Merry Christmas

 Another Christmas has come and gone.  My oldest didn't come home this year and she said it didn't feel like Christmas to her.  She's living in Florida and teaching and just couldn't afford the time or money to fly home.  My little guy isn't so little anymore, but still has fun passing out the presents and making sure everyone opens them in the right order.  He got enough video games to keep him busy for the rest of the break.

 I made a hooded Ninja Turtle towel for my son's girlfriend.  I made a hooded towel for my oldest when she was about 2 and I still have it around.  She loved it as a little kid and it's funny to see these making a comeback again.

 I purchased quite a few different embroidery designs and hope to sell some of these to make some money to buy quilt batting.  I haven't purchased any in over a year since my quilting machine hasn't been working.  I haven't needed to buy any more and have been slowly using up what I bought a long time ago.  I went online to joann.com and wondered if they had any on sale.  The batting I normally buy (Kodel) was on sale for 40% off with an additional 20% off total purchase, which was good, but the price used to be $60 and has jumped to $103 for 50 yards.  The other kind I buy (Soft N Crafty) used to be $12 for 10 yards and is now $35.  I guess with the price of oil increasing, it costs more to make the polyester batting.  Normally I wouldn't notice such a drastic change in the price because I would watch the price change a little at a time.  It was quite a shock.  I used to buy batting about once a month because I was quilting so much.

 I've been feeling a bit lost lately and needing to get my sense of direction back.  My focus has been all over the place and jumping from one project to another.  I took some time these last two days and cleaned up the sewing rooms a bit and now I can get to the quilting machine again.  I almost forgot how much I love to make quilts.  My binding buddies have been busy with other things too so it's been hard having stacks of quilts in various stages and feeling stuck.

 Tomorrow I will be delivering about 50 quilts to Nurse Family Partnership, one of the biggest places we donate to, along with about 60 crochet baby hats that I made over the summer when I was 'babysitting' my dad.  Just seeing that big bag of hats again, brought back good memories and made me want to start crocheting some more.  Again, I'm jumping from project to project, but trying to get a focus for the New Year and plan for my crafting time.

 I'm hoping to have a little more time this semester and hopefully be a little better steward of my time at school.  I am hoping I won't have to bring as much work home with me and when I am at home, to stay off the internet, which is a huge timesuck.  I go on just to check one thing and then next thing I notice is it is an hour later and I've forgotten what it is I wanted to check.

My adopted daughter and I will be reading through the Bible this year.  We both purchased the One Year Bible NIV version and hope to keep each other accountable.  In 2016 I turn 50 and I'm realizing that time marches on, despite my best efforts to keep things the same.  Kids grow up and move out, wrinkles show up where there were none before and I don't have as much energy as I used to.

But having a plan for the day helps me keep focused and get more done than if I just let things happen.  Here's to looking forward to a great year in 2016.