new year, new post . . .

Are You there God?  It's me, Margaret.  

I pulled this Judy Blume book off the shelves at the library in Oak Hill Elementary, my third grade year.  I remember reading it over and over, during the course of my two-week check out.  The contents, which were so gripping to me fifty-plus years ago, have long been forgotten, but the title grabs me in different circumstances ALL the time, to this day.

Are you there fellow bloggers?  It's me, Denise.  :)

My niece, Megan, who is owner and founder of Two Tales Editing, sent out a clever gif on her IG account, asking pertinent New Year questions.  Here's how I completed mine . . .

Blogging is right up there at the top, baby!  So I figured two days in, I'd better go ahead and get busy and not let the days, weeks, months slide by like I did last year!  (Note: I may still go ahead and back-fill some entries from last year. It helps me in my dotage to remember when I did what.  <grin>)

First things first . . . if you know me, you know "resolutions" per se, are not my thing.  But a word of the year is very much in keeping with who I am.  I really struggled this year. No joke ... I tossed words around in my head for two months. As one of my sweet affirmation sisters said, I finally pivoted and landed on the perfect word for me and mine this year:  CARE.  

Whether it's what I 'care' about, or the 'care' I give to others or myself, it was definitely the right word for 2023.  I know that because just typing this paragraph makes me cry.  So there's that.  There were some pretty heavy reasons behind the picking, but that's a tale for another post.  :)

Of course, there's also my Bible reading plan for the year.  That didn't take as much thought as it has in the past.  I knew exactly what my plan would be this year . . . 

And so I did!  I've long admire Kandi Gallaty's faith and teaching.  And I've walked several "mentees" through Gallaty's book, Disciple Her.  When this year-long Bible study and reading plan came out last year, it was a no-brainer for me to work through it in 2023.  :)

As for stitching, I elected to join our Stitcher's ETC. UFO challenge again, for the third time running!  Look at that.  I have consistency somewhere in my life!  And would you believe, I've met each month's challenge for the past twelve months??

This month my challenge was to finish the herringbone embroidery stitching around my "Gathered Blessings" piece, and hand quilt the top half.  I have that well in hand.  Which is good, because I'd also like to start and finish a QAYG quilt for Todd . . . 

His own Crimson Tide quilt.  I love this layout.  It's simple, but also fun.  The Alabama print will make it even more fun. It's a 72" square quilt.  Which is why I'm using the QAYG method, so I can (easily) be the one to quilt it.

There's some wrap up from 2022 . . . a couple of crafty things I got in before the year ended:

I adore this pom pom Christmas tree pillow, inspired by the On Sutton Place blog.  Glad I had my pom pom maker ready!

And these darling little page markers.  I made a set for each of the local grandgirls.

Speaking of the locals grands, we enjoyed a lovely Christmas, including spending our Christmas Eve with them, as per tradition!

They've all grown so much over the past year!  But especially that Ezra Paul, who's not just a big boy, but big on personality, too!

He's cheesing it up for the camera.  I wish you could have seen the transformation of his face when he saw I was getting ready to take a pic!

Finally, on the 2022 recap . . .

This brings me full circle from my opening with a book title, right?? :P  I finished 113 books in 2022.  Not my best, but better than my goal of 100!  I set this year's goal for 125.  I hope that wasn't too lofty!  Do you use Goodreads?  I love it to help me track what/how much I've read.  If you're there ... look me up!

I think that (kinda) catches me up and sets the path for moving forward.  Todd and I celebrated the New Year at one of our favorite restaurants . . .

We looked good celebrating 2023!  (If I do say so myself.)

One year I'm going to resolve to limit my use of exclamation points to their grammatically correct status.  But it is not this year!!!  Happy New Year!

:)

2016 bible study expo . . .

Y'all, I don't get excited about a lot of things . . . scratch that. You know I get excited about LOTS of things -- and I want to share one of those things right now!

I've shared before about the Women's Bible Study Expo.  These are free webinars (online) that showcase up and coming Bible-study authors and teachers. And the next one is coming up TOMORROW!  

Yes, Thursday, March 17th, at 2:00 p.m. (central time).  There is a fabulous line-up of authors, including Sherri Burgess (whose book, Bronner: A Journey to Understand I reviewed in January)!

