Month: January 2023

The Year of the Quilt

In 2022 I finished zero quilts.  I managed to piece together blocks I had made the previous year (or did I make them in 2020? I can’t remember…) to complete the pieced top of my green Magic Boxes quilt, and I finished the top of the Nine Sisters quilt BFF commissioned, along with pinning the quilt sandwich and some of the actual quilting… but that’s it. (To be fair, I made about a dozen bags, and several sets of hot pads as gifts, but they were quick and dirty projects that only took an hour or two to make, as that’s all my attention span would allow for. There were also some family medical matters to deal with October, November, and December of last year, along with the typical holiday stuff, so even while I felt better those last three months, I did not have much time to myself.)

THIS YEAR WILL BE DIFFERENT.

I was off for about two weeks around Christmas. I was able to sort and organize my craft room (okay, maybe just the fabric parts? but this is still a noteworthy accomplishment) and I feel like I have more of a mental handle on allowing myself to make the time to do what I enjoy.

My plans for this year:

  • Finish BFF’s quilt – IT IS ALMOST COMPLETE. I am literally sewing on the binding, and then I have another 45ish minutes of quilting to do.
  • Keep up with the Sewcialites 2 quilt – I am only two weeks behind, and all the fabric has been gathered, ironed, and planned out for blocks – catching up will be easy. This is going to be a gift for my mom, so I’m hoping it finishes up in time for it to be a Christmas present. (I think I might pay to have this one long-armed, since it’s. Complex.)
  • Do a temperature quilt -This one is going to be super simple, since it’s going to require a lot of focus to keep up with. I have a little over half the fabric purchased (all the purples, blues, greens, and yellows so I can get started right now) and will purchase the rest next payday.  I’m using 1/2 yards of Kona solids purchased from JoAnns, because that seems to be the easiest way to manage the unknowns in the future. I’m still not sure of the pattern, so I’m going to keep track of the low/high temperatures until I decide.
  • Finish my aunt’s quilt – I’m doing another green Magic Boxes quilt (but with different batiks this time, okay?) and I have four strip sets sewn…. and that’s it.  I need to finish this by October so I can give it to her as a birthday gift.
  • Make some more progress on the Kinship sampler quilt. I already have half the blocks done (badly, hahahahahahaalsdkjfalsdfkja, fml, but done is better than perfect) so if I can do another twenty five blocks this year (and maybe fix some of the more fucked up ones) I will be satisfied.
  • Start Becky’s quilt – Basic plans are to go with the Tea Time pattern using an orange Kaffe jellyroll. (Apparently depression doesn’t keep me from buying fabric, because I already have the jelly roll and border fabric purchased.)
  • Start planning Aunt Mom’s quilt – Basic plans are to go with four small JoAnn jellyrolls and do a Trip Around the World quilt, but I need to get THE PERFECT jellyrolls.
  • Start planning a crazy quilt for my cousin  – She was part of some kind of quilt block exchange a few years ago, where everyone made ten or so state-themed blocks and then mixed/matched/traded so everyone involved had one block for each US state. She loved the quilt because it was light and large, but it’s starting to fall apart, and she’s sad. So I need to find an interesting and suitable replacement.

I’m psyched, and will be satisfied if I can manage half of this.  🙃

Trying something different…

My normal resolution for the new year is usually something like “lose a lot of weight” or “exercise more” or “eat nothing but raw vegetables” and I mean. Sure. Yeah. Noble goals – that tend to go nowhere. Whether due to sucky life circumstances, depression, stress, being overwhelmed with the typical mental load most women my age have to deal with, that stuff never works, and I’m just left feeling like a big stupid failure.

This year, for the first time in my life, I’m going to try the exact opposite of that: I’m going to work towards feeling happy and healthy,  instead of trying to meet any concrete weight, exercise, or food goals.

I’ve already been eating more cleanly (less processed foods, more water, more produce, but no reduction in dairy, because that is a food group that majorly sparks joy) but going forward into this new year, I’m actively not going to think about my weight. I’m going to do things that make me feel good physically and mentally:

  • No more going to bed before 8pm
  • Eat lots of fruit (vegetables are great, but fruit. Omg. Apples. Mandarins. Bananas. Strawberries. Pineapple. fssssss….)
  • Walk with Ruby (hard right now, because we are entering the season of snow, ice, and (sometimes) frozen mud, but there is an effort on my part to at least chase her around the house for twenty minutes a day like a lunatic)
  • Eat a few salads a week
  • Read more books (my anti-depressants give me sanity, and I can once again sit down and focus on a book for a good hour)
  • Make time to quilt more (oh, the plans I have)
  • Continue going to therapy (I still have things to work through, and I’m probably in a good enough mental headspace to handle it on my own at this point, but I’m going to keep going because it’s nice to have a neutral third party validate my feelings and/or cheer me on when times are tough)
  • Cook two or three meals in my cast iron skillet every week (I have no words to describe how satisfying this is)

This should be doable, right?