Official Bloggy Welcome to 2025!

We made it safely to Florida on Wednesday and Thursday; have spent the intervening days getting things situated and comfortable. And now it is time to get serious about blogging! I really piddled out last year; I hope to do better.

I have always like the beginnings - beginnings of months, of years, of projects. The fresh new days of 2025 are pumping me full of ideas and projects and plans - many of which are sewing/quilting projects and plans.

Before I get too far ahead of myself, however, I need to review 2024. Typically, I use one collage to do this, but as we are ending a whole, entire year, I made two.

This first collage represents my highlights for December. I tell you, I did so very little sewing! It saddens me just a tiny bit to think of those projects which were left unfinished. However, all the fun and fellowship I did have most assuredly makes up for it. And you can see from the snapshots in these pictures, people play a very big role.

TOP ROW: I will reiterate here what I've said often in the blog posts I've made since summer - we remodeled and updated our upstairs. These three pics show the three sleeping bedrooms - master bedroom, then bedroom 2, and bedroom 3. We remodeled in this order. The master bedroom was technically the project we set out to do, but it quickly became evident that in order to do it properly, the others would have to be dealt with as well. Bedroom 2 was formerly the long arm room, so major things had to happen which forced my involving the sewing room. Yikes! It was all so very daunting!

Bedroom 3 didn't get so much of a remodel as it did a severe clearing out. We had used this room as a catch-all, and it had gotten to the point that even walking into the room was an athletic endeavor. 

All three rooms still have some small things that need tending to. Art for the walls; hang a ceiling fan; install a TV on a wall mount; continued purging in that third bedroom - these would all be a healthy start.

MIDDLE ROW: Granddaughters took lots and lots of our time, which we never find to be a problem! Reagan and Cate are such darling girls, and we take so much joy in watching them develop and grow. Reagan is 3 months; Cate is 26 months. Cate is such a good little helper when Reagan is around, as illustrated in that center photo.

BOTTOM ROW: The first picture was taken at a family luncheon in Hillsboro - extended family on my mother's side joined us for fun and frivolity. My cousin and her husband are in the foreground, then my two aunts are behind them. That's me way in the distance. *grin*

The middle picture shows the one sewing project I finished in December - a Mondo bag to gift to Helen in our Frankfort Girls gift exchange. This may be about the 6th one of these I've made, so you'd think I would have finished it in a timely manner. Uh-uh. Nope. I was topstitching the night before the party. Geesh.

The last picture is of the Frienzies. We only had 5 present, but it was so much fun. We did a Progressive Day. We seem to always be so busy that when we do get together, we never get to truly visit with one another. So we devoted the entire day to connecting. We started with brunch at my house at 9am, then went to Pam's for coffee, tea and games. After that, we went to Susan's for lunch and a quickie project; then off to Hettie's for after-dinner drinks and dessert. It was a wonderful day, as we ended about 4pm. We got to see each other's houses decorated for Christmas, and we really took the time to enjoy the company. I hope we do this again next year!

Well, I have that other collage, but looking at the length of this post, I think it'd be a good idea to hold it off until tomorrow.

Happy New Year, Quilty Friends!

Jayne

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2023! We celebrated the new year with long-time friends - the Schmidt's and the Everhart's. Since roughly 1995 we three families have been ringing in the new year together. All our children were close in age and they loved playing together and partying until midnight. We have lots of fun memories of various NYE parties over the years. 

Now we are all empty-nesters; we reminisce and brag on grandchildren. We all bring appetizers and beverages; play games; watch the ball drop on TV, and catch up with one another since we don't see them nearly as often as we did when the children were involved. Last night the Schmidt's hosted; next year is our turn.

So. Sew. 

Yesterday I attempted to load the Red Scrappy 9-Patch onto the long arm machine and at least begin quilting it. As I was measuring it to determine the batting size I would need, my measurements were off. 

Puzzling.

I figured and figured before realizing that I'd added the extra row I mentioned in a previous post to the length and not the width. duh!! It is really long and skinny now!

So I am making more blocks and will definitely add to the width this time, then I will load it onto the long arm. 

Since I make so many scrap-oriented quilts, I am going to try to be more mindful to join the "Oh Scrap" linky party over at Cynthia's blog Quilting is more fun than Housework.

And, just because, I am including a picture of our sweet Baby Cate. How can such a small thing be this adorable?!?!?

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Happy New Year!

 A new year! A new beginning! A fresh start! Exciting opportunities at every turn! 

Isn't it thrilling?!!

After a no-party pandemic year, DH and I celebrated with two other couples, the Schmidts and the Everharts. We three families have been ringing in the new year since 1994 or '95 (we always have a discussion about exactly when we joined them). Our families all attended the same church and our children were all very close in age. Those new years parties were so lively and fun-filled. All the young'ns are now grown and we oldsters continue celebrating, albeit with a lot less noise. The evening was complete with all the requisites for a good time - too much food, late-night games (dominoes, this year), time-out of the game for counting down the final seconds of the old year, and kissing spouses (our own!) in the new year. Quite the successful party, I declare. It had to be successful! I wore my party shoes!

