Tiny Finishes and GO PACK GO!

 I had a semi relaxing day (been going way too much!) working out, making homemade soup and biscotti and finishing up the quilting and binding on three little quilts.   This first one is Barb's Christmas present.

 I do still have mine to quilt yet.

 I also got this one done from Bread and Butter "Jelly Stars" which has been pieced and waiting for quilting for TWO YEARS!  I really need to just finish up some of these little ones.  I am not great at the quilting and so that is why they get put off.  I did this one kind of free motion wiggly lines...I am pretty happy with it.

 I also quilted and bound Piney Flats.  This is such a fun bright quilt!  Kathy and I did a little high dusting and shook out and rehung some of the little quilts.

The Christmas Past and Presents is hung up in the middle but it is still awaiting quilting (and the other one is still waiting to come together).  It was fun to have three little finishes today though!

Finally made Ros' Christmas Biscotti!  I didn't get to it in time for Christmas so I made it today--I know I should not have because it is delicious.  I didn't spread the loaves out enough--this one spreads more than my usual recipe.

 It is pretty and tastes great too!

So happy the Packers won today--perfect end (or beginning as Amy says) to a great week!  Back to work tomorrow.  One more week and my college job starts back up too.  I am ready to get back to my normal craziness--bring it on!

Fastest Weekend on Record!

 Last Thursday after work Kathy and I went hiking at South Mountain again.  It was a great night and we went farther up to see the ruins this time.  Really pretty.  We sat up there and looked through the window in the rock, very fun!

 We got to see the sun set.

 And the moon rise!

 However, by the end of the hike my feet were killing me.  My toes hurt really bad and I knew my shoes were too big and my feet were moving around in them too much.  So we headed over to Roadrunner and they did their little walking test and made me inserts and talked me into these shoes.  They are super comfortable and I cannot wait to hike in them!

 After our hike I had lots of steps, yay!  However, I woke up on Friday and had horrible pain on the front of my ankle/shin.  It hurts to even touch my skin.  I am hoping it is not shin splints--Kathy thinks it may be a bruise from hiking in the old shoes.  I have no idea!

 I have been icing it and we skipped hiking today because I am having trouble even walking (don't even have 2000 steps today..ugh!) and I am praying it will heal soon.  I wore my new shoes all day on Friday (which seemed to help my right knee) and did not wear them at all yesterday.  Today I only wore them for my ten minute half time walk and the pain was worse after that so not sure if the shoe adjustment is part of it or the walking.  Time will tell.

 Friday or so my Cotton and Steel Hatbox fat eighths arrived from Sew Mummy Sew!  I love them and will most likely hoard them a bit!  After work Friday we went to New River and spent the night at my mom and dad's...helped them with the thrift sale all day Saturday.  Then we met Ros for sushi Saturday night!  She gave me the Packer quilts to bind, but I haven't made it that far yet.

 Today I made my Tula Pink City Sampler block 23 and 24.  Somehow managing to keep up with my two a week!

 And all the blocks so far.  They are amassing quickly!

The next thing I sewed took a few hours but is a secret for my Santa Swap Partner Jennifer.  So I cannot show pictures yet, but I was happy with how it came out.  Now to wrap all the stuff and get it winging its way to her--she already mailed mine!
I also stitched up the weekly Wild and Goosey block.  Thank goodness I have the goal of one a week or I would just put these off too often!  I love them but each block takes a good hour!

I am SO happy I had time to finally trim up hst's and get Piney Flats made!  Thanks again to Jo and Kelly over at Jo's Country Junction for encouraging us to finish up a Quiltville project or two before the mystery starts on Black Friday!  

 I also finally hand stitched up the opening on my pillow today--also a Bonnie Hunter adaptation of Lori Holts' house block from the Parade of Homes in Quiltmaker Magazine.  Really cute!

Feels like this was the fastest weekend on record!  Watched the Packers kick butt and got a pedicure today too...I wish I could start all over again at Saturday tomorrow, lol!

3 YEAR (plus) Mini Marathon--Quiltville Fun!

 Back in 2011 Bonnie let us know that she had three mini quilts available through Patchwork Posse.   So of course I needed them--more info from Bonnie here though I am not sure that these patterns are available anymore.  (Picture above borrowed from Quiltville.com).  She called it a three month mini marathon, it has taken me more like three years to get all three of these babies done! Too funny since they are minis! I think part of why it took me so long was I decided to use leftover parts to make it easier, but somehow then they never got in the actual que to get done! 

 The first one I made was Auntie's Anvil in July 2012.  Blogged about that here.  And I finally got around to making the second one at camp this year--October 2014.  This is Nines Surrounded.  Where does the time go!  This one isn't even quilted yet.

I started Piney Flats at camp too. It has a ways to go yet, but I think I can finish it before Grand Illusion starts!

Have any of you made any of these?  My friend Becky has made the first two, and I saw one Auntie's Anvil in Tuscon, but other than that have not seen too many of these Bonnie minis!
Thanks to Jo and Kelli for the extra kick in the pants to get some partially done Bonnie projects out of the way before Grand Illusion starts!  Linking up to them here!

Prepping for the Next Quilt Camp!

 I am planning to go to quilt camp again this Fall (though I haven't actually signed up yet!) and I got to thinking I should start deciding what I want to bring.  I haven't gone in a long while and I don't have near as many working in progress as I used to that I can bring with me.
First up is a paper pieced pattern of the Arizona flag that we got at shop hop last year.  I now have scraps all ready to go for two of them.

 I prepped up Piney Flats (a mini Bonnie Hunter) because I love those minis!  I am using leftover nine patches from Carolina Crossroads and Puddle Jump Mystery, but the rest is just cut and ready to sew.

 Several years ago Amy posted this pattern from a calendar picture that inspired her.  I was doing too much other stuff at the time and always wanted to get to it!  So finally I got to working cutting this one out.  I decided to do the four patches in yellow so this will be a Packer quilt.  I have no shortage of folks wanting one of those!

I have a few other things ready for cutting--pretty sure I will be all set by the time camp comes around!