2012 report and 2013 plans

Even though I try very hard to be organized, sometime during the year I lost track of my quilting progress.  As best I can determine, I finished 9 of the UFO’s I listed last year, and on top of that I made two twin-size quilts for my cousin, four Christmas quilts for friends, a banner for church, a banner for my front porch, and did binding for friends.  There might have been a table runner and some small zipper bags too.  Did not keep track of my knitting and I don’t think I did any counted cross-stitch at all.  However I did participate monthly in an Artist’s Trading Card exchange and a postcard exchange.  I dabbled in making cards and some fictional writing too.

My quilting goals for 2013 include finishing up 7 almost-finished quilts, participate in Judy’s Comfort & Joy project (along with my niece), and work with my niece on making a quilt for a gift.  On my Hope-to-Do-in-2013 list are 14 quilts in various stages from an idea, to a kit, to fabrics gathered and blocks begun.  Then there are 7 very old UFO’s that I’m not ready to give up on.  I just need quiet time and energy to continue the work as they are not easy projects.  Lastly, one quilt is being quilted so that will only need binding.  Wait…..have to add the Artist’s Trading Cards and the Postcards I do each month.

In going over all this, I decided also that I will not take on any big knitting projects this year.  The sweater that I am knitting and hope to finish in the next week, took way too much time and money.  I think I will stick to scarves if I do any knitting at all.  I would really love to get back to some counted cross-stitch this year as I have lots of patterns already kitted up.

Now, with all of the above, plus my reading goals from yesterday, plus my volunteer job at church, you will NEVER hear me complain that I am bored.  Life is good and full and fun and I am blessed beyond measure.

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Now for Judy’s Get It Done Challenge -  for January 2013…

1.  Finish knitted sweater

2.  Finish gift quilt top (with niece Becky).

3.  Do ATC and Postcard monthly challenges

4.  Sew bow-tie blocks together.

5.  Sew borders on Riley Blake fabric quilt.

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And of course my last jigsaw puzzle for the holiday season 2012…..

Happy New Year ! ! ! !

Books and a puzzle

It was almost 3:00pm by the time I got home from church and lunch with a group of church friends.  I had one project in mind for the afternoon and I got right to it.  You see, I have a Kindle and I also subscribe to Pixel of Ink which is a daily email which lists free Kindle books.  Well, I knew I had a ton of books on my Kindle that are unread and I don’t even remember why I thought I might like to read them.  So I went to my Kindle account and printed off the list of books I had downloaded in 2012, crossed off those that I read, and then listed the unread ones along with the description (abbreviated) from Amazon.  There were 26 unread books from 2012.   Now my goal is to read these books before downloading any more. 

(Tomorrow I am doing the quilt project inventory – what I finished in 2012 and what I hope to finish in 2013.  My niece, who works full time and has a family to take care of, listed her 2012 finishes and it is very impressive.  I’m retired and my list  will not be any where near as impressive.)

This evening PBS had several wonderful programs on, so I decided to do another puzzle while enjoying good drama.  This puzzle was an easy one.

Changing my mind

Today I put borders on the quilt I am making from the Riley Blake fabric.  I thought the polka dot fabric in the fat quarter bundle would make the perfect border, but now that it is up on the design wall, I’m thinking it is much too busy.  I think I will remove the polka dot border and add a solid color border – taking a color from the fabric – blue or green or gold/orange or dark orange/red.  (I will have to go shopping.)

In my stash I had the perfect backing fabric and when I went to get it out of the drawer, it wasn’t there.  Thinking back I realized that I used it on another quilt.  Now I have to find a backing too.  (More shopping.) 

Not quite a cold

Today I was not feeling 100%.  I don’t have a cold nor the flu, but my throat is a little sore and I have zero energy.

I managed a little cupboard cleaning, some desk work, and a puzzle today.

And now I am going to make some tea and read myself to sleep.

Cold, tired, no sewing

It was very cold at church today where I do my volunteer job.  The boiler was not working and although the pastor put a space heater next to my desk, my legs were toasty but the rest of me was very chilly.

The repairman came in the afternoon and by the time I left, the heat was back on again.

After work I went grocery shopping in the hopes of loading up with enough food to last until after New Year’s Day. 

It looks like a lot of food, but of course after I got home I discovered two things I forgot.  One I will live without and the other is refreshments for the coffee hour at church on Sunday, so it looks like I will have to go to the store again on Saturday.  Whoopee.

Long tiring day for me.  No sewing.  No knitting.  However, sewing and knitting are on my schedule for tomorrow.  (Smile)

Today’s agenda

My niece from Wisconsin has been here for the last several days and after she left this morning I knew I had to get busy at my desk.  There was a pile of mail to go through, bills to pay, and thank-you notes to write. 

It took me much longer than expected and by the time I was through, I felt it was too late to get involved in a sewing or knitting project.  (That’s my lame excuse.)  But I sure had time to start – and finish – another jigsaw puzzle.

Banner pictures

The banner I made for church was displayed tonight at the Christmas Eve service.  I forgot to bring my camera or my iPad to take a picture, but my niece took this picture with her phone.

And this picture was posted on our church’s Facebook page – also from tonight’s service.

Neither picture shows the true colors or the quilting.  And the shower curtain rod needs to be upgraded to a nice brass rod.  However, it looked beautiful and I was happy with my work.

Merry Christmas .