Day 2 (again) and 3

Working or not I have to get up at 5:30 every morning to feed Obba and give him his insulin shot. On the weekends I normally go back to bed (I'm not a morning person), sometimes I can sleep more, sometimes I just toss and turn. The last two morning have been the latter. When that occurs by 9:00 p.m. I can barely keep my eyes open and by 10:00 p.m. I'm snoring.

Nancy did come over to sew but its been awhile since we've seen / talked to each other that we spent most of the morning gabbing...then we went out to lunch. Finally we started sewing.

I was doing pretty good with the first quilt on the frame until I ran out of thread on the spool about a third of the way into the quilt. I must not have threaded the machine right as I started having tension problems and getting big loops on the back...
Unquilting time. I've wanted to practice turning a quilt or loading a partially quilted top back to the frame I just hadn't planned on practicing this soon. Nancy thought (I was nuts for removing the quilting) this would be a good task to do watching a movie, I agreed (with both thoughts).

So I loaded another quilt.
I quilted random swirls in it. Then last night I loaded another quilt.

Large meandering. I finished it about 10 p.m. Wrote my post and headed straight to bed. I think I was asleep by 10:10.

Today has been busy but not as productive. I had breakfast with Karen. Like Nancy, I haven't seen / talked to Karen in a while and we had lots to catch up on. Ran a few errands (does walking around Target and lifting 40 lbs of kitty litter in and out of a cart count as a workout session?) and have been doing some picking up and cleaning tonight as I got a call that a cousin I haven't seen in a while is stopping by tomorrow on her way to visit her daughter.

So much for my 5 x 5 goals... you didn't really think I'd make it did you? Yes? Aren't you sweet. Just so you know, I am the princess of over planning and setting unrealistic goals. I do feel pretty good about how much I have gotten done in the last three days as I am also the queen of procrastination.

I hope you all have a fun New Year's Eve and a healthy and happy 2012 spent with lots of great friends, family and of course quilts.

Day 2

I'm pooped and headed for bed.

2 1/3 quilts off the frame. I'll explain and show pictures tomorrow.

Day 1

I got two big clean up projects done around the house...

...cleaned my stove top, tile and grout in the kitchen (I hate white tile and grout - I have both in the kitchen), then I cleaned the large garage bay (I split my three car garage into a two car garage and storage room years ago). I had my handyman over to help mount the shelf unit to the garage wall, clean my gutters and to replace my front door handle. I got everything off the garage floor and gave it a thorough sweep. I decided cleaning it also counted toward a workout session.

Do you have an old over the door shoe holder? The kind with pockets. They make great storage for garden gloves and small tools. I hung one next to the shelves and promptly filled it. I think I could / should throw out some of my really old garden gloves.

I also put away all my Christmas decorations...okay, I confess, I just dumped everything in the spare bedroom. Cleaning that room is my next house project.

The sewing room is picked up and I have a quilt loaded on the frame. Nancy is coming over to sew tomorrow, I'm know she will inspire me to get lot of quilting done.

5 x 5

I have the next five days off work, my goals:

5 quilts on and off the quilt frame

5 hours of other quilt related sewing

5 clean up projects around the house

5 workout sessions

5 ???

Hmmm, 5 errands to run? lose 5 pounds (ha, in my dreams)? call 5 friends I haven't talked to lately? fix 5 new recipes? I know what I'm not going to do and that is waste 5 days doing nothing.

I had a little retail therapy this evening...

For Christmas Jayme gave me a gift certificate to my LQS and Nancy gave me a jelly roll, when I got home tonight I had an email that my LQS was having an inventory reduction sale... everything 40% off... it didn't take me long to get back in my car. Fabric for two pillowcases (I'll have to take a better picture of the dragon fabric - it is too cool), border and binding fabric to go with the jelly roll, and a kit with pattern to make a cute little clutch. What could be better than a gift certificate and a great sale together.

May all the holidays you celebrate be merry and safe.

Nobody's Home

AnnieO knocked on my blog door a few days ago and I figured I'd better answer before she starts banging on it and yelling at me.

I haven't blogged lately cause I got nothin'...no quilting, no cute cat pictures, no flowers from the garden pictures, nothin'.

I am swamped at work so I've been working some extra hours, and its Christmas time (Bah Humbug) so I should be shopping cause I've barely made a dent in my list, but once I get home I just want to pretend I'm a potato. What makes it worse is I leave in the morning and it's dark and when I leave work it's dark, it feels like the day is over before I ever make it home.

Okay, that whine party needs to end.

I'm not making any gifts this year. Ha, I haven't touched a sewing machine (other than to move it) for over a month. I did a major clean up of my sewing room a week ago and rearranged a few things (does dumping a bunch of stuff to into another room count as cleaning up?). I've had time to sew but I have chosen not to, not procrastinated until the time was gone, but actually chosen not to sew.

Hmmm...that almost sounds like another whine party.

I have been going to bed early and reading. I've found a new author I like: Charlaine Harris. I've read all of her Shakespeare series and have started the Sookie Stackhouse series. I'm almost done with the first book in the series:

Easy quick read, suspenseful enough but not so bad that I can't read it before turning out the light at night, and just a touch risque.

Annie, is it okay that I've answered the door in my pajamas and haven't brushed my teeth yet? I promise I'll take a shower and put on some makeup the next time you visit.