New Years Eve 2017

How did we get here so fast? It only seems like yesterday that we saw 2017 in.

Like all years 2017 has had its ups and downs and it kicked off on a low but thankfully has ended on a high. It has been interesting going back through the photos taken this year and reflecting on things. A lot has happened in the past year, to me personally, my family, the extended family and especially my quilting. 

There haven't been a lot of personal completions this year (an increase of days working has impacted there) but through the club more than 48 quilts have gone to two local charities with 18 of those going to Homes of Hope. There were a lot of Tuesday's spent cutting, measuring and stitching and a special thank you to my friends for supporting me through all of this. 

My blogging has become spasmodic while my instagramming has been consistent and while I do enjoy both I will continue to Instagram more than I blog but will work on being more regular with the blog posts. Sometimes it is hard to find the hours in the day to share what's happening in the moments.

Binding going on Harlan's quilt

Visiting Maroochydore and catching up with my sister and her family and meeting the youngest member of the family, Harlan, my great nephew was a highlight for 2017. It has been a while since hubby and I have ventured far from home and it was great to have some time away and relax. I'm one of three girls and we are now all Nana's. Being a nana is my most favourite thing in the world and seeing my sister become one was very special, knowing she is now experiencing similar moments with her grandy that I have with mine. Here is hubby with Harlan...

Something that has had a huge impact on my daily life for the second half of the year at least has been the arrival of our newest family member Milly Molly Mandy or Milly for short. She is the sweetest, most laid back, good natured dog I have ever met. She is an absolute delight to share the house with. Milly also loves walking on the beach as much as I do and we get there as often as we can.

Symposium held in Christchurch at the beginning of October was definitely a highlight for 2017. What an amazing experience, catching up with old friends and making new ones in a week of quilting classes, lectures, exhibitions and entertainment. I can't wait for Symposium Auckland in 2019. 

My painted piece ready for some thread sketching, lots of learning for me and definitely a change in perspective. I take a lot more photos now of a range of subject matter that may make interesting pieces. I love learning new things everyday and also seeing what tomorrow will bring.

Have a Happy New Year and keep yourselves safe.

Happy stitching everyone.

Happy New Year and welcome to 2016

After the hustle and bustle of pre Christmas, I really enjoy the slower pace of the days following Christmas and before the New Year and as I mentioned in previous posts I always find it a time of evaluation and reflection. New Year means different things to different people and for me it is firstly to celebrate my husbands birthday and then secondly it marks the passage of time whilst giving me the opportunity to reassess where I am on my life journey. I enjoy taking stock of where I am on that journey and find it is a good time to think through goals for the coming year and to have a clean out of papers, emails, sort and de clutter areas that I don't usually get to during the year.

I have spent some time in my sewing room rearranging things back into sewing room mode from guest room mode and have started thinking about my top five for 2016. I have made a list of all of my UFO's - this is a very honest list for my eyes only. 

As I was compiling this list I was thumbing through my quilt planning book I use which works well but is seperate from my diary so I decided to create a chart to help me keep on track of my UFO's enabling me to see at a glance where they are all at and what still needs to be done on each one. I have attached this sheet into the front of my diary so I know exactly where it is and I have everything in one place.

I have identified my top priorities and will work on those first. I can now see exactly what needs to be done to get these to the finish line thanks to my chart and I can allocate time in my diary for each step required. 

This forward thinking and planning I find saves me time as I know exactly what needs to be done and generally just do it, otherwise I will sit in my sewing room with no clear direction and wonder what should I work on and not make the most of the precious sewing moments that I have which I find very frustrating. 

I still have some tweaking to do with the organisation in the sewing room but I have spent quite a bit of time in the weeks before Christmas getting things more streamlined and organised as I can't stand not being able to find things when I need them and get very frustrated with the waste of sewing time spent looking for things. The tweaking will happen on a daily basis as I spend more time working on stitching, but as things are getting more organised I am finding that I am enjoying my space more and want to spend more time in there. 

Over the last couple of days while pottering I have put together a couple of book covers for my club planning book and my diary. I enjoyed creating these and used some string pieces that I had already made and I look forward to seeing them both often this year.

That is all for now so until next time, happy stitching everyone.

Donna-Maree