New Project :o)

I've started on a new project and am very excited! Here's a teaser...




Hoping to blog more soon,
Suzy

Ta da!

Another UFO has made it to completed top form. Yay! Thanks everyone for your feedback. It really helps to get impressions from other quilters and I appreciate you all taking the time to let me know your thoughts. I'm glad the majority of you liked version 2 as well. It helped me feel better about taking the easy way out. LOL!



The borders really aren't as wrinkly as they seem. The darn dog kept running on the top and whenever we would try to catch her, she thought we were playing. Ugh! I can't tell you how many times I would straighten it out and then she would have a field day on top of it. Gotta love her! I tried to get a pic of the whole top, but just couldn't fit it well into the lens frame, so just took a pic to give you all an idea of the finished product.

So now what should I name it? I was thinking along the lines of Sunset at Aunt Dinah's or Peach Parfait; or do you have suggestions of your own. I'm open to all of them! :o)

We're off to Cocoa Beach Pier and Cocoa Village to spend the day. It should be fun and the weather is beautiful and will be in the mid-70's. Another beautiful day in sunny Florida. Wish you could share it with me.

Enjoy your day,
Suzy

Decisions, Decisions...

Hi, all. We're going to visit my Uncle Dick and Aunt Mim in Port St. Lucie today. My Dad is really looking forward to it as he hasn't seen his brother in quite awhile. We'll be gone most of the day. I won't have time to sew, but that doesn't mean I won't be thinking about it. LOL!

Anywho, I have a decision to make and wanted to run it by you and get your thoughts. Which border treatment should I go with for my latest UFO project? I'm just keeping it simple so I can get this sucker done. :o)

Version 1

Version 2

I'm leaning toward version 2 because then I can treat both the inner and outer borders as one and sew them on together at one time. Lazy? Yes, I know. LOL!

Which do you prefer?

Decisions, decisions...
Suzy

UFO Progress

Yes, you read the title right. I've actually been working on a UFO that is probably about 10 years in the waiting. I'm very excited, and actually keeping with my resolution for this year! Yay, me! The top is almost done -- all I have to go is the border. The before picture is on the UFO sidebar on the right called "Aunt Dinah." That is the name of the block. I have no clue what I will call the quilt once it is done. One step at a time. LOL! Here's the quilt all pieced (minus the borders, of course).




So this has been what I've been working on over Judy's Quiltathon weekend. I couldn't post earlier because I've been crazy busy all day. I had a 9:30am aqua aerobics class and then walked home and changed, ate lunch and went to my 1:30pm fitness class with my trainer, Ariel. She's such a sweetie. Then I walked home and had a shower, ran out the door and did my grocery shopping, came home and made dinner, and am just now having a few minutes all to myself. Boy, it feels good to sit down! :o)

Hope your day was productive,
Suzy

Happy Valentine's Day!

Spend the day with those you love! :o)

I've Been Terribly Neglectful

Just want to say "sorry" to those out in blogland who may be wondering what happened to me. I'm usually not this neglectful with blogging, but life has been busy and time has gotten away from me.

My dad is now down here from NJ visiting with us for two months. He is having a ball and hubby and I are keeping him busy and out of trouble. LOL! Younger daughter and grandson spend alternate weekends with us and we see our older daughter and son-in-law usually weekly.

I've been regularly attending my aqua aerobic classes and have even hired a personal trainer at the fitness room in the Clubhouse. I've also been walking outdoors, using the treadmill and bikes at the Clubhouse and swimming almost daily. The scale isn't showing as much progress as I had hoped, but I think I'm losing inches instead judging by the way my clothes are fitting me now.

I've also gotten involved in the quilt group here at Heritage Isle (there are about 15 or so of us) and also with the Seaside Piecemaker's Quilt Guild which has 300+ members and conveniently meets in the ballroom of our Clubhouse. Tons of fun!

I've been quilting, but nothing yet to show. Plus, our camera is on the fritz and I think we need to get a new one. I'm hoping soon, as I almost have a UFO finally put together into top form. Go me! LOL!

Life is good,
Suzy

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009 everyone! May it be the best ever! :o)

In traditional New Year style, I have a few resolutions. I use the term "resolution" loosely since they usually don't come to fruition. How about New Year "hopefuls" instead? LOL! Some are health-related and others are quilting/sewing-related. The usual in a quilter's life, right? :o)

Anyway, maybe if I write them down for all to see I may actually achieve a few. Hehehehe.

Here goes:

First and foremost -- get healthier. Of course that means eating better and losing weight. In order to actually achieve this one, I have no specific goal here other than to eat a bit less at each sitting, enjoy more fruits and veges and less junk food, work in more exercise-related activities and weigh less at the end of the year than I weigh now. Doable, right? We'll see. LOL!

