Crazy? Maybe!

Thursday morning, I decided to make a block from The Civil War Diary Quilt book for the first time. I had hoped to start working on blocks last January, but life happens, and so does ADHD. I picked this simple block- Oath of Allegiance- and it seemed fitting to make it from tea-themed fabric since I love tea. The CWDQ would be a good way to use up random scraps, and make for a good project in between projects.

Then we decided to drive up to see my mom and grandparents....

And I bought this:

 Now, some of you might think that my husband bought a new revolver at our next stop because he knew I had gone crazy, but honestly, he planned on buying the revolver before he really knew what the Dear Jane quilt was.

We rented 2 movies before coming home, so I just had to find a block from DJ that I could work on while on the couch:

 And then yesterday, I made another block:

 And 2 more today:

I machine appliqued this one for precision.

You'll notice there's no real theme beyond scrappy. That's the point. Old quilts often just had bits and pieces with no real theme, so why not make my DJ out of just leftovers? And, if you've followed for very long, you know this means when I turn 40 and finally have it done, my Dear Jane sampler will be very eclectic!

My New Year's Eve plans involve taking down Christmas decorations, sewing whatever I feel like, and running 3 miles, starting when the ball drops. Seems like a good way to ring in the new year to me!

So long, 2011. Hello, 2012!

Resolutions

I'm the worst when it comes to resolutions...
So, this year, rather than coming up with new goals this week, I'm just proclaiming a goal I set for myself last September:
In 2012, I will run my first marathon. After finishing the half, I knew I wanted to run a full, so this year, we'll be running the USAF Marathon. I'm so excited already! Registration opens on Sunday, and it's my last Christmas present.
I'm so excited. This is a goal I will achieve. A dream I will live. A hurdle I will leap past.
It's going to be AWESOME!

Fabric shopping spree!

 I have the best husband in the world.

 He took to me to 2 different quilt shops on wednesday for part of my Christmas- my own personal fabric splurge.

 I have plans for the blues, and the cake fabric already, and the Kaffe Fassett fabrics below.

 And these will soon be new pillows for the couch. 

I picked out several other fat quarters, too, that for now, are just for fun.

My husband is awesome. He truly understands me, and knew how much I would love all this lovely fabric.

He's the best. And this was just part of what he spoiled me with this year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Merry Christmas!

The final preparations are being made for tomorrow's meal- I'm taking ham, potato casserole, bambini, cookies, and peanut butter fudge to the guys (my husband, included) who have to work on base tomorrow night. They enjoyed it so much last year, and frankly, so did I, so I'm doing it again. I love cooking for people and this is the next best thing to being able to go home for Christmas.

The only question remaining is if I should make chocolate fudge, too... hmm...

I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas weekend!

Warning!

Too much knitting can cause tendonitis!

My whole arm hurts, tingles, zings, from my should to my fingertips.

Apparently, knitting all those presents, plus my husband's hat, plus a neck gaitor for me, plus a pair of gloves, plus one sock....
Oh, yeah, add in some English paper piecing...
And I'm guessing rotary cutting strips didn't help, either...

and BAM!

Sore arm. Can't sleep on that side, it hurts so much. I've been trying to do as little as possible, but it's difficult.

I want to play with fabric! And yarn!

GRRRRR.

I really hope it's better by Thursday... on Wednesday, I get to go on a fabric binge!!! My dearest, most wonderful husband has decided to give me a FABRIC SHOPPING SPREE!!! Can we say, "Best Christmas present ever?" Well, at least in the crafting category... I really can't compare it to the diamonds last year. :) Apples and oranges, or fat quarters and carats.

A well-deserved sigh.

I ran the Huff this morning- not the 50K ultra, but the 10-point-something fun run- which was fun, despite the delay getting in the park, 20 minute wait for one of 6 porta-potties (for 800+ people!), the fact that because I had to go potty I missed the official start by 5-10 minutes (hooray, chip timing), and the flooded, muddy trails. That mud might be why as frustrating as getting there and getting going turned out to be, I was grinning like a frosty idiot. I wish I had had a camera, but due to the water I knew I'd have to splash through, I didn't bring my phone with me, so you'll have to trust me- it was a beautiful run! Falling snow, icy lakes, truly beautiful. And I'm not a huge fan of snow!

