New Year, New Goals, New Milestones!

Happy New Year! I've given up on any guiding words or resolutions for 2023; I decided that I didn't want to set myself up for any disappointments or failure in that arena. Instead I have set some goals, both short and long term.  With an active, growing puppy in the house, it seems right to set the biggest long term goal for this year as one that sees Augie growing into a well behaved and obedient companion. With a LOT of patience and firm, consistent, training we should be able to accomplish that nicely. He's already been training us, now it's going to be his turn. He begins classes in Puppy Manners and Socialization in a week and a half.  The plan is for him to graduate into basic obedience classes after that, as the year progresses. I've begun having him sit with me at the sewing machine. He's fine with that as he has quickly become my little shadow and enjoys being wherever I am. Even in the chair while piecing!

Leash training has been seeing good progress, he's less interested in biting the leash now and understands the concept of walking while tethered. One step at a time. 

Mr. G celebrated a milestone birthday during the "in between" week of Christmas and New Year's day. We were discussing this week how when we were in high school we were all  reading George Orwell's 1984 in English class. Politics of that science fiction book aside, we thought that sounded like such an outlandishly futuristic date at the time! Now here we both are, all these many years later, celebrating birthday milestones we couldn't even imagine back then, and ringing in a New Year that we would have only laughed about back in 1970!

I did accomplish a small quilting goal last week; another donation quilt pieced by the mother of a friend, for our son-to-be Quilt Ministry closet at church. "Popcorn" pantograph by Willowleaf Studios; it's one of my "go-to"s and never disappoints on any straight/angular patterns, I believe it is a nice combination for quilt tops pieced that way. I have another on the frame right now; one more small, achievable, goal. 

One more goal: I am looking forward to becoming much more

 blog-active again this year. 

In the meantime, I have my hands full. 

❤

You know, it's referred to a "puppy love" for a reason. 

Happy New Year!

Life is Good!

New Beginnings...

At this time of year, with graduations and end-of-school-year excitement,  my mind always travels back to those "last" days when I was young. There was so much anticipation of what was to come, what great things awaited, those things that were always just out of grasp and view. I ran across this photograph the other day. This was my graduation day from Vermont College in 1973. Mr. G and were just engaged to be married the night before (such young faces!!) we were both on the brink of a whole new beginning and had no idea whatsoever of what was in store for us in the months and years to come!  I wonder what we were both thinking at this moment in time. Fast forward to today, we've only just celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary; and what a blessed life we've led. Each day has held its own surprises and adventures. We think we know how our lives will unfold, we plan and chart our courses; but, as we all know, life can toss us some curve balls. If we're not prepared to run out of our way and remain flexible in what we hope to achieve and when we might get there, we may just end up disappointed, disillusioned and giving up on those dreams all together.  Life isn't a sprint and there's not always a straight line from A to B. My advice to anyone on the brink of a new beginning is to stay firm, hold on to your dreams and not let go. You have no idea what's to come but your loving God does; a God who will never abandon you, one who only wants the very best for you and your life. Be of good faith!

How's this for a portrait of love and commitment? This happy couple celebrated seventy years of marriage yesterday! As a church family we were privileged to celebrate with them yesterday after worship, with cake and heaps of congratulatory wishes we all had the opportunity to hear the story of their wedding day in 1951; the moment that these two, embarking on a new beginning of their own, stepped out in love and faith! Would we live our lives differently if we knew what was ahead? Of course we would. But, that would be living a life without faith, and I can't imagine anything sadder. Believing in God's goodness is the key, for what is the definition of faith but the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. There's where our hope for all new beginnings lies! Greet each day full of hope and expectation, it's not just those big milestone moments like graduations, engagements and weddings but it's each little faith-filled step along the way that gets us to our goals!

Celebrate life every day...

Life is good!

Brother Bear

"Brother Bear"  ~37.5" X 43"

Working from the stacked, numbered, boxes in the closet I am endeavoring to finish one UFO each month until the end of the year. May's box contained all the elements for this precious little hand embroidered baby quilt, I even had all of the fabrics selected for the setting "logs" but scrapped them because it was too busy. I did keep chosen the border and backing fabrics, hence the name of the quilt.
See that baby bear roaming between the trees?

Here's a close-up with the backing fabric that I have chosen. 

Naturally, (if you're a fan of the Berenstains, like me) you know that there can't be a Brother Bear without a Sister Bear! Here's "Sister Bear", the girl version of the same quilt, currently under the needle.  I hope to get Brother Bear loaded and quilted right away; back-to-back bears 😉, successfully meeting my goal for May. These patterns are from Kristyne Czepuryk's book: S is for Stitch.

A current view from the design wall: Brother Bear and the first half of "Milk Money". 