These webinars, organized and led by one of my favorite women's ministry gurus, Marni Swedberg, are a terrific way to learn about an author, hear her heart, and get an understanding about what her study/book is about. This is a fabulous resource, whether you're picking out Bible studies for yourself or for a group study.

Check it out for yourself at www.biblestudyexpo.com/ and be sure to register to win (top right corner) while you're there!

:)

a plethora of things . . .

Happy weekend!!  I finally took my birthday hours on Thursday and we are closed on Fridays, so I'm enjoying a lovely four day weekend. I'll go back to work for two days before we shut down for Thanksgiving and a lovely five day weekend (for which I'm truly grateful)! I've had some good stitching time (as you might imagine)!  First off, I finished off the three snow buddies hanger . . .

It turned out so cutely!  I'm really pleased with it.  And even more pleased that out of the seven projects I had, I'm finished with four!  So next up I'll be working on this guy . . . 

My instructions?  This picture . . .

It's pretty self-explanatory, so  I shouldn't get too hung up!  It'll keep me busy on my slow stitching Sunday.  :)

I've been playing in fabric, too!  REALLY!  One crafty fabic project and one quilty fabric project . . . both gifts, so I can't show any of the quilt and all I can show of the craft project is this tidbit . . .

It looks fun, right?? Between the two of them and the 1/8th of a yard I used for my NOEL project:

[Which isn't finished (I needed "an ingredient" to finish it up that I can't pick up until Monday), but at least I know where it's going!] I've made a tidy little dent in my fabric stash this week!

Yay!!  I'd like to finish one more project before mid-month, so hopefully there will be an even bigger 'little dent'!

Last weekend Joc and her crew took their annual family trek to the Botanical Garden's Galaxy of Lights walking tour. As always, they finished up with a visit to see Santa Claus. These photos, through the years, have been a wonderful laugh and this year was no exception (and Ellie has proven consistent through all her four visits):

Ellie, 2012

Ellie (with Sawyer), 2013

Ellie (with Evey--and held by Jocelyn), 2014

Evey and Ellie, 2015

Are they not just priceless??  The Santa (who's the same all four years) simply makes the 2015 photo. Oh gracious, I just love them!

In preparation for our church's annual Thanksgiving fellowship tomorrow, I made an apple pie, crust and all . . .

It smells so good, it's all I can do to stay out of it tonight! It's a dry run through for Thanksgiving -- I'll do this all over again (and then some) on Wednesday!

I'll be linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts.  But before I go, I wanted to share one more thing.  I'll be starting this marvelous Bible study on Monday called Quieting Your Heart for the Holidays.  It's being hosted by Darlene Schacht of Time Warp Wife, and it promises to be wonderful.

I know I can't be the only one who struggles with keeping balance between the craziness that can come at this time of the year, wanting things to be just so, with remembering and celebrating what truly is the reason for celebration to begin with. It's a free study (with the exception of the prayer journal, which I purchased, and isn't required for the study) on her site and she provides lots of pretty freebies to make it fun.

And on that note, I'm outta here . . . I've got stitching to do before it gets crazy up in here!!

:)

2015 bible study expo . . .

I have such a heart for Women's Ministry . . . I love spending time with like-minded women in God's Word!  And I especially enjoy spending time in Bible study with a group of women.  But sometimes the biggest problem I have is trying to decide which study fits the style of group I've gotten together, or fits the times or our needs.

Know what I mean??

That's why I'm so looking forward to the 2015 Bible Study Expo!!

I've been involved with this for several years . . . and each year it gets better and better!  It's a great way to 'meet' authors, hear about their books, and interact with like-minded women in the process, via facebook and twitter!  I'll be hostessing on Facebook and Twitter, too!  :)

This year Marnie Swedburg has a FABULOUS lineup of authors, including Liz Curtis Higgs, who will be speaking about her new book, It's Good to be Queen, in the kickoff spot at 1:00 p.m. (central time).  Also speaking will be Pam Farrell, Sara Hagerty, Mindy Ferguson, and Kathy Howard, to name just a few!

Tomorrow's the day -- the cost is free -- and you can click HERE to signup for fabulous prizes, to boot!  So what are you waiting for?? 

