January 2, 2010
Today was the second day of my journey to streamline and de-clutter my life which should in theory allow more time for my quilting. I can report that both yesterday and today have been successful in getting rid of more than 27 items each day. As I started digging into the clutter it occurred to me that clutter in our lives comes in many forms. Paper clutter is a huge issue for me, it seems like I can't throw anything written away without handling it several thousand times first.
Yesterday I threw away several newspapers, de-cluttered my hot pad drawer because how many hot pads does one need after all? Today I cleaned out all the out of date coupons from my coupon binder and got the new coupons for the year in it. This should be very helpful when I go to the grocery store tomorrow morning. I actually took time to organize my grocery list as well.
Today I cleaned out over 100 emails. Why did I need them you might ask? Some had important information like new addresses, phone numbers, etc. in them. I actually took time to transfer this information to the address box, phone books or areas the information belongs. Others just needed to be let go or put in a folder to save. Yes, I still have about 50 saved emails, but since I normally have over 100 this is an improvement.
For fun I worked on two miniature or art type quilts. The first was a small quilt I was finishing for my friend's dog who has gotten older and is having some health issues. I got it quilted and bound but still need to do a bit of hand work on it. The second was a miniature quilt using some blocks left over from a sunshine type project. It is blue and white paper pieced hearts and I got sashing and a border sewn on it. I think it is finished but I decided to ponder on it for a day or two. Hopefully tomorrow I will take some pictures and post them to see.
Sometimes procrastination pays off. I have been saving some stuff for my sister that I wanted to mail but couldn't get around to packaging or posting. Today I realized that my son would be seeing her son next weekend Good Lord Willing and the Creek Don't Rise. So I can send it to her for free. Julie, if you are reading this don't get your hopes up, this is not a special gift or anything.
My digging did help me on-cover a couple of projects I am really looking forward to making and they should not cost me a penny since I think I have all the materials in my quilting room stash. This is a good thing since I saw the weather tonight and for Friday they are predicting weather in the single digits in our area. It could be as high as 19-yikes! Of course I still have my Judy Niemeyer class to prepare for and I have uncovered two flat surfaces in my sewing room so it will be a lot easier to do.
The bonus of the day was I found a tutorial on blogging that hopefully I will remember tomorrow when I am fresher and have more brain power. Hope you will notice when I am able to implement some of that knowledge.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
Happy New Year 2010
The New Year for me symbolizes a time of reflection, hope, and a new beginning. Although I have never been fond of New Year's resolutions I am a woman who does well with goals. I often have daily, weekly add project goals on an on-going basis. Without goals it seems I would never accomplish anything. In my book and accomplishment can be as small as finishing the laundry which seems challenging to me since I rarely get it All put away.
While reflecting this week I decided that like Julie in the movie Julia and Julie I would set some goals for myself and be accountable to my blog. Unlike Julie, I have no blog followers and that is okay because this is about helping me. If you know me, I am sure your first thought is that I am going to work on diet, health, and fitness since I need those things. No, I am going to work on some things to bring me true joy.
First and foremost my passion is piecing quilts. However, I have never allowed myself to just cut loose and do some really fun things like art quilts, miniature quilts and true heirloom quilts. This year I plan to do all three. I started a little miniature quilt in December, and in January I am taking a class with Judy Niemeyer who designs true heirloom quilts. The quilt I will be doing is called Bali Wedding Star and I will be using 30's reproduction fabrics. Their cheerful colors make me happy and they bring back good memories of both my grandmothers.
Second, I want to work on simplifying my life and home. This will accomplish two goals, first a neater home and second more time to work on my quilts. Instead of fighting clutter to try and clean my home I am going to get rid of a lot of the stuff. As Fly Lady says "you cannot organize clutter, you can only get rid of it". During Christmas I bought a crock pot cook book and plan to dust off that slow cooker and give some of the low carb recipes a spin to save time in the kitchen.
