New Years Day - Tradition and What a Cut up!!

We have a tradition in our family that we visit my sister who makes Porzelky (pronounced por-cel-cha), a Mennonite traditional New Years cookie.  It's really a fritter with raisins and they are yummy hot out of the deep fryer dusted with icing sugar.  My sister is the one who carried on the tradition of making them.  I just enjoy them with my family at her house!  They are truly amazing and I wish I had taken a picture of them. My Dad grew up in a Mennonite family so my Mom learned to make them from my Grandmother.  I've never made them.  I've always been content to let that be my sister's thing.  Anyway, today we spent the majority of the day at her house enjoying a nice visit with some old friends and eating Porzelky and other goodies.

When I came home I thought I would attack the rest of the cutting out of the fabric for steps 5 through to the finale of the Orca Bay mystery quilt.  The big reveal was published on the quiltville.blogspot.com blog just a hair over midnight eastern standard time. I got a beep on my blackberry indicating a new email.  The email indicated that Step 8, The Reveal was now posted.  I was expecting that if I stayed up until midnight last night that I might have a peek before bed.  I certainly was surprised to see it before 10 pm our time!  Thank you Bonnie.  What a nice way to spend the last few hours of 2011, admiring your beautiful Orca Bay quilt and dreaming about my own!

So...tonight I finished trimming the strings of Step 5; cut 700 triangles for Step 6, cut the dark, neutral and red squares and the larger triangles and finally the last two hourglass units.  All the cutting is now done except for the lighter inside border.  I am now ready for some power sewing to get this quilt finished.  The muscles are sore tonight after all that rotary cutting, but what an accomplishment!

Oh yeah...and I published the list of the 12 UFOs I want to finish in 2012.  You will see it on my sidebar to the right.

Hope you all had an enjoyable first day of 2012.

Blessings!
Mavis