Adapting in an upside down world: 🙃 We went out to dinner last night, at an actual restaurant, to celebrate our recent milestone anniversary! It's hard to describe that feeling, after all these weeks of quarantine; it was like we'd been set free. Everyone was extremely kind and all social distancing protocols were observed. It was a joyous occasion, certainly one to remember!

I'm happy to report that all of your prayers for Quiltkeemosabe's husband have worked and he is doing quite well; he continues to recover at home and grow stronger every day. We were so happy that he drove(! YAY!!) out to our home for a short visit yesterday, he and Quiltkeemosabe sat with us out on our new porch; it was just like old times, catching up. Thanks be to God!

"You are wisdom unimagined
Who could understand Your ways
Reigning high above the Heavens
Reaching down in endless grace
You're the lifter of the lowly
Compassionate and kind
You surround and You uphold me
And Your promises are my delight

Your plans are still to prosper
You have not forgotten us
You're with us in the fire and the flood
You're faithful forever
Perfect in love
You are sovereign over us"

 These words are from Michael W. Smith's "Sovereign" (you can listen here). 

You're welcome, the refrain has been playing in my head for two days. Amen!

Life is Good!

 

Cleaning Out, Finishing Up

This book contains a philosophy that is my new goal~ (decluttering, organizing, simplifying). It seems counterproductive to be reading about living with less during the Christmas season when I am overwhelmed by an excess of absolutely everything... but, perhaps, this makes it the absolute perfect time! Notice I said "goal" and not "resolution". This will be a process and I refuse to set myself up to fail. The first thing to go? UFO's. They're either leaving the premises as they are or they are on the road to becoming something else... namely, finished quilts!

I'm starting off the year on a roll. I am working long and hard on my Southern Album quilt, applying the "Dave Ramsey" approach to my UFO's as if I were attacking debt. Dave counsels (I listen to him on the radio when I'm in the car) that when paying off debt one should attack those accounts that are the most paid off first; providing a reward system that will spur the debtor toward taking on larger challenges next. Adhering to that line of thinking I am committing to the UFO's that are already the most completed. I have many to choose from; hopefully, one mark in the "done" column will prove contagious. It's worth a shot.

Life is Good!  

Monday's Mission: Goals and Priorities

I don't know how many (or few) of you are still with me. We've looked at time logs and scheduling over the last two weeks and now we're down to the nitty-gritty; goals and priorities... or, why we're even looking at any of this in the first place! (I know it's easy to lose sight of a goal. I remember when I was in labor with my daughter, I looked up at the ceiling and there, on the light fixture, was a small sign, that read: "THINK BABY!" "Oh, yeah... now I remember why I'm here. For a moment the pain got in the way!") If you're still with me , reach around and give yourself a pat on the back; you deserve it, you rose above and conquered the pain (or whatever your distraction is)! I left you last week with ditching your television and your laptop if they were your time "robbers". The only people excited about continuing would be those who were addicted to All My Children, since it aired it's last episode on Friday; you have nothing but time to devote to something new! In all seriousness, your time wasters have been exposed and, hopefully, by limiting them and excluding (or at least moderating time spent) them from your schedule you have a fresh outlook on productivity. I have no idea what your stated objective was for beginning this journey, only you know that. You've kept time logs for a week and you've given scheduling a try; so, where do we go from here? Let's stop right here and see where you are and where you want to go... I'll throw an example out there, one of my own: the goal this month is to finish a wallhanging for my granddaughter's room, it is to be a birthday gift presented to her next Sunday. I have, probably, somewhere between six and eight hours of work left to complete the project; and I have one week to accomplish that. So, I know I need to spend a little more than an hour a day to reach my goal, can I work that in to my schedule? Yes, I can. Is it a priority? Absolutely, it is! I will make this happen, even if that means getting up and hour and a half earlier each day! If this were a Christmas gift; or even a birthday gift for, say, November it could slide a bit; I could devote smaller segments of time over a greater span. But, since this has become a TOP priority, I will schedule even a little extra time for this one. If the time isn't all used, and I have realized the goal, I will pour this time somewhere else... into another day or another task and move on to what's next on the list. I do set a monthly goal, by this time in the month it's clear if I am going to reach it or not, because of that I do figure in a few "mop up" days during the last week of every month, that way I don't become discouraged by falling short; the days are there if I need to use them. The time itself is finite, but the goals and the priorities change, they're fluid. What do you have to accomplish this week? How can you best utilize your objective to reach your goal? Don't be discouraged if you don't get everything done that you had hoped to... begin small and celebrate the little victories, they will spur you on to the next big thing! This entire way of thinking/planning/living is a habit to be cultivated; it takes time to nurture your plan and keep the time wasters away at the same time, (think of it as waging war~ guarding your precious time and fighting off the time-robbers, basic good vs. evil), as you get better at it, it will seem easier to manage. Next week we'll look at multi-tasking and tips for effective time saving! Until then... plug in bits and pieces of time, where you can, those that will help you recognize your priorities and reach your goals; and remember:

Life is Good!

