Books and More

Welcome to the 2nd day of 2015.  How is your year shaping up?  I was doing some blog reading this morning and there is so much going on.  Comments on what you are doing the 1st day of the year is a portent of what your year holds, what you eat brings good luck, choosing a word to live by, and yearly wrap ups.  Whew that is a lot to wrap your head around. 

Obviously my year is going to be clean, since the youngest daughter who cleans houses part time for a company as a late Christmas present, came in, cleaned the upstairs bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen so they are absolutely sparkling!  But I also rough housed with the grandsons much of the day too, and finished it up with some counted cross stitch.  I had posted here about Christmas stockings, and DH had lamented the fact he did not have one.  I decided this is the year I get them done!  Some for my house, and some for my mother's house. 

What you eat on New Year's Day has an affect on your whole year?  Oh no!  We had a turkey taking up space in the freezer, the the youngest daughter had turkey taking up space in her freezer so we defrosted them and deep fried them so we could get rid of the frying oil and free up space.  According to superstition that is a bad thing to do because turkeys scratch in the dirt.  But we had pizza earlier in the day with pepperoni and black olives which are round which is supposed to be good luck. 

Hopefully they cancel each other out. 

My word for the year?  Last year was grateful which I learned to be grateful no matter what was going on.  I would take a step back, say a prayer of thanks and move on.  In some ways I think it really did help center me more and be a wee bit kinder-- sometimes. 

My word for this year?  I have decided it is to reduce.  I need to reduce my stash, scraps, quilt tops, closet and body.  When it comes to my stash and scraps I am not going to go on a fabric free buying diet, but I am going to try to use scraps and stash whenever I decide to make something new.  My quilt tops I need to be more aggressive at getting them quilted.  My closet needs to reduce, since I no longer work in a business environment I don't need the slacks, dresses, blouses, and high heels.  I think they need to go to a charity to help others. My body most definitely!  I have had a couple of health challenges the past couple of years which made it difficult to diet and exercise, but I think it is time to put those behind me and lose some weight, and exercise. 

Finally yearly wrap up?  Oh my where did the time go?  I don't feel like I accomplished a lot.

Quilty Barns at Midway Farms

American Lotus Squared

Tropical Shores Tubix

Lazy Sunday Habitat

I will say that I only finished four quilting projects this year to the point where they are quilted, labelled and bound.  

I did finish these flimsies though.

Basket Case

Jewel Box

Scrappy Chevrons

That does not even count the blocks I have finished for other projects for the year. 

I have also decided that I am going to take a page out Dawn at Sew You Quilt 2 and Barbara from Wont-To-Be-Quilter and work on Christmas presents all year long instead of waiting to the month of December.  I even have plans already worked out in my wee bitty brain.

Finally I finished December 2014 with reading/listening to 6 books bringing my yearly total up to 67 for the year of 2014.  I think that I am going to continue to listen to books while I sew/quilt, but I am also going to try to read a bit at night before I go to bed to kind of help quiet my mind so I may sleep better. 

I think that is a healthy start.  Nothing too strenuous.  Do you have a "word" or plans for what you want to accomplish for 2015?