An Award!

I'm so excited! I have received my very first award and Nancy was so kind to give it to me!

The rules for this award are:

1. The receiver is to copy the award button to his/her blog.

2. Link to who gave you this award.

3. Nominate at least 7 other bloggers.

4. Link to each nominee.

5. Leave message at the nominee's blog.

I follow so many blogs, and I think that you are all so creative, so it was really hard for me to choose just 7, so if you read my blog regularly consider yourself awarded! Here are the '7' that I am officially passing the award to:

1. My mom, Christina, at My Swede Life...she really is very creative making dolls, hats, quilts, etc.

2. Sherri at A Quilting Life...her projects and her blog are an inspiration to me

3. Rochelle at Three Turns to Home...she seems to have a talent for everything making quilts, stuffed animals, etc.

4. Kristin at Sadie Bird...she has such a great eye for color and creates some of the most beautiful and unique quilts I've seen

5. Penny at sewtakeahike...another inspiring gal that I think can create/make anything

6. Erica at Polka Dot Quilts...she makes amazing quilts too, among other things

7. Elizabeth at Silver Scissor Quilts...she is the fastest quilter I know and her projects always turn out beautifully

Thanks! Have a great weekend!

Finally Finished!

Since it's taken me so long to finish this quilt, I'm embarrased to admit it, but this is the very first quilt I ever made, and now it has finally been bound (only took 8 years) and I can call it done! About 8-1/2 years or so ago when I first started quilting, my mother and I bought this pattern called Yellow Brick Road because we were each going to make a quilt...hers was going to be blue, yellow, and white. I bought all of the fabric at Wal-Mart...before I knew that not all fabrics are created equal...nothing against Wal-Mart fabrics, though...I think the quilt still turned out nicely (even though it's not my favorite and that's why it's taken me so long to finish). Shortly after starting this quilt I discovered quilt store fabric and prefer to use that now.

I'm almost done binding another quilt, so I'll post that one soon!

Hope you have a great day and Happy Sewing! =)

Here Comes the Sun....

This last weekend, we went from this:

to this:

We took a trip down to St. George to cheer my dad on in the Half-Marathon he entered. It was such nice weather...so much warmer than we've had here...but still a little chilly in the morning. It was also nice to see the sun...we've had what seems like continual fog and smog here for quite some time now.


Here is my dad running in the race...Way to go, Dad!!!

I'll post more about recent projects soon. I have way too many things that I want to do...I almost don't know where to start. Hmmm, perhaps I should start by finishing my quilt list on the side bar.... =)

ZUMBA!

I'm sure I'm the last one to discover zumba, but tonight I went to my first class and it was so much fun! I loved it...it was a really great workout...I haven't worked up a sweat like that in a long time. The best thing about the class is that even though you are moving all the time and really getting your heart rate up, you don't really feel tired. The class lasted an hour, so I'm still keeping my resolution to exercise 30+ minutes a day for at least 3 days a week...hooray! But, I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow...I can already feel it setting in.

Do you Zumba? If you want to go with me next Thursday night...let me know.

To keep up with another resolution, today I'm grateful that the tires on my husband's truck passed on the annual inspection to renew the registration. =)

Thanks for stopping by! Make it a great day!

My Resolutions

Welcome to 2009! Can you believe it's 2009?!?! The years seem to keep flying by faster and faster and faster. I've decided that this year is going to be a great year...and this is the year that I KEEP my resolutions. Here are my resolutions for this year:

1. Pay off debt and save more money - be more frugal
2. Cut down on my sugar intake (I wish I could say that I wouldn't eat any sugar, but we all know that won't happen)
3. Exercise 30+ minutes a day - 3 days a week
4. Finish the quilts I've started
5. Sew more and use the fabric in my fabric stash (I really do have WAY TOO MUCH fabric)
6. Be more patient (I tend to have little patience sometimes...unfortunately)
7. Donate blood at least 4 times (I'm O- so they like my blood)
8. Watch less TV
9. Adopt a baby (Unfortunately, I don't have any control over this one...maybe a birth mom will pick us!)
10. Start a business that I've been thinking about (out of my house and on the internet)

What are your resolutions?

My mom, has decided that everyday she's going to write down one positive thing - one thing she's grateful for. I like that idea, so I plan on doing it too! Today, I'm grateful that I have a job...and a loving, understanding husband to talk to on days when things are a little stressful at work.

Well, I better get started on those resolutions! Thanks for stopping by...leave me a note with one of your resolutions! Make it a great day! =)

New Iron - Problem Solved! - And Other Stuff =)

I hope that you all had a wonderful holiday season! We had a lovely Christmas...our families make it a lot of fun! My husband is also super creative, and in honor of the two kittens that I got for my birthday back in August, he wrapped me up a present (it was a new calendar for 2009) from them...here is the wrapping:

Doesn't it look like a cat!? I loved it...it even says from Clover and Metroid, our two cats...strange names, I know! =)

As many of you know, I've been having ironing issues lately, so when my parents asked me what I'd like for Chistmas, I said a new iron...please! They are so sweet to me...they got me a new iron. It's a Rowenta, and I love it! It's a dream to iron with...glides so smooth and it has all these little holes for steam...soooooo much better than my old iron! It makes ironing so much more enjoyable. And...no more marks on my quilt blocks...hooray!

With some of my Christmas money, I visited IKEA and bought this great desk to use as my sewing table (the old one has now taken up residence in the laundry room as a folding station). The top of the desk can raise to different heights and it can tilt, so if I'm tracing a pattern or something it won't be as much of a strain. It also has a glass top, with what I'd describe as an open drawer, so I can store a picture of the pattern I'm working on, or I can put a light underneath and trace...no more taping to the windows or the sliding glass door! I love this desk...it looks very scandinavian to me. (Sorry about the striped paint...I've wanted to repain this room for some time, but haven't done it yet...I think I'm leaning toward a robin's egg blue color...what do you think?) Also, after 10+ years of marriage, our old, cheap mattress that we bought as newleyweds was really needing to be replaced, so we bought a new mattress! It's a ComforPedic and it is so comfortable...no more waking up feeling like my back was broken. Our old bed was a queen size, but they were having such a great sale on this mattress that we bought a king...it was even cheaper than the queen! Of course that means new sheets, blankets, quilts, bed frame...so I've got some more shopping to do, but it will be fun to redo our bedroom. Here is a picture of our old bed, which we moved into one of our extra bedrooms (we took the daybed from this room and put it in my sewing room...I bought a great red and white duvet cover from IKEA for the daybed in the sewing room...to go with the Scandinavian feel of the desk).Years ago, my husband made the nightstand out of old wood he found...it's held up really well, and I like the weathered look. There is a bookshelf and a dresser on the other side of the room. We still need to hang some things on the wall and I need to make some different cushion covers for the rocking chair.

Since I've been making over my sewing room, another thing I bought from IKEA were some baskets to organize my fabric in...8 baskets to be exact. I thought for sure that would hold all my fabric stash...not even close! So, one of my new year resolutions is to use up the fabric in my stash this year...that will make for some fun scrap quilts - my favorite.

Well, I have many other new year resolutions, but that's a post for another day! Hope you have a wonderful day! Sorry for the lengthy 'catch-up' post. Thanks for stopping by! =)