Wild Olive

Judy over at Patchwork Times is hostessing a UFO Challenge for 2011 . She's going to have us aim for finishing (up to your own interpretation) one quilt per month. Every year I kind of check my list of UFO's, but don't always get too far in completing items on the list. When I went looking in my quilt room at my UFO's, it turns out I have soooo many quilts that just need quilted! Tops are made, backs are made, binding is even made for most of them. The ONLY thing they need is quilted. (Can you tell that part makes me nervous?) I decided I'm going to bite the bullet and aim for quilting one quilt a month and get those things out! Some are small and not so scary (like for charity), so I can start on one or two of those, right? Here's my list. I just chose alphabetical order. Judy's going to draw one number out of a hat each month and we'll work on that one! I know... there are 13... but I just wanted to list every one that was basically ready to go....

My sweet quilting buddy Sigmund passed away in August. I've been so sad I can hardly stand it sometimes. I've gotten back in my quilting room a little, but still just doing superficial stuff. That's OK for now though - I'm sure I'll get "serious" some time soon. I miss his tail swishing dangerously close to the rotary cutter, and his totally wanting to just lay on whatever it is that I'm working on at the moment. I'm kind of hoping that blogging about it might get me over the not-blogging hump... not that I'm a stellar blogger anyway. Man I miss him.

Sigmund (aka "Siggy") really loves to "help" me when I'm quilting. It generally consists of laying on what I'm doing, swishing his tail into the path of my rotary cutter, scaring me half to death jumping over my head to get to the window - you know, helpful things like that. But I'm not sure I could quilt without him!

I did a little side project that was completed today. I don't usually do that much that's crafty, but these were so cute, and I have an occasion to give them! I used this Heather Bailey Pattern . Pretty simple, even though I'm not that used to sewing things that aren't flat. By the way, if you haven't read Click, Clack, Moo, you really should. It's really a cute book. The new GPS came and so far we've found 2 caches with it - fairly easily too! It works so much better under tree cover than the iphone does, it's not even funny. We feel much more successful now! Whew! Betsy

Today's Quilt Wall Originally uploaded by theercs I got a baby quilt top started today. It's not really laid out yet, just stuck up on the wall. But it sort of matches my shakers on the shelf above! Huh! I wish I got this much done every Monday! Yesterday I tried this recipe for Baked Ravioli (without the sausage or beef, and spinach ravioli), and it turned out pretty good! Actually better tonight as leftovers (like many baked pasta dishes). Our geocaching has been very unfruitful as of late. Unable to find, closed trails, kind of frustrating. We have a new GPS on the way - I'm sure that will solve all our problems! Betsy

From Jenni! Originally uploaded by theercs Jenni and I had a little exchange, and she sent this wonderful gift from Australia, with real Australian fabric! It's so interesting, and has cool little ants on it! So much fun!

I finally got poor Maddie her quilt! I think this baby quilt is a little late, considering she's probably close to about 3rd grade by now! (Just kidding...). The idea was from Alex Anderson's baby quilt book. There are some cute things in there! And a typical Betsy Back: I'm hoping her mom let's her play with it! Betsy

I've been reading about a woman that's going to do a tutorial/quilt-along to do this quilt, originally in an LL Bean catalog. Does that seem like something fun to do with all those little scraps I've been collecting (and many of you have been so generous to donate), or just crazy? She is going to simplify the method... not just all single squares, but some kind of strip piecing. I really like the simpleness of this quilt... no borders or anything. Check out her blog posts about it: Handmade by Heidi and her Postage Stamp Quilt-Along. Betsy

I might need to change phone service, just so I can get this phone!

Slama Quilt Originally uploaded by theercs I kind of feel like the holidays were a whirlwind of activities - although somewhat less stressful than usual. I did manage to start this quilt about Thanksgiving, and finish it by day after Christmas... pretty good for me! And something finished... and labeled (which I forgot to take a picture of)! Now back to all those other Works In Progress...