January Plans? oops.

I am apparently very bad at completing plans.  Here's the update.

1.  Do all of my daily things-well I did do most, I started out stretching and exercising every day only to have my joints complain-a lot.  So I had to stop. 

2.   Do all the 15's- I managed to get most of the way through the 1980's indexing photos.  This could take all year!

3.  Put away Christmas!  This one I DID!

4.  Deep clean the house.  This is the culprit for nothing else getting done!  I'm sure I've cleaned this house in the past but I can't remember when and it is taking  FOREVER!  The main floor is finished and I am currently STUCK in my office~  I think only a day or two more.  Then I have the quest room, upstairs bath and hall.  Maybe I'll be finished by Friday?  Wait! I forgot about the studio and storage room!  Maybe next week. This was also part of the problem with exercise-Dragging around furniture and climbing up and down ladders and step stools is hard on the joints!

5. Finish trimming the stairs-nope, too cold to work in the garage.  What was I thinking?

6.  Design gardens and order seeds and plants.  The design has been done for a while and I have made a pretty deep dive into a seed catalog.  

7.  Read one non-fiction book a week.  NOPE.  Haven't even finished one I was reading last year.

8 and 9 where on hold due to 30% positivity rates and I didn't even think about doing them.

10.  Plan the travel for 2022-only in general terms.

11.  Doll house.  I looked at windows and doors on line but haven't ordered any.  I'm having a hard time deciding on the look I want.

12.  Quilting.  Hum, well.  Paper Dolls is nearly quilted (maybe) which will be finished tonight, then bound etc.  I am concerned that the blocks will need some more quilting to lay flat.  Any additional quilting would have to be by hand (big stitch, I think) which would delay that finish.  I'll show you tomorrow~ I think I need input.  Tumbler Confetti is slowly moving along.  I haven't touched Trail Mix.

13.  Knitting~ What's that?

14.  Stitching~ Cross Stitch I have done some work on the Santa's sleigh and picked out ornaments.  No Embroidery has been begun.

I know I did a lot of work this month but it doesn't show on paper!  Deep cleaning is a time thief!

FNSI For January, Zooming and family

 

The current state of Paper Dolls!

Since I live in the US and some of you are a day ahead of me I'm reporting on both my Thursday and Friday nights for Friday Night Sew In.

I worked both nights getting Paper Dolls fixed and completely back together!

Today, I sandwiched it so tomorrow I can begin the quilting.

I had such fun making the dolls and such a struggle getting it into a quilt!

I planned to have it finished this month~It's going to be close.

When my shoulders got tired I moved on the cross-stitch.

Put in the door and began red.  Not bad for just a couple of hours.

Then on my Saturday,  there was a ZOOM chat with the Chookshed stitchers!

I spent the time listening (gotta love all the accents) and seeing what every one was working on.  I worked on Tumbler Confetti

I got two rows complete and a third nearly finished.  I'm running a big zig zag stitch down the seam to get the seams flat~so much fabric there.

Now that Paper Dolls if off the design wall I'll be moving this over there, I need the space and the distance.  

This morning I had a text~ Do you feel like a visit from the grandkids today?

I always feel like a visit from the Grands!

Scott (my youngest) brought Ryan and Izzy up from Columbia and spent the afternoon.

They've all had too many days at home together!

Schools shut down from COVID related issues.  I expect some cases and a lack of staff.

Izzy likes to look down on us from the top of the stairs!

Scott and Ryan played Hungry Hungry Hippos, and dominoes, and. . . .

I got to cook baked potato soup for them, which they love!  Ryan had THREE bowls.

Then there was a Mango which Izzy preferred to the soup but she ate that too.

In between everything else Scott and I had a nice visit~we agree sometimes you just need to talk to an adult!

After clean up, and a BIG marshmallow Scott rounded them up and headed back home.  

Izzy goes back to school tomorrow so Scott will only have Ryan which will make working from home much simpler.

I think I'm going to do some computer work before I turn off the studio heater and lay my head upon the pillows.

My 2022 Word of the Year

I have never been able to decide on a word for the year but this year On the way home from Nashville I decided that "JOY" was perfect.

Inspired by a song from the Indigo Girls called "There's Still my Joy" (You can see the video on Youtube-just search for it.)

The definition of Joy:

1.  the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation

2.  a source or cause of keen pleasure or delight; something or someone greatly valued or appreciated

3.  the expression or display of glad feeling; festive, gaiety

4.  a state of happiness or felicity

So I'm gong for anything that lifts my heart or makes me smile.

Like:  bluebirds skies, prism rainbows or blown glass balls.

I intend to take a moment and take in what ever it is that makes me smile!

Then write it in my gratitude journal.

I feel like I'm behind on all of the beginning of the year stuff, January is one third gone and I'm still working on getting 2022 set up!  Putting in long days at cleaning right now and all my muscles are screaming!

FNWF

I hope I can stick with this in 2022!

The hard thing is that I stitch every evening and I don't know whether to comment on what I did on Thursday (I'm in the States) or on my Friday!  So confusing!

This week I did exactly the same thing both nights.

Mr Ripper has been quite busy taking out the quilting and removing the backs of the Paper Doll blocks!  

