End Of the Year!

 What??!!? Can it possibly be the final day of 2024? 

We have just come home from an abbreviated New Year's Eve party - we are aging! The plan was for 5-8pm; we found the stamina to stay until 9:30, so whooo-hooo for us!!

I'm sure loyal readers here are somewhat surprised to see me muster one last post to finish out the year. I have been woefully negligent in posting to the blog in recent weeks. The further into the year we've gotten, the more sparse my posting has become. It got to the point here in these last 2-3 weeks that I didn't even think about sitting at the computer to write up a post. Didn't even enter my mind!

The biggest reason for my reduction in blogging was the gargantuan effort I began in June to re-do our three upstairs bedrooms. The fourth bedroom is my sewing room, and it got a bit of an overhaul, too.

The three pictures shown are the three overhauled bedrooms. First to be done was the master bedroom, with new floors, rug, paint color, king bed and quilt. It was the Christmas present we gave each other last year. This was truly a remodel; I removed 3 bookshelves with over 300 books; purged our clothes closet, tore out ridiculously worn pink carpet, and slept on a mattress on the front room floor for about 6 weeks. It was grueling, I tell you!

The next room to be tackled was formerly where the long arm machine was set up. Now, the room is ready for overnight guests once again. The long arm machine was moved into my sewing room (after purging quite a lot of stuff to make room!), and this room got our old bed frame with a new mattress; an area rug, night stands, and my Dusty Trails quilt. I later made the pillow shams to accent the quilt, and I am quite pleased with the result.

Finally, the the last bedroom and the messiest. It had become such a dumping ground for all the stuff I didn't have space for. After several large donations to Goodwill, plus a yard sale, and a serious purge, I found our pretty iron bed (full size) hidden under mountains of clothes and quilts. There is also now room to move around the room and actually be comfortable in the space. I still have a bit of sorting to do (hidden corners not shown in this pic!), but I think I can get it where I'd like it to be.

We had both daughters and their families here on Christmas Eve, and everyone had bedrooms! That was my goal, and I achieved it! 

With all the work that these bedrooms entailed, my quilting and sewing naturally took a major hit. I just couldn't get anything going in the sewing room. My ability to concentrate on one thing was just not functioning.

I don't even think I picked up a needle in all of December! Well, I did, but it was definitely minimal.

That will soon be changing, however. We are packed and ready to go to Florida in the morning. I have two sewing machines and a quilt project to work on. I also have packed a couple of little hand projects. So plenty to do, and not too much to concentrate on. 

And no scraps! I spent all last winter dealing with scraps. Real projects are on tap for this winter!

Sorry for all the words tonight; I haven't been sewing, so I have no pictures of projects to share!

I hope you all have a Happy New Year! May all you 2025 dreams come true!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne