It's my birthday!!!

Birthdays come and go and some are important and some are not. People tend to shy away from them, ignore them or be in denial about them. I say - what the heck - it's part of life. It's my birthday today! No - you don't need to know how old I am. I don't act my age, I don't feel my age and that's very important to me. Hence the need to "celebrate" today!

As I was digging through stuff in the basement, I found this which gave me a chuckle.

A note from M

I'm not sure how old she was but I think she about 15 or 16. I do have a card and a gift from her for this year and I'll open that later today. For some reason, this makes me think she was sucking up for some reason!!! Sorry M!!

I know I promised you homework pictures this morning, but well - it's my birthday and I can do whatever I want! Tomorrow - I promise. They are edited and waiting to be uploaded.

I've received some additional reasons why we buy fabric and I thought of one more. I'll be adding those to the list and letting you know when that gets posted.

There's a saying out there - "doesn't matter how slow you walk/cycle/run, you'll still circling those that are sitting on the couch".  That's my paraphrasing of the saying, but you get the idea. That's how I feel with my handwork projects. While I could be way more productive if I took my sewing machine to Monday sewing, I wouldn't be touching these HUGE handwork projects that have been languishing for years.

I finished one more embroidered block yesterday. This is from Winter Wonderland by Crabapple Hill. 

One more block is done!

I started another block. One day a while back, I got myself in gear and traced all the remaining blocks. That was a great thing to do. There is this one and one more - both are relatively small. To say that I'm excited is an understatement. I hope that is right! I'd better dig out the rest of the project and evaluate what's left.

The second to last block is started

 The old me would have done a few stitches, then got distracted by something else. It happened all the time. I can't (don't want) to do that anymore. I have those darn lists I made and I'm respecting them. On my Dirty Dozen list for 2017 (there were 13 items on the list), there are 4 projects left. All of them are sewing projects (one does have some fusible applique).

On the 2018 list, 7 items are remaining. One is laid out on the tables in Studio B to add the 5 borders and then it'll be done. One is the Gingerbread quilt which just needs to be sewn together. One is Winter Wonderland - the redwork quilt. One is my monthly UFO project. That leaves three quilts on that list which require a bit of handwork and they'll get added to the Monday sewing days when I've completed the second redwork block.

On the list for 2019, 11 items are remaining. All of them are strictly piecing or embroidery machine work. Those will start to get worked on now that my schedule is calming down.

I feel very happy with my accomplishments and I'll be adding 10 more projects to a list for 2020. I've also completed a lot of stuff that wasn't on those lists. Bottom line, I'm happy - I've got a system that's working and I'm good with that.

We have a road trip coming up soon and last night, we were discussing what to bring along to work on in the car. I have a couple of rugs that need a bit more crochet on them and they are finished. Then I dug out this bag from the corner of Studio B. I knew it had a knitted afghan project in it. Oh my - look what I found in there.

Unfinished knitting projects

It's mostly the afghan, but I found some yarn to make dishcloths, half-finished hand warmers and a couple of other small projects. Hmm - that afghan will be a good project to take along and I really need to finish it. I might take everything - it's a LONG road trip.

It's just crazy to find all these half-finished projects. It would be amazing to walk downstairs and say "what shall I create today" instead of saying "what shall I finish today". But I'm not begrudging finishing these projects. I think it builds personality, it shows me that we can change and well - all around, I think it's a good thing. I'd rather have finished projects for someone to take away when I'm gone than to leave a bunch of half-finished projects. I'm working on it!!!

What do you think of this for the binding? It's rather dark - it will work, but I might put a slightly lighter green on my shopping list for the road trip - just so I have something to buy!

A potential candidate for the binding

I was back at the long arm last night and completed this quilt for a customer. It's trimmed and ready for pickup later today.

Customer quilt - DONE

I didn't get another one loaded - I was tired by the time I finished this one. I'll load one today and then quilt it tomorrow. I hope to be back to my schedule of one a day starting tomorrow. Now that the magazine quilt is gone, I have other stuff to work on - I actually have computer work that needs to be done. That's going to be the focus of the rest of the week. Yeah!

On that note, I'm off on an adventure today - well this morning. OK - it's not that huge - just meeting someone for coffee!

And a HUGE Happy Birthday to my aunt who also celebrates her birthday today. And to anyone else who has a birthday today. Celebrate each one with relish. Having a birthday means you're still alive and in my books - that's a great thing. I hope to celebrate a whole lot more of them.

Have a great day!!!!

Ciao!!!