A New Year Marker!!

 It's a New Year!!  Yea!!! 

I hope my rattling on about "watching for markers" helped you navigate the holidays you celebrated.  It helped me and one of the things I noticed was experiencing less stress (silver lining).  Nothing was as it "should be" but there was less stress because we didn't "have to" do much -- just sit tight.  I'll be happy to return to things as they "should be" this year but I think I'll leave some of the "should's" behind!

Perhaps the most positive marker I noticed for this time of year was my annual review of what's going on in my sewing room.  There wasn't a big tidy up (not really necessary since I've been getting tidier all year) but I did pull out all the quilt tops that are ready to quilt and made a list. 

 Much to my great delight, there are ONLY 19!?!**

You may be shuddering but it's huge because you are talking to a quilter who has had as many as 72!  While I was making the list, I also decided whether to machine or hand quilt each one.  The big dodecagon I finished last spring is first up in the hand quilting queue -- layering it Tuesday!  It will keep me busy in the evenings for months.

The first one to be machine quilted will be this top I pieced in 2000.  

I'm adding a border and did a quick change out of the corner triangles of the pieced border.   Who thought it would be a good idea to use light triangles??  Apparently I ran out of the cute flag print. 

Flexibility is the key to staying motivated these days and this print looks much better.

Because goals are good, I've set a crazy (impulsive) goal for the year!?!

I intend to quilt all of these tops by the end of 2021!!

(That's only 1.6 quilts per month!?!)

All the Esme Pouches I made for Christmas gifts have been delivered so I can show you the results.

The pattern is HERE!

I like the results I get from this pattern! I use mine as a small project knitting bag to grab as I leave the house for appointments (okay, there aren't many of those right now, but some progress is better than none).   It's the perfect size for a ball of sock yarn or a mitten project.

Only one of my girls knits so she got the sheep.

This cheery print that I've been sitting on for a looonnngg time went to my oldest granddaughter.

And these two went to my gardening daughter-in-law and my birding daughter.

The pouches doubled as gift wrap for their annual Christmas socks.

And I got to use some very special fabrics!  

Another goal -- more very special fabric will be used this year.  

It's so much more fun to use it than it is to keep it!

All those little Christmas gift finishes and working on the Moda Bakeshop Winter Frost set of blocks got me fired back up about piecing.  I've been at my machine every day for over a week finishing the blocks and working on the setting units.

I am loving working in my old stash of blue prints and hope to send this top off for some snowflake quilting in a week.  The Moda designers came up with some cute and original settings for the blocks, too!  You can see all the blocks and the settings over at the Moda Bakeshop website.

I saved all the patterns and have three blocks left over so maybe there will be another quilt?!?

I've been in such a good mood, I even emptied the chaotic pantry

and tamed the dreaded basket of storage containers -- this is the before!

Lost pans, forgotten crackers and chocolate chips were recovered and it no longer an elder "help, I've fallen" zone!

So my new year is off to a good start -- how about yours?

One more goal -- if you don't follow me on Instagram, consider it.

I want to share a mini-tip several times a week this month to help get you inspired, too!

The first one is already up -- I'm @hueymary

Have a good week!!

(Perky) Mary