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Its been an interesting week

We decided to go skiing at Hunter Mountain on Tuesday, its only just over the hour from where we live and they have half price ski days for locals. We were on the slopes by 10.15 and we were greeted with good snow conditions, no lines at the lifts and reasonable weather. What more could we ask for. We skied through to about 2.30 and then drove home to make sure the dogs got fed on time.
The forecast was predicting another snowfall on Tuesday night and we were greeted the next morning with about 8 inches more snow. There was very little wind so we did not have the same drifting that we got last time. We don’t like to let the dogs out in it too much as the golden doodle is a complete magnet for the snow and if forms ice balls all over her. But we decided to let them have good run around and as you can see they had a fantastic time. The birds were very grateful that we restocked the bird feeder. So much so that they had emptied it by the end of the day!

I was busy working Thursday and Friday, getting ready for my trip to Jacksonville next week. Its going to be strange travelling to work again. Just hope the airlines all run to schedule as I have a pretty tight connection in Atlanta.
Saturday I went to my very first quilt guild meeting. Thanks to the the ladies of the Wiltwyck quilt guild in Kingston NY for making me welcome. They had 67 people attend, they seem a very active group. I was thrilled to find out that one of the blogs I follow, Bonnie Hunter at http://quiltville.blogspot.com/ is coming to teach there in April, so I signed up for the classes straight away.

I spent Sunday morning finishing my November block for the quilting B I belong to. Yes I know, very late but I will catch up with the others next weekend. I also completely cleaned my sewing room so at least I can move around in there again.

I am off to the movies later today to see the Kings Speech with our friends Gil and Sara. Movie was good and so was the food at the Gilded Otter. Just need to pack now

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The weekend finished well

After the snow on Friday, I had a sewing class Saturday afternoon at the Quilters Attic in Pine Bush http://quiltersattic.com/ .
It was a UFO classs so I took in my Charlston quilt from the cotton theory book. Anita helped me work out where I was (not very far) so that I will be able to complete it when Judy pulls the right number out of the UFO challenge. I useda different machine while I was there and realised just how much I love my Pfaff CV. I have just got used to all the automatic features it has to offer, in particular the way the foot raises and lowers 🙂
I spent all day Sunday working on my number 6 UFO – Progress to date is in the top picture only one more round of blocks to go. Sunday night I got to sleep under one of my quilts for the very first time. It was my Hunter Star.

Here is week 2 stash report

0 yards used year to Date:

0 yards added this Week:

Added Year to Date: 20

Net Used for 2011: 0 yards
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How to shrink your stash !

Yesterday was a snow day here so even though I work from home I thought I would take advantage and catch up on some sewing related things. Here is the view from my desk, The birds were lining up for a turn at the feeder all day but I thought the combination of the red cardinal against the greys and white of the day was really lovely.

I started the day with a nice cappuccino and got my mind in the right place by drawing patterns on the top

I did some sewing on my number 6 UFO project but I still have some distance to go on that yet. While reading the blogs, I read a guest blogger on stash manicure whose home blog is http://sewmanyways.blogspot.com/ Karen was talking about organising your sewing room better and I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. I asked DH to scan all my stash fabric (yes I am lucky he never complains about the quantity) so now I have all the scans in a folder ready to use in EQ7, then I downloaded an app for my IPad called Fabric Stash XL brought the pictures into it then measured and folded each piece – I guess that’s three birds !!
So here is the added advantage of folding your fabric as Karen suggests and fulfilling the title of this blog without actually using any fabric, when you fold it all this way -it looks so much less, woo hoo now I can go and buy more with a clear conscience.Obviously this does not include all the fabric I have in drawers or the fleece and flannel or my fat quarters, layer cakes and jelly rolls but…….

