Auld Lang Syne...Should Old acquaintance be forgot ?

Yes it is that time of the year....New Years Eve here in the USA and for many around the world New Years Day 2013!

Traditionally this is a time to look back and reflect upon the year that has passed and I am no different than others in taking a look back over 2012. A look at where I have been and planning where I want to go in 2013! How about you? Did you find you did more? Less? Learned more? Taught more? Time moves on and lives change - maybe you had one of those years....and your journey took you places you could never have imagined!  I applaud all of you, I find you inspiring, funny, so encouraging and helpful! I enjoy reading your comments, reading your blogs, and looking at your lovely projects and pictures on Flickr!  So Thank you! for being such a great community!  I look forward to spending time with you in 2013!

One of the things that helps put it in perspective, at least for me is a mosaic. I love them! I love to look at all the wonderful projects everyone has worked on this year!  These are my projects for 2012.

So what did I do in 2012?  I found Flickr, and swaps! Love them - built my stash up from swaps and met many wonderful sewist's some of  whom are only on Flickr!  Sew many amazing projects!

My Flying Geese wall hanging was for the Modern She Made Swap and I was sooo happy the way it turned out! The colors were dark and bold and out of the box for me. 

I joined a couple of Bee's -- those are my blocks for this quarter-- the Whirlygig block for all those in my hive and the Ribbon Star block in my colors for another hive. Really fun picking out a block to make and all the fabrics and watching it all come together! I reorganized my sewing room - much more efficient and easy to work in - yea! 

I did a couple BOM and must admit I am not finished with them yet!!  I did make blocks (and finish them) for Hurricane Sandy Relief  :)

I am STILL working on perfecting my binding technique  LOL!

I must admit, I love surfing through blogland and seeing what everyone is up to, but it also adds to my inspiration overload. My to do list is long(er) than ever, and I am sure I will have more projects this upcoming year than I can ever finish!

I passed the one year mark of blogging, and met wonderful friends from around the country and the globe. Fabric and pattern is our language! 

Earlier when I was contemplating this end of year post  I was thinking I had not done enough, you know the comparing myself to others bit....do you do that?  Hmmm, not a good thing to do! There will always be someone else that made 37 quilts and was in 20 swaps and ran a fabric shop out of their basement all the while having a wonderful husband and 3.5 kids all under 5 yrs old at home!  Or the busy blogger who works 65 hours a week and finished 22 quilts and posts from her cell phone and does Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,and  Pinterest and always answers a comment immediately!  Please, all is said in the most humorous, sarcastic tone you can imagine-- it is not meant to be snarky towards those hard working women-- I admire them and they inspire me to try new things - the point is, they are not me and do not have my life and responsibilities just as I do not have theirs. So stop the comparing game. For me, this is supposed to be fun, a hobby, a way to share something I love to do, not a second job. I find when I feel I HAVE to do this, and meet everyone else's expectations (I have enough of that in my paid day job ;)  then I shut down and lose my mojo. So join me won't you for that New Year's Resolution? 

This post has been a bit random, alot of high points and some points to ponder and work on-- I guess that all adds up to a review of the old and contemplation of the new--exactly what New Years Eve is all about!  So I leave you with the words to Auld Lang Syne, chorus and 1st stanza. Tomorrow I will be back with my projects and happenings  for 2013 and then a tutorial for the Whirlygig block above in the upper left corner! 

Come on-- sing along with me :)  Happy New Years!  Ginny

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old lang syne ?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

A Rainbow for a Grey and Rainy Day!

Hi everyone, how are things going for you? It is cold and grey and rainy here, with the "S" word in the forecast. I guess a little "snow" in December is to be expected! 

I wanted to share my latest swap project with you and it just seemed appropriate given the cold and grey day! Isn't it sweet! I am just lovin' it and I hope my partner does too! This was part of the Modern Scrappy Bits swap over on Flickr. The idea was to swap scraps and add a bit to your collection. You were to send something small along with the scraps. 

Here is a pic of the scraps I sent along, its a bit dark but I think it was like 5am in the morning when I took it and my dining room light is not the brightest! Funny how scraps evoke such good memories---well mostly good lol! of the projects you work on :)  Alot like listening to music and how a certain song can take you right to a certain moment in time. 

So I decided to use some of these scraps to make a little mug rug and came across this fun tutorial over at Sewfantastic. The instructions and pics are very clear and you end up with a little bit of happiness! The biggest caution is not to pull on your fabric strips or "iron" with steam too much vs. just pressing the seams. Doing either of these will stretch your fabric strips and you will end up with wonky looking seams/lines or they will not line up perfectly....uhm not that that would ever happen to me! Yes, it did a bit with this little rug but it's still sweet!

This is the back of it and I used a scrap piece from one of the Victoria and Albert lines. So much like the city and the start of many peoples day.

I just straight stitched this every 1/4in with my walking foot. 

Then I used some left over binding fabric from this quilt here. I like to cut my binding 2 1/4 in and  in this case I machine stitched it on since I was a bit short on time. 

And there you have it, a little bit of sunshine on a grey and rainy day in Indiana. Sit down and have a cuppa and oh yea maybe a couple of double stuffed Oreo's to go with it. 
This ended up being 9 1/2 in  by 11 1/2 in and I used Kona white for the background. 

Have a great week and Happy Stitching!

Ginny