Happy New Year!

It's waaaay past midnight and 2008 has arrived in Northern California! Happy New Year to each and every one of you who stop in here to visit and see what I'm up to.

My 2008 quilting resolutions post seems to have gotten a few of us thinking about what we hope 2008 will bring, and I've enjoyed reading what some of you have planned. Although I'm still making my list--and enjoying digging through my old kits, books, and patterns in the process--I am planning to finish up a lot of things this month that I've begun previously. Many of you seem to be thinking along similar lines, and May Britt of Abyquilt has even started a challenge to motivate us to get things finished--go on over and visit her if you haven't already.

I've finished piecing the blocks for the quilt for my brother and it's up on my design wall, waiting to be sewn together--I'll get a photo of that soon to share. I have the makings for another quilt I've begun out on my table in the Sweat Shop--it's a wallhanging that I think I can finish fairly quickly, so I can get it up on the wall--it's perfect for this transitional time of the year between Christmas and Valentine's Day. I'll show you more soon. I have three small projects pinned and ready to quilt. These are all my immediate projects, although there are more I hope to get to in January.

I have tamale filling in the refrigerator, waiting for me to make tamales on New Year's Day. I will post the recipe and some photos a little bit later. I plan to break the directions into two posts--one for making the filling and one for the rest--making the dough, wrapping the tamales, and steaming them. That's pretty much how I make them too--I make the filling one day and do the rest a day or two later.

Oh, and I cleaned house on New Year's Eve day--I didn't want to start the new year off with a dirty house! One thing I HAVEN'T done, though, is take down the Christmas decorations. I just hate to take them down, but I'll work on that this coming weekend. And some things will stay up for the time being--I'll explain why in the next week or so.

I feel like I've gotten myself a bit organized now and ready to welcome in the new year. I hope you have had a wonderful New Year's Eve and that 2008 has started out well!