"Don’t underestimate the power of small incremental changes. Dream big and constantly pull yourself in the right direction by checking off to-do after to-do…one small task a day can rapidly eat away at something that looks and feels unreachable."

February 1

My plan for this decade is still holding and we're already over a month in! In fact, I'm a little bit ahead... I'd better go find some wood to knock on! Last month I turned the "notes" portion of my desk calendar to a place where I listed "goals". January's done and the goals were met. This morning I ripped off the spent calendar page to reveal February and found these items listed under goals for this month to come:

To quilt: 1. Redwork Circles 2. Dog Year Finish piecing: 1. Christmas Nine-patch

As you can see I have already begun quilting on the redwork quilt and can happily report that I accomplished everything I had listed for last month and then some. It's a positive thing to have this public forum to hold me accountable. So far, so good!

Life is Good!

Little Bites, One At A Time...

Here stands my Chrismon Tree, it's coming down today along with all of the other Christmas decorations to be packed away for yet another year. Along with the lace angels, beeswax candles and folded paper stars the tree contains some beautiful cross-stitch Chrismons, made by my daughter approximately ten years ago; precious few of those are actually made up into the Chrismons they were meant to be. Unfortunately, most of her perfect cross-stitch is still languishing on the even-weave canvas awaiting assembly (by me!). Every year it's the same story, I put up the tree and vow to finish the ornaments so lovingly hand stitched for this purpose. The hectic pace of the season always takes precedence and they simply don't get done. This year is different. I am taking the New Year's challenge the same way I would approach a large meal; little bites, one at a time. I have divided tasks that seem large over the course of the year and made assignments each month. January: Chrismons! I have altered the "notes" area on each month's calendar page to read "goals" and marked Chrismons there where I can see it every day. That, and this public declaration, should spur me on to a successful finish and twenty more Chrismons next year. I have packed all of the necessary materials to take with me on quilt retreat this coming weekend where I'll nibble away on them, one bite at a time. Wish me luck!

Life is Good!

As Much As Things Change...

... it seems that they remain the same! I keep a journal, I have for many years. I record hopes, dreams, aspirations, goals. While hunting for something else(!) the other day I happened upon a journal from 1996, this entry from early January caught my eye and held my attention, it was a list:

1. Become better organized.
2. Finish old projects before beginning new ones, namely (here was a list of 6 quilts I was working on at that time)*
3. Pay attention to weight by eating smart.
4. Be more patient.
5. Exercise daily. ( see entry #3!)
6. Pray deliberately and diligently.

*It might be of interest to note that only 3 of the listed 6 quilts are finished~ 12+ years later!

I could easily write this very same list today! It's sobering (and a little scary) to discover that my hopes, my goals, haven't changed one bit since then. I'm still working on, and wishing for, the very same things! And yet, as much as it seems that things remain unchanged, our little Mason is changing... he's ten weeks old now and growing sweeter and more precious by the day!

... I think I'll go to work on a new list...
Life is Good!

Triathaletes

Our children competed in a triathalon today, all of them; we are so proud of their commitment! Our son and daughter (first two photos) combined on a relay team, our son-in-law (3rd photo) did the entire triathalon solo! This was the first annual event to raise money for children's causes locally, held in memory of a little boy whose smile was pure sunshine to everyone he met. His parents decided to turn the tragedy of his death into something positive; to celebrate his short life through generosity to others who desperately need it. With the loving support of their family and friends they did just that, and will continue to build on what they've begun each year from now on. A memorial playground will be built at our local chapter Ronald McDonald House with money raised from this event. Everyone pulled from deep inside to do their very best, I know that our children set their own goals and honored their personal commitments. I dare say that these three first-time triathaletes will be back to compete again in the years to come, it meant the world to them.

Go, Team AJ!
Life is Good!

New Year, New Table, New Goal...

My husband has completed part three of my quilter's dream table. He is pictured here, with my Dad, making the final adjustments on the lift to position the machine at the correct height for machine quilting before moving it into the studio. This table has been under construction for a long time. Part one houses another machine for piecing and part two is an extension surface for both machines. There are drawers and shelves for storing essential supplies. This machine is also my embroidery machine and can be raised to the proper height for that task as well. The open area (with shelf) on the end, is designed for rolls of stabilizer and embroidery necessities. A place for everything!
One more table height adjustment...and voilà! Good to go... new year, new table, new goal-- more finished quilts!

Here we sit, ready to go, with no more excuses about getting quilts done, or projects completed... that's not exactly a resolution or proclamation, but it is my 2007 hope!
(Now, if I could only do something to generate more TIME... hmmm.)

Life is Good!