New Year New Beginnings

It's been a while, but it's time for a new beginning. I've done a few things already this year that I hadn't done for a while or had never done and I hope to continue doing.

First, I sewed a few articles of clothing. I had tried this a few times in the past with mixed results. I kept seeing things in stores that I thought (hearing my mom's voice in my head) "I could make that myself!" So I picked out a few easy patterns and got some inexpensive fabric at Joann's to try it out.

I ended up making a blouse and a sundress. The blouse turned out well although next time I would make some slight alterations like using a lighter weight fabric and making the back ties longer. The sundress turned out really well, but looks a bit like a muu muu. I couldn't resist the pattern since it has pockets - I can't resist a dress with pockets! I'll probably wear it lots during the summer - AT HOME!

The second thing I hadn't done in a while was start an exercise regiment! I joined a "biggest loser"-type contest at work and I've had to get down to business in the last week or so. I've been doing alright so far, but boy is it hard to get into a new routine when your routine for a LONG time has been eating whatever you want and doing a lot of sitting around.

The third thing is going snowshoeing! I've never done that before and this weekend dh and I decided to try something new. We had about 6 inches or so of snow this past week and the temperatures were above freezing this weekend, so it was perfect weather for it. We got some snow shoes and took them out for a spin near the Skokie Lagoons. We had fun and got a great workout.

I'm looking forward to a great year full of more new and exciting things!

Snow Day Sewing

We had a rare snow day (two, in fact!) a few weeks ago. I spent the mornings shoveling a LOT of snow and the afternoons sewing a scrappy log cabin quilt for a charity event. I'll let the pictures do all the talking here..

Disorganization and Mondo Birds

Had to rearrange the sewing/crafting area. Again. It seems it never can settle and stay one configuration for long before something happens and it has to move again.

This time it was the arrival of some new bedroom furniture. Don't get me wrong, I love the new furniture, but having my crafty space cramped and unusable once again is frustrating. And so I'm sneaking off to sew amid the messiness of the room I am supposed to be putting back together!

I'm working on the free pieced study group blocks. My partner and I settled on aqua, red, and white as our color scheme. I've already had trouble sticking to just those colors since I typically use lots of colors together. And this is not a combo I frequently use, so I'm having some difficulties seeing what really works well and what really constitues the color "aqua".

For the month of January, we have two blocks to make - a "Mondo bird" and a log cabin house. Here are my versions of the "Mondo bird". Sarah named them that after the Project Runway designer since she always gives her birds fun black and white patterned legs. (If you watched last season of PR, you'll get it!) I gave my birds orange stockings.

Next will be wonky log cabin houses! Yippee!

New Year, New Projects

I've agreed to join an online free-piecing tutorial groups sponsored in part by my friend, krommama (Sarah). She and her friend Molly will be posting a tutorial once a month for a different free pieced block for us to make (bird, girl, gnome, house, star, etc...).
I've partnered with a gal in Australia and we will be swapping every few months or so, so keep your eyes peeled for some wonky sewing! Here's some examples of previous free-piecing I have done...

Once again.. it's been way too long!

I've done lots this year and taken lots of pictures, but never seem to have the time or energy left to download all these pictures and upload them here! I just downloaded over 700 pictures I had taken since August of this year. What a pain. I must remember to download more often so it's not so painful!

Here are some pictures from our Wisconsin trip this year. We stayed on Plum Lake again, one of our favorite lakes in the area. It was a nice place despite the bed falling apart in the middle of the night. I was able to lug my sewing supplies up and set up shop on the kitchen table for the week. I got a lot done on a baby quilt for my new friend Max.

We went boating, ate out at some of our favorite resturants, visited a beautiful waterfall in the U.P. (I need to figure out the name of that one - it was amazing!), and of course did a lot of relaxing. As much as I claim to be a southern gal at heart, I really do love spending time in the northwoods. Maybe it's just that I get to spend some quality time with nature. I don't get enough of that living in the city.

Shamrock Shuffle 2010

I did it!
I ran in the Shamrock Shuffle this year. I'd always thought about doing it, but was never really into running. At least on purpose. But this was the year! I trained with my friend Molly from work. She'd never really run a race either, so we were both huffing and puffing at first.

She's a real task-master, though, so she was good at pushing me along. Even during the race - "Come on! You can do it!"
I had some supporters root me on - my friend Jessica came down to cheer at mile marker 1. Hubby was there around mile 3 and again at 3.5ish to holler for "Team Dangerfield!" And Molly's husband was there at the last mile.

We had a great time despite the cold weather, but at least it wasn't snowing! My time was one hour, 2 minutes, and 48 seconds. The time to beat for next year!

DQS8

Wow! It's been way longer than I thought since I last blogged! Lots has happened, but I mostly wanted to show pictures of my amazing new quilt from Mama Urchin. She had me as her swapee during our latest round of the doll quilt swap - DQS8.She made an amazing scrappy log cabin with some beautiful fabrics.

She also sent me a fabulous stack of charm squares with some really great fabrics in there!

Here is another close up. I am in love with this doll quilt! She did such an amazing job!