Snow!!!

Two snow events in one year! I'm amazed. We haven't had a good snow since I moved here 13 years ago... which is why Dave's shoveling snow with a pointed shovel. We may have to buy a snow shovel.



It was finally a snow worthy of sledding on our excellent hill.


The neighborhood kids were having a blast.


Shelby was not. About every third step, she'd fall through...not fun for a wee little girl in 10" of snow.



So, we decided she's stay at home while we walked to the grocery store a couple of blocks away. (We could have driven but that's not as much fun.)

Here's Hawthorne Road which is usually full of traffic. Those that live here know on a normal day, you take your life into your own hands just driving through this intersection.



I just love a snow day.

Do-Over Weekend

This was a do-over weekend. I had planned on basting quilts all of New Year's weekend but with my Dad being sick a over New Year's, basting quilts was the last thing on my mind. So Friday I changed our vacant office space into Basting Central and got started. On Saturday, my BFF LauraQuilts joined me (now there's a friend) and we had a big day hanging out together. We basted most of the morning, had lunch at Sweet Potatoes and then basted until we decided we needed to go home and prepare for the evening festivities. We were both going to Nane's Christmas party that had been snowed out before Christmas. (Told ya it was a do-over weekend.)



So, we go home, get ready and meet up again at Nane's party. This is always a fun time because 1. we're all together, 2. it's the one time we have our husbands and sig others in attendance with us, 3. the quilters are usually the late partiers...which is hysterical when you consider that the Ski & Outing Club members used to poke fun at Nane for her quilting tendencies. They, like so many others, picture quilters as little old ladies sitting around a frame. We love to prove them wrong by out lasting them at Nane's party every year. It is always a blast.

To continue the do-over weekend, we went to my parent's house this evening for my birthday dinner (3 weeks late). My nephews were there which is always pandemonium. They sang Happy Birthday to me about 4 times. The youngest (there in the green shirt) would sing "Happy Birthday to You...CHA CHA CHAA, Happy Birthday to You...CHA CHA CHAA" with faces and arm movements to go with it. It was priceless.



To end the evening, Mom gave Shelby a new bed for an early Valentine's Day present. She sniffed at it, stepped in and started digging, claiming it as hers. Watching my Dad laugh at her was worth the wait for my do-over weekend.

The Eating Bee

When I first started quilting, I joined the local guild which at the time had over 400 members. It's hard to find your place in a group that size especially if you're an introvert and a new quilter intimidated by all that talent in one spot. (I am introverted though some folks may not see it that way. They see me get up in front of a group and assume I'm extroverted. I'm not. I can act though.)

Anyway, shortly after joining that big guild, I signed up to join a bee. This is where I see God's hand nudging me where I belong because "luck of the draw" sent me to a stranger's house to "bee". Almost 20 years later, we are still friends. Even though a couple of us have moved away, we still meet for retreats and Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival and Christmas dinner. We started calling ourselves The Eating Bee because that seemed to be all we did for a while...get together to eat...

And that's what we did last night. We met in the middle (sort of) between our 3 parts of the state and had our Christmas party. (I know. It's January but it's actually early for us. A couple of years ago, we had our Christmas dinner at our Black Mountain retreat in May. Just think of it as us doing our best to keep Christmas in our hearts all through the year.)


We have a great meal at Bonefish. We catch up on the big things and little things going on in our lives and we play Dirty Santa. (This is where everyone brings a gift, we draw numbers and you either pick from the pile or steal someone else's gift. It's always a laugh and no matter what you end up with, it is always wonderful. I was nice this year and didn't steal the yummy Moda University pattern and fabric squares from Cyndi. And because I was so nice, I got to take home this sweet wall hanging that Tess made.


See...sometimes it does may to be nice.

Coraling the UFOs

For the past couple of years I've been all about getting my UFO's in check. I have a system. I have a spreadsheet that gives me a percent complete for each project and an over all percent complete. I have charts that show % complete each month so I can see how much progress I make.

I know. Engineer. I can't help myself.

When I started keeping track in May 2007, I had 209 UFO's. I consider something a UFO if it has it's own box or tote bag. Twinkles in my eye do not count but kits do. 209 UFOs in a little bitty house is a storage problem as you can imagine.

So how have I done since May 2007?

I now have 120 UFOs. Not as bad but still...

yikes.

Either I need to deal with my UFOs or I need a bigger house.

I'll deal with the UFOs. I don't want to clean a bigger house. (I don't like to clean my little bitty house. I like to quilt. It's a vicious circle.)

With that in mind, I joined Peg and Kris in their OPAM group. I'll be listing my finishes there on my side bar. It'll be fun to see.

I get to add two tonight.

First, my little angel rug which I finished a couple of nights ago.


Second, my insane sampler quilt. I'm REALLY glad to get this one off the UFO list.


So what next?

Basting. I have lots of basting to do.

See?

There are 25 quilts there waiting patiently. Who's up for a basting party?

What? No takers?

Come on! It'll be fun. I'll bring the band-aids.

Catching Up Again

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind. Work has been out of hand but I'm not going to whine. I'm glad to be there...even when I'm not glad, I still am deep down inside.

We spent New Year's weekend running back and forth from here to my hometown (not a far run really). My Dad was terribly sick and went into the hospital New Year's Day. Take the combination of slightly out of control diabetes, a bout with vertigo and add in an unknown infection and you get a 2 day visit to ICU and 4 days in the hospital. He is home and doing better, but not 100%. Diabetes is a wicked, evil thing.

During one of the trips home, we were treated to a home-cooked meal by an old friend. It was wonderful to catch up and tell my husband about my old adventures with Sam. We have tales to tell that span from Chapel Hill to Riga, Latvia. But that'll have to be a different post.

Last weekend was the much anticipated Miss Bee Haven retreat. It was, as usual, freezing outside but we didn't care. We get to sew in a wonderful craft room with lots of space and lots of light. We were cranking the work out too! I don't know how many tops were finished but there were MANY. The best part though is hanging out and laughing with friends. It was a blessing to forget about work for a bit and sew and laugh and sew and laugh.

Sewing...Laura and Mrs. Goodneedle catch up while Laura makes one of a gazillion yo-yos.


Laughing...Nane uses Laura's pound cake as a template for the Death Star on her nephew's Star Wars quilt while Laura dances in the background.


Sewing...Carolyn cranking out one of several quilt tops she finished during the weekend while Randi, our visitor from California works on a wonderful Civil War respoduction quilt. (She was lucky I didn't carry it off and keep it for myself.)


Laughing...Bonnie points out that yes, she did use my 1" scrap of star print in her block!


Sewing... Quiltkeemosabee and Karen came down just for the day on Saturday and made the most of it.

Laughing...Karen models one of her borders.




Sewing...lots of "sweatshop" sewing...




Laughing...Karen makes me laugh!


No, there's never a dull moment with Miss Bee Haven...a dull needle maybe, but never a dull moment!

Happy New Year!

Usually my New Year's Celebration is spent either at home or at my parent's beach house listening to the men folk snore the New Year in. This year we went a different route.

A couple of weeks or so ago I get a challenge (uh, email) from Gina. She wants to know if we will join her for the "Running of the Lights" at Tanglewood where the Festival of Lights is held every year. At midnight New Year's Eve the "race" begins - a 3.2 run/walk through the light show. We walked. I don't run. Even in my younger, thinner days I refused to run.

It was cold. It was foggy and misty. It was dark. It was a blast.

Thanks to Gina for getting us out to ring in the New Year in a healthy, wacky, memorable way!

Happy New Year to all!