From 2021 to 2022

I haven't posted for a while because between December 26 and January 1, seven extra, very special people were at our house. Unaccustomed as we are to spending holidays with family, it was a bit of happy chaos to have them here from Kansas City, New York City, and Austin (TX). 

We rented a second golf cart, a four-seater, so everyone had a chance to enjoy our most popular form of transportation. 

Golf-carting was the only way to go when it came to geo-caching, which we did on several occasions. 

Our four grandsons love geo-caching!

With temps in the 80's every day, pool time was another good outdoor activity, along with shuffleboard and boccé ball.

Indoors, finding treasures in our bin of toys is a fun activity.

In particular, 58 empty yogurt containers, saved since 2012-2013 (yes, I ate every single one of them, and do so daily) are age-resistant entertainment. 

There were also games of UNO, Bingo (for dollar bills!), Rummikub, and puzzles. This is a 1000-piece one that I received in our Central Florida MQG Chinese gift swap.

"50 States Quilt Blocks" by Cobble Hill

In anticipation of the family's visit, my sewing room, which has been known to look like this... 

...had to be "torn down" to reconfigure into a bedroom with air mattresses. It's fun to choose quilts for each bed. On my design wall I pinned up a Christmas quilt embroidered and made by Jenny Renolds of Queensland Australia. I was the high bidder on it in 2011, in a fundraiser for Bush Fire Relief. It's a special quilt to me.

Even the guest room was reconfigured for another air mattress and quilt. 

The only social media thing I did while family was here was manually tally my most-like Instagram posts from 2021. Oddly, the #1 most-liked post, with more than 1100 likes, was an unfinished Kawand! I sure don't understand how that happens, especially when the same finished Kawandi received less than half as many likes, and placed third in the most-popular order. 

Otherwise, all three of my quilts that have been accepted into QuiltCon 2022, appear in my "Top Nine," with my QuiltCon reject (#4) and my Zing quilt (#9) also making appearances. This is always an interesting review. 

As much as I'd like to join the crowd of quiltmakers who have posted their 2022 quilt-y goals, I'm not participating. When it comes to quiltmaking, I've never been a goal-setter because I don't like the pressure I put on myself to achieve those stated goals. Failure isn't an option so I stress-out myself, trying to accomplish them. 

Rather, I enjoy the freedom of choosing to work on whatever I want.

Possible projects include basting and quilting the Finger Paints quilt top (left) I finished in November;

continuing this improv play (right) using solids and African waxed prints;

 

"Sea Glass" by Exhausted Octopus

making a Sea Glass quilt on the order of what Allie of ExhaustedOctopus makes;

starting a lap-sized Kawandi;

and braiding a rag rug for a Texas friend who, early last fall, sent me a large box of fabrics with which to braid a rug. 

I have several teaching and speaking gigs in the upcoming months (listed on the "Programs and Workshops" tab on my blog home page) that are always enjoyable for me, as well as QuiltCon 2022 in Phoenix coming up February 16!

So, to start in good order, once family left on New Year's Day, I've set my house to rights. Re-building my sewing room was a high priority. That's because on Sunday afternoon, for a couple hours, I attended Sherri Lynn Wood's free virtual workshop: Abstract Piecing Scrap Play

I pulled out the same fabrics I had used in an October 2015 in-person workshop with Sherri Lynn, when she taught in The Villages. I'm not any happier now with my results than I was then. This 15" X 18" piece isn't to my liking, but I plan to try again.

If you think improv is easy, I'm pretty certain you haven't tried it yourself. There's more than a knack required, and practice definitely plays a big part in being successful. In spite of taking workshops with a half-dozen (or more) improv instructors, I haven't mastered it. Perhaps I never will. But it's good to be challenged. 

By the way, I don't have a book review yet because I've got three days to finish listening to 156 chapters of Go Tell The Bees That I'm Gone by Diana Gabaldon. I'm on chapter 124. 

I hope, wherever you are, that you're having a lovely transition into 2022 with sewing and quiltmaking that's satisfying and fun. Linda