He has left me with a pile of cotton that will become scraps

and a pile of batting pieces.

Will need to figure out what to do with those!

In case you are wondering-I'll be doing more of the same today and tonight!

Now I'm off to see what everyone else has done!

 

January Plans?

Last year I called them possibilities-this year I'm going with Plans.

I wonder if more of them will be accomplished?

1.  Do all of my Daily things, there are quite a few.

2.  Do all the 15's.  That is work on some long term but boring things for 15 minutes each day. There are 4 but I'm really going to focus on indexing the photos.  There have been a couple of requests lately and finding anything is ridiculously difficult.

3.  Put away Christmas--almost there!

4.  Deep clean the house-really must be done

5.  Finish trimming the stairs

6.  Design gardens and order seeds and plants

7.  Read one non-fiction book a week.  That's on top of the fiction I will read (or re-read)

8.  Take a trip to a museum-currently on hold and unlikely due to THE VIRUS

9.  Take a day trip in Missouri or Kansas-again currently on hold and unlikely due to THE VIRUS

10.  Plan the travel for 2022

11.  Doll house-  Add the windows and exterior door

12.  Quilting:  FINISH Paper Dolls, work on Tumbler confetti and Trail Mix

13.  Knitting-get it organized and do some!

14 Stitching-Work on the Santa, biscornu, 1 ornament and start an Embroidery sampler.

I think there are other things that will happen as well but I'm not going to put them on the list,  it would get much longer and I would get discouraged!

Tennessee Christmas

I started out for Nashville on the 23rd of December.  

Had to stop in Columbia to deliver Povatica to Scott.

(I was not happy with the "do" this year-everything was going well until I tried to lift the roll off the table.  It sort of ended up Povatica scramble instead of this!  It tasted just fine though!

Somehow, I missed the turn in St Louis for the new bridge over the Mississippi (okay, I didn't set my GPS, my bad!) and ended up nearly lost and just headed for here!

Jefferson Expansion National Memorial-or as commonly called "The Arch."

You can see it from all over so it's easy to get there.

Quinn and I got out and had a nice walk around the grounds. 

This is the Mississippi Landing from the park around the arch.

When we had had some exercise-met a few dogs etc then I SET my GPS and once again started for Nashville.

The rest of the trip down was uneventful even if the GPS took me YET another route to Rob and Tanya's house!  ( I swear it takes me a different way every time I go!)

It always amazes me how much empty space there is in this country even east of the Mississippi!  There is a serious lack of decent eating options, I was really glad I had packed snacks!

Christmas came, all were happy with their gifts including me!

I mean who would not be happy with Sheltie socks?!

On the 27th I headed for eastern Tennessee on a little fact finding trip.

I stopped for gas only to realize I'd left my Driver's license and credit cards in my coat pocket back at Rob's!  (It was so warm I didn't need my coat!)  Panic ensued.

Until I realized I had that "Other" credit card-the one I never use tucked away in my purse-gas was purchased.  Then I called Rob to be sure it was there and he wanted to meet me half way to rescue me!  Which he did-He really wanted to try out his new car on the highway!

That night was spent in Knoxville.

I planned to go to Gatlinburg to see a cousin but she was ill and even though it probably wasn't  THE VIRUS I elected to postpone that trip until the next time.  I mean I go to Nashville every year and it isn't that far.

Eliminating that trip meant that I started the next morning for Kingsville, Sullivan County, Tennessee.  I wanted to see the geography there on the border between Virginia and Tennessee.  My Hickam family lived there and while most of them moved on, one brother remained in Virginia.  A generation or two down almost all of the descendants were in Sullivan County.  Now I know why!  Sullivan County is much more suitable for farming than Scott or lee Counties in Virginia.  Once you cross over the border into Virginia you are driving in the mountains. I had my first argument with the GPS between the two states!  I won, simply by muting it!  I judged it as similar to driving in the Rockies.  It was beautiful and there was no place to safely stop for photos.  After Kingsville, I was headed for the Cumberland Gap-the problem with these little jaunts I take is that you can drive for what seems like forever and find that there is nothing much to see once you get there!  Such was the case with the Gap.   I did get a better idea of why that was the route used to cross over the mountains.

After that I started back to Nashville, a day early.

After driving and driving on two lane country roads (which I generally enjoy and usually choose) where I didn't see much except a few houses and the Dollar General (every 25 miles-not kidding.) I had my second argument with the GPS!  Stopped to read the map as it was getting quite dark and I couldn't even FIND the road it said to turn onto!  I chose a way down to the Interstate and again muted the GPS!  I think I've have turned it off but I need it in Nashville.

Crazy trip but I learned what I went to learn.

On New Year's Eve we went to Cheekwood to view the holiday lights and tour the mansion.

No matter How I tried I could not get the photos together!

It was a lovely walk, so warm we didn't need a coat!

Then on New Year's we got dressed up and went out for a fancy dinner-amazing steak and equally amazing views of Nashville.

I was to head home on the 3rd and we woke to this!

About 4 inches on the top of my truck!

Nashville has very little snow removal equipment and no one knows how to drive in it so I waited for the sun to hit the road before I left about 9.

The trip home was uneventful-I didn't even get lost in St Louis!

Now, comes the settling in for a long winter's nap!