How I spent my snow day

I couldn't get out of the driveway yesterday because of the wet, heavy mix of snow and slush so I stayed home from work and quilted.  I FINISHED quilting the center of Lily's quilt!  Yea for me!  Now I only have the borders to do and then my favorite part (next to beginning a new quilt!)--the binding.  I'm so ready for this one to be finished so I can  move on to another project. And so Lily can finally have her new quilt.  Pictures will be posted when it's finished.

Fifteen Minute Challenge with Kate

A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I needed Kate's 15 minute challenge to keep me motivated to work in my quilting room.  She explains it here: http://kate-life-in-pieces.blogspot.com/2012/02/15-minute-challenge-february-28th.html.  Well, I didn't realize that I would actually have to keep track of the time I spent!  LOL Of course, that's what it's all about--the idea is that when I look at what I've done, I'll be  motivated to keep at it.

Since I decided to do this, I''ve spent some time in the sewing room every day except on the weekends--and in the evenings after work.  That leaves only 3 days in the week when I've quilted.  Not a very good start.  The good thing is that when I go to the sewing room, I'm there for HOURS, not minutes!  On the days when I've quilted, it's been for 4 or more hours at a time, so I'm making very good progress on Lily's quilt.

Here's my progress report:  Mon--several hours; Tues--several hours; Wed and Thurs (work days)--nothing; Fri-several hours; Saturday and Sunday (weekend visitors) -not a stitch.

That's what I'm working on now, a Disappearing 4 Patch twin-sized quilt for my 8 year old granddaughter.



I started this last fall and the poor child has gone all winter with her old blankets while I've farted fooled around with it.  Now I'm doing the actual quilting and have nearly finished the center part--with luck I'll get that done today and be ready to move on to the borders.  I'm doing a "fancy" design in each block and am using Golden Threads paper. That means I have to stop and tear off the paper after I've stitched each block--so time consuming!  But the borders and the sashings will be done FMQ so it should go a bit faster.

That's my week's report on Kate's Fifteen Minute Challen ge.

I've had such a great week!

So many "best things" happened, I don't know where to begin.  How about work?  Last week was the end of the Medicare open enrollment period so I worked my last 3 day week. Yea!!!  I know, you're saying "Three day week???" Well, I'd gotten into the habit of working a 2 day week and then added a third day in mid-October to help with the crush of Medicare D clients who need help during this time.  It was hard to adjust to working that extra day, especially since that day was filled to the brim with appointments, none of them easy situations to deal with and the 8 hour day usually stretched to 10. So, I'm glad to have survived and to return to only 2 days a week. Maybe I can get some quilting done?

Secondly, Christmas events.  Thursday was Lily's holiday concert at school so Don and I were there, of course. This concert was for the kindergarten, first and second grades (The third, fourth and fifth graders have a spring concert.) Those little kids were so cute and sang so earnestly, all dressed up in their holiday clothes. Their director had them doing some things with very basic musical instruments and it was very sweet. The director has several elementary schools that he's assigned to and that's why, I suppose, that he has to split the grades into two concerts instead of having all the kids perform in each concert.  It's too bad that the music and arts teachers are spread so thin but at least the kids get a little exposure.

After the concert, Don and I took Lily with us to run errands in the afternoon, giving Tessa some time to get schoolwork done--she'll finish the semester on the 19th.  Yea!  Then we picked up Tessa and went out for an early dinner at a pretty good Mexican restaurant in Menomonie named Cancun. I ordered "Pollo Crema" which was sooo good!  Chicken breast covered with sauteed mushrooms and onions all in a cheesy creamy sauce. I'll definitely return and order that again.

After dinner, we dropped Don off at Tessa's house so he could rest his gouty foot, and us three ladies bundled up and went downtown for the Christmas parade. What a treat! It was colder than a well digger's butt but so much fun. The floats were all decorated in lights and had Christmas music pouring out of the speakers! Horses with jingle bells on their harnesses! Even the 3 wisemen were there riding a horse, a donkey and a real camel!  There were dancers twirling and high stepping as they moved along the parade route. And candy pouring out for the children!  OMG! Lily's bag was overflowing by the time the parade ended--and Tessa said she had only just finished up her Halloween candy!  There's a big Swiss Miss plant in Menomonie so Lily got many packets of hot chocolate mix and pots of pudding from the SM folks. 

On Friday afternoon, I picked up Lily and she's been at the house until just a few minutes ago. Yesterday afternoon, she and I went outside and (almost) finished the outside decorating.  We have yet to find the rest of the red ribbons we always put on the front yard fence and there are no more to buy in the store so I hope to find them soon. This is a pix of the front entry: 

I don't do a lot of decorating, just a bit of greenery and ribbon and a strand of lights on the pots on the left. It looks festive for folks driving by, day and night.

Lily and Don also set up the Christmas village that he got a few years ago.  She loves to play with the village
--rearranging the snowmen and the carolers every time she's here. Next Saturday, we'll take Lily with us to the tree farm to choose the perfect tree for the living room. And she'll help decorate it as well which is fine with me since that's a job I really don't like doing.  I love the final effect, but it such putsy work, that I'll let Lily and Don do that while I whip up a batch of cookies for them to enjoy when they're finished.

Now I have to get to my sewing room and finish the placemats I promised my friend, Elaine, in exchange for the draperies she's making for me. I also want to make a Christmas table runner for her as a surprise and since we're meeting on the 19th for lunch with our other friend, Judy, I want to have a runner for her as well.