Word of the Year

Many folks are claiming a word to guide and challenge them throughout the year.  Many of my students and friends have seen my word for 2013:

2012 didn't end well for me and 2013 didn't start off so swell, either.  This was the most fitting word I could come up with at the time, and it served me well.  Not a single day went by when there wasn't an appropriate opportunity to use this word, but I refuse to divulge whether or not I actually said this out loud.

After last year's successful word, I have been trying to come up with a word for 2014.  I have auditioned several and this one stuck.

READY

It is not an exciting or glamorous word; it is a day-to-day word that gets the job done.

We are expecting a major snowstorm later this week.  I am ready.

I am the queen of the last minute.  If someone around me has a need, I am not always able to drop what I am doing to assist.  I want to be better at being ready for my life to leave room for the needs of others.

Last year, I was asked to film a series of DVDs for Handi Quilter on their Sweet Sixteen.  I was ready.  I want to be ready for any new opportunities that come my way.

2014 starts tomorrow.  I am READY.

Retired

I can't show many of the quilts that I am working on. 'Tis the season and all of that.

Untl the new year, I hope to entertain you with quilts that have been retired from my teaching suitcase.

This retired quilt went to my daughter:

Close-up:

It was made with scraps from her college quilt.  I made a quick little baby quilt and she claimed it as hers.

She is NOT expecting a baby, but I guess it pays to be prepared?

Depressed

2013 has been a long year.  As a quilting teacher, I traveled to many amazing places this year and met many new people.  I spent more time in hotel rooms than I did at home and I missed my husband.  This is all expected and part of the job.

My husband and I plan a trip together every December to celebrate the passing of another wonderful year.  This year, we scored a great travel deal and went to Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico.

I was greeted at the resort with this:

I loved the view from my window:

The sunrises were amazing:

The breakfast buffet.... oh, the breakfast buffet:

More breakfast buffet:

I spent my days doing this:

 and this:

Non-alcoholic pina colada.  No, really, I don't drink.

I spent more days doing this:

and this:

Non-alcoholic mango margarita.  Seriously, I really don't drink.

After six wonderfully relaxing days at the beach, I and my sunburn left the white sand and flew home to the white snow.  Yesterday I was in 85*F and today I am in 25*F.  I am not pleased.

I am catching up on things at home and thought my husband might be a little depressed, post-vacation, like I am.  I decided to bring a little bit of the resort home for him.

Turn-down service:

Bonus points if you can name the fabric line.

A few housekeeping touches:

Yes, that ribbon was recycled from a jelly roll.  And don't laugh at the TP holder -- it came with the house and we haven't renovated that bathroom yet.

How else can I turn this house in upstate New York into a Mexican resort?  I'm open to any ideas.

This vacation was wonderful and it will take a few days (weeks?) to recover from the its awesomeness.  I'm consoling myself with quilting, but I might have to break out the chocolate soon...

Gifted Quilt

By the end of 2012, I was seriously behind in gift quilts:  weddings, graduations, babies, etc.  It will take a while for me to get caught up, but I am working on it.

My RockStar hubby is a drummer and his guitar player recently (a year or so ago?) had a second son.  Last week I packed up the quilt for hubby to take to band practice, but once I realized that I had no photos of this quilt, I frantically texted him during his drive SCREAMING at him to not give the quilt away.  Fortunately, he read the text and returned the quilt.  Phew!  A week later, the quilt has been photographed and delivered.

The front:

The quilting:

The backing (wild, right?):

My friend Harriet and I started this quilt as a mystery class a long, long time ago.  I wonder if she ever finished hers?

My husband forwarded this note from his guitar player today:

Thanks again to Debbie for her most excellent quilt!Colin and Max were both enjoying it on the couch last night (both in warmth and pillow forts)

Pillow forts ROCK!

Grandma is Just Getting Started

In February, I will get to meet my first grandson.  I have been holding back on the baby sewing, until now...

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I made the cutest baby boy bonnet ever:

The bonnet is on my daughter-in-law's belly.

Side view (of the hat, not the belly):

I found the free pattern online here.

I used flannel from a shirt for the outside of the bonnet and some jersey from a T-shirt for the inside of the bonnet.  The fabric is already super-soft!

I want to make so many other things for this baby!

If you have a favorite baby pattern, please leave a link in the comments.  This Grandma needs to sew!

Best Wishes

My son is married to his middle-school sweetheart and our families go to church together.  We are closer than most in-laws.  Soon, we will share a grandson!

I just finished a quilt for my:

son's
wife's
brother's
bride-to-be

We have only met two or three times and I don't know her well enough to guess at her taste in quilts.  I checked out her bridal registry and noticed that everything was black and white.  I remembered a black and white UFO that I started back in 2006 or so.  I pulled it out a few weeks ago and finished it. 

I LOVE THIS QUILT!  

I could have quilted this to be worthy of a quilt show.  Instead, I quilted it to be used and loved by the happy couple.

I wish them many years of happiness!