:)

reading thru the new year . . .

It's the first Tuesday of the month.  That means it's Bibliophile File day! Hurrah!

Last year I set up a challenge for myself to read four different types of books each month. I'd choose a book that had been recommended, a book I'd borrowed from the lending library (physically or digitally), a book to review (blogging for books), and a book that was a faith/walk strengthener.  I did fairly well through the year and even typically managed to throw an extra couple of books in there a month.  For example, during the month of December, I threw caution to the wind and devoured about eight Melody Carlson Christmas stories, in addition to some other fluffy, Christian Christmas-themed tales.

I have no desire to set any particular challenge this year, but I have already picked four books to read throughout the year and I thought I'd share those for this first BF linky party of the year!

These are the devotionals/daily readings I've selected for 2015.  The first is Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence, by Sarah Young. I'm familiar with this one -- I've had the app and two of my sisters have the devo. It's filled with short but stout daily readings that have already this year pierced my heart.  

The second one is called Designed for Devotion:  A 365-Day Journey from Genesis to Revelation, by Dianne Neal Matthews. This one is also filled with shorter daily readings designed to set focus on God in all His glory and invite personal relationship with Him, why relating His story as told in Scripture, from beginning to end!

The third one is already such fun -- this one is Women of the Bible: A One-Year Devotional Study of Women in Scripture, by Ann Spangler and Jean E. Syswerda.  Oh my goodness -- fifty-two women from God's word . . . the good and the bad . . . the pure of heart and the evil . . . and what we can learn from them!  Because this is weekly studies, I started this one last Monday, so I'm actually into week two.  Eve was our first subject and Sarai is this week's focus.  I can already tell that this one is going to be GREAT!

And finally, the challenge of the four, Reading God's Story: A Chronological Daily Bible, by George H. Guthrie.  Don't get me wrong -- Guthrie didn't write the Bible -- it's actually the Holman translation.  What Guthrie wrote was the introductions of each week's readings and the act and plot summaries.  It's fascinating reading as he has the reader reading God's work in the order in which it took place, historically.  I've already had understanding of Scripture that I'd never put together before. It's the meat of my reading and it's a great way to read through the entirety of Scripture in a year's time.

And then, just for fun (and girls do need their fun), I'm also doing a little light reading . . . If Teapots Could Talk, by Gloria Hander Lyons. This one is filled with "fun ideas for tea parties"!  Hmmm . . . who could I have tea parties with?! It's got some nice recipes and I love tea party themes and there are plenty of those, as well. I'll get some good use from this one, I'm sure!

Anyway, that's it for me for this month.  Head on over to sarah did it! to see what has others turning pages!

:)

the longest post ever . . .

And I'm not even *joking*!  You'll see.  I finally realized that what happens when I go more than a day without posting, all the things I want to share build up bigger and bigger until all of a sudden, it's a post-a-palooza!  [snicker]

It's been a great week.  I didn't completely cut out blog reading, but I did cut back, and I also broke the comments down on my giveaway post and answered them in manageable bites.  That giveaway is still open, by the way ... so feel free to jump over there and get in while the getting's good!

I put into play some of the items on my *list* of goals for 2013.  Back in 2011, I wrote a series of posts on Time Management -- four, actually -- here, here, here, and here.  I decided to put into practice (again) what I'd preached!   To take liberties ... blogger, heal thyself.  To that end,  A Holy Experience had a darling document for planning out your day.  It had all the components on it that were important to me ... domestic stuff, daily chores, have-to-do (or as she notates it, "The Day's Dire"), food/water, etc.  It's very nicely laid out.  You can get you own HERE.

Put that along with my 2013 planner (a very cheap and scaled down version from last year's), and my days are a little more organized and focused, and things are getting done!

I'm also participating in the Siesta 2013 Scripture memorization.  My dear friend Melissa, from The High Altitude Tea Duchess, put out a call to anyone interested in joining her in the challenge.  I've watched it for the past two years (over at the Living Proof Ministries blog) but never participated.  I decided to join Melissa (and from what I've been able to gauge, at least 5,000 others) and memorize some Scripture this year!  Two a month -- nothing huge -- and you choose your own passages.

