What to do? What to do!

Maverick Stars are my L&E project.

     I've been working on UFOs this year, or I thought I was until I sat down and made a list. Off the top of my head I came up with 5 or so projects that I want to finish next year. Then I had to look up the size on one of them and when I went to my Official UFO list, I began to understand the extent of my problem.
     I have WAY more than 5 or so projects that need attention! In 2012 alone I started 13 new projects, finishing only four. That's not a good completion average (.307). I've been working like this for a long time and it's time for that to change.
     I'm a process person. I enjoy the journey of conceiving and making a quilt top. The layering and quilting are not my favorite parts of the process. Once the top is done, I've satisfied my creative urge and I'm ready to move on. Thus all the UFOs.
     I'm going to try something new for 2013. Accountability. I'm going to make a public committment to finish some selected UFOs. I've been making a list. It's already pretty long, but these are ones I can reasonably expect to finish. By finished, I mean pieced, quilted and labeled.
     UFOs that I mean to finish:
     Christmas Diamonds. This top is pieced and mostly bordered. I need to add the last two borders, piece a backing and send it off to Michele for quilting. This is a huge king-sized quilt. I love it and want it done so I can enjoy it!
     Sophie's Butterfly Challenge. Sophie gave each of us a butterfly panel for Christmas last year and issued a challenge to make a wall hanging with it. I've pieced the top, now I need to layer it and quilt it.
     Catharine's Wheel. This is a really old UFO, a king-sized one, probably at least 8-10 years old. I was using a quilt-as-you-go technique and ran out of steam as it got bigger. My Janome Horizon should make this process easier and I'll begin on this right away. Getting this huge quilt done will give me a big boost!
     Linus Quilt. This top has been done for months, but I haven't gotten around to quilting and gifting it. I thought I'd do it on Judy's longarm machine but that hasn't happened, so I think I'll just layer it and give it some straight-line quilting using my Acufeed foot on the Janome. It will get the job done and get me another completion.
     Anita's Arrowhead. I started this in 2010 and I'm not sure why it went into timeout. I loved doing the blue blocks. Then, I don't know. Now I have 've a plan. I've decided to make this a blue and gold quilt set 7 by 9. I have 37 blocks done, so I need 26 more. I'll do a couple in blue and gold and rest in gold and either light blue or cream. As far as quilting, I'm not making any promises! I want this top done and that's my focus. I certainly will consider having Michele quilt it.

     Others on my list are Antique Divas Pyramids, Crazy Cats & Fishes, Smith Mountain Morning, Batik Log Cabin Flowers, Wyoming Valley Stars and Hawaiian applique, and I have plans for most of these. I'll revisit them when I've made some preogress on the first five.
     I'm also working on Maverick Stars as a Leaders and Enders Project. I'm not sure where this fits in the picture. I made two blocks to see how they're going to look. Love them!
     That being said, I know I'm going to begin some new projects in 2013. I will keep them to a minimum, but there are five that I really really want to do:
     Orange & Gray Kaleidoscope, Big Zig (cut out but that's all), Dresden Plate, MMQ Quilt Show Challenge (not even a glimmer of an idea, but I plan to make this at my March Quilt Camp), and the Block Lotto monthly blocks. I have ideas for all these, but this post is already too long, so I'll come back to this another day.

     I'm linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday. Go there and see all the wonderful projects on display!



    

     Merry Christmas! I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday, however you celebrate the winter solstice, and that your new year is even better!

    My thanks to Madam Samm of Stash Manicure for permission to use this terrific graphic!

A prize! (and a VERY eventful weekend)

This is the terrific prize I've won
from Marcia at Crafty Sewing and Quilting.

    Color me lucky! Marcia at Crafty Sewing and Quilting emailed me this week that I'm a winner! Pardon all the exclamation points, but I never win anything and this is a really nice prize. I get three great fat quarters and a really cool pattern called Summer Tomatoes. It's just the type of pattern I love best. I'm tickled pink. Thanks, Marcia!
     I've been following her blog for a while and I enjoy seeing what she's up to. She also has some pretty awesome tutorials on her site.
     I'm also pretty tired. We had a pretty exciting weekend here on Pinehurst Drive. Saturday night we discovered we had no water. We called our plumber, who's awesome, by the way, and he diagnosed a well problem. DH wouldn't hear of calling the well company on Saturday evening (it was after 9 p.m., you see), so we called today (Sunday) around 10:30 a.m.
    Someone came out, checked it all out and said we needed a new well pump and a new holding tank. He said he'd send someone out. Believe it or not, a young couple (man and woman) showed up about 11:30 and they went to work on pulling the well pump. They replaced the piping, the well pump and the holding tank and were gone a little after 2:30 p.m.
     We had to wait a little while and run the water for a while before we could use it, but now we have water! You never know how much you use something like that until you don't have it.
     The first thing I did was wash the dirty dishes that were driving me crazy and then I brushed my teeth. I couldn't stand the cotton mouth any longer!
     Now we just have to get my grandson's broken down car from behind my part of the garage. He had a problem with a brake caliper bracket and I can't get out of the garage. I need it tomorrow. I need to make color copies for guild tomorrow night, and I have NO wiggle room on timing. I really need him to take care of this.
     Did I mention DH had a flat tire while all this was going on? We're too old for all this drama!

Kingwood staffers
decorated this 18-foot tree

     Before all the drama began Saturday evening, we had a great time at a cocktail party at Kingwood Center Friday evening. They have this party every Christmas time for members and guests (DH is a member) and it's soooo pretty there. Various local garden clubs, staff and volunteers help decorate the various rooms using their assigned themes. I was told this year's theme is "A Kaleidoscope of Holiday Color," and each room featured a different color. It was pretty cool!
     The tree in the lobby was an18-feet tall Frazier Fir and featured an estimasted 7000 lights! It was gorgeous! The colors were saphire blue and silver. Stunning! S everal of our friends were there, too. It was great catching up with them. Mansfield is so lucky to have something like Kingwood Center available to us.
     Despite the hiccups and "bumps in the road" today, however, we're incredibly lucky and blessed. We live in a great country with freedoms that millions of others can only dream about. Life is good.