Holy cow! I haven’t posted since October?!? It’s been a crazy few months. I started a new job, navigated the holidays with my crazy family schedule, finished a bunch of projects, and made some goals for the new year. I hope you had a great holiday season and are enjoying the New Year so far. This is incredibly long. I hope you can stick it out to the end.
I finished the Koi Pond and got it stretched on the canvas. My friend absolutely loved it and says she’s not worthy of such a gift. I love giving handmade gifts to fellow crafters. They understand how much time and effort goes into making things. Here is what it looks like completed and ready to package. I had a really hard time waiting to give it to her.
I designed and finished my quilled ornaments for the ornament exchange and potluck. It was so much fun. I was even able to get them all hung on my little tinsel tree to show them off. I made a simple cone, put a trim around the bottom, and stuck a pre-made paper poinsettia to them. They seemed so simple, so I added a jingle bell to the inside with the hangar piece, then attached a length of ribbon so they can hang from a branch. So simple, but still cute as heck.
I was also able to get another building finished on my Country Cottage Needleworks Santa’s Village. I was working on it as part of a stitch a-long (SAL), where we were stitching one a month. LOL I did great until April and things became a bit scattered. I am about halfway done with the fifth house. I’d like to have this finished before Christmas this year so I can display it. It’s so stinking cute!
I made some project bags for myself and to give as gifts. They’re so much fun and functional. I still have several I need to finish sewing up. I followed this video on YouTube by Calico for measurements and directions. She does a fantastic job of explaining everything. I only have a few left and they already have projects in them. They work great for many things. My boys want one each to carry things in. I’ll share the others when I get them finished.
I received a diamond painting from my mom for Christmas that I have been working on when I have spare time and am not completely in a stitching mood. It’s a lot of fun. I can definitely see why it’s so popular right now. One of the cats loves jumping up and “assisting” to get some pets and let me know it’s dinner time.
So much more happened I’m sure but I know I’m not remembering it all. I started a new job with the government in November. Luckily I work with the Department of Defense, so the shutdown didn’t effect my pay, but it was a huge realization that my savings isn’t where it needs to be in a situation like that. I’m going to be working through my Financial Fitness program and I may or may not share bits of it here. There was also an incredible wind storm and power was out for us for 15 hours and many in our neighborhood were out for 4 days just before Christmas. This made me realize that I’m not completely prepared for emergencies. The boys and I did a paint and sip together. We all had a blast. I still need to find a place to hang mine. Hedwig from the Harry Potter series.
With the New Year comes new goals and a revitalization of others. This year I want to get my house organized and I’m working along with A Bowl Full of Lemons‘ home organization challenge. I will put some pictures up as I go through it a couple weeks late. Hopefully it helps to clear out some of my clutter and along with it some of my anxiety. I’m paying more attention to my health and trying to make sure I get some form of exercise in more often. I want to get back into reading. So, I’m starting with Becoming by Michelle Obama. I received it as a gift for Christmas from my dad. I’m still in the first Chapter. Finally, with my crafts I’m going to try to use my stash up and finish up some of the half and nearly completed projects I have sitting around. We shall see how this comes along, but I’m hoping putting it here and updating this as much as possible will help keep me on track. I also joined the “Stitch From Stash 2019” group on Facebook so I will hopefully be able to get some help with not wanting to buy all the things.
I hope you have time to craft and relax before I visit again!
redheadcrafts.com 