Almost a New Year

Almost a new year....and I am ready to say "goodbye" to 2012!!  Really looking forward to a new start!  A new year is always such a terrific opportunity to open up a new chapter; to refresh all those ideas/projects that didn't get done and to create a new slate of things to accomplish!

One of my fellow art quilters Linda Moran..from the blog "Art Quilts from Around the World"...is starting a "plan" for organizing and planning to help really "get things done"! So I have decided to attempt to follow her plan through the foreseeable future.  I can always use a helping hand on organization!

She first recommends the following steps:

1. Reflect on what I have finished throughout the past year and reflect positively on accomplishments...so here goes!

• Nine 12" blocks for my Creative Crones' Challenges (well, made all but not all completely finished)
• Art quilt with beading...done and entered in Guild Show...won 2nd place
• Guild Challenge for show.."100 Years of Girls Scouting"...won top prize.
• Miniature log cabin for show...won 3rd place.
• Finished thread painting of tree...entered in show..no prize.
• Finished "An Unusual 4-Patch"...entered in show...no prize.
• Made a journal with felting on cover for the Felt For Peace project and mailed it off to my person in Greece.
• Participated in the 2012 Cotton Robin Challenge...loved it!
• Made Potato Baking Sacks for gifts.
• Participated in The Diva's weekly Zentangle challenge every week.
• Participated in the Bright Owl's Zendala weekly challenge.
• Survived some pretty heavy medical concerns with my buddy!
• Read too many books to list.
• Traveled to Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas (twice).

2. Identify what I did not get finished!

• Started my "Unusual Lone Star" quilt for our bed.
• Have five of my Crone challenges to finish.
• Started to participate in a Color Challenge blog..got only half done.
• Started to participate in the Scrap Quilt Block Challenge...dropped out after three months.

3. Start a list for the new year:

• Do bi-monthly challenges with Art Quilters Around the World.
• Do monthly challenges with Beading Journal Blog.
• Participate in Cotton Robin-2013
• Finish the 12" block for Crones
• Finish the quilt for our bed.
• Make a quilt for the guest room bed.
• Keep a journal for the year/ do more mixed media experiments.
• Finish the Color Challenge of the month blocks and make something with them.
• Continue with the Crones' Challenges for the new year.

4. And lastly, share my accomplishments with others.

• Am working on my first Art Quilters' challenge-self portrait.  Follow our blog.
• Have started preparing for my journal writing using my new book "365 Days..."

A new beginning!

Yesterday was a significant birthday for me...the big 70!!!  I had a card from one of my high school buddies mentioning that I have now caught up with the rest of them.  Being a November birthday, I was one of the youngest of my class...back when we started school, January 1 was the cutoff date, so everyone born in the same year started school at the same time, so I started first grade at five....we didn't have kindergarten or preschool then.  The card was from one of the bunch that gets together every five years in a different city to celebrate....we have decided that maybe we shouldn't wait five years though!!!

With a new year for me, some goal setting is in order.  I have a list of quilting projects I want to get finished this year.  I want to finally really organize my pictures on my computer and scan and make DVDs of some old ones.  I have a jillion recipes I have collected I want to organize and actually use!!  I had started a "life story" several years ago and want to continue with it for posterity....my "legacy" for my kids!  There were so many things I heard from my grandmother that I don't remember, wishing I had paid closer attention or had written them down....and now there is no one to verify any of the things I do remember!  I only had one living grandmother when growing up...both of my grandfathers and my maternal grandmother passed away before I was born.

I enjoy reading obituaries...not for the morbidity of them but because I am amused  of how families phrase the death of their "loved ones"....now, that's a phrase I really abhor!!!  It is so...I don't know...pretentious? maybe...I can't think of how to express what I don't like about....but it just leaves me cold!

And another gripe I have....I listen to talk shows and it really irritates me when those answering the questions say "Now, that's a good question!"  That has become such a pat response...why not just answer the question without having to preface with an inane comment!!

Boy, I guess I am getting kind of bitchy in my old age!!!  On a happier note...I attended my guild meeting today and really enjoyed our speaker...Deb Karasik....she is a paper piecer and does really fabulous work.  She also donated a book with a CD to our library.  She and her husband are from San Francisco, actually grew up in the Bay area so I had to chat with them about my daughter having just moved back from there.

Oh, and another goal...I am going to try to be a better blogger!!  I don't know how many people ever read my blog, but I like getting my thoughts down...clears my head for bigger and better (???) thoughts!!