Because of the hectic rush I ended up in, I was very glad to have made myself a running belt last night on a whim:

I didn't have time after packet pick-up to run the mile back to my car to put my shirt, keys, and ID away, so I was VERY glad I had this belt. It also made it easy to pin on my bib.

The best part of the day? My Momma drove down to watch me finish! She surprised me- I came across the finish line and there she was, so happy and proud. I love my momma. She took me to Subway afterwards, too.

I managed to snap a picture while I was in my car after lunch.

That green shirt is the tech shirt we got for participating- mine now has official trail running snags on it!

Enjoy the weekend! I'm going to bake- I earned it. :D

Up too early!

Is there ANYONE else out there who wakes up so hungry they can't fall back asleep? Anyone? I don't mind when I feel like this at 8 AM, but 6?? It happens way more often than I'd like, too. This is the third time this month I've woken at 6 AM or earlier, just because I was hungry (And yes, I eat enough). But then again, I'm the girl who carries food in her purse at all times because if I go more than 2 hours without a snack, no one is happy.

But anyway.

Yesterday, I felt like I *needed* to make another small pouch.

 The outside fabric I bought 2 years ago. It was from an Asian fat quarter set, and this one print I just couldn't cut into, until yesterday.

The lining is a bali batik from a scrap pack I got with a birthday certificate this year. I put all my race essentials- watch, road ID, iPod, and sport beans- in the pouch so I can just grab and go on Saturday morning. At least when I wake up early on Saturday, I'll have nerves to blame and not just an empty stomach! Though I really hope I can sleep until my alarm goes off at 5 AM. UGH.

Perhaps I can use this early start to be productive today.

but then again, it usually means I crash at 3 PM. We'll see.

Frogging is such a fun term.

The last of the Christmas gifts are DONE! DONE! DONE! In all, I knitted 10 hats in 6 days. Perhaps that is why I feel like I'm doomed to suffer carpal tunnel surgery in the future.

I also made a Kindle cover for a cousin, a knitting needle holder for a friend, and an electronic case. All gifts.

So, to celebrate, I started knitting my first pair of gloves... and then had to rip the first one apart (frog it! Somehow, such a fun name makes tearing up hours of work less painful) because I'm a bad girl and never check gauge, so it would have been large enough for a 10 foot tall MAN. But, I did manage to make the right adjustments, and I have one glove done!

 I also made a second holder for my DPNs. I bought this Alice in Wonderland fabric a year ago, and didn't know what to do with it... so why not use it for a knitting needle case?

After all, sometimes it feels like going through to rabbit hole trying to understand a knitting pattern! And that ribbon? It's one of many that I saved from our wedding presents. Any time I'm making something for myself, I look through my small basket of ribbons from our wedding gifts, and when there's a good fit, I use it! It adds a little more meaning to my many random projects.

I have my last race of this calendar year on Saturday. You may have picked up on how I tend to buy myself a finisher present after big events (I bought running clothes and fabric after the half marathon, and may or may not have blogged about my tea purchases after the Tough Mudder, and then more tea after I did so well on Thanksgiving). Well, Saturday is a 10.8 mile trail fun run, which I think deserves a finisher present... so I ordered 5 different half yard pieces from Fabricworm today. I know, a little early, but this way, I'm hoping they'll arrive quickly and give me something fun to do while I remind myself I need to rest.

I leave you with a final question: If you had to choose between reindeer antlers (with a warm headband) and a polar bear hat, which would you wear for a 10.8 mile fun run? I've got 3 days to decide...

Don't you hate it...

...when a relative/friend waits until the second week of December to ask you to make a gift?
(Thankfully, it only took an hour to make last night)

...when you forget that your spouse has 5 siblings, not 4, and so have to find another color yarn for the 5th hat?
(Well, this isn't so bad since it meant I went to JoAnn's yesterday)

...when a knitting pattern says, "Any worsted weight yarn" so you just go ahead and knit with standard worsted weight without making a swatch and the hat turns out to be 4" to big around and big enough for a large pumpkin?
(@#$%^ At least the yarn is in 2 balls now instead of clumsy skeins)

I need to get off the computer, get the grocery run done, and get back to knitting the last few presents!