Thoughts for the New Year...

I should go back and look at what goals I set for 2011, but I haven't done that yet. The only "resolution" that I can find that I wrote about was that I wanted to wear my hair down for approximately 4 out of 5 days.  I've definitely accomplished that.  Woo hoo!  I like achievable goals!


There are some things that I've been thinking about for the new year that I would like to do/focus on:

• make some throw pillows for the house - I've seen sooo many wonderful ones around blogland and I really would like to make some for myself.  I'm sure I've got the majority of the fabric I would need for this in my stash
• continue to sew from my stash as much as possible
• knit myself a pair of socks and a hat
• knit my husband a hat
• sew a travel bag for myself...I've made for of these already and they have all been given as gifts... For weekends, I have been tossing my things in a re-usable Whole Foods bag.  I need something a little more presentable :-)
• make myself a Naughty Secretary Bag - I have the fabric already picked out and set aside...I just need to cut out the pieces and start sewing
• buy the Swoon pattern and possibly get started on that
• make a quilt for my nephew...his "golden" birthday will be in September and I am wanting to plan ahead.  I want to make him a quilt that will fit his twin-sized bed and I think I would like to get it quilted by a long-arm quilter, so I need to plan ahead

I'm sure there is lots more that I would like to do, but I can't think of it all now.  Plus, if I write too much down, I'll never be able to cross it all off.

Wrapping Up the Year....

This is just a funny photo I took when we were preparing to take a family photo at my dad's house.  My brother placed one camera on the table to set it up for the timer and I happened to set my camera behind it and  decided to go ahead and take this photo.

Here is the real family photo:

For some reason, we always remember to take these group photos at my dad's house, but not at my mom's house.  I'll have to make a note for next year.

I've finished a lot of things since I last wrote:

• Peek-A-Boo Toy Sacks for my niece and nephew

• A Naughty Secretary Bag for my friend

• dish mats 
• lined drawstring bags
• Bountiful bags (made out of Christmas fabric)  -- this past summer, I won a copy of Melissa's pattern and it has taken me until now to get some of these bags made up.  I used Christmas fabric and then used them for my brother's gifts.  I really liked how these bags made up and will definitely be making more.  

I'm sure there's more, I just can't think of them all right now....

Other things that I have done lately:

• went to a professional hockey game (1st time to see a hockey game)
• went to a water park (1st time for this, too)

Again, I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of anything right now.  I'm going to go and start thinking about what I would like to accomplish in the new year :-)

Freedom from Some Things

I don't really have a photo to go with this post, so I am presenting to you a photo I just snapped of our kitty crawling out from under the tree skirt.  If you look directly in front of him in the photo, you will see the red milk ring that he was retrieving from under the skirt.

Anyway, as the end of the year is nearing, I have been spending more and more time sewing.  A lot of that time is monotonous sewing which leaves me a lot of time to think.  I'm already thinking of things to focus on for the new year.

One of the topics that has been weighing on my mind the last few months, though, is  "things",  specifically possessions and really having too many of them.  The issues are multi-faceted:

1. Possessions take up space (especially in a small house) and make it harder to keep my physical environment in order.  This is especially difficult for me.  I grew in a home of CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome... thanks, Flylady!)  Some days I'm better at keeping reign over the chaos than on other days.  Anyway, the more stuff that a person has, the harder I feel it is to keep in all together.
2. I like soo many different crafts... and as we all know, it can be rather easy to go a bit overboard with each one...  which leads to more possessions.  I simply can't use all the supplies and tools all of the time, and when I'm not using it, it takes up space.  I have scrapbooking supplies, rubber stamping supplies, yarn for knitting and crocheting, and fabric for sewing.  It's out of control.
1. I keep thinking about having a crafter's garage sale, but I haven't gotten my act together on that one yet... maybe in May (something to work toward...)

Okay, so I'm sure there are more issues than this, but what I'm leading up to is the fact that I did manage to free myself from some of my not being used items... in this case, many, many, many skeins of yarn.  (Never fear, I still have plenty for myself, too!)

I have a friend, whom I have known since I was a small child.  She moved away right before high school, but we have managed to keep in touch all of these years and we only live about an hour from each other now.  A couple years ago, her husband had cancer.  Since that time, she has been making chemo caps to donate to chemo patients.  She had written on her blog that she was possibly going to sell some crocheted items in order to be able to get more yarn for chemo caps.

Ding, ding, ding!  I was so glad she mentioned this because it gave me an outlet for getting my yarn into a home where it would be more loved/used.  I could have given it to Goodwill (which is also charitable, I know...), but it was a lot and I just couldn't let it go to anyone.  So, last week she drove over after work and took home all of the yarn that I didn't want.  Freeing for me and helpful for her (at least, I think it was helpful!)

I have finished a few Christmas gifts in the last week, but haven't been able to take photos of them due to the dreary weather.  Maybe the sun will be shining tomorrow?