So this morning (now afternoon!) I find myself thinking big thoughts and making big plans. My quilting journey promises to be fruitful. I plan to continue sewing from my stash, and making wise, considered choices when buying more. I rely on sweet friend Sharon and all those dear Frankfort Girls to encourage me and challenge me and inspire me to keep stitching, to have fun, and to try new things. I will be putting together an official goals list for 2022 soon. That's essential for keeping me on track throughout the year.

 

I mentioned that I have been thinking deeply about all the implications of beginning a fresh new year. While I try to be a good person every day, with the emphasis on a new year/new start and all that, I feel even more devoted to trying to be genuinely kind, positive and optimistic. I like to be around people with those qualities, so it makes sense that I should strive for them myself. The two quotes here are both from Instagram, and do a good job or capturing the sentiments I am taking into 2022. Click on each quote to link to the source.

Are any of you as eager to start a new year as I am? I so look forward to all that I will accomplish. I am equally eager to take stock of my accomplishments in 2021. I made more quilts that ever before and I used my long arm machine with increasing confidence and success. On the personal side of things, DH and I traveled to so many interesting and beautiful places and made so many memories along the way. Yes, '21 was a darn good year for me and for us. 

Hey, 2022!! You have a hard act to follow, but I've got confidence in you! You'll be awesome!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Welcome 2020!

A New Month! A New Year! A New Decade! A plethora of new beginnings!

I have totally been thinking about quilting goals for this new year. Some are going to be completing goals I made a year ago. Alas, not all goals were met. I will be formulating a plan and share here soon. I also would like to go back to review last year's list to see how well I did at completing what I planned.

As I think about the projects on the horizon, my excitement to get started grows. Nothing is quite so exciting as beginning new projects!

For today, I plan to recover from our late night - we brought in the New Year with our long-time friends, the Schmidts and Everharts. It was our year to host.

I might also begin taking down all the Christmas decorations. It will feel good getting all that put away.

Wishing you all the best for the New Year!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Happy New Year!

Welcome 2019!

It seems not so very long ago that we celebrated the last new year, and here we are already, celebrating yet another. Gee whiz, time sure flies when you're having fun, right? *grin*

I follow an entertaining antiques collector on Instagram - @jesselauzon. (I highly recommend you go look him up!) He writes the greatest posts, and today's is no exception. Here is a snippet that resonates with me: …"I can't come up with a resolution that I don't want to break already..." I fear I lean that way, too, but doggone it, I make resolutions every year as if my life depends on it! I prefer to call them goals, as opposed to resolutions. I can't explain the difference, but I am sure there is one. *wink*

One goal for me this year is to do better than last with blogging. That should be easy, because I was pretty bad this past year. I need to get my mojo back! I think it all rides on being super busy with sewing projects, and this past year found me with fewer projects which led to fewer posts. I gotta' work on this!!

I have done some sewing today, and I have done some organizing, too. Both of these appear on the aforementioned goals list. I will be sure to talk more about these in the next few days.

Happy New Year, Dear Readers and Followers! Let's have an amazing year!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Happy New Year!!

Did you celebrate the new year last night? We spent New Year's Eve with two couples that we've celebrated with for about 24 years now. Those two couple have been celebrating New Year's for even longer - over 30 years. We had a spirited game of dominoes going until about 5 minutes before midnight, at which time we halted play, and readied ourselves for celebrating. Our celebrations are of the low-key variety, but we never did get back to the dominoes table.

The ride home was brutally frigid. The car thermometer read -9 degrees F. Even with the cold, though, the full moon was beautiful and cast such a glow on the snow. Tree branches were glistening with frost and if ever a place could be called magical, outdoors southern Ohio was just that to bring in 2018.

The hoarfrost still clung to the branches this morning, and oh, how enchanting the new year looked out our windows. I was compelled to rush out to try to capture some pictures of the magic.

I am eager for this new year. With a long arm machine to learn and use, along with quilts I want to make, 2018 promises to be a banner year for creating. I have made some preliminary lists, and hope to  have a workable plan in place in the next couple of days, and of course these will be shared here. A publicly shared list is one that is more likely to be followed, don't you know. It makes one accountable, and I sorely need that!

Until I do finalize my goals and plans, I have a sewing room to straighten up. Sharon is coming in the morning and our plan is to cut out that blue and white Monkey Wrench/Snowball quilt I shared here before Christmas. We need to find the cutting table under all the piles and stacks of stuff that have been precariously teetering there. I am about to devote a very focused hour of attention to that cutting table. Wish me luck!

Happy Quilting, Friends, and Happy New Year!

A New Look

I'm playing around with a new look for the new year. I'm sort of a slow learner when doing stuff like this, so I hope you bear with me.

Not only did I have to replay a 4-minute video tutorial about 7 times, I had to decide on a picture to use in the header. Decisions, decisions! Here are a few I considered.

A Great Granny Square from August 2012.

9-Patch Criss-Cross from July 2012.

Jacob's Ladder from October 2012.

 

A you can see, however, I opted for the more recent triangle quilt I worked on at the 2013 Quilt Camp in June. I just love how it turned out, and looking at it again makes me think I might need to see about quilting it!

Well, for the time being, anyway, I've got a new look. Have no fear, though, the content will still be a running commentary of the projects being produced out of my quilting room!

Happy New Year's Eve, Friends!