better, watch less bad TV, etc. But I really want to craft more...

So here's to 2011! Year of the craft!