Happy 2012!

Many of the blogs I follow have a year-end post with a mosiac of all their creations throughout the year or reflections on 2011 (like these) or resolutions for 2012. I like (or would like) doing all of those things except that it's been such a wonderful low-key weekend that I haven't even spent any energy on reflecting or planning.

All of us except my oldest went to a nice New Year's Eve party last night. It was in the neighborhood - sort of - so we walked there and back which was nice, since we didn't have to worry about who was going to drive or about the slippery roads.

This morning, I stayed in bed later than I ever do. It's torture for me to not get up before everyone else and get some quiet crafting time in, but I thought it would be nice to lollygag around a bit on this committment-free day. I made popovers and fresh-squeezed o.j. for breakfast (I swear those oranges are reproducing in my kitchen) while my husband sat at our kitchen island and planned out a few mini family trips for the first three months of the year. By the time we were done with that, it was 11:00 a.m. which I couldn't believe.

After we finally got going on the day, we went to pick up a 2012 date book. We've tried palm pilots and Google Calendar but decided that what works best for our busy family is simple old pen and paper. En route to buy the date book, we got a bit distracted at the movie theater. We saw "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" which I'd been dying to see. I loved the book, and I like Daniel Craig. The movie was really good and true to the book for the most part, but I'm not sure I would have understood it if I hadn't read the book.

Needless to say, we got back much later than intended. My husband turned on the game while I dragged my sewing sidekick to the fabric store. I wandered around aimlessly for some time then finally settled on four different garmet fabrics that I've already prewashed and hope to cut into tomorrow.

When we got back with some New Year's Day munchies, the kerosene heater was going in the living room and the wine was flowing. I decided to NOT hideaway in my craft room for a change and dug through my yarn, knitting needles, and Ravelry to relax in the living room with a project. I haven't had much luck finishing knitting projects since I started sewing, so I won't go into any details yet.

It would have been nice to spend December finishing some of my 2011 starts (I have at least 5 quilt tops), but with the busy-ness of Christmas that didn't really occur to me until about the 30th. I decided to spend the 31st doing something that's been hanging over my head for over a year.

I finished the last four quilt blocks for the virtual bees that I joined/started at the beginning of 2009. Yeah, I don't really expect many kudos for that, since I'm so ridiculously late. Who knows if the recipients even live at the same address, are still working on the same quilt, even like quilting anymore, but it feels great to have those blocks done. I'm sure they'll be shocked to receive them in the mail. It occurred to me that they may not even open them if they don't recognize the return address. I can't believe these lovely ladies have been so patient with me!

Here are the blocks.

Log cabins for Heather.

I love the colors she picked out.