It's been a long wait here on the west coast for summer to arrive, but it's finally here. June was so wet our feet were webbing and apparently we broke all records for rain. BUT, the sun is now out and summer is here! Wahoo!
We finally got approval (after 3 submissions) from our strata to install an air condioner/heat pump, so yesterday and today we have been a construction site as they remove drywall inside and  start the process. As I stayed home, I spent the whole day in my quilt studio and had a delightful time. I'm usually so busy that I never get such a big chunk of time to sew, so I took full advantage of it. I managed to quilt 3 baby quilts for our guild Community Quilts (our main charity) and sew the bindings on. Now I have some hand work to do finishing off those bindings. Today I plan on quilting one more baby quilt and another wall hanging. My goal is to finish off ALL my UFO's (unfinished quilts etc) that have been piling up in my studio. I'm not buying any more fabric until I can start to make a dent in my stash, which is considerable.
I also took a finished quilt down to my Mom's senior residence and donated it. It was a lovely quilt (I hope to take a photo of it and post it here soon), but was too big to use for a wall hanging and too small for a bed quilt. The manager was thrilled to receive it so that was nice. I still have to sew on a hanging sleeve once I find out which way she wants to hang it. I often take down finished quilts to show the residents there as they get such a kick out of seeing them.
Well, time to walk the dogs and then sew.

Another fabulous, successful Quilt Show put on by "my" Langley Quilters Guild! Everyone volunteered and came together as one to create a fantastic show full of wonderful memories for everyone. I was there helping out in the Tea Room for both days so was pretty beat, but it was totally worth it. I put 5 quilts in the show and was happy that I was able to finish off 4 of them in time for it (one was finished earlier for my grandson) -nothing like a deadline to make me productive!
Soon we're going on an Alaskan cruise with the family -can't wait.

Where has the time gone?

I can't believe that now February is nearly gone -I have no idea where it went! Some years I find this time of year to be very quiet and that I hardly sew, mainly due to me trying to give away a few homemade gifts, but this year has been different, for several reasons. First is that we went to Hawaii and didn't get back until Dec. 5th, so there were no homemade gifts this year. I vowed to be organized though, as I hate shopping in Dec, and except for few last minute things I did ok. Thank goodness for ordering things online as it's been a time saver for sure. The second reason is that our Langley Quilt Guild is putting on our bi-annual quilt show in May 2012 and I vowed to finish off a few UFO's for the show. So far I've finished one for my daughter and am now working on the second one. I  do have a few more, but we'll see how the time goes. I'm also helping with the organization of it, and love being part of that. Although it's a lot of work, this is the time that you get to know your fellow quilters and that alone is worth all the effort. This year I'm helping out with the Tea Room with another quilter friend -haven't done this job before so it's a learning experience for sure.
Well, time to get back to this month's newsletter. Lots to include and fun to do.
I am so blessed to have quilting in my life and can't imagine what I'd do without it.

Thursday night

Another night of restlessness, so here I am. It's snowing hard outside right now, so not sure if I'll get out tomorrow or not to take my Mom to get her hair done. She'll be upset if we can't go, but it's not worth risking our lives for it. 
I finally finished hand sewing on the binding for my community quilt tonight so that felt good. I'll hand it in next week at our guild meeting. Tomorrow I hope to get down to my sewing room and work on my other 2 quilts that I'm trying to finish. 
I also finished our January newsletter tonight -whew! I love doing it, but it does take time. Hope everyone doesn't think it's too long as hubby informed me tonight that "most newsletters that I've seen are only a few pages long". Oops! I did counter with the fact that I use a large font for easier reading and that means each page can only hold a few items. Not sure if I convinced him or not. 
Hopefully the snow won't last too long, but I do love seeing it fall. 

Snow Day= Sew Day

Had a lovely day sewing today as the snow fell outside. Can't think of a better way to spend an 'inside day' (as we used to call it when I worked in a school). Just about finished quilting a Community Quilt and hopefully will add the binding to that tomorrow. Finally finished appliqueing the last circle on my daughter's 'Circle Play" quilt also -now I can add those last 4 rows and get that ready to quilt.
I'm slowly trying to finish off those UFO's that have been taking up space in my sewing room -sure feels good, but it's not going to get done in a day or probably not in a year. I've vowed to 'only' buy fabric if I need it to finish something and absolutely can't find anything in my stash that will do. Wish me luck on that one! I knew I had UFO's and kits, but it was only when I had to pack up (thanks to friends, Sharon & Marilyn for that!) and move this last summer, that I really realized just HOW MUCH I really had and it was an eye opener to say the least. I've been quilting for a long time and think it was just easier to forget about some projects rather than finish them. No more! I've challenged myself to finally get them done, even if it takes a long time to do it.
Thanks to my quilting friend, Barb, for the title today -just thought it was a great saying!