Good Heavenly Days!

Oh my goodness February is over. :( What happened to it...where did it go? Wasn't it just Valentine's Day yesterday? This is a sure sign of old age isn't it....when time slips away without you noticing? Not only that but I'm supposed to be through with all my Febuary goals...and I'm not! Oh well, better just get it over with it. Here are the Finishes and Failures. I'll start with the good stuff:

FINISHES

1. Finish the Snowball Quilt. Now you know when I say finish I mean finish the top, right? Because that's a finish, really it is. It doesn't have to be quilted to be a finish. And so the top is finished. And pretty darn cute if you ask me. I used 4 Moda Recess charm packs plus some white fabric I bought at Alco and don't have a clue what it is, then added some borders from the Recess line. I have one row of snowballs left which I will use on the back as part of the label. Don't you just love this fabric? Of course, I'm partial to Moda. Well not just partial - I truly would marry Moda if I wasn't already married. And if Patrick Swayze didn't ask me first.

2. Make "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep" quilt for Andrew. This one is done, quilted and delivered. Along with a little cloth book that went with it. Now truth be told all this panel needed was one border with cornerstones so it was super fast and super easy. But I loved it and he will too - he would have told me that this weekend if he could talk yet. And I did the machine quilting myself, yes I did. At this stage of my machine quilting game, less is more if you know what I mean.

4. Read "The Measure of a Man" by Sidney Poitier. I read it. And I don't recommend it. Oh it wasn't bad, it was just sort of rambling and didn't really rocus on anything. It told a lot of his background but it was patchy. It said on the cover it was a "spiritual journey" and I didn't see that at all. I love Sidney Poitier - admire him and think he's a phenomenal actor. But the book didn't do him justice.

5. Make one charity quilt. At one of our guild meetings they gave out fabric for us to make a quilt for a child. The fabric was donated and therefore was free. Not everything free is good. This fabric was not only precut, some of it was made into blocks. But for a child, this just didn't work at all. Brown and brown print are not my idea of something a child would like. And to top it off the blocks that were sewn had been ironed out of shape. But I put it together like I was supposed to....and hated it. I've added these bright yellow stars to it and now I'm trying to decide what else I can do with it. I'll add bright yellow binding but I'm thinking maybe a face on the big star? Anyway, this top could be finished, but I don't think I can leave it like this. Any suggestions?

6. Finish sampler. I actually finished this at 9:00 p.m. February 28 but it's not ironed so I'll show it later...but you're gonna like it!

Now here is my excuse for the failures that are going to follow. A friend gave me a book that had this pattern in it and I've had the handwork done for some time now. I pinned it on the wall in my sewing room trying to decide just what I wanted to do with it. Finally I decided on a pillow for my bed. And ya'll it's just perfect. In fact, it made my bed perfect. Next week I'll show you how much it added to my bedroom because I plan to show some pictures of how I use quilts in my house and I know you'll agree with me on this. It did take me a little longer to make than I thought it would - I'm not real good with ruffles. So I "unsewed" a time or two. But it was worth it!

FAILURES

There are no pictures here because, well, because there's nothing to take a picture of!

3. Read "The Memory Keepers Daughter" by Kim Edwards. I'm only half through this so it's going to have to stay on the list for March. I listen to a lot of books on tape and I'm wishing this was one of those because I don't seem to just sit and read much any more. But so far I like it and I do want to finish it.

6. Finish one block of Botanika (applique). Ok this is the second time this block's been on my goals list and the second time it's not done. But in my own defense it's almost done. All I have left is about a dozen circles the size of a dime. I hate circles. Especially the ones the size of a dime. So this one stays on the March list too.

7. Finish Winter Wonderland (pieced blocks). This quilt is so beautiful and the hand embroidery has been done for a while. I've done about half the pieced blocks but got sidetracked by some other things so I plan to leave this on the list and surely will be finished in March.

9. Lose 5 pounds. Last month I lost 6 pounds. This month I lost 0 pounds. However, I did not gain any so that's a victory. Just didn't meet the goal.

Goals are good things. They build character. Goals are good things. They build character. Goals are good things......