Just wanted to let you know that I am the guest blogger on Quilting Gallery today.  Pop over and read about my quilting legacy. 

To add to the fun I am going to have a Give-a-way for one of my Hexapins.  Leave a comment to be entered into the fun!  The deadline to enter will be midnight on Feb. 3, 2010.

Where has more than 24 hours of productivity gone the past two weeks?

Equinox Fitness Club – Marmaroneck, NY.

I am hoping that by alotting this much time each week to my physical health it will help me achieve my New Year’s goals for 2010 of loosing weight, exercising regualarly and getting in better shape.  

The details of  my goal:
1.  Loose 31-41% of my body weight.
2.  Exercise at least 4-5 times per week.
3.  Walk/run a 5K this Spring.
4.  Achieve a body size that will fit comfortably into the rides at Disney World this Fall.

Last Saturday while I was exercising I was thinking about the 12+ hours I have spent at the gym or getting there and wondering about all that I could have accomplished on my quitling “To Do” list if I would have spent that time in my studio.  But then I decided that I was giving up the 12 hours right now to increase my productivity in the future.   (Beside, I am more comfortable working in my studio because I can get up and down alot easier, am not as stiff after sitting for an extended amounts of time and just feel better.)   So the moral to my story – I am going to continue to invest in my quilting future by spending a decent amount of time working on my physical health.  I am sure that the time I am spending on my health will give me alot more benefits than the few extra projects that I could have finished.   Also, I am thinking (and hoping) that by having a more healthy life the odds are that I will live longer and have more time to finish those extra projects anyway.

In case you are interested I have lost 3.9% of my body weight.  Exercised 5 times the first week in January and 6 times the past two weeks.  I am doing 40-45 minutes of cario exercise at least 3 times a week and am able to do some jogging on the treadmill (around 30 minutes of walking/running in increments of 3 minutes walking/2 minutes jogging (fairly slowly)).  I am much more flexible and am developing strong core muscles. 

Stay tuned for occasional reports on how I am doing on my New Year’s goals!

Bonnie McCaffery has put together some videos from 2009 Quilt Festival.  My quilt, “The Generations Unite, is featured in the following video.    (I am at around the 5 minute mark.)

2009 Houston – Show Us Your Quilts

Go here to see the other videos from this year’s Festival. 

Enjoy!!!!!

 

This is a test to see what happens to pictures when I upload to this blog and can I figure out how to get them to be “Clickable”.

But can you name the quilters in the picture?

I have actually done something creative in the kitchen.

The Pelham Quilters monthly meeting was Monday evening. A couple of hours prior to the meeting I remembered that I was suppose to bring refreshments. Since I had classes to teach, I was really glad that I had purchased a couple of brownie mixes last trip to the grocery store. I had also purchased this magazine with all these fun Halloween food ideas. I am not sure why I buy this type of magazines, except I like to LOOK at the pictures. Well, I pulled out my magazine and found this fun idea.I think this was alot more exciting than just plain brownies.

The magazine said to make the spiders out of gum drops. Needles to say, I don’t keep gum drops around just waiting for the perfect project. So, the pom pom and chenille stems came to the rescure.

First off – I apologize to those that may of had a hard time in finding me or couldn’t find me for a few days. I am in the process of having my website professionally designed and I switched newyorkquitler.com to anothe hosting company so I could use it for my new webiste/blog combo………but in the mean time newyorkquilter.com takes you no where!!!! UGH!!!!! Anyway, the direct address to my blog (for the next few days) is: http://maryanneciccotelli.blogspot.com/

Thank you for taking the time to share your opinion on naming my Turkey Quilt.

Ann-Christin suggested Jittery Turkey (which received 9 of the 12 votes).

Rose-Marie in Sweden is the winner from those that voted.

Please send me your snail mail address and I will mail you the pattern in November when it is finalized. If you didn’t win, the pattern will be available on my website to purchase.