Entering the New Decade

Well, here's to the end of a bunch of stuff -- the holidays, an old decade, and perhaps old habits?

And here we are, already five days into a new decade!?!

When my family was gathered together for Christmas, someone figured out that this will be the ninth decade of my life -- what???  I'm only 72!

(Pausing to count this out on my fingers)

Yep, this will be the ninth decade I've lived during -- humph!?!

Thinking I better make it a good one so in an optimistic state of mind, I hope to start off as I mean to keep going.  Once again, I'll try to de-clutter, simplify, and focus on the important stuff.

To the studio!!

Yikes!!  Look at all that stuff -- potentially overwhelming??

So my phrase for 2020 (because I can't find just one word to convey it) is 

"don't be overwhelmed".

Right?!?

As I think about how to avoid the state of "overwhelmed", I realize that controlling the "too much" aspect of that state of being is paramount.

My (hopefully thoughtful) response is to start by embracing a six-month moratorium on shopping.

I've done a pretty good job on maintaining some balance in the stuff department for several years by requiring myself to let go of something (in the same category) when I purchase something new.

It's worked marvelously in most categories -- clothes, books, furniture, plants -- but perhaps not so well  in the fabric area and I have to confuse to some outright binge yarn shopping this fall.

Fortunately, I have lots of "shop in the stash" experience to get me through the next six months so I feel confident that I'll be able to survive!

(Why just yesterday, I was saying "It's fun to run out of fabric.")

The other big decision I made was to not participate in any on-line follow-alongs or mystery makes or swaps or challenges for six months.  I have indulged in several this past year and while I've enjoyed them and used some stash and made some great new quilts and smaller makes, I have lots of "Mary's vintage projects" that are suffering from lack of attention.

Finally, to keep this energetic momentum in tact, I've decided to allow this annual "purge and tidy-up" take the entire month of January if necessary!

Because based on lots of previous experience -- "it is a truth universally accepted" that as long as there is cutting. . . . . 

and stitching . . . . .  

and pressing happening, progress is being made!!

Flat surfaces are beginning to reappear!

Piles of blocks from 2019 follow-alongs are becoming quilt tops!

Stalled projects are being re-purposed into fund raiser donations! 

The library table in the living room is once again filled with English paper-pieced hexies as I make the final (I hope) assault on my dodecagon quilt top!

The pile of FREE stuff to take along to the January stitching retreat is growing!

We are fired up and cranking out the stuff!!

(I may also have had too much caffeine this morning?)

And here was the best part of the holidays -- all my grands together for the first time!

They will be a big part of my "ninth" decade for sure.

Best wishes for the New Year and the new decade.

Mary

Linking up with Oh Scrap today!!

January Stitching

I can't believe it's mid-January already!?!

I set a personal goal at the beginning of the month to "deal with 10 UFO's" -- that may or may not mean finishing of course!!

I have finished one pair of Christmas socks with a second pair moving in the right direction.

In an effort to transition from "plain" socks I grabbed several new "fancy" sock patterns during the #sockvent18 in December event on Instagram.  This charming Vanilla Spice pattern with the faux cable up the back of the leg caught my eye and is an easy knit.

(Pattern is from Woolfield Studio and can be bought via Ravelry)

The yarn is a hand-dye sock yarn from Barnyard Knits (another Instagram discovery!!) -- Stormy Skies is the colorway -- so perfect for Northeast Ohio where we survive much of the winter season under these gray threatening skies.

I found a hexagon machine piecing project with lots of finished units ready to set together so that is happening while listening to Barbara Kingsolver's newest book, Unsheltered.

Have you started that book?  It's a hard read/listen, but so relevant - so I'm persisting.

I'll share the finished flimsy very soon though it may not get quilted before month's end.

I just set one "published" goal for January -- to finish my rainbow Nundle Dilly Bag -- it's English paper pieced, incorporates all the hexies basted during #100hexies100days blast in the fall on Instagram.  It took me quite a while to organize a layout I like, but that's done and the stitching is progressing slowly.

So four UFO's dealt with and probably time this month for a few more though I'm not sure there's time/energy for six (unless it involves ditching them)?!?

I've also drawn up a list of questions/problems for my husband's family genealogy effort.

If you have caught that interest, you know what a time eater it can be!!

Last week, I took advantage of a sunny day to drive east to the county of his ancestors to search out cemeteries and answers at the library.

Hardly anyone in my family fought in the Civil War, but several of Doug's ancestors did and it's an honor to find the "veteran's star" in the cemetery and to stand where his family stood as they mourned a century ago.

One of my unsolved mysteries is the result of a family that lived in Pennsylvania but many of the documents I'm finding that pertain to them are from Ohio.  Finally, I found this map from 1870 that explains everything!

They lived in Pennsylvania, but just barely, and the nearest town was 1 mile to the west -- in Ohio.

Their farm is the second farm from the Ohio Pennsylvania border - P. Franklin, 50 acres.

Thank goodness, people save stuff like this and then share it to historical collections!!

Now I know how to proceed and hopefully, answers I want will appear.

Of course, I know myself very well so I did allow myself to start "just" one new project!

And limiting myself to ONE is so hard -- there are so many exciting possibilities for new projects in January, isn't there?

I settled on an English paper piecing "block of the month" designed and led by @lemonshark via Instagram and her website.  It's one block a month (two in January) and they are good size!

The patterns are free on her website and she has lots of useful EPP tips!

Each of my blocks will begin with a large print by Kaffe Fassett from my hoard.

Once I made all the fabric decisions, I cut everything and organized a tray to keep it all together.

 I added letters to label and identify the pieces including right side and left side pieces, before I cut the pattern sheets apart.  I labeled the overall drawing of the block to match -- that small step has saved so much mental energy!!

After thinking about the assembly order I decided on two units of four pieces as the simplest approach though as with many English paper piecing designs there is more than one way to do this.

Here are the last two finished units ready to set into the block.

Later today, I'll stitch them into place! 

The finished tile is 18" across from point to point and they will be appliqued onto a background.  I'm going to wait until I have three or four tiles finished as I think it will be easier to decide on the background squares size at that point.

The rest of my day will be stitching and knitting -- UFO's beware!!

Mary