Happy New Year!

 There's a ton of emotion packed into those three words for all of us!

WHEW.

I can easily remember my most hair raising moment of the year as I walked my daughter over to the ER doors with a completely closed sore throat and then realized they weren't going to let me in with her...

but then I have to admit, all is well that ends well, because some very good things came out of this year, too-- like a reunited family. I certainly hope you can say the same.

Overall, I am much too tired for reflection at this point, whether it is the full weight of 2020 or just the Christmas busy-ness that has caught up with me.

The week between Christmas and New Year's is always a favorite with me-- the crush is over, but it's still not back to business yet! DOWN TIME! And, while tired, I have been keeping myself busy all week-- (one of the things I am grateful for-- my "sewjo" did not miss a beat this year-- well, not too many beats anyway!) 

I finished Block 4 of my Christmas BOM, named "Holiday Cheer," renamed (by me in the last blog post) "Christmas Tulips Open Their Gifts" and I'll now remember as "Holiday Hangover" after trying to get those green checks to line up nicely. 

In another case of "all's well that ends well," I did get three of them to play nice, and just left a note for myself on the other. It's amazing how your perspective changes over time, and I will see how I feel on some later, lazy, and lovely summer evening...

Then, I put Block Five together, oh, sew easily-- 

As also told in my last post, this is the ONLY thing the Fat Quartershop delivered to me on time this month, (not their fault) -- the only thing that I was NOT anxiously awaiting. But I'm so happy to call myself up-to-date on this stitch-a-long... it may be the only thing I am not behind on as of this moment.

Most of the week, you'll be happy to know, I spent on this:

Yes! It is the finishing kit for cross stitch Cottages of the Month! Alot of repetitive embroidery has been going on (while I stitched my BOMs) and a lot of trimming, and I still have a couple of blocks I'd like to do-over and I also ran out of 2179 Stone's Throw. 

I don't have to have mine completely finished before you can start yours, and I'm just finishing up the instructions-- hoping for it to be the first set of 2021... we can all finish together!

Christmas was a real joy this year-- my handmade stockings were truly loved, and I think I'm starting a trend because I received some handmade things as well. My daughter knitted this blanket...

You might think that jumbo yarn made it easy-- but you have to know-- it was NOT easy stitching on great big needles over a huge length! 

And my son's girlfriend made me this cool Diamond Art picture of the kids. I wasn't sure what Diamond Art is-- but it is just like cross stitch-- so appropriate for me, and I'm sure it took a similar amount of time.

Santa also brought me a Ninja Foodi pressure cooker and a crockpot, too-- at first, I interpreted it as "you need to spend more time feeding us," but when I made a 5lb chicken in 40 minutes, well, you know, more sewing time has just been freed up-- I LOVE them both!

Look at the peppercorn gravy that came under it-- I didn't even have to fix it up, it was delish! I haven't tried yet, but I'm hoping I get the same results under steamed veggies.

So that's the end of our 2020 story-- another quiet night at home awaits, which is another plus or minus on the scale of this year, whichever way you want to look at it.

Greetings and love to you all-- and all the best for 2021!

xox

Carol