2012 OPAM or One Project A Month...

Two years ago I signed up for the OPAM Challenge and did fairly well on completing projects.  Then last year I didn't get in by the deadline, but I thought, "I can still participate, but just on my own".  HAH!!!   I find if I don't have a deadline or some one to push me a little, I can be a very lazy crafter!!  It's so easy to just sit at the computer and cruise the web, or play games, or do jigsaw puzzles--anything, other than work on projects.  So this year when I saw Kris and Peg were taking signups again, I hurried over and signed up.  I have tons of UFO's to get finished and I need that little extra excouragement to keep my nose to the grindstone.

 

 

The idea of the “One Project A Month Challenge is pretty simple ... To try to finish at least ONE craft project by the end of each month. This can be something you’ve had partly done for a while (a Work In Slow Progress WISP), a pattern you bought ages ago that you finally get around to making up, or a completely new project. This is meant to be a low-stress challenge  - if you don’t finish a project every month  - that’s fine! Sometimes life interferes with our plans. Some projects are meant to be long-term and have a LOT of work involved, like a quilt or an embroidery. The main aim of the OPAM Challenge is to give everyone a bit of a motivational boost and to give us all a big cheer squad to encourage and inspire us.

 

So with help from my friends in OPAM-ville, this year I hope to have lots and lots of finished projects.  I'm off to a good start so far, lol, I have one project already done.  I can't show it yet, because it's part of a swap and hasn't been delivered yet.  But I'll post a pic as soon as I know my friend, ------------, has received it.

 

Until next time,

Happy Quilting from Sharon, Katie, and Patsy Cline

 

 

More goodies for us...

Val Laird Designs has a wonderful BOM for 2012 that starts today and continues all year.   "Thoughts in Thread" is a wall quilt measuring 34 inches square and consists of nine blocks. Each month over nine months, she'll give you the pattern for each block, then in the tenth month you will receive the finishing instructions.

Coming in July 2012 will be a new project from Denise Russart, the Christmas Town Sampler. It's a collaboration with four very talented quilting friends:  Judy Laquidara (http://www.patchworktimes.com/), Sheryl Till (http://quiltingtizzy.wordpress.com/),  Susan Neves (http://7and7.wordpress.com/) and Denise will each be presenting different parts of this quilt.  It’s part Block of the Month, part Mystery and part Blog Hop.  

The Raspberry Rabbits also have a new BOM starting, The Adventures of Harrington and Hannah BOM.
Each month on the 15th, they will bring you a new block featuring stitching, wool applique, and patchwork sashing. The January Block, Harrington and Hannah give a carrot to a friend is up now.  I probably won't do the wool applique, but I think the design will look great just stitched!

Off now to work on my stocking project for a friend.  Until next time...

Happy Quilting
from Sharon and the "girls"

Some new Freebies for us....

FaveQuilts has put together its very first free eBook of free quilt patterns! The 12 Awesome Free Quilt Patterns and Small Quilted Projects eBook has over 50 pages filled with applique quilt patterns, patchwork quilts, and small quilted projects. Whether you're a novice quilter or you have years of experience, you're sure to find some free quilt projects that will keep your sewing machine humming!

 For 2012 Aurifil Threads will have a whole new set of designers bringing you blocks of stitchery each month for free on their blog!  January is Roseann Kermes of Rosebud's Cottage, with a darling Snowbird stitchery.  Sign up for Aurifil's newsletter and you'll make sure to get your free stitchery every month!

Cindy Carter at Quilt Patterns from Seattle has another new free quilt for you to help celebrate Valentine's Day.  She's just starting it now, so don't get behind.  And if you've never been to her site before, be prepared to spend a LOT of time there!  She has tons of adorable free quilt patterns there for you.

Until next time...
Happy quilting from Sharon and "the girls"

Happy New Year !!

    

The girls and I hope you all had a great Holiday Season, no matter how you celebrated.  We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's Eve hubby and I ushered in the New Year with a delicious lobster dinner with baked potatoes, corn, and Italian bread.  Yummy!  Of course, the only time we have lobster is about every other year at New Year's--too expensive for our strict budget, lol.  But once in a while we indulge ourselves.  Of course hubby never stays up to watch the ball drop, so the girls and I saw the New Year in and then went to bed in anticipation of the next day.

New Year's Day was spent with 6 of my quilt club girls at Ann's house.  We sewed along with the Planet Patchwork NYD Mystery .  Ann served us breakfast and a great lunch of baked spaghetti, tossed salad, garlic bread, and a yummy vanilla wafer pudding.  Between that and the snacks, lol, we all sort of got behind in the clues.  Jill was the only one who even started sewing the rows together to see what the pattern might look like.  I think she had one row left to go when I had to leave.

Most of us got our blocks sewn, but with other dinner commitments that day, we all had to pack up and leave at different times, so we'll probably end of finishing the top at Joan's house on our normal Wednesday sewing day.

But what a lot of fun and laughter we had.  And we got another to chance to say goodbye to our BFF, Diane, who is deserting us for the warmth of a Florida winter.  Traitor!  Just think of us back up here in the frozen North, Diane, while you're down there lolling around in your bathing suit!

Here are the pictures I took yesterday.

 

The last picture is of my blocks as I was almost done with them.  I had a jelly roll from Kansas Troubles called Kansas Winter, so that's what I used for my blocks.  I love their fabric and colors.  I have several more jelly rolls, layer cakes, charm packs, and turnovers in Lynne's other lines.  You should stop over at her blog and say hello.

