Happy New Year

Hoping for a Happy, Healthy, Peaceful New Year.

Resolutions...do you make them? I don't. Not anymore. Oh, I used to. The usual things - lose weight, eat healthy, exercise more, less clutter, cleaner house. I never kept up with them.

I do know I want, and need, to make some changes in my life and I will try to make those changes, although it will be difficult to make some of them. 

For a while now I have been feeling the need to get rid of the excess, the things I don't really need, the things that aren't being used. They need to go. I am slowly working on that. I find it hard to get rid of some things. Some things are garbage, things that no one else will want, but some things are perfectly good and someone might be able to use them, but I really don't have a good resource available to get rid of these things. I don't feel comfortable using the on-line marketplace sites, garage sales don't work for me, resale shops are too far away to make it worth my while. I have passed unwanted yarn and fabric to members of my quilt group. Most of it gets taken or passed on to another group. Some ends up in the garbage. I am ok with that as long as I am not the one throwing it away. 

I feel the need to get more physically fit. I weigh more now than I ever have. For the last several years I have been expecting my doctor to tell me my cholesterol, blood glucose, blood pressure are at unhealthy levels. But, so far, I have been surprised that isn't the case. I always ask if they are sure those I my lab results. I decided to drink less soda over a year ago. I expected to lose some weight, but I didn't. Now I am slowly cutting back on the sweets I eat. I have stocked my fridge with fresh salad veggies. I drink more water, less soda. I know I need to get up and move more. I find that hard this time of year. I am tired, physically and mentally, after work, it's almost dark by the time I get home, it's cold. Outside activity is not going to happen. I try to walk up and down my basement/upstairs stairs more often, but my knees hurt. That is a new thing. I noticed this year when the weather turned cold that my knees ache. Some of my other joints are a little achy, too. 

I feel the need to reduce the number of unfinished projects I have. As I have been moving my sewing area around I am finding things I had forgotten about. I have not made a plan, but am just working on what I find as I find it. My project of the moment is this one...

When I rediscovered it several months ago I needed to make some flying geese sashing strips. 

I worked on it at the last retreat in October. After I got it home and up on my design wall I discovered that I needed two more sashing strips. 

I finished those a few days ago and started sewing the blocks together.

It wasn't going together as well as I wanted to so I removed the papers even though the pattern instructions say to do that after the blocks are sewn together. No matter how careful I am I always make a mess. 

Then I decided I really don't like the black piping surrounding each block. They were uneven. They were suppose to lay inside the diamond shaped units but the seams where not cooperating. The more I looked at it, the less I liked it. So I spent the eve of the new year taking those off. Exciting way to bring in the new year!

I have two more units that need the piping removed. Then I can get the blocks sewn together and add the border.

My plan for today is to get this top done.

The one thing that really needs to change in my life that I have no control over is the stress of family. My poor husband is still dealing with his mother's estate and the mess that his father made years ago that was only discovered after his mother passed. Apparently, that is fairly common, but still hard to deal with. His father is a stubborn, greedy man and is not making any of this easy. 

I also got news yesterday that my uncle, my dad's brother, has had a heart attack. The last news I got yesterday evening was that he has broken ribs due to chest compressions needed to revive him, liver and kidney failure. It doesn't look good. His sons live in other states and are on their way to be with him. My aunt, their sister, passed away just before Thanksgiving. Their other sister has been having some breathing issues. My dad is healthy except for the dementia his is dealing with. I sure this is weighing heavy on him.