To that end, I got a cute little spiral book to record my Scriptures.  Sometimes fun little things like this help keep me on track!

Another of my goals (I think I mentioned in my New Year's Day post that the list was quite extensive) was to read through the Bible in chronological order.  And in order to really make it mean something, I wanted to not just read, but to jot down any thoughts, questions or revelations I had about the day's reading.

Read the Bible in One Year has an assortment of reading plans in different translations.  I copied it to a pdf and sent it to my Kindle, so I can easily keep up with where I'm supposed to be each day.

I've also had plenty of time for crafty, quilty things.  Joc and I played with her Silhouette -- it cuts fabric!  

She cut out some letters for me and then she cut out the means to make this darling little onesie for Ellie.

This will be her 'smash cake' outfit!  Isn't it darling?!?

She also used her fancy machine to make the paper flowers for this wreath . . .

When it's finished, there will be a little pendant banner that reads, "Time for Tea" in the middle.  She'll hang this on her front door on the day of Ellie's party. Sweet, non??!  Such a crafty girl!

Joc also let me borrow her mod podge.

I had an ugly, plain old clipboard to keep my daily list and I wanted something pretty . . . 

A (really, really, REALLY) pretty piece of fabric and some mod podge later, voila!

Of course, there's been time for grandbabies, too . . .

Oh how I adore my sweet little grandbabies!  Yes, that's my son piled up in there between Sawyer and June.  What a crowd!

And then there's *always* time for fabric, right?  I've made a very bold statement on this, the first stash report of the year, that's for sure.  One of our LQS's had a major sale on New Year's Day.  Who could resist?

This was all BOGO fabric.  So two yards for the price of one ... ten yards, right off the bat.

This was all heavily discounted fabric.  One yard each, coming up!

And I couldn't pass up this darling Christmas panel and coordinating yard from Timeless Treasures!  Two more yards.

And then, for good measure, a handful of purple fat quarters and some new tools!

Used/donated this week: 0.25 yards

Used/donated year-to-date: 0.25 yards

Purchased/added this week: 16.75 yards

Purchased/added year-to-date: 16.75 yards

Net used/donated for 2013: -16.5 yards

Oh well.  :)

I really enjoyed the NewFO Challenge in 2012, held by Barbara over at Cat Patches and I'm so glad she's decided to continue the challenge in 2013! December wasn't the busiest of months, but I did have two NewFOs ... first there was my doll swap quilt, the Christmas Shoo Fly . . .

And then there was Ellie's stocking . . .

I shared that stocking in Patricia's Christmas Stocking Hang Out linky party, over at Quilting Lines, and was rewarded with this darling little Daddy Longstockings pattern for participating:

Aren't these cute?  I especially like the one with holly traveling down the front!

And I've had time to start a few new things, too.  One is an all stitching project and the second is a combination of applique and stitching . . . 

And I'm only showing you pieces because I hope to have them *both* finished for the In Your Words blog hop, which starts MONDAY!  As in TOMORROW!

My day is Friday, January 11, so these two pieces are both my Slow Sunday Stitching and my design wall, too!  

Speaking of design walls (and hence Patchwork Times), I was a complete *bust* at the UFO challenge.  But this year, instead of tackling an entire project each month, Judy's tossing out a monthly challenge called "Get it Done," or in good ol' Alabamian terms, Get 'er done.  The idea is to set a goal of four quilting-related things you want to accomplish for each month.  That's so much more manageable for me!  

For January, my Get 'er Done list is:  (1) finish my two "words" projects, (2) complete a 6" crazy quilt block (for the CQJP Challenge), (3) my January doll quilt swap, and (4) get June's quilt top finished.  Whew! This is *so* do-able!

I think I see that letting an entire five days pass between posts isn't the best of ideas.  LOL!  I end up being wordy-wordsmith and taking three hours to write a post and get in everything I want to share, in!  I won't let it go quite so long next time.  In the meantime, enjoy your Sunday (and Monday and Tuesday) and your stitching, whatever it may entail!

Linking up today's post with Cat Patches' December NewFO Challenge, Patchwork Times's Get It Done Challenge, Kathy's Quilts' Slow Stitching Sunday, Patchwork Times's Stash Report #1 and Design Wall Monday!

:)