Looking Back at 2015

Here I am at the tail end of another year.  2015 was a pretty good one for me and my family.  We have all been reasonable healthy and happy, so you can't ask for much more!  I've done a lot of sewing and have managed to create some lovely new quilts and projects.  I never really made any goals last year, but maybe that is a good thing - I seem to have stayed busy and productive without them.

This is definitely my favorite finish for the year:

This was the quilt I made for my daughter and son-in-law for their 4 year late wedding gift.  They loved it, I loved it, so we were all very happy!

I still haven't quilted my Grand Illusion Mystery Quilt, but that is in my plans for the weekend.  When it is ready I'll put it right on my bed and enjoy it!  I'm participating in a UFO challenge again this year and have a list all ready to go.  Maybe I can get the last of those long term projects going and across the finish line?  We'll see!

Here's another project that I really enjoyed this year - being an ambassador for Island Batik!  I've enjoyed being part of this so much!  I'm really looking forward to our next blog hop in February and have some projects underway for that.  Here is a teaser:

Looking toward next year, I just hope I don't spend as much time (or money) at the dentist!  I definitely plan to spend more time working on new patterns.  I don't know what this new year will bring, but I hope to have plenty of fun times with my family, and do lots of quilting!  I plan on being as happy as I can be, and enjoying each day as it comes.

I hope your New Year is happy and healthy!

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree

One of the fun things about getting together with our children is seeing the little things they say and do that remind us that they are our children, indeed!  Joellen posted on her blog this morning and from the title on I was hooked -  New Year Love is definitely from me.  I think if I had to pick a favorite holiday, New Year Day would absolutely be in the running!  I love the idea of starting with a clean slate, and empty calendar and 365 new days to fill with all kinds of fun things and projects.

If you go on to read her post, however, she talks about perfectionism, which she gets from both me and her father.  I know it affects how I do things differently, I tend more towards avoiding tasks that I doubt I can complete perfectly which leads to my battle with procrastination.  I definitely have discovered that this is where I tend to accumulate UFO's (UnFinished Objects).  Most of my projects that I haven't finished tend to have some sort of a problem, which is why they get set aside in the unfinished state!  During my 2014 UFO challenge, I had a really great time taking a dozen of those projects and facing their imperfections so they can at long last be quilts.  I think that really helped me to see that even though the project I am working on might not be exactly what I envisioned in the beginning, it is still worthwhile to take it through to completion.

Going back to planning, I am having fun with my present to myself this year - an awesome Quilter's Planner!

It has a lot of great features designed especially for quilters, so I think this will be a great tool to keep me on track this year!  If you would be interested in ordering one, they are available at the Fat Quarter shop.  I just downloaded a pattern to make a sweet cover for it, so hope to get started on that tomorrow.  Tonight I am thinking about what fabrics I want to use...such fun.

Luckily, whatever bug I had seems to have been fairly short lived.  I am getting a little bored of taking it easy and am looking forward to finishing up the rest of the week with some sewing, house cleaning and putting away the Christmas decorations.  Sad, but also fun to get started with the New Year!  What are your New Year plans?  We'll be staying in, probably will watch a good movie and eat some chips and dip - yum!