Busy new year

 As a child I remember my Dad telling me that I should not wish my life away. For it seems that I was always wishing for something in the future.  Probably like all little children, I wished for Christmas as soon as I realized it was nearing, wishing for school to begin when I turned 6 (we did not have kindergarten), wishing for school to be out so that I could go barefoot, and so forth--always wishing for something in the future.  Well, now it appears to me that I have almost wished my life away! When I look down the road, it has become a very short one and with each day, even shorter.  Blessed with a very healthy life these 60 plus decades, I should not be complaining.  I have such a mental list of things yet to accomplish with a short time in which to complete, that I find myself now wishing for yesterday.  Trying to accomplish some of these small things has kept me from this blog I realize. So I will start to catch up.  First what has kept me occupied is the ironing station that the Mr. so willingly built for me. I spent some time also on this which after completed require time in the sewing room, several days in fact, updating some of the odd pieces I have accumulated in the past year to make the room a little more comfortable as well as efficient for the many projects I always work on. I needed this station to be higher than a regular table and the ironing board I was using was a bit shaky.  It needed to be on wheels so that I could move it away from the wall when pressing a large piece and I needed a shelf for my spray bottles and extra irons etc.

 It was primed and I picked a pale green for the surface, purchased new pressing cloth, stapled padding and the clothe to the top, which we reused and voila!  I love it!

This took all together the better part of a week, with the construction, gluing, painting and room arranging.  During that time, I took a 4 day trip to my friend's where we attended a vintage market.  It was one of the best markets we have seen.  We both purchased items and got great deals and I even picked up a quilt rack for $2.00 at the Goodwill on our way home.  Needless to say, I have been painting a few other things with this pretty green, including the quilt rack.  In addition to time spent on these projects, I have been trying to finish a few quilt projects and then the Mr. and I took the door glass off the oven to clean the inside.  I have done this before with older ovens....no big deal, right?  Well, this oven has 3 pieces of glass.  What's up with that?  The removable one was the center piece, not in need of cleaning and the other were not very accessible and I suppose there is a reason for that.  Anyway, I was able to do a little spot cleaning, but not much.  I am NOT spending any more time wishing my life away on that oven door!..It can stay dirty and I will hang a towel over it.

"Life is always a rich and steady time when you are waiting for something to happen or hatch." ~ E.B. White...
Charlotte's Web

Dresden Plates

Just a quick post to show the finished quilt, the result of which is our guild's round robin choice for the past few months.  I put the bottom left plate in my bag along with a few pieces of fabric and told the rest of the quilters that I didn't care about the size, or colors, but they all chose to use the same shades and WOW! There were 2 extra--10 in all that did not match so one became the label and the other a small table topper.  Loved this project!

The New Year

 I did not stay up to see the new year in. I went to bed early and figured from past experience, that the new year would arrive with or without my seeing the ball drop.  When I got up this morning, like I thought, it had come as it had in the 72 previous years of my life, although it was very cold.  I am done with the cold...oh wait, I have no say in the matter.  Christmas was quiet here and snowy!  My purchase earlier of the turned dowel and the help of the Mr. turned out to be a sweet porch angel. I will be able to change the head gear and the items in her hands for the seasons.  We did have friends for Christmas Day and my sweet neighbors exchanged goodies which are nearly gone, (thank goodness).  Below are gifts from my wonderful neighbor from across the street.  The beautiful Chrystal ball came last year and this fall,  she followed with the metal hanger.  It is beautiful and may stay up all year.  And this year....

 This lovely glass tree with the glass balls were from her.  It is not very tall....perhaps 9 inches, but it is so very pretty and she is a treasure for sure.  Thank you Mary.  I have been quilting with a group at our library and when I told them that I had a blog, although some knew it, they asked what I blogged about.  I realize that I haven't been real consistent with it, but told them that I would blog about them.  Not wanting to publish pictures of them for privacy issues, I will be taking pictures of their projects and progresses so this is just the beginning of my promise to them.

Imagination is the highest kite one can fly. ~ Lauren Bacall