Saying Goodbye to 2018… And looking forward too!

2018 had been a year when I finally took charge of my life I feel. 

My kids are all out on their own and the end of this year is seeing them each settling in to their chosen paths well.  Me and my honey sold a house and bought our dream home moving from the ocean to the mountains. 

Leaving a little water feature on a back porch and gaining a pond with a built in grist mill in our back yard!

This home is becoming everything we thought it could be!!!  We even got to meet the people that fashioned it into the house we bought from a little building near the pond that didn’t exist anything like it does today!  We have watched many of our dreams come true and I finally have not only a guest room for friends and family… but a sewing room and a place for my 10 foot hand quilting frame. 

Likewise, my honey has space in our well insulated attached garage for some of his storage needs as well as an out building he can enjoy the rain hitting the metal roof and have room for all his guy tools and things!

We are certainly feeling blessed as we reflect on every place 2018 has brought us.  We have lots of hopes and dreams for 2019 but let’s stay focused on 2018 for this post 🙂

I did finish my stocking with no time to spare!!!

I even cleaned my desk up and caught it on digital media for a sweet memory! lol

 I took a photo for fun that I really like too …

And one of my honey with his new hat!

It was made in Australia and is a top grade brand too… Akubra my honey says is originally an aboriginal word for head covering!  🙂  How cool is that!!!    It is made of a 6 week process beginning with rabbit fur and varnish and ending with a cool hat with a leather braid trim and this cool feather and button 🙂

 

We even decorated for Christmas … a surprise to both of us really… but we found some economical lighted display items at a local big box store and had fun decorating with what we found 🙂  Our flag pole turned into a 20 foot Christmas tree… those light s are blue.  And the snowman is lighted as well and is 9 foot tall !!!

Rick got a steroid shot in his hip to avoid surgery for a bit and is finding enough relief from the shot that he was able to do the decorating… unfortunately… it isn’t lasting as he had hoped.  Also he got the nasty cold that is going around so we are fighting it from all angles with herbs and cold medications too… Please pray that he feels better or send up happy thoughts if prayer isn’t your thing! Thanks 🙂

I found lots of different chocolates in my new stocking Christmas morning… I must have been a good girl this year to get so much yummy stuff… I still haven’t eaten it all! lol  Next year I must ask Santa personally to leave a bit of fun stuff for my honey too… but he doesn’t care for chocolate really… think Santa would leave other stuff instead???

We had to send Daisy this past August to live with my best friend Connie… it was very sad for us but a good thing for Daisy and for Connie and her family too…

 but the dander of a doxie is not good for me with COPD or my honey with allergies in general and newly diagnosed Asthma as well…

Not wanting to be dogless … we adopted our little Molly who is a more hypoallergenic mixed breed of shih tzu and poodle called a shih poo…

I started an Etsy shop and have sold a few things there…

And this winter… I am learning how to safely start a fire with gas logs… maybe this is easy for some but I am very shy about doing this on my own…

I LOVE LOVE LOVE having a fireplace though that I can start without real logs to have to shovel and mess with the after affects from… the gas the fuels the logs also gives us heat via furnace so it is nice have propane handy for both purposes.

So I shared my honey got a cool hat and an amazing deal on some tools for his Christmas… here is what my daydreaming was all about…

I named her Cleopatra… she is from the 1954 era and is a Singer 319w.  My best friend Connie has a multi shade green version of her… they also make a rarely found tan version.  When I saw they made a black with gold Egyptian decals though… it was just pure unadulterated desire to have one myself… after hearing Connie chat endlessly about hers! lol

Cleo has 5 built in cams and a cam holder for more designs to add to the front of her using those old typewriter style levels.  I also got a full set of these fashion disc for Christmas and have some scissors that more match her than the scissors in the photo above. 
She is a 3/4 size machine but is HEAVY DUTY in how she preforms… so I have been using her exclusively in December for all my utility and crafty sewing completions.  I will use Gloria (my Singer 301a) for quilt piecing as she handles that great!  Gloria also has a wonderful working seam guide that Cleo doesn’t care for! lol

 Here is a view of my sewing room from Gloria’s side of the room…

 Here is my current work in progress on her… and my next to be hand quilted for our bed… maybe mid year 2019 this quilt will see the frame though!

