Sweet Sunshine

You wouldn't know that it's winter just by looking outside - or even by taking a long leisurely walk in the sunshine.  It's January 31st and it's been in the 70's for a week now, and they are saying that it will get into the 80's over the next few days!!

Sunshine -aka: "Sunny"

I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining.  The warmth of the sunshine is wonderful.  I enjoy not having to wear my fuzzy socks to bed.  And Sunshine (Sara's bunny) loves to play in the garden.  She knows to stay under cover.  she must have heard us talking about the Golden Eagle.  Which has been back hunting Coots. - Sara saw it last week being harassed by a couple of Red Tail Hawks after it caught another Coot.  It finally dropped the Coot and flew away.  I wouldn't think that a few hawks would bother a massive eagle. Perhaps it had already eaten and it wasn't really hungry.

 Quilting class was yesterday.  We made a miniature quilt. -  Little x's for Valentine's Day. It measures 12"x12".

I have a Honey Bun (an assortment of 42" x 1 and 1/2" strips of a collection of fabric) of Mary Engelbreit's Attitude Girls, so I used a few strips from that.  I'm going to add the red ric-rac around the outside edge after I quilt it.

Almost everyone brought in their House quilts to show. (I was one who didn't) They are all so cute!  I think I'm the slowest sewer in the class.  I really wonder if I even belong in that class!  There are so many very gifted quilters!  I just sit and sew and listen.  I know I'm going to learn a lot on Mondays!  Julie and Jill are wonderful teachers - both very creative and always sharing their tricks and tips.  It's fun to be in a class where I feel challenged - and no, I don't mean mentally challenged ;)  They keep a pretty fast pace.  We will be doing a new quilt each month, so there's no slacking off!  That's good for me - it will keep me focused and off the couch! - And I will get to use some of that fabric that keeps piling up!

I should have the House quilt done tomorrow.   I just have to sew together the pinwheels, some four-patch blocks, make three heart blocks, and sew the rows together.  I'm adding one more 4" row below the last row of houses.  I found some blue plaid homespun for half price at Bits and Pieces Quilt Shop last Friday.  I will use that for the border and binding.

Then it's time to check off a few items from my UFO list.  The wall hanging is only a few hours away from being finished.  The appliqué scrap quilt just needs to be quilted.  That will be two items - one for January and one for February.

 This is the reason I didn't finish my quilt last weekend.  Fred and I tiled the fireplace in our bedroom.  We chose a natural slate mosaic for the face of the fireplace surround.  The hearth is 6" natural slate.  It is edged with a ceramic rounded trim tile that is painted to match the slate.  It was pretty easy and I'm really happy with the (nearly) finished product!  We need to grout and seal the tiles.  The sealer will actually darken the tiles and show their true colors - which are pretty gray right now.  So, there's a household project UFO almost ready to be checked off!

This is the "before" shot

Next, we will paint our bedroom and put a closet organizer in the walk-in closet.  We've been in this house 8 years at the end of this month - I want to finish our bedroom!! - We're only a few weeks away!

Another productive month - even with almost a week of down time.  It's very satisfying to be able to look back at what I've accomplished each week.  Now, I need to make some time to clean the house...........