Many, many things have happened since last I wrote. Many chapters in my life have come to an end, and I’m not certain of the next chapters that are beginning. It’s an interesting time right now.
I graduated from Illinois State University on December 18 with my MBA. My husband, an assistant professor, handed me my diploma. My daughter watched this event, along with my sister, father and my good friend (and partner in crime) Tracy . It was incredible. It was an achievement. It also marked the end of a chapter in my life. But during this chapter, I worked hard and played hard and made some friends. I started the FNSC (Friday Night Supper Club), which meets on the second Friday of every month. There are 7 of us in total, all women, ranging in age from 25 to 50+. We are all at different stations in life, with different family compositions, opinions and lifestyles. It is good to have friends. It is even better to have friends who like to eat! Amy hosts for January, in her new apartment. It will be fun!
A large project at work came to an end. I actually finished the very last component this morning. It was a project I had expressed interest in almost 2 years ago, to be told I was actually being placed in a leadership role for another project in which I had also expressed interest. Eventually, due to various factors coming into play, including people directly asking for me to be on the team, I made it on to the team for the last 9 months of the project. The project was a resounding success and the last 6 weeks have been handling clean-up. And now it is done.
OK, that is really only 2 big things, but it feels like a lot more. Anyway, I’m kind of floating around a bit rudderless right now, as I really have nothing pressing going on.
I have spent some time working on quilting. And planning some quilting. And resting. And cooking.
For the past few days, I have been working on both Bonnie Hunter’s RRCB and Dorothy Young’s Hugs and Kisses. I had been keeping up to date with RRCB, but when step 3 and those string blocks came, it sent me for a loop. I am not a huge fan of string blocks. But I went ahead and bought some doodle pads at the dollar store. And over this holiday I sat down and started making them.
I thought for sure I didn’t have any neutral strings. I even went so far as to buy some 4” and 2.5” neutral strips for Keepsake Quilting.
Boy was I wrong. I have been going through my various scrap ziploc bags (there must be 15 if there’s one) and I have found enough strings for 15 blocks, and I’m not done going through the bags.
A pleasant breakthrough happened when I figured out a way to do string blocks that doesn’t piss me off. I actually sew a leader/ender in between each one and now my life is so much more sane. I did clue 2 of H&K this way and I’m starting Clue 3. My goal would be to keep on sewing H&K with the RRCB strip blocks as something else to do.
I’ve also printed off part one of Bonnie’s Christmas Lights. I want to use a lot of blue in it and call it “There’s always that one blue house,” referring to the one house in the neighborhood that always has blue lights on it. While blue lights are more popular now, when I was a kid, they were really cheesy. Now I’m the blue light lady, at least in my mind.
So OK, I’ve started a bunch more quilts. What about all of those UFOs?
My goal for 2011 is to complete one crafty thing per week. It could be quilty, it could be sewing, it could be knitting, it could be candle-making. It just needs to be complete and a craft. If I achieve 40 things, I will consider it a success. But I have many things in process and I need many things finished.
I’m also hopefully going back to the idea of the 2-part week. The first part is from Monday until my weekend begins, which is usually Friday afternoon. The second part is Friday afternoon through Sunday. It sounds odd, but I have different expectations of each type of time period.
So to start off, my goals between now and Friday, which I actually have off due to the holiday, are:
Get Carolyn’s quilt to the hand binding stage
Finish blue GFG flower
Hugs and Kisses – as far as possible
RRCB – as far as possible
And yes, I’ve thought about January. I can’t number my UFOs like Judy and go with the random number. I have to know what I’m working on. It’s how I function best.
My goals for finishes in January include:
Carolyn’s quilt
WB quilt
XO blue quilt
GS banner quilt thing
Christmas BRB
Second hand clothes in pink – for a co-worker who is having a girl – not even started
My goals for milestones in January include:
Hugs and Kisses – completed top
BOM – months 1 and 2 complete; month 6 started
D9P – next 20 blocks
D9P – machine quilt one section
RRCB – completed top
Xmas Lights – completed top
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