Start As You Mean To Continue

Surfing around blogs today I saw that Pam made a list of things that she planned to be doing tomorrow, to keep with the tradition that what you do on New Years Day, you will do for the rest of the year! So.... I thought I might do something similar to start off all those resolutions I am making.

1. 
   
   Eat healthy throughout the day, and drink 1 1/2-2 liters of water!! I will be starting Weight Watchers again to get my weight under control again. I was down to 120 after DD2 Aisling was born, but have just gained and maintained at about 175 for the last 2 years...not good enough anymore, I want to get healthy, and anyone that wants to join in with me, come along!! I think I will start a new page here for Weight Watchers stats etc...
   
   


2. 
   
   Quilt a Dear Jane Triangle. I hope to get this quilt done in time for the August Festival of Quilts in Birmingham.
   
   


3. 
   
   Sew a gift for a friend. I hope to sew or quilt a little each day that I can, nothing new about this though, lol, it is in the blood. I will be working on a few gifts (head cold permitting, I am the queen of laziness right now!) for friends babies, and a very special bear using the chenille robe of a dear friend's mom who passed away, kind of a memory gift for her, she didn't have too much cotton for a memory quilt.
   
   


4. 
   
   Knit Dave's felted slippers. I hope to knit a bit each evening as well! I find it so relaxing!!
   
   


5. 
   
   Going to pull out the rag rug that I bought 10 or more years ago!! Would love to get back into this again!!
   
   


6. 
   
   Go for a walk. Even if it is just a small one with the girls and Dave to get started! Hope to get the energy to walk as often as possible to get girls to school, etc!
   
   


7. 
   
   Use my dishcloths and scrubbies instead of sponges and paper towels. I hope to get more "green" and environmentally conscious this year, using less paper, less water, less electricity, less petrol... I hope to make these part of the daily routine, like recycling has become.
   
   


8. 
   
   Read a book in bed by 11pm. No more staying up late...will read in bed at a reasonable time!!
   
   

Have been working on some felted slippers for Dave since last night...they are so huge before felting it is funny! Have a peek... This went pretty fast, but have lost concentration this afternoon! Trying to get my head around the goals I have for the New Year. I really want this to be a year for positive changes.

Sorry I've Been Gone Too Long!

I took lots of photos of crafty and domestic happenings before Christmas, but the kids got a horrible bug on Christmas Eve through the rest of this week, with a trip to doctor, and high temperatures and lethargic kids. They are feeling well as of this weekend, but guess who is knocked out now? Yup mom and dad. Dad never gets sick, so on Friday he took to his bed and slept about 18 hours I think! Moms don't get that kind of uninterrupted time to sleep, lol, so I've been slowly slogging around, doing laundry, etc etc. Yesterday I was the one worse off, so I did get Dave to sort out most of the kids meals while I moaned with a bad sore throat and hideous head cold. Feeling a bit more human now today, so might get the last of the holiday baking done with kids. We hope to finally feel well enough to bring belated Christmas presents to Dublin on New Years Eve, and I will be trying my hardest to start losing weight as of January 1st, so all this holiday baking is kind of a last hurrah before that line I am drawing in the sand for 2008.

Here are some of the baking we did before Christmas! I am known for my American Chocolate Chip cookies here, so many are made. I also do sugar cookies a tradition from my own childhood, which my kids love to help me with! I also made the pecan tassies that Kristin gave the recipe for. YUMMMMMMMMM! These are definitely added to the holiday baking list from now on, both DH and I love them!


Dave always does a tiramisu and I always do a pavlova for Christmas dinner desserts, but sadly I forgot about a lot of photo taking during our flu/virus/ick stage with the kids.

My mom and dad gave me the cash to head down to the local Bend yarn shop and get myself a swift and ball winder to wind those lovely hanks of yarn into center pull balls much easier to knit with... I showed Aine how to use the winder, and don't you know, after a few days, every single hank of sock yarn and a few hanks of heavier wool have been made into lovely "cakes" of yarn. It is now a favorite job of hers, lol, guess I better buy more hanks of yarn from now on! Not that I need to buy anymore wool anytime soon, as I took quite a haul of felting yarn home from Bend and already have a very healthy stash of sock yarn! Here is a photo of Aine winding some Socks that Rock wool (thanks Kristin!) her favorite of the sock wools we wound. Note the My Little Pony going for a ride in the center of the swift!