Next are the quilting-related hopefuls. I actually have specific goals for this one, but I'm keeping it real. For each new quilting project I start, it must be finished completely -- quilted, bound and labeled (sending out to be quilted counts, too) -- and then the next project must be a UFO -- UFO constititues anything listed as a UFO or Kit to the right of my blog. If the UFO is not yet in "completed top" phase, it must make it to "completed top" phase before starting a new project. If the UFO is already in "completed top" phase, it must be quilted, bound and labeled before moving on to a new project. Also, I want to try to make new projects using as much of my wonderful stash as possible to complete the project. That's not saying I can't purchase what I need for that project if something just isn't working from my stash, or if I don't want to piece my backing and want it to be one solid fabric. Let's be real, here. LOL!

For sewing-related hopefuls, there are a few of those as well. I'd like to start making myself clothing again. No goals, just something here or there that strikes my fancy. I want to enjoy the process. :o) I also want to make more doll clothing. I enjoy it immensely and find it extremely fun and creative. No specific goals for this hopeful, either. Just having fun with it. Plus, it will help deplete some of my vast fabric stash. :o)

Anyway, there you have it. My New Year "hopefuls." Do you have any?

Wish me luck!

Suzy

Catching Up

I thought I would post about what has been happening in our neck of the woods since I have been so busy lately.

Unpacking/Decorating
The unpacking is all done...yay! Still a little bit of decorating to do, but almost there. I'm very happy with the way the house is turning out. :o) We LOVE our new home!

Visitors
After a day's flight delay due to snow in Chicago that was connecting with her Philadelphia flight to Florida, DD#2, Rachel, and grandson, Anthony, finally made it to Florida. To make up for their flight being a day late, they were upgraded to first class. They enjoyed that a lot! They are now permanent residents in Florida! YAY! We're all soooo happy! Now both my girls and my grandson are only 30 minutes away. :o) Rachel and Anthony are spending 2 weeks with us and then they will be staying with DD#1, Heather, and her hubby Jerry until they find a place of their own. They plan on residing in Titusville, so that works out great. Anthony starts school there on Tuesday, 1/6.

Christmas
WONDERFUL is the only way to describe it! It was awesome having the whole family together for a Christmas. It's been too many years to count since that has happened. We all spent the night at the in-laws and woke together on Christmas morning. It was exciting for everyone to see the look on Anthony's face as he saw the tree with all the presents that Santa left. Priceless. :o) Presents were passed around and opened and Santa was very generous. I must have been an exceptionally good girl this past year as I was shocked to receive a Viking Designer Diamond and Huskylock 936 serger with coverstitch capability and a freearm. Never in a million years would I have thought I'd receive such extravagant gifts! As for the meal, Heather and I cooked and everyone else pitched in cleaning up afterwards. Hubby's brother Jeff and his wife, Linda, arrived for dessert and that made Chris's family complete. I was so happy for him to be so excited, healthy and blessed after all he's been through the past two years. I truly praised the Lord that day.

Fun Stuff
We are enjoying our new community to the fullest and have been to the pool several times. LOVE IT! It's so funny to see Anthony in the pool. He would never leave it if he had his way. LOL! In addition, every Thursday from 1-4pm is a quilting/sewing get-together at the Clubhouse. I've met several of the wonderful ladies and plan on attending regularly beginning in the new year. I haven't been quilting or sewing at all since I really want to get the house settled before focusing on anything else, but I have big plans for the new year and hope I can accomplish my resolutions. I also want to utilize their fitness center and maybe even take some of their aquatic aerobic classes.

Well, that's it for now,
Suzy

Merry Christmas Everyone!

A joyous season to all!

Blessings,
Suzy

Just Checking In...

Just wanted to let everyone know we made it to Florida with no problems. Settlement on the old and new house went smoothly and are now a thing of the past and we are making progress with unpacking all the boxes. PODS was a great way to move and although I hope to never move again, I would definitely use them again. LOL!

We got our temporary tags for the car yesterday and will probably get our licenses taken care of tomorrow. Not to rub it in or anything, but the temps here have been in the 70's and 80's and I'm LOVING IT! Just too busy to really enjoy it with trying to get the house in order. I'm currently working on my sewing room and am quite happy with the room size. It is smaller than in the old house, so I was afraid that I'd either be cramped in so much I couldn't move or that everything would have to be stored hither and yon. Luckily that isn't the case and with the exception of the larger yardage pieces which will go on a shelving unit in our huge master closet, it looks like it will all fit with room to move. LOL!

I'm typing this on Chris's laptop on the dining room table because we still have to purchase new furniture for the office. We found desks, etc. we like and just have to measure the room and where we want to place them so we know if the arrangement will work and what pieces we will ultimately purchase.

TTFN,
Suzy