Yesterday was a sick day … I’d gotten my 2nd Shingles shot on Wednesday afternoon and while I wasn’t feeling terrible, I didn’t feel great either so I rested and read and didn’t do much else. I woke up this morning feeling fine and got to work preparing for the painters who are coming Monday to paint the upstairs. We’ve got a lot of clearing away to prep and we’ll be moving downstairs while they’re working so I made a good start today and we’ll continue working this weekend.

I didn’t sew at all but I finished up kitting 3 more projects for my grab and sew bin for a total of 11. Hopefully it will make it easy to get started on new projects especially when I’m too tired to think about what I want to work on. I also knit a while on my blue scarf. I’ve got a few knit and crochet projects on my list for the month and I need to make some progress on them.

And since I don’t have anything sewing related, I’ll show you how pathetic Finn looked tonight while we were playing Upwords. He gets a “toothbrush” treat when we eat our dinner and he thought we were making him wait too long for it! When he couldn’t convince Keith to get up and give it to him, he laid down right by his chair and waited.

This time of year I can go days without capturing anything other than squirrels or the tail end of an animal darting by the cameras but we had lots of visitors this morning!

This was one of those days I just didn’t feel like working … after my walk, I read for a while and knit for a while before convincing myself to just piece a small batting and load a top … telling myself I didn’t have to quilt it today. Of course, once it was loaded I went ahead and quilted it.

It’s a group top sent to me for quilting and donating. At 38 inches square it’s baby size but not really babyish. However, the backing that was sent with it is a cute kiddie print. I quilted some hearts and I think it will work fine.

December was kind of a weird unfocused month for me but I did get through all but one of my goals. (I’d set modest goals for the month because I knew I’d be spending a fair amount of time with family).

My goals for January are also pretty modest. We’re having the entire upstairs of the house painted and it will require a lot of prep work on my part getting things put away and then set back out when they’re done. Luckily, we can just move downstairs for the duration of the painting (they say it will take 3-5 days).

So January’s goals are:

• Make a Happy Block top
• Quilt 6 tops
  • bind 3 of them (Mom will bind her own)
• Make Strips and Strings Log Cabin blocks and assemble top
• Sort and put leftover fabric back in bins

I also want to make an effort to get in a short walk every day.

I’ve been very bad about my hiking the last few months … I’ve got some good reasons and some not so good reasons but it’s time (past time) to make an effort!

We do challenges with the boys to help keep us all active and we started our 2022 fitness challenge today with a walk before we left Chris’ to come home. Here’s hoping we keep it up!

Even Finn joined in!

Rae even has a new Fitbit to help her track her activity!

I brought in 2022 with some of my favorite people! I hope you did too.

Overall I’m very pleased with what I accomplished this year with my quilting, crochet, and knitting and this was all on top of making a major move from Tampa to Big Canoe.

Quilted – 67
• 2 were my quilts that I gifted to family
• 11 were tops pieced by Mom or my Aunt
• 35 were my quilts for donation
• 13 were tops pieced by my HeartStrings group
• 6 were doll quilts

New Starts – 43
• 37 are finished quilts
• 5 are finished tops
• 1 is still being pieced

UFOs – I started 2021 with 17
• 8 were finished
• 9 will carry over into 2022

I will start 2022 with just 15 UFOs!

Knitting and Crochet
• Blankets – 11 made
• Scarves – 1 made
• Hats – 39 made

Donations
• 84 quilts
— 19 were group tops that I quilted and bound
— 65 were my quilts
• 20 crochet and knit blankets
• 13 scarves
• 38 hats

2022 Goals
• Keep UFOs to 20 or fewer
• Piece one quilt each month from scraps or leftover strips/strings bins
• Participate in the HeartStrings Precut/Block of the month challenge
• Participate in HeartStrings 365 challenge

I’ll also continue to make blankets, hats, and scarves for donation.

Do you “kit up” projects from stash? My HeartStrings group has set aside the last week of December and the first week of January to kit up projects for 2022. While some people actually cut their projects while kitting them, I’m just choosing patterns and bundling fabrics together for quick and easy “grab and sew” projects.

Some of mine will be 3 yard quilts … I had a bin with fabric bundles set aside when I moved in June but I’ve been in and out of it for months including during Mom’s visit when we pulled a bunch of fabrics for her to make several 3 yard quilts.

I’ve assembled/re-assembled several bundles from that bin but I haven’t decided on which pattern I’ll use with which bundle yet – that’s my next task. I also kitted fabric for one of our Sharon Inspired HeartStrings quilts. I like to start with a stripe fabric for those quilts.

I have bins of precuts and purchased kits and pulled a couple projects from them. Right now I’ve got 7 projects set aside for my Grab and Sew bin and once I decide on the patterns for the 3 yard bundles I’ll add them.

I’ll also spend some time looking through my website and my quilt inspiration folder next week and come up with a list of scrappy quilts I’d like to make in 2022. I won’t cut them out yet but just having a list of scrap quilts to work from will make it easier to get started.

Have you started to think about what you want to work on in 2022?

There’s a small island in the lake at the end of our street (where I kayak) called Eagle Island. It’s covered in trees and you can see it off to the right in the photo of Keith below.

I’ve seen the eagles flying over the area a time or two but haven’t ever seen one of them up close. One of the BC residents captured this photo of them recently – aren’t they gorgeous?

Today marks the 16th anniversary of my blog. It started as a way to track my quilting progress and has become so much more. I want to thank all of you that stop by to visit – many of you have become friends over the years.

My first post on December 28, 2005 is below.

As I enter my 6th year as a quilter, my goals are to use up my stash and complete a number of UFO’s that have accumulated over the last few years. In my first year or two as a quilter I started and finished all my projects. I bought a longarm 3 and 1/2 years ago and now I have unfinished tops and various quilts in progress and they seem to keep piling up.

I quilt only for myself and family members with an occasional quilt made for a friend. 75% of the quilts I make are donated to charititable organizations.

To introduce myself, my name is Mary and I’m married with 2 grown sons. My youngest, Adam just finished a culinary program and is now working for the Ritz Carlton. He moved out of the house in November and I am still getting used to him being gone. Chris, my oldest son, graduated from college last May and is living in Savannah. He just announced his engagement and is getting married in October 2006.

My husband is a Sales Director for a medical company and travels frequently for work. I’m an RN but haven’t worked for the last few years. My charity quilting along with traveling with my husband, and a 4 and 1/2 year old Bichon Frise named Chesty keep me busy.