I managed to finish the tea cozy for Dave's mom for Christmas. Here is Aine modelling it for me, and one on its own!


I promise to be back soon with my 2008 resolutions, but for now here are a few photos from the pre-Christmas preparations and celebrations, our Christmas was nice, with Dave's mom and one brother here, but since we were germed, there wasn't a lot of socializing! Dave and Aine managed a nice trip to local friends for St. Stephens Day (aka Boxing Day aka day after Christmas!) but we haven't been out for more than groceries since Christmas otherwise!!!

There's No Place Like Home

Whether that be my own home with my good DH and gorgeous girls, or my parent's home in Oregon! DH did a great job getting the girls where they needed to go, but said I needn't go away again for a few years. There is a big difference between being on call 24 hours and being there evenings and weekends, lol!! I guess he finally can appreciate the kind of work a mom does! Dad's do great jobs with their kids too, but sometimes they forget how non-stop it can be for the moms.

I had a great time visiting Oregon last week. Hard to believe I'm home again already! I did so much shopping: lots of quilting goodies for our local ladies, some fabric and books for me, lots of yarn!! I got a swift and wool winder to help me wind up my skeins of yarn. I got enough yarn to make lots of felted goodies: some felted clogs, some felted ballerina slippers for the girls, and a huge gorgeous bag for me!! Here are some photos of various goodies.


I love the new Fig Tree Quilts book with the houses quilts, and I also got some taupes, some repros and some folky prints for me. I got some cool felted soaps for gifts and just look at those beautiful felted stockings that Kristin made for us! You may notice a drop spindle to try my hand at, and the wooden egg darner that I found for my vintage/antique knitting and sewing tool collections.

I met with Kristin several times on the trip. Thank you so much for your lovely company, and for letting me tag along to your guild party, Kristin!! I had a great time playing quilter's bingo and I even won a lovely book (oddly enough, donated to the cause by Kristin herself as I found out later!)! The cool blocks that Kristin made were donated later to make charity quilts by the guild, what a great idea!


We had an early Christmas dinner and present opening at my parents house last Friday. Mom and dad liked their gifts. One of our local patchworking ladies made a gorgeous wooden angel for me to give my mom, just because... how nice is that!

Here is a photo from my parent's back deck of the Cascade mountains I put in dad's quilt. I just love seeing the snow covered mountains, there is nothing so high here in Ireland!



I've got MIL's tea cozy to finish and lots of wrapping to do! Guess I will be doing that in the evenings, as I just realized that all my mornings are already booked for the rest of the week. Nothing like diving right back in to it all!!

Too excited to sleep!

I should have done a new post ages ago, but was just busy with everyday life, and Christmas card writing!!

I need to leave for the airport in 6 hours, but can't sleep, so thought I'd do this post I have been meaning to do for a day or two.

Take a look at Aine using some of my finished crafting for her play. Poor snoopy is in the hospital with a compress on her head using one of my scrubbies, lol! That quilt is an I Spy quilt I made her for her 2nd birthday.


This is a photo of the card she made Dave for this 40th birthday. I love the way she decided to put 40 on her card, like another one he received! His party was nice, lots of family and the boys went out for some pints!


I finally finished my mom's present. Click here if you are not my mom to see it, lol, and if you want to see what you are getting, you can peek too mom, lol!! I am happy with the way it turned out. A lovely patchworking friend here made my mom a lovely thing as well, click here to see her generous gift for me to pass on to my mom.

I am packed, but just loading up my super cool mobile phone with a movie and some MP3s for the airplane. I have a book, Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, and I have some MORE Dear Jane blocks prepared for my swap with Kate!

I hope that will keep my busy in between sleeping and layover times. I'll be in London tomorrow afternoon and San Francisco tomorrow afternoon 8 hours later, lol! I'll be nearly 24 hours in transit, so wish me luck! And a good sleep on the London San Fran flight!

I might get a chance to blog in Oregon, I hope so, but if I don't, I'm probably running around on a shoppers high or playing dominos with my folks! I am going to miss my girls, but it will be fun to be home again and recharge  my batteries!