Sliced Coins Quilt-Along

So I was rummaging through my stash, trying to determine the best way to organize it when I came across this fat quarter pack I bought at a local shop when I first started quilting. These fabrics aren't my style, but I will be attending a few baby showers in the spring, so I figured what better time to jump in and join Elizabeth's Sliced Coin Quilt-Along!

The fabrics are mostly Benartex's Where the Boyz Are - not sure who makes the red circles and the tan starbursts on the right. The red circles are closer in color to the other red FQ - the flash on my little point & shoot did funky things to this fabric!

 Here are all my coins all cut up and ready to go!! I've decided to go with Kona bone for the sashing. Not sure about backing and binding yet.....now it's time to head to work for the next few nights (my last few night shifts for a little while - WooHoo!!) and then I can work on piecing these together!

A snowy day....

We got about 3 more inches of snow overnight, so after I got done shoveling the driveway, it was time to venture out into the backyard to get some pictures of the boys.....They are now sawing logs in front of the heat vent....Time for me to crank out the last 8 stars for the swap and then on to some other fun stuff before starting the next set of swap blocks!!

Pay It Forward 2011 - update

I met Beth over at The Modern Lady through FNSI and thought this is a great idea and want this to keep going!

I promise to send something handmade to the first 3 people who leave a comment here.
To be eligible, you must also post this in your blog, offering the same thing to 3 other people.
The rules are that it must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 3 people sometime in 2011. (Got that - sometime in 2011!!! I love deadlines like this!)

01/26/11 - No takers as of yet....but to keep the Pay It Forward movement going, if no one responds, I'll make 3 items for charity instead.

January FNSI results

I was able to get a little bit of sewing done last night - I was hoping for more, but glad I at least got 4 blocks done. We are puppy sitting for friends that are out of town for the weekend and he is in full-on puppy play time (and a puppy bladder to go with it!)....Meet Laker, a 3 month old black lab....

 Sutton & Laker

 My Friday signature stars

Hoping today will be a growing day (as we like to call it when the puppy naps more than plays!) and I can get some more stars knocked out!!

The Wednesday Woof!!

 Sutton - almost 5 months old

 Cooper - 4 in March



Another busy weekend

It all started with a little shoveling....

and then more the next day...

Then off to Red Robin for pre-movie dinner with friends....yum...Love the chicken tortilla soup!


Next stop - Henry Ford IMAX for some not-so-retro TRON action!! The movie was really good - graphics were great - the staples were way cool, although I'm still not sold on the 3D thing yet. We want to go see it again, regular 2D style too...


Whew....I need a nap already!

On Sunday we went to visit our friends and their new puppy, Laker! Laker and Sutton were fast friends and spent a good part of the afternoon playing...Sutton slept really well that night! We will be watching Laker in 2 weeks, so I'll grab some pictures then, but he is the cutest little furball (10 week old black Lab)!

Monday I had the day off, so I finally got some sewing in - I made some progress on the Charm Pack Quilt Along. All 150 HSTs are sewn and all the squares are sewn too. Just need to square up the HSTs and finish the 4-patches and I'll be ready to make my blocks!

I was also able to get 6 of my signature star swap blocks done too.... I bought my batiks for the batik block swap, but want to finish the stars before I start those...

Now it's off to work for me....hopefully I can be productive this coming weekend too!

Wishlists

Here are my quilty and non-quilty wishlists for 2011. Hopefully, I can accomplish some good stuff - in fabric and life in general.....

Quilting 2011
a. Swap City - Being relatively new to blogging and the online quilting community, I signed up for a couple of swaps last year. I have signed up for 3 already this year - 2 at Quilt with Us (a siggy star swap and a batik block swap); and the Kona Your World swap at GXQ. We'll see what else I find along the way!

b. Complete my UFOs - I have 2 quilts in progress that I really need to finish. The Zig Zag quilt that I posted about previously and the Charm Pack Quilt Along over at Freckled Whimsy. The Zig Zag just needs to the sandwiched and quilted; the charm quilt is waiting for me to get cracking on it...
c. Charity Quilts - I joined Quilts for Kids last year and made a few quilts, as well as donating close to 10 yards of kid fabric to the group. The sewing store on the corner of my street just started a local chapter. My goal is to complete at least 6 quilts for this charity in 2011. I already have 1 top completed!!

d. More quilts for me us - There are a few quilts that really caught my eye last year and I really want to try to complete a few of these in 2011. Urban Lattice, New Wave, Random Reflections, Bento Box are on the top of that list!! Mr. LazyDog has been complaining that my Authentic quilt isn't big enough for him, so I need to make at least 1 quilt for the couch big enough for him to cover up with so his feet don't stick out the bottom :)

e. Use up my stash - Finally decide what I'm going to do with all of the fabric that is waiting patiently for me. Arcadia jelly rolls, Nature-ology rectangles, Bali pops, and more are taunting me from the shelves, but I still don't have a game plan for those.....yet!

f. Learn something new - Last year I overcame my fear of zippers with the Gathered Clutch tutorial on Noodlehead. This year I'd really like to try Free Motion Quilting on my machine or take a class to learn how to use the long arm at the local quilt shop...

Life 2011
a. Move more and eat less - nuff said
b. Spend more time with the ones I love (2 and 4 legged!)...
c. Spend more time outdoors
d. Get the kayaks in the water
e. Be smarter with money
f. Read more
g. Plant a bigger garden than last year
f. Blog more consistently