Third, I am going to practice a Feng Shui process that Fly Lady also uses and that is to get rid of at least 27 things in a month, but I am going to try for 27 things a week at first since I need to get rid of lots of clutter. Isn't it amazing that the older one gets the more one seems to "horde" good stuff? What causes that? I'll start with shirts with spots on them and recycled containers, since these seem to scream old lady to me. As an avid recycler, believe me many things will go in the recycle bin and any usable items will be donated.
Fourth, I want to learn more about blogging and the only way I know to do this is to start. Believe me it was interesting to see the length of time it took me to post this since it has been so long since I started my blog. Hopefully you will help keep me on track with my goals and will be patient with my self education about the blogging process.
My wish for you is to have a New Year full of blessings, happiness, friends and family. Hopefully this year will have very little sorrow, much prosperity and joy.
This process with me will be interesting since I seem to be somewhat ADD and get off track easily. Hopefully, if I don't post you will remind me that I am off track again...Oh look a chicken.
The New Year for me symbolizes a time of reflection, hope, and a new beginning. Although I have never been fond of New Year's resolutions I am a woman who does well with goals. I often have daily, weekly add project goals on an on-going basis. Without goals it seems I would never accomplish anything. In my book and accomplishment can be as small as finishing the laundry which seems challenging to me since I rarely get it All put away.
While reflecting this week I decided that like Julie in the movie Julia and Julie I would set some goals for myself and be accountable to my blog. Unlike Julie, I have no blog followers and that is okay because this is about helping me. If you know me, I am sure your first thought is that I am going to work on diet, health, and fitness since I need those things. No, I am going to work on some things to bring me true joy.
First and foremost my passion is piecing quilts. However, I have never allowed myself to just cut loose and do some really fun things like art quilts, miniature quilts and true heirloom quilts. This year I plan to do all three. I started a little miniature quilt in December, and in January I am taking a class with Judy Niemeyer who designs true heirloom quilts. The quilt I will be doing is called Bali Wedding Star and I will be using 30's reproduction fabrics. Their cheerful colors make me happy and they bring back good memories of both my grandmothers.
Second, I want to work on simplifying my life and home. This will accomplish two goals, first a neater home and second more time to work on my quilts. Instead of fighting clutter to try and clean my home I am going to get rid of a lot of the stuff. As Fly Lady says "you cannot organize clutter, you can only get rid of it". During Christmas I bought a crock pot cook book and plan to dust off that slow cooker and give some of the low carb recipes a spin to save time in the kitchen.
Third, I am going to practice a Feng Shui process that Fly Lady also uses and that is to get rid of at least 27 things in a month, but I am going to try for 27 things a week at first since I need to get rid of lots of clutter. Isn't it amazing that the older one gets the more one seems to "horde" good stuff? What causes that? I'll start with shirts with spots on them and recycled containers, since these seem to scream old lady to me. As an avid recycler, believe me many things will go in the recycle bin and any usable items will be donated.
Fourth, I want to learn more about blogging and the only way I know to do this is to start. Believe me it was interesting to see the length of time it took me to post this since it has been so long since I started my blog. Hopefully you will help keep me on track with my goals and will be patient with my self education about the blogging process.
My wish for you is to have a New Year full of blessings, happiness, friends and family. Hopefully this year will have very little sorrow, much prosperity and joy.
This process with me will be interesting since I seem to be somewhat ADD and get off track easily. Hopefully, if I don't post you will remind me that I am off track again...Oh look a chicken.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Bounty of the Harvest
This week I was blessed with the bounty of one friend and one relatives garden harvest of beautiful home grown tomatoes. You know the kind that you can actually smell and taste. Nothing is better than a fresh home grown tomato. I love them sliced, on a hamburger, on a salad, stuffed, or just whole and by themselves. Often these tomatoes are so big you can really feel them in your hands and I love the way they are bumpy and lumpy and not too perfect~sort of like me.
However, since I am the only person in our home who actually eats them raw I had to go to plan B. Today I shopped my refrigerator and started peeling, cutting, chopping and cooking. Before you know it I had a big batch of tomatoes stewing with celery, bell peppers, onions and jalapeno peppers. They yielded a nice batch to freeze in preparation for autumn and a nice bubbling pot of homemade soup.
Okay, I know it is a stretch now to think about cool weather, but a girl has to have hope.
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