Southern Stars number nine

Here is Southern Stars number nine. My fave LQS is doing this as a $5 quilt, except they call it their "Weekend Sampler." I have managed to stay caught up this time - that's a first!

We're having a quiet New Year's Eve here. We'll have some wine and cheese about 10:30 p.m. here, then watch the ball drop in NYC at their midnight and head off to bed. No big plans for tomorrow, either. Maybe I'll get some quality sewing time in.

I've been thinking about resolutions. I could list a million things I'd like to do better in 2010 than I did in 2009. I do have some resolutions in mind. I'll share the quilty/needleworky ones:

• Enter a quilt show. I don't have a quilt ready at the moment, though. I have about a fourth of a top ready that is different sizes of sawtooth stars in pinks and greens (all from stash and scraps). I may focus on finishing that so I can get it in the hand-quilting frame and get it finished in time for the next area show - maybe the New Braunfels show.
• Always have some kind of handwork available to do when I'm watching TV.
• Join one of the local guilds. Maybe. How about if I just say, visit a couple of guild meetings.
• Finish one UFO per month.

Ok, getting way too ambitious here. Resolutions are supposed to be ambitious, though. I need something challenging to strive toward.

I wish for everyone a wonderful 2010.

Happy New Year's Eve

Our new friend and family member

This is our newest family member, Napoleon. We adopted him from a local shelter in October. Isn't he the cutest? Smart, too. He sleeps in the laundry "room" (more of a laundry hallway, actually). A few nights ago he learned how to open the pocket door from his sleeping area to the rest of the house. He was quite proud of himself. He's a shepherd mix, very tall and lanky. His favorite hobbies are chewing on rawhide and watching Dogs 101 on Animal Planet. Seriously! When the show is on he will sit in front of the TV the whole time, just watching the dogs on the screen.

A few nights ago he ran out the front door at the same time our neighbors had their three dogs in their front yard. The only way to get Napoleon back in our house was to have all four dogs come in! It was quite a scene.

The party's over

I wish I could say that this is my house. It's not. It's an historical home on the campus of the college where I work. Friday, I was in charge of our College holiday brunch - about 600 guests! I had a great caterer and lots of help, so it went well, but standing on hardwood floors in heels for four hours is a killer!


I wanted to take pictures of all the tables and food, but the guests arrived the minute the preparations were complete, and then it was all over!

Just two more weeks and we're off for two weeks - I can't wait.

This creature was stirring

There I was, Friday morning, happily puttering whilst the hubby and daughter slept off their early morning trip to Kohl's, when I heard a strange scratching noise in an otherwise quiet house. I thought one of the cats had gotten trapped in a bedroom someone closed the door of - it happens sometimes. As I crossed the living room to check, I glanced over at the fireplace and what to my extremely wondering eyes should appear, inside the fireplace (thankfully there was no fire going), but one of our thousands of neighborhood squirrels! And he was scratching and pushing on the glass fireplace door, trying to get out - I mean, IN!

Panic ensued between woman and squirrel. I roused my husband from what he thought was going to be his long winter's nap and dragged him to the living room to rescue me. Do you ever have one of those times when you're husband says something extremely, well, male, and you just have to bite your lip really hard? Husband says, "Take the cats in the bedroom and close the door and I'll open the front door, then, open the fireplace and the squirrel will just run outside." Well, sure, I think, that will work - if the squirrel has been in our house before and knows how to get from the living room to the front door, and if the squirrel intended to fall down the chimney all along, calmly thinking, "Okay, plan B if I can't get back up the chimney is to just run out the front door when the guy who lives here lets me out." Hubby read the look on my face and said, "I know, I'll call the chimney sweep. Get me something heavy to lean against the glass doors until he gets here."

A couple of hours later, my daughter woke up and came out of her room to see a sooty man with a top hat carrying a squirrel in a towel through our house. And, we now have a re-secured cap at the top of our chimney - which had been installed upside down, according to the sweep.

The dazed squirrel decamped, exclaiming, "Happy Day-after-Thanksgiving to all and to all, a good afternoon." Or something like that, surely.

Giving Thanks

'Happy Thanksgiving, Americans, and happy day to all. In a few minutes I have to go back downstairs and see how the rolls are rising. We're having pork roast, cauliflower with cheese sauce, cranberry/orange salad, asparagus, homemade rolls and the apple pie pictured above, which I made sugar-free. There's also still some Shaker lemon pie - I think I'll have a little of each!

These two quilts are Jo's Little Women (Jo Morton) projects from way back. I altered the center of Cabin Corners, the one on the table. I inked "A cabin with plenty of food is better than a hungry castle," which I thought was appropriate for both a log cabin quilt and for Thanksgiving. The basket quilt is folded on a little towel stand I got on eBay.

I'm thankful for my husband and daughter, who keep life exciting, for my friends and family and for the love of God in our lives! Hope you have a blessed day.

Turkey Tracks

These turkey tracks blocks make me smile! I don't know if it's the happy red and white fabrics, or the fact that I'm making turkey tracks blocks two days before Thanksgiving. The pattern is in the book, "Remembering Adelia." The pattern in the book only calls for four blocks, which are 6.5 inches unfinished. I made 9. I hope to get it all put together today. The borders are the same green as the cornerstones, making it very Christmasy. If the quilting turns out half-way nice, this may end up as one of my Pay-It-Forward gifts.


I have the day off today - am tying valiantly to put work completely out of my thoughts. Along with putting this together, I hope to get to the grocery store with my list for Thanksgiving. Now that my daughter is a vegetarian, we may "think outside the turkey." I'll still make a meat dish for my husband and me, but probably not a big bird.