Post-Holiday Recovery

Christmas is over and I ate too much. It's a perfect time to start thinking about exercising and getting back on track. But maybe I'll wait until all the goodies are gone and the New Year is here, LOL. . . Puppy and I did take a walk on Christmas night - does that count for anything?

A good thing about living in an urban area -  they plow the streets quickly.

We got a lot more snow the next day.

Puppy wasn't sure what to make of these guys . . .

Stress is usually high around the holidays and afterwards I have to make time to relax and regroup - think about new quilt projects and organize some old ones. Clean up my scraps and cut the usable ones into 2-inch squares or strips. Organize them by color.

 

We'll be having a UFO challenge soon on my yahoo group (SmallQuiltTalk)  and I'm looking forward to getting a few things finished that I forgot I even started.

Of course, making more doll quilts is always at the top of my list - how about you? It's a perfect way to use up your scraps. And have a little fun getting back into making things.

This week I am finishing up the last pattern for the American Schoolgirl Club I began last year and will send it out to current members in January. I hope some of you are making the quilts along with me. It was a great success and I decided to run the same club again next year. So, if you didn't join in on the fun last June - hurray! - you will have a second chance to become a member this time around and receive a cute pattern for a doll quilt in the mail every month. Honestly, what could be more fun?? If you join now, I will begin sending out the patterns again, one at a time, the first week of the month for six months. You can still join at any time. See my website for details.

In answer to the question some of you have asked: I am still thinking about whether or not I will do a sequel to the first Club with all new patterns. It's hard to plan ahead right now. I will be busy with a few lectures and workshops next year and also have to schedule another surgery in the Spring to reverse one of the procedures I had in September. That means yet another long recovery period, yuck! At least this time I won't be so sick going into it and my goal is to get as healthy as possible before then to help myself recover faster. Needless to say, it's not something I am looking forward to but I feel lucky it can be reversed at all and then maybe I'll have a chance to finally return to normal. If I do decide to start another Club, it will not be until late summer or next fall.

The new book with more little quilts will be out soon to keep you busy and inspired. In the meantime, have you seen this free pattern for a simple little doll quilt on my website? Great for all of those scraps you've been collecting lately and a sure fire way to get motivated to play with your fabric. It stitches up quickly. I made one using mostly dark triangles and colorful scraps but I can't seem to find it to show you . . .

Hope you all have a happy time recovering from Christmas!