Good Bye 2008

I can't believe 2008 is done. It has been a very busy time for me of late. The company I work for is going through a lot of changes, and combined with the busy holidays, I've had little time to do anything, let alone quilting. We had a wonderful Christmas. The family all got together in Tracy at my sister's family's house. It's always fun to see my nephews' excitement on the holiday. Sadly, the batteries in my camera were dead, so no pictures there. I hope to be posting more soon. I have the class projects to finish and I have lots of ideas for quilts that I want to make. 2009 will be a fresh start all around. Bring it on!!

Stash Busting Pledge for 2009

Okay, it's the last day of the year and I've finally decided to commit -- in writing, no less -- to busting my fabric stash this year. Last year I kept this goal in the back of my mind, but didn't make much of a actual dent. But then, I wasn't a very prolific quilter last year. About a month ago I was looking for a particular piece of fabric and I ended up pulling bin after bin after box after bag of fabric. It really started to hit home just how much fabric I have. For the most part, I have my colors separated into large conainers, but if something gets pulled out, it usually doesn't go back in -- instead it gets tucked into a corner or on a shelf out of site. It makes it difficult to see just how much I have. Unfortunately, long ago when I would collect fabric, I would only buy small pieces, which are more difficult to use when planning a new quilt. A lot of us bloggers are having the same problem, so Judy Laquidara is trying to help us all out through her blog. She did the same last year and I enjoyed hearing of everyone's stash-busting efforts. This year I'll join in and we'll see how I do. Wish me luck!!

Cookie Winner!!

Last weekend was my nephew Max's 4th Birthday, which we celebrated at Ardenwood Historic Farm. They were having their annual Christmas Days with special festivities all weekend. One of the things they were doing was a Cookie contest. Anyone interested was to bring a dozen cookies with recipe by 11:00 for judging and winner announcement at noon. Well lo and behold, yours truly won first place with my Ranch Cookies, and my mom won third place!! I have to admit that my recipe was originally my mom's which I tweaked just a little. Above you can see us with our prizes. I got a family pass back into the farm (two adults and two children) which I gave to my sister for their family. My mom won an Ardenwood mug which was made by a potter on their grounds. It was brutally cold until a little before we left, when the sun finally came back out and the wind died down, but we all had a great time and Max was excited about his birthday. I'll put a slideshow in my next post with pictures from the day. Unfortantely I need to do this on my laptop which is not available right now. I hope to have those pictures up soon.

I've been trying to get some sewing done, but for some reason I'm just not very motivated. I did, however, get most of the small class project completed and I'm really happy with it. No pictures lest I spoil the surprise!