Here's to the New Year!!

Well Ladies & Gentlemen..... here it is our 1st get together for the new year and time for new beginnings. Time of reflection and anticipation all wrapped up in pretty paper. Something about the New Year has us thinking of those goals we would like to reach... rather they be to lose something, gain some insight, become more ..., try to do/not do... or whatever the case maybe. 

I know we are all busy making our resolutions with great gusto but the real challenge will begin when we get farther along in the year. I know I'm off to a great start as I started the New Year with a Needle in my hand as the ball dropped.  I did revisit mine own goals that I stated a few weeks ago. And after much reflection and realizing they was beyond a tad lofty I would like to revise them if y'all don't mind. 

My new goals are now to do 2 small projects each month. Now this could be a combination of any of UFO's. WIP's or New items.  That  would include any swaps that I might sign up for. If I finish those, I will pull another small project out of the box to finish and if I don't finish in that month I'll move it to the following month. I think two smalls could be a reachable  and reasonable goal to strive for in my humble opinion.  

This month I have a table runner for a swap that I need to finish & mail out on the 15th.  The hard part was done when I finished the last appliqued snowflake block. So now after my boy goes home on Sunday even, on Monday the sewing machine comes back out and the piecing should clip a long quickly.  For my second project, I'm doing my own "OOAK" piece for a St. Valentine's swap between me & my close friend that lives in Hagerville, Ontario, Canada.  This one I'm keeping under wraps until she receives it. So sorry there won't be any sneak peeks on this one folks. So there are my 2 small goals for this month.  The nice thing is I already know what the 2 are for February, making me ahead of the curve so to speak and that is always a good thing in my book. LOL.

And for my long term goal, I have decided that if I can get at least one of the large queen top done, I would most happy.... thrilled even. Why just a top you might ask as you consider what you just read. Well it could be kind of a cop out in a way but it's more like having a reality check and unfortunately my check has bounced!   With the 2 tops having lots (and I do mean LOTS) of hand appliqueing on them, I have to realize that I might be lucky to even get one of them done.

The other day, I was able to put some time in on "Sunflowers and Crows". I had added some echo quilting to the inside of the pinwheel triangles as I sat listening to the next 2 Cd's in the book that I'm listening to.  I broke down and decided that I would use an actual 1/4"-ish stitch in this area instead of those little 8 to 10 spi's.  They really look HUGE in comparison, but I'm making myself stretch a little to give another visual effect to this - my Frankenstein.

So this weekend my plan is to continue with the St. Valentine project that I got started.  I divided the piece into 8 quadrants and have been plucking along.  I introduced the second color into it last night.  Tonight I'm most likely introduce the third & final color into this quad before I move onto the next quad. At the moment it appears that the brain & fingers are having a meeting of the common mind, meaning they are playing nice together as the vision is coming about. 

On Wednesday , I went to see the doc about the blood work I had done in Nov.  At that time, there was enough change in my TSH level that I'm now on a synthetic thyroid supplement.  The kicker is that I have to take it on an empty stomach and have to wait for a minimum half hour. EEWWWWW ... Wait ... NO Coffee ... ugh! the horror!!!!!!

Sooooo the long of the short of it is ... I'm going to put that time to use.  I'm jumped on the treadmill for the half hour.  It's been quite some time (like maybe 4 or 6 months.) I was on it. I started by 2 mph's for the first 25 minutes,then bumped it up that last 5 minutes to 2.5 mph's.  I didn't really break a sweat 'til I bumped it and surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Afterwards, I took a gander at that horrible thing called a scale.  I didn't add any weight but on the other hand I didn't drop any either. So I guess I know what I going to lose. I am hoping that half an hour every morning will help.  I'm only suppose to walk - no running - not that I could but under the threat of dire straights of death. But 110 -ish calories got to count for something. Which reminds me - I need to track this stuff for the doctor. 

So I have a December finish to show ya.  I took part in the quiltingboard.com monthly doll quilt swap. My partner liked brights, and as we know;I wanted to do something a bit different so this is what I came up with.  Now keep in mind that this was during the last snowstorm when I lost power and had to think on the fly.  So I free formed this stocking  from a small pic in a coloring page somewhere. I love looking at free coloring sheets as we all know...lol.   I blanket-stitched the whole thing by hand around the applique.  I place these small buttons (?) beads to the cuff points but ended up not doing much quilting on it at all.  
                                                 
The little ornie I made from Crafter's felt, poly-fill and twine that had on hand.  I thought it made made for a cute surprise. What you think...would like one? Hummm maybe I need a giveaway again. Thinking here.... maybe an idea will bloom before the end of the post.  LOL.

I enjoyed the PIF's stories from last week and look forward to seeing more of them. So please keep them coming.  This year I would love to have my PIF project to be for the little girls that take part in the Visit with Santa our little village has a part of the Winter festival. I'm going to take some of my scraps and turn them into little blankets for their little dollies or stuff critters. Actually what I REALLY wanted to do is to include a dollie or stuffie with these little blankies, but I don't get the opportunity to go garage saleing - where I might find some nice gentle used "babies".  So I'll work with the blankies at least.

We had about 150 little girls this past Christmas. Which was just under 1/2 of the little kids that came to see "Santa". I guess that number didn't include the older kids. When I went to the library and talked to the Head Librarian about doing this, my 10 yr. old son heard us talking.  It appears that my son has shown some interest in helping me when he comes up for the summer. He has been attending Cub Scout meeting down there at dad's house and thinks this would be cool to do.  Hey ... I'm all for it and it's great to know he is thinking about others around him at this age.

Well on the Kitty front ... they have been settling in nicely as they have been caught playing and chasing each around the house.  I do have some pictures that I have to upload someday to show ya. They have minds of their own that's for sure!!  Appears they are quilty surveyors too as they are in, on or under whatever I might be working on at the moment. And I had to catch Ms. Honey a couple times as she trys to take off with my with flosses.  The little bugger!!  LOL.

Hummmm ... looks like I'm really have been rambling along for quite the while so now I have to think of something for that little Mittens Giveaway.  Okay ... how about you tell me about tell me about your New Year goals. I will pull a winner next weekend and announce in the posting at that time.  Good Luck Y'all.

Toodles,
Tricia