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Saturday, January 7, 2017

January Intentions

My Camellia has a couple of blooms opening already. But, I digress,,,

I invested time, during December, on Design Your Destiny 2017. This was a series of email worksheets from Kim, Sublime Reflections. As I worked thru week one, a reviewing of 2016, I saw, in writing, just how many projects were finished. Then during the second week, a list of what I was leaving behind helped me focus on what my time wasters were. Week three found me honing in on what was important to me, not just what I thought others wanted of me. My action plan came about during the final week. So, here I am 7 days into 2017 and I am content with my decisions. I'm also aware that I'm a creature of 'tweaking' and I'm fine with that as well. So, without further wordiness, here are the intentions for January:

1- Continue the kitchen upgrade. Countertops have been ordered and will be installed by 1/15. 

2- Livingroom furniture replacements. Ordered 1/3 and delivered 1/5!!! 1/6 all old pieces were gone. 
 


3- Silk Fusion Workshop. This took place yesterday. We each made a vessel and one or two more pieces. It was a great time of sharing. These are my pieces in the drying stage. They need another day or two before I can continue with forming the actual vessel and adding some embellishments to it. The other piece is more vibrant in reality, lighting wasn't complimentary. 

4- I'm still trying to decide on the next step for this crocheted sweater/vest. In my opinion, it is too narrow thru the body portion. I may unravel it, reball the yarn, and look for a different design. 

5- BCQC project needs to get taken to the next step. It's difficult deciding on embellishments and their placements. Once these are done I will be able to get it off the stretcher bars and framed for hanging. 
6- The kid size quilt, above on left, is waiting to be 'sandwiched', trimmed, bound, and sent off. 

7- Waiting in the longarm room is my red flower piece. After it's quilted, I will do a facing type of finish. I've also been have been thinking about some thread sketching before the quilting. Hmmm. 

8- Sort and organize my projects for each month. I've started this task, and it's surprising how calming it actually has been. Putting things into monthly allotments (with a list) has a way of freeing my mind of the constant thought, 'what is slipping thru the cracks?' I won't need all 12 boxes. So, I've already filled 2 of them with give away stuff. I think a great way to continue this will be, as I empty a box,  designate it for 'give away', and continue to fill it with appropriate items. This leads right into:

9- Continue to declutter and organize, not just stuff, but involvement as well. I'm like most creatives, very interested in too many things! I recently turned down a couple of great opportunities to expand into new areas. I wanted to say yes, sure, I'd love to. But I want to improve in the areas I'm already invested in. Hard decisions sometimes must be made. 

10- Beach Retreat at the end of January. I want to be prepared with 2 or 3 simple projects. 

That's it for now. As you can see, some of the projects are underway, others need attention. I'll keep you posted. 

And as always,
May God bless each of you with His Peace. 



6 comments:

Madtatter80 said...

Love the new furniture and your beautiful projects are breathtaking and I can see how the declutering relaxes you, love this perfect January post!

Luann Fischer said...

Carollynn,
I was just checking out your December tatting. They are lovely.
I'm going to do a blog post, one of these days, on all those lovely pieces I received for my BDay when we first met.
I was sorry to see that Stitchinfingers wouldn't be there anymore. But I sure could understand Mary's situation.
Glad we found each other's blogs before the ability to connect was lost.
May God bless the work of your hands.
Your South Carolina friend,
Luann

TerryKnott.blogspot.com said...

How exciting to have new furniture! Your kitchen counters look great with your cabinetry! I too am working on decluttering and organizing. I'm even putting some projects together. . gosh, we could have written parallel posts! Best wishes on your journey!

Kath said...

Thank you Luann for your inspiring posts. I hope to implement some of your techniques in my attempts to organize a usable quilting/sewing space. In this blog, I particularly like the look of your red and yellow flowers against the charcoal gray, but maybe that's your carpet, not a background fabric?

All the best for January!
Kath

Luann Fischer said...

Terry,
The counter tops in the picture are the old white melamine ones. They cut the front edge off to reface the cabinets, and I put duck tape over the edge to protect my clothing, lol. The new ones are a granite, I'll post a picture when they are installed.
I think we are very in tune with each other on our creative journey.
Thanks for stopping by, and as you know, leaving a comment is like lighting the candles on the cake.

Luann Fischer said...

Kath,
The background is in fact the carpet. However, I believe it was on my Nov 4, 2017 post that the first picture is the yellow one finished off.
My very best tip for getting your space into an efficient and productive environment is to 'clear your view'! By this I mean, only have out exactly what is needed for the immediate task at hand. If you've cut a batch of strips you're going to strip piece, put all the excess away. You don't need every color of thread available, just the one you're using. And like most of us, you probably only use a snipping scissors right now, so put those rotary cutters back into a bin. I have gone so far as to pike things off into a corner, but then I have to use a piece of muslin to cover everything up. I'm such a visual person that I never realized how much of a distraction my prized possessions could be. Once I got my view cleared, I pretty much keep to task and my focus isn't running rampant while I'm trying to stitch a straight line.
And for a little laugh,,, right now I have this iPad going, my calendar that goes on the fridge next to me, and a pike of tax papers that need to be organized! So, you may enjoy the following:

TAKE MY ADVISE, AFTER ALL IM NOT USING IT !

Thanks for your kind words.