On to the New Year!

I've started the new year my favorite way- QUILTING!One of my online groups posted a mystery today (thank you Helen, goddess of mysteries haha!). So I spent my day cutting background, and sewing. I got as far as step 3 today, which is a plus considering I didn't start until 1 and made a trip to the store in there as well.

It's not a UFO... which doesn't really help my goal of finishing things in 2008, but.... ah well! One quilt won't ruin the whole year, right? I think not! The plan is still to finish old UFOs and to use the stash in 08, minus backgrounds and backings which I know already that I'm low on- but I'll try to get those on sale even! I've been going through old magazines finding ideas on how to use certain fabric collections, but now the problem is how to remember where those ideas were... I'm thinking I'll just tack them on my sewing room wall. It might not look pretty but I won't be able to ignore them!

Oh, and the dreaded purple 9 patch from the previous post is now a finish... an orphan as well, as I don't remember why I made it (except that I got the blocks in my first ever online swap) and it has no destination. Ahhh well, it can keep the other quilts in the pile warm I suppose.

Happy New Year and God Bless to Blogland!

The Little Things...

Mostly this past week, I've been trying to do little things... I'm not in the mood to work on something too new, but I want to play with fabric some.

First, I dug out a very old UFO- I think I pieced this top back in 2004 or 2005. And it's been a top since then. Personally, not my best work, but then again, I guess that's a sign that I've definately improved (at least in my own eyes :P ) over the last few years. It's quilted now, just a meander in the center and some freeform swirls in the borders. All I had to do is bind it, and hopefully I'll get that finished tomororow!

One of the little things: When we bought our Italian Greyhound back in September, I purchased fleece and flannel to make her a blanket. And finally, in December, I sat down and took a whole hour to do it- call me Mrs. Procrastination! The new one is the one on the left... the other belongs to our poodle Samson, who has been enjoying it for several years now- no point in one getting jealous!

Lastly , I ran up to Michael's Crafts this morning and grabbed a foam wreath form and a few ribbons. Out of sheer boredom, and not wanting to actually run the sewing machine (and after seeing a few of these on blogs around blogland last week), I ended up with this. The hubby says it looks like I dragged the fabric out of the trash (I did not... I simply ripped thinnish strips off of F4s!), but it's hanging anyway!

Saturday Outing

We thought we would be adventurous today and go looking for some alligators... We know they're around post here, but we've yet to see one. However, we did managed to find a nice little playground at one of the lakes, so it wasn't a totally wasted outing. Our (almost) six year old had a total blast!

Accomplishments from 2007

Sadly, there were far fewer finishes in 2007 than I had intended- blame life, right? No... really, I am blaming life!

January was floating along good, hadn't really gotten into a good quilting groove yet when at the end of the month my husband was seriously injured in Iraq and sent to the Army hospital in Germany for recovery. Feb, March, and a good bit of April were full of trips back and forth to the hospital (3 hours away from our house) for various appointments (check ups, blood clot, etc etc). May went well, but, of course with the hubby not working and home all day it was hard to get sewing done. June and July served up hubby in the hospital for another 3 weeks, and there went most of the summer! Needless to say, my husband didn't work a day for nearly 9 months, and I got very little sewing done during that time!


August rolled around and it was time to move back to the states- big hassle! As much as it sucks though, it's one of those things that comes with the military life, and- after nearly 5 years in Germany- we are now settled back stateside. Of course, an overseas move also meant that I didn't see my sewing machine for nearly 3 months.

Still, I did manage to complete 2 quilts for the year, which I guess is better than nothing!

The first was a very simple baby quilt for a friend who likes to have baby quilts around for gifts. Hey, with the military- you always know SOMEone who is pregnant! Very simple, and I probably shouldn't publish it as a finish, but if I don't, then I'm left with only one quilt done this year, and I can't admit that! The large squares are matched up in sets of 2, and I quilted diagonally through those, then just did a free form wave in the borders... like I said- Simple!

The second quilt I am much more proud of! It was actually started in November of 2006, but with the events that life scheduled for us, it ended up taking forever! This was made from a Swatches pattern, and I purchased a Moda kit for the top, although I ended up swapping out the included background for my own fabric. I do love it - now that it's finished- but I don't EVER see myself doing another Lone Star.... I have my doubts that I would've finished it in less than a year regardless of what happened!

So, with only 2 finishes for the entire 2007 year, I can safely say that I bought tons more fabric than I used- hence the reason that 2008 is going to be my Stash year! I'll copy my list over to the blog later, but suffice to say I have more than enough to keep me busy throughout 2008- probably even 2009! (Oh hubby will be proud... or frightened that I actually have that much in the house already- oops!)

Introducing.... ME!

I am Tara- Army wife, mommy, quilter (I'm also the one on the right!)

We are your typical little Army family. Soldier Dad, SAHM Mom, Army brat son, and two very well traveled little doggies. We've lived in several states and two countries so far during my husband's military career.

No matter where we are, or where we're going- quilting is my constant. I began quilting when my son was a few months old, and we were stationed out of Fort Campbell, KY. Like all good little quilters, I started out slow... very slow... I manged to finish 2 not-so-grand quilts before we packed up our lives and headed overseas to Germany. While in Germany, my husband completed 2 deployments, and my son grew up a lot (time really DOES fly!) and I was left with a lot of free time... so I quilted! I became a master at quilting until the wee hours of morning and at using unfinished quilts to cover up sewing messes! For a while, I considered myself the Queen of All Internet Quilt Shops, until my husband returned from his first deployment to find that I considered investing in fabric a long term savings plan. We have now returned to the USA, and my quilts and I (and the rest of the family) live happily in the South- very very deep in the South.

At my husband's insistence, I have recently set up a very tiny online store to sell some of my quilts and other fabric masterpieces. Ok- masterpieces may be a bit of a stretch... So far, no luck, but that might change one day. At least I'm trying to keep the house from being completely overtaken by fabric! Apparantly your average 20 something male does NOT want to live in padded home- despite the fact that the padding may be 100% cotton and very cuddly.

The end of the year is always a busy time with holidays, and this year with us traveling north to spend Christmas with family. Hopefully after the first of the year, I can return to spending ungodly amounts of time in my sewing room and share some progress and new projects with everyone!