A Lovely Year of Finishes

Sew Bitter Sweet Designs is hosting A Lovely Year of Finishes.

The link will take you to the requirements to participate. One of them is to let you know what my goal for the month is.

TILDA 

This is where I'm starting. The top is finished and sandwiched to the back. My goal for January is to get it  hand-quilted and the binding sewn on.

I've decided my word this year will be FOCUS. I'm so easily distracted that there are plenty of projects begun, but not enough finished. So if I can FOCUS on my UFOs this year, I will have A Lovely Year of Finishes.

(found on the internet)

Thank you for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity.

Happy New Year

The new year is dawning bright and sunny in my spot of the world. We are looking forward to temperatures in the upper 30s with promises of snow next week when everyone heads back to their "normal" routines.

So how did you spend your new year's eve? Did you go out and do something special? Have friends and family in? Stay home for a quiet evening?

We stayed home, we haven't gone out for years, by choice. Our tv decided to stop working just before Christmas and have chosen for the time being not to replace it. Newton doesn't really watch much tv and when he does it's usually Netflix. Honey Do plays on the computer most of the time as he has on-line friends too. I've been watching a series on Netflix, so while my guys did their "thing" I watched and sorted through some flannels.

I've cut it into larger pieces to pass on to an on-line friend that does charitable sewing for children, 4 and 5 inches squares, and 6 inch strips for scrap quilts (hopefully for next Christmas for the "greats").

I also finished my two swap blocks for Quilter's Garden January Swap. This looks like a really comlicated block - at least too me - but it really wasn't all that hard to do. I love my color choices. I may have to make some more of these :)

New Year's day will find me relaxing, watching Netflix, finishing a book and finishing up the flannel so I can packages ready for mailing this week. Illness has been running through the family, so everyone is staying close to home.

Enjoy your day. May the blessings of 2014 continue into 2015 for you and yours.

           

Thank you for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity.

               

2014 - Finishes

January

 

 

February

March

 

 

 

June

 

July

August

September

October

 

November

 

 

 

December

And a final finish for December.

Block 12 of Bethlehem :) 

I wasn't sure I would get all the stitching done on this project. I finished it Monday evening. 

It was a simple block to stitch. No fancy additions. The cuteness speaks volumes and really didn't need anything else. It was a fun little block to stitch.

Now it goew on the UFO pile to finish in 2015. I'm not sure how that will be done or what fabrics I will be using, but it won't sit long because I absolutely loved this project.

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity.

Out with the old

(Image found on facebook)

It's that time again.

We all say how quickly the year(s) go by. 

I'm of that age. Time is flying!! It seems like just yesterday that I was graduating high school. No job prospect. No money to go to college. No direction. No future plans. 

I was scared to death !!!!

Here I am - - - almost 40 years later !! YES, 40 years !!! I can hardly believe it. But the calendar and mirror don't lie.

I'm not depressed about it. Maybe a little sad thinking of all the woulda-shoulda-coulda's. But that really won't change anything. I don't want to live a life of regrets. I've had a pretty good life, so no complaints. Could it have been better, honestly, yes. But it could have been a whold lot worse too. 

It's not a bad life - I'm keeping it.

To that end, I found this on Facebook this morning:

I'm adopting these. In fact, I'm going to print this out and put it in the cover of my calendar. 

This is something else I found while reading Wendy's blog.

It's a free downloadable you can find here.

Even if you don't blog, it's still something to get you thinking and planning. 

Something else I want to do and was reminded when I read Mdm. Samm's blog, was that I need to slow down. I've gone over my finishes for this year. I'm not at all disappointed. But I really want to enjoy the things I make for myself and for my gifts to others. They shouldn't be rushed and last minute thoughts. 

So I've reviewed and updated my UFO list and have decided 2015 is going to be a year that I focus on finishing projects that are started and in various stages of completion. That doesn't mean I won't be starting new projects. I have several I'm interested in, these are just two of them:

Jenny is sponsoring a free BOM. 

Michelle has a new BOM.

Both are beginning January 1st. 

Honey Do and I were discussing how relaxing the past week has been. He's on year-end vacation and won't go back until January 5th. I told him I thought this is what retirement would be like. The only issue would be finances, but I've had to learn to adjust to that already, since I haven't worked in more than five years and our finances have changed considerably over the last two years especially. The biggest thing is deciding how much you really need, can live without and what truly makes you happy.

It's been a journey, that road of self-awareness. It's had very difficult moments. Hard, life-changing decisions. Commitments to what is truly important like faith and family. The decisions to live more simply and less encumbered by "stuff". Being more particular about "stuff" and being able to let it go - or at least taking those steps.

I'm going to spend the next couple of days thinking about and filling out that worksheet to give myself some direction. 

In the meantime, I'm keeping busy. . . 

Thanks for stopping by,

Wishing you a day filled with creativity and a very happy new year.

Mom #2

This sweet couple has been in my life since I wa 13 years old.

Their eldest daughter needed a friend.

They prayed.

I was the answer to that prayer.

I'm not telling you all this to brag. Although, I do feel and am very proud of the fact that I was an anwer to someone's prayer.

I'm telling you all this because I'm going to ask you all for prayers and good thoughts. Mom had an aneurysm burst in her brain. She was life flighted to a nationally acclaimed hospital and emergency surgery performed. 

She has an excellant prognosis and is responding to touch. 

She has a long road ahead her.

So thank you. She is a very important person to her family, extended family and those of us that have been adopted into her family through love and through Christ.

Thank you for stopping by,

Wishing you a creative day.