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Just another Tuesday

Spent time in my home office working and set up my embroidery machine (Pfaff CV) to stitch out the book cover for Caitlin’s birthday.
I then completed it on the serger (Babylock Evolution), My DH created a birthday card for her, using images of her over the years. We will pack it in with a few bought gifts but I hope she likes the ones we took time to personalize for her.

Late afternoon I went to have my nails done, I normally have gel ( hangover from needing nails in good shape when working) but I was persuaded to try Shellac. It is like a reinforced nail polish. I will let you know how it lasts as this should get me closer to natural nails again.
Rounded off the evening with a run with my good friend Gil and his four dogs, I ran just over 4.25 miles and given the temperature was below freezing, I was quite pleased with my efforts.
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Don’t knock it till you try it

Monday, I spent most of the day at my PC working on a new training course for work. Lunchtime I was able to a little on my 5D software, I designed a book cover for my niece. Hopefully I will get to stitch it out tomorrow.

I was invited to go try line dancing at the local Vets hall and I thought why not, its something new. So at 6.30 I arrived and joined a group of some dozen other beginners and followed the teaching from Bernadette. I have to say it was a lot of fun. A little exercise for the body but a lot of exercise for the brain trying to remember all of the steps. The music was varied, some country but also some soul, all in all I really enjoyed myself. Who would have guessed? http://notjustcountrylinedancing.com/

I will definitely try it again and next time I will wear better shoes, who knows maybe I will get myself some cowboy boots.

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Stash List

For those of you non quilters, we have some technical terms for our guilty secrets. When we are out buying fabric for no specific reason we say it is for our stash. Whilst no quilter likes to admit just how much they have in their hoard. I thought I would join the folks over in Patchwork times and declare my weekly purchesses

So here goes

Week 1

0 yardsUsed year to Date: ( As I cut the blue and white last year I dont think I can count it )
20 yardsAdded this Week: (there were sales !)
Added Year to Date: 20
Net Used for 2011: 0 yards

Week 2
0 yards used year to date
0 yards added this week
Added year to date 20
Net used for 2011 0 yards

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A new year filled with good intentions

Thanks to the UFO challenge from Patchwork times, they drew the lucky number 6 yesterday which means that I got down to trying to finish the sixth item on my list which is my blue and white quilt. The pattern was inspired by Karen Montgomery’s quilt in the August addition of American Patchwork & Quilting.

After 2 days this is how far I have progressed with the assembly — I cut all the blocks last September in order to try out my Accuquilt Go cutter. It is about 12 yards of fabric. Saturday night I stitched some more on my Raggedy quilt.

I have also been running, 4.4 miles on the treadmill on Saturday and 2.2 miles out in the snow today.

Lets hope I can keep up with all this progress.

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It’s been a while…….

It’s been a while since I last updated this blog so I thought that I’d better write a bit about the last few months.

We really enjoyed our last outing with the 5th wheel up in the Adirondacks. We had pretty good weather and were able to get out on some fine walks. The photo shows the general views across Lake Placid. The air was good and we could see clear into Canada. The journey back home was a little slow due to holiday traffic but all went well and we were soon back in our own bed.

The hot dry summer took its toll on the lawn whilst we weren’t around to water it. Quite large sections had dried up and died. Rob had to get to work on re-seeding it to give it chance to grow before the cold weather set in. He tells me that the secret is in the straw mulching to stop the moisture loss. Whatever, it seems to have done the trick and we should have a green lawn once the snow melts away at the end of March.

The girls were pleased to get back to their own patch.

Late in the summer, each year, the local car club puts on an outdoor show not more than 3 miles from us. We were determined to go along this year to see what it was all about. There were custom cars, vintage restorations and hot rods of all kinds. There was even a fair smattering of old British cars. They were blessed with a beautiful day at the foot of the Shawangunk Ridge.


It was good to be back at home as far as sewing was concerned. There is only so much I can take with me when we go travelling. I had quite a few things to finish off and a few more items that I’d planned to get started. These are a couple of things that I managed to complete. The wall quilt would eventually give Rob the inspiration for our Xmas card.