 Here is the plan on how this quilt center will look… I have all the pieces cut … just need to web the center and start on the borders I have planned… but crafty sewing and Christmas and nesting in our new home got in the way! lol

Molly celebrated 6 months old with a haircut… we were trimming her but this was after her first professional grooming.  My honey is still shook up about how she changed just with a haircut but I like it 😀  He will get used to it over time I hope!!!

 Slow stitching progress for this year… I finished this one for my daughter… but she has to get her diploma before she receives it… so it is on our guest bed at the moment where I can enjoy it and be excited to send it to her or gift it to her when I see her next 🙂

 I pieced and hand quilted this quilt… the pillow shams coordinate but I machine quilted them for speed and durability over time… my honey is very oily skinned… these get washed weekly to keep them clean too!

 This is a big view of the quilt on my hand quilting frame at this moment… I am on the 4th row up of stars now….

 Here is a photo I took before rolling the frame…

 And here is a photo of the 4th row getting started in earnest…

Here is the next quilt I will hand quilt when I am done with the Stars Among Us quilting…

 That log cabin has been waiting a couple years from when it was pieced to get quilted … but it will go in the kitchen where the snowcouple is now 😀

Then I have the whole cloth quilt I have worked on over 3 years time… and it is still going and not yet halfway done.  I have added quilting to it every now and then but have been so busy with other stuff… it hasn’t gotten much playtime… I hope to make progress on it too in 2019.
This photo on the left was taken in Florida.. it is remounted in that PVC frame my honey fashioned for me before I got the Hinterberg wood frame.  I like them both really!  I had to take it out of the frame for the move to the mountains in January though… it only got mounted back in the frame over the summer and waits for me now!

I will say to you though… I am VERY excited about my next project after the log cabin (or before if Connie gets it finished to a flimsy before ) … I will be hand quilting a swoon patterned 1930’s era fabric quilt she is piecing now to add ambiance to her room… and because hand quilting a large queen (105 square quilt top) without my big frame isn’t near as much fun… so I am going to gift her that for this year 🙂  SEW EXCITED TO QUILT HER EXQUISITE PIECING!!!!

I have quilted a quilt for Connie early in my quilting history… it was fun but it was a hoopless quilting and not the work I do today… I much prefer the artistry of my quilting today to my learning stitches that brought me here.  I am linking this hand quilting info to my friend Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching post… come check out what other bloggers are sharing with things they have completed this year or worked on if not finished HERE!

I am very proud of my machine quilting on these two projects ( the wall hanging snow people and the tree skirt I fashioned from Christmas fabric scraps I had on hand)!

 I love how it looks early in the morning when I wake!

And I love the Santa blown glass ornament we added this year to commemorate the year we met… 2011!

 In closing I have some VERY SPECIAL news to share….
I will officially be called “Grandma” by someone I can’t wait to meet…
I visions of quilts and bibs and spit up rags all ready to make!!!  Just waiting for colors and other decisions to be made… and for her to have her friends hosted baby shower so I can make what else she may need… this baby is growing in my daughter in love Heather and along with my son James they are very excited to have this welcomed addition to their family.  They are making lots of changes to prepare for their new baby and I am very excited !!!

You may remember Amethyst Stars that I completed by hand over new years 2017/2018. 

It left my frame empty over new years too !!! lol

As I commemorated their quilt with this label and my own label… and spend new years day sewing on binding and mailed it off to them to enjoy!

I also have this little wall hanging waiting to get hand stitching finished…

 And these blocks I started making and have worked on with Gloria here and there…

Maybe I can look back on this post and between my finger skills and Gloria’s skills and now Cleo’s skills I can finish some fun things I started already before starting MORE! lol

I do hope to make me a wristlet clutch soon though… hmmm! hahaha

For now I bid you Happy 2019… May it bring you all you hope and wish for my bloggy friends!  And I close with this wish as you enter a new year wherever you live …

And don’t forget to make your life….a life you love!!!

Advertisement