Getting Organized...again

A new year is approaching and I'm trying to get my ducks in a row.  At the very least, getting my projects lined up for the coming year.  I do this every year, going through the quilting magazines and marking patterns with sticky notes.  Since I started blogging, I've made some new blogging friends and linked up with Barbara at http://catpatches.blogspot.com.  She came up with a FO Challenge for 2012 that will keep everyone busy.  For those of you uninitiated in quilting jargon,  UFOs are Unfinished Objects, or, unfinished quilting projects.  But, this FO Challenge is just the opposite.  It's a way to build up your supply of UFOs and an excuse to buy more fabric and start more projects.   Start a new project every month and not finish it.   Music to my ears.  For all the details of this crazy challenge, click on the New FO Challenge button on the right side. 

I hope everyone had a good Christmas with their families and friends.  I know I did and my friends gave me some very thoughtful gifts.  I got this wonderful Thimbleberries Quilt Journal from my friend Sandy.

Room for 48 4x6 quilt photos with an adjacent journal page.  It also has plastic zipper pouches to save fabric swatches.  I have it filled already.  I will hunt for additional pages to add since it is a refillable ring binder.  She also included a cotton hand crocheted dish cloth.   Thank you, Sandy.

My friend Pat went to San Diego to attend her grandson's graduation from Marine training camp and took a day to visit Rosie's Quilt Shop.  She said she never saw such a huge quilt shop in her life.  Over 18,000 bolts of fabric...yes, 18,000.  There was a room devoted to every color.  She came back with some delicious fabric for me.  This is called Dark Chocolate and Lilac by Sara Morgan.

There was a pattern on the Blue Hills Fabrics website using this fabric.  I will add this to my UF Challenge project basket.  Thank you, Pat.  Sometimes your friends know you better than your family when it comes to gift giving, although, my niece gave me a gift card from Hobby Lobby which I'm going to use up in no time buying   scrap booking/card making supplies.

I'm determined to clean out my scrap bins and I'll share that project another time.   One more thing, if you want to hone your free-motion quilting skills, or just want to ease your anxiety, click on the Free Motion Quilting Challenge button to the right.