A Little Bit more Christmas and a Happy New Year Too

Okay, so I made a bunch of gifts to give at Christmas -- such a satisfiying experience! Anyway, here is a photo of a gift that my family received for Christmas -- a gorgeous hand-crafted kitty cottage for our rag tag bunch of furries! The kitties love it already and are even taking turns napping in it. Isn't it the cutest thing???????



Are you ready for 2012? I truly believe that I am, if you can believe it! Right now 2012 is full of great promise for me -- I'll be writing a new book, I'll have pieces in at least two House of White Birches books, I'm working on some new online quilt classes for CraftArtEdu(more about this later, of course), my first fabric collection will come out, and I'm going to continue to work with Quilter's World magazine and maybe a few other magazines too. As I read what I just wrote, it strikes me that only in the last couple of years did I have so much excitement to look forward to!

It's time to revisit my 2011 New Year's Resolutions:

1)keep moving forward in my quilting career.

I KNOW that I have fulfilled this resolution. 2011 was a great year for me as a quilter and 2012 is going to be even better!

2) Downsize UFO's amd WIP's.

Well, I started out 2011 and finished three or four projects, but then things got busy and I never got back to that. 3 or 4 isn't bad for a year, though.

3) Blog more often.

Overall, I met this challenge to myself, although there were some months that I was busier and didn't blog as much as I would have like. But still, 100 blogs for the years isn't too shabby.

4) Eat better and exercise more.

This one is still in progress. I didn't really get started seriously on this resolution until the beginning of November, so this one will be continued.

All in all, I'm pleased with how I did with my resolutions. I think I'll keep the same resoultions for 2012. How did you do with your 2011 resolutions??

HAPPY NEW YEAR and A NEW YEAR FILLED WITH LOVE, LAUGHTER, AND QUILTING to you!

Christmas Goodies

Things are finally settling down after the rush rush rush of the holidays. I promised to show some of the quilty gifts that I made for Christmas and then I realized that I didn't take pics of everything.....

Anyway, here are a few of the items I did take photos of: Steelers pillowcases for my borther in law, purple wool mittens for my niece Meg, a soccer purse for my niece Morgan, and a casserole carrier for my sister. I think I made a total of thirteen gifts for Christmas. I also made tool pillow cases for my Dad, a shopping tote for my Mom, red wool mittens for a friend, and a framed collage for my friend Isaac who went to Europe in the summer for the first time. I also made some cool stuff for my two BFF's, but won't show pictures yet becase we haven't gotten together for our holiday get-together yet. So check back next week to see their quilty gifts.

I'm so Embarrassed.....

Well, I've been a lousy blogger this past month. I admit it!

Life has just been happening way too fast recently (if this is a real excuse). I've been making lots of fun and quick Christmas gifts (I promise, I WILL post pics, I WILL, I WILL...) as well as quilts for Quilter's World. I had two projects accepted for a new House of White Birches book on Pillows, too. FUN FUN FUN! So there's been no end to sewing in my studio. One of my favorite new gifts to make this year are cozy mittens made out of recyled wool and leftover fleece! So cute and so warm!

I AM VERY EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THAT I WILL BE WRITING A NEW BOOK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I met several publishers while in Houston for Quilt Market and submitted a proposal to Kansas City Star Quilts. I just found out the end of last week that they have accepted my proposal. My book will come out July 2013. So 2012 is really looking up for me!