The new year brings...

...my first block in my first online quilting bee! It isn't perfect, but I hope she likes it. We were sent fabric and told to make whatever 12.5" block we wanted. I wanted to do something hip and new and different, and even went so far as to print out paper piecing templates, but then chickened out and fell back to a favorite Ohio Star block. Oh well, I have 11 more months to be creative.

...another win for my husband's team! Their record is now 8-2, and let me tell you, I love winning much more than losing. There's been a completely different vibe in my house these last few years, and this year, with this talented and young team, our house is just humming with excitement! The boys and I rode the team bus to Atlanta with the team last week to go play Emory University. I've never been on a sleeper bus before - what fun! I read, watched movies, slept, sewed - how nice to not be in charge but just along for the ride. And of course our hotel had a pool (it is a prerequisite when I travel with my boys) so we spent lots of time in the pool and I felt all virtuous for swimming 30 laps 2 days in a row (no matter that it was a midget pool about half the size of a normal one - in my book, if I am moving, it is exercise). And I got to see some old friends (including Nancy, my quilting buddy who moved away in June) and some cousins that I haven't seen in over five years. It was hard to believe that these two 5-year-old cousins had never met. Once they were introduced, Donald said, "So, what do you want to play?" and they were inseparable after that.

Me with my cousins

Me with a good friend from college

Jason helped his daddy on the bench during the game

... a slightly cleaner house! I know you are supposed to start the new year with a clean house, but gosh, I hate cleaning!!! I'm proud of myself for picking a few projects to complete and actually getting them done. I certainly won't pass a white glove test around here, but there are a couple floors that we could eat off of if necessary (not necessary since I also washed dishes) and the Christmas tree and other decorations are back in the closet for another year.

... something new on the design wall! My focus for the next few months needs to be quilting and finishing projects, not starting new ones, but I need something for those times when I just want some time with my machine, right? I have a couple of scrappy log cabin blocks done, and the rest are all in various stages of completion, a wonderful project to pick up and put down whenever, as there's not much thought involved except light and dark.

(not sure yet what layout I'll go with - so many options with log cabin blocks! I'll wait until I have more blocks done to decide, but in the meantime, fun to play around!)

Back to work in the AM. I sure am going to miss sleeping in!