One of the very best aspects of living in this rural part of the country is that we have lots of visitors to our garden. Some, like the deer, are pretty regular vistors. From time to time we get a eal surprise. This young Coopers Hawk was sitting up in the tree overlooking the bird feeder. Luckily for our regular feathered friends, he decided not to take up residence.

Our friends Gil and Sara joined us for a Sunday outing to a craft fair at the Woodstock site at Bethel Woods. I can always get Rob to drive me out there. It touches his inner hippy thing (he’s older than me 🙂 There were various crafts and local produce on display but I particularly wanted to see the llamas.

Autumn is always a wonder here. It brings beautiful colours and spectacular sunrises.

Luck was on my side when I had a big wish granted. I picked up a contract that sent me to London for a few weeks. This gave me a chance to see family and, of course, to be there for grand daughter Alana’s 3rd birthday. How can it have gone so quickly. The work aspect was long and hard but it was all worth it to be there to see Alana’s happy smiling face. It makes me so proud to see Sarah doing such a great job with her. I can hardly wait until the next opportunity. Oh well, thank goodness for Skype!

To round out a wonderful year Kat and Iain joined us for Christmas. We managed to combine just the right mix of exercise and eating ….. perhaps! The weather cooperated to allow us to take a couple of good walks on the ridge and then, right on queue, the snow came in to give us a white Christmas. This gave us a chance to use new snow shoes.

We also got to try out cross country skiing up at Mohonk Mountain House. I’ve been trying to get the “grinch” (aka Rob) to give it a go for a couple of years. He couldn’t find any more excuses and ended up liking it. Who’d have thought it. Anyhow, we all had a great time and it put the icing on a really lovely Christmas cake.

A New Year and a new blog. I’m doing so much sewing related things that I have decided to start a new blog at http://sewfarfromhome.blogspot.com/

Rob will keep this one up to date so that we can keep everybody informed of travel related goings on. Happy New Year to everybody.

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Raggedy and Friends

The weather here was as good as it gets yesterday, well at least in the winter, snow on the ground, no wind and big blue skies. My husband and I decided to go cross country skiing at Mountain House just outside of New Paltz New York. We have only been once before (2 days ago) but felt that we should tackle an intermediate trail. We did about 3 miles on the intermediate and then repeated the beginner run from Tuesday. By 2pm we were starving and tired so we drove home.
Nice picnic lunch then upstairs to catch up on some sewing. I am doing the BOM from the Painted Quilt thanks Kaaren and good luck in your new home. I am a few blocks behind so I made a start on block 3. Here is my progress to date, it is fun to combine the machine quilting with the hand stitched panels. The bottom panel is partially stitched the top panel is just marked up ready to stitch. One of the ladies on Kaaren’s blog recommended a great product, its called Transfer-Eze. you can either print or photocopy your design onto these special sheets , peel off the backing paper then stick them onto your panel. I then stitch through the sheets, they are a little stiff so I find I do not need to hoop my work. When you have finished the stitching they just wash away. Very easy.

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2011 UFO’s with Patchwork Times

Just joined the UFO project with Patchwork Times and Judy Laquidara. As it is not yet New Year it does not count as a resolution so hopefully that improves my chances of getting the work done. So here goes, this is my current UFO list

  1. Holly hobby quilt
  2. Layer cake quilt
  3. Accuquilt test quilt
  4. Woodland scene
  5. Raggedy Anne
  6. Blue and white squares – This is the January challenge — I have stated and so far created 20 16patch blocks
  7. Redwork Christmas runner
  8. Asian Chocolate
  9. Christmas stockings
  10. Christmas place mats
  11. Christmas Snowman tiles
  12. House Wall Hanging

Actually I do not feel so bad now, I thought I had more unfinished work than this. Maybe I should add my own list for knitting and other new projects that I hope to start .