Until next time...

Happy Quilting and may your New Year be filled with peace and joy,

from Sharon and the girls, Katie and Patsy Cline



What a wonderful Christmas....

we had at our home.  Dinner with the family here--my gravy turned out great! (I'm gravy challenged, lol, 'cause my mother always made it so I  never had to learn).  Lots to eat, so we never did have dessert. 

Got to talk to my grandson on the phone.  He lives outside San Francisco now, with a wonderful new job, but it's our first Christmas without him.  He received his gift from us okay and loved it when he opened it.  I made him a Philadelphia Eagles quilt for his bed. 

I wasn't sure if it would fit or not, but he took this picture with his phone and says it fits fine.  He bought a new bed frame when he moved and it was just delivered the other day, so he spent his Christmas Day putting it together.  Unfortunately, it's too small, so he'll still be sleeping on the floor, lol, but at least he'll be under a nice, new quilt.

 DD liked her new Christmas quilt, too. We learned the pattern at one of our quilt club's Sunday sew-a-thon's at the fire hall. It's called the 10 minute block and is similar to a cathedral window block.

I'm going to make myself one with Moda's Cattails and Clover layer cakes with smaller blocks.  Maybe I'll even get it done in the next year. 

This year I participated in Chookyblue's Secret Santa Christmas Swap again (my fourth year).  This is the only swap I do at Christmas now because I've never been disappointed in the swaps I've received.  Someone in Australia always has my name and I've received the most beautiful gifts.  I've held off posting the "ornament" we can open as soon as our package arrives, hoping for snow--but all we've had in the past week is rain.  Usually the "ornie" is supposed to be hung on your tree so you can anticipate your Christmas gift.  But this year, Bec had my name, and her "ornie" just kept growing.  So instead of hanging it on my tree, lol, I had to hang it on my front door for everyone to see!  Here it is hanging on my wall the day I received it.

Isn't it the most gorgeous thing you've ever seen?  I love it!  And it hangs perfectly on my front door and is protected by the whole glass frame.  If it ever stops raining, I'll try to post another picture of it on the door, so you can see how great it looks.  It makes me smile looking at it.

 And on top of that, the "real" present she made me is a gorgeous table runner that makes me think of summer and the beach. The colors are beautiful and so is the quilting on it.

 

Thanks, Bec, I love them both!   You're a great SSCS swapper!

I sent my SSCS package to Fiona in Australia. She let me know she was very happy with her package, also. I'm glad, because looking at her blog, you can see she is a very talented lady. Here is the bag and the goodies I sent to her.  Of course, Katie has to do her quality control check before anything can be shipped out.

Stop in at Fiona's blog and look at all the lovely items she has made, you won't be disappointed.

Until next time...

from Sharon, Katie, and Patsy Cline

Merry Christmas...

Thank You, and God Bless You, to all our military personnel serving near and far during this Blessed Christmas Season.   And  Happy Holidays to those of you that do not celebrate Christmas.


I hope I can share this beautiful Christmas Concert from Ricky Tims  of The Quilt Show with you. 

The video link with this blog is the full concert from the December 14-15, 2007 performances. It is 72 minutes long, so get a cup of christmas cheer, good computer speakers or headphones, and chill for a little more than an hour. It wasl only to be available on TQS, so I hope this link will work. I hope many of you will watch it . The video is a compliation of four performances. Also, be sure to visit Kat Bowser's webpage.

Several videos included in the show feature some amazing quilts. Here's the song list:

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Christmas 1956, 1957, and 1961

Sleigh Ride Medley (with Winter Wonderland and My Favorite Things)

The Christmas Song

Carol of the Bells

I Saw Three Ships

Sugar Plum Fairy

Angels We Have Heard On High

O Holy NIght

Midwinter Dreams - on CD (Sacred Age) and download at www.rickytims.com

Mary Did You Know?

Christmas in a Small Town - available for download at www.rickytims.com

Silent Night - on CD and download at http://www.rickytims.com/

Sugar Plum Fairy Reprise - available for download at http://www.rickytims.com/online-store

http://www.thequiltshow.com/os/blog.php/blog_id/681#ooid=Z4OXZ2MToMyyjBHf3bvdHHlGS7k0_fDR

See you all after the holidays...

from Sharon, Katie, and Patsy Cline

Only 12 days left til Christmas....

and I am so far behind.  Between going to 2 Celtic Thunder Christmas concerts in three days and being sick ever since, I haven't done any sewing.  I even missed Quilt Club last week 'cause I couldn't get out of bed. 

But I do have pictures from 2 weeks ago at Quilt Club.  We had a combination going away, Christmas, and birthday party for Donna W, who went home to Arizona for the next 6 months.  Everyone brought a dish to pass and we chowed down on lots of good food.  Here are some of the pics from that day.

And I even got some sewing done this weekend.  I made table toppers for several of my friends from our old hockey booster club.  We get together once a month for lunch just to keep in touch with each other.  Sometimes that's the only time we see each other because of everyone's busy lives.  The girls all seemed to like their gifts.

Another party coming up on Thursday with my Stitch 'n Bitch Group, so now to get back to more sewing. 

Until next time...
Happy quilting from Sharon, Katie, and Patsy Cline