This afternoon I listed all the books I have read in 2007 and 2008 on Library Thing. There is a widget on my sidebar for those interested. Just click on Library Thing and it will take you to my list. 
The fabric also lends itself to picking many different colors for the sashing. In addition to the colors above, I have blues, darker greens, other reds, pinks, golds and yellows. These six blocks were very easy to make so I am anticipating that I can get all the blocks done this weekend. 
My desk also has things to file and put away, and on that gold paper is the print out of Judy's Labor Day weekend quilt challenge............as if I don't have enough projects going already.
My laptop computer sits in front of my desktop computer because I was going to switch everything to my laptop and retire the desktop and of course it hasn't happened yet because that would take a day or two of concentrated effort and I can't even seem to find the energy to clear off my desk or the card table.
Why do I fall into these slumps? I got up this morning full of energy and did thirty minutes on the treadmill (a miracle for me) and since then I have moped around the house, reading, playing computer games, and just wasting time.
A little of the border and the first line of words were stitched on my La-D-Da piece.
I continued to do a little quilting on my Road to Indy quilt.
The Christmas quilt that Lindsay and I are making along with the youth at church got pin basted and some quilting done last night by the youth.
Today I finished up the top motif on a La-D-Da stitching project.
There is still time today to do some more quilting or stitching. I'm not setting any world records, but I'm hoping that by doing a little each day I will happily reach my goal. 1,821 days to go.
FIVE YEAR GOAL
By the time I am 75, I plan to have all unfinished
projects completed, all files cleaned
out, and all unnecessary clutter gone from
my house.Now all of you out there that are chuckling please know that this is a serious decision I have made. Can I do it? Well, I'm hoping that my blogging audience will help me be accountable. So please check back with me in August of 2013 to see if I made my goal. Thanks.
Even though I used the proper tool for closing the pins, I still managed to catch the skin on my index finger over and over again leaving a nasty hole. Ouch. 
Tomorrow I will start the quilting process. It will be a challenge for me, but I'm looking forward to some good results.
Now I have 10 more house blocks to do. It is fun to make houses with crazy colors. How many folks have blue on one side of their house and a lime green door?
My favorite sawtooth star block is this one with the beautiful two-color flowered fabric in the center.
My favorite tree block is this one with a polka-dot tree against a polka-dot background.
When I was a little girl my mother allowed me to dress all by myself one day. As I came down the stairs my older sister cried, "Mom, you're not going to let her wear THAT, are you? She's got on a plaid skirt and a flowered blouse! It's awful."
The red striped border is from my stash and I love the holly leaf fabric green border.
The backing is this holly leaf and berries flannel. It will make a nice cuddly quilt. The young people are going to raffle off two Christmas quilts to raise money for their mission projects.
The one big thing I worked on at the retreat was the blocks for the Come-On-A-My-House quilt. These are some of the blocks placed on my design wall. I have a lot more to do. Unfortunately some of the cutting directions were not entirely accurate which caused me some delays and problems, but it is all figured out now. The cuts were too big instead of the other way around which made the fix easier than I expected.
The picture is not very clear, but the house on the bottom row with the blue siding has a little girl in the window over the door. She says "Hi".
But it is a big old wooden door that changes size with the seasons and just looks tired.
Even the hardware looks old and terribly worn.
This is the inside of the door. It doesn't let in much light with that little window at the top.
My bedroom windows were filthy dirty when I moved in so I covered them with pretty wooden blinds. That isn't fog in the picture below - it is years and years of accumulated scummy dirt.
Now I have a brand new door! I'm so happy with it. It lets in more light and just looks so much more up-to-date.
I also got a new storm/screen door. Picture isn't very good because of the reflections.
This is the inside. See how much light comes into the room now?
The new windows are CLEAN and you can see out. Best of all, they are the kind of window that I can wash from the inside. I'm doing a happy dance!
My office windows. Oh how lovely to see out. 
I'm hoping these improvements will add to the value of the house. I know they add value to my every day living!
Sam is an expert quilter and has won awards for her fabulous quilts. She worked on this beautiful border-print quilt that had to be cut with extreme precision.
This is the completed top without the final border as sadly she did not have enough fabric. Thankfully she was able to locate the fabric on the Internet and will be able to complete the quilt.
A close-up of the star blocks that take advantage of the border print. Clever pattern!
Sam's loving companion is Gus. Poor Gus is getting old and didn't have much spunk this year. He was content to guard the quilts and lie beside each one of us in turn.
He decided to place himself right where my chair goes and I didn't have the heart to make him move. 
He particularly liked Gail's design board, lying as close as possible so that the blocks started to fall off.
As soon as you put something on the floor, he is right there testing the softness and making sure it doesn't float away.
Lindsay and Gus cuddling.
It was a great retreat - our 5th! Now some of you may be wondering what I did at the retreat since I have not yet shown anything. I'm the only one who did not finish one thing. I got lots of components done, but no quilt top finished. However, I will start showing the bits and pieces that were sewn at my machine. Perhaps tomorrow.
