I guess it’s time for me to admit that this year is pretty much over for me. There’s really no time for me to get much more stuff done and still retain my sanity!
I completely dropped the ball on the Vintage Christmas Ornaments Quilt-Along, but I did talk to a couple of participants who said they were just as behind, so they didn’t care that it was off track. (One gal actually said she was happy that they had stopped coming out so quickly!)
Still, I feel really guilty about it, and I DO intend to finish it, but there’s no way it can be done, or do anyone else any good, this late in the game for this Christmas.
There comes a point where you have to put your family and friends before something like keeping an online quilt-along going, and I’ve had several things to deal with this fall. I lost a very close friend to cancer, and have had several other friends with serious health problems, including My Cowboy spending the Monday before Thanksgiving in the hospital. And I have another dear friend in hospice as I write this.
It’s not all been bad things . . . My Daddy celebrated his 85th birthday, and our dear friend, Marilyn, moved back to town, so I spent 2 days helping her pack and move and unpack. My daughter visited from California in September, and I adopted two kitties who had been dumped so I could give them a good home (cos I’m too soft-hearted).
My best friend, Victoria Findlay Wolfe, visited from New York, and we went to the International Quilt Study Center and Museum for a day, then we took one day to just have fun. I took a day off to go sew with my friend, Rose Marie, so we could visit, and I’ve gone to one quilt guild Christmas party, with another scheduled for this week. This time of year is always crammed with stuff to do.
And I even (gasp!) took time to go get a REAL haircut. When My Cowboy looked at me over dinner one night, and asked, “Did you cut your own hair?”, I knew it was time to go get it “fixed” — haha!
So now . . . I’ve decided to just roll with it, and take the rest of this year as slowly as I want to. I do have some things to get done, but I’m through trying to kill myself to make it happen. I’ll be chipping away at those things, but not feeling guilty if I’m taking time off to spend time with family and friends. My brother is coming into town this weekend for our family Christmas dinner, and My Cowboy has some upcoming doctor appointments.
I want to go visit the Latchford Christmas lights, bake some sugar cookies, celebrate the life of my dear friend who is now in her final hours, work on some of my house projects, spend Christmas Eve on the couch with My Cowboy watching our two traditional Christmas movies (“Christmas Vacation” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”), eat popcorn and drink egg nog, snuggle my kitties, host The Final Countdown on my other blog, and in January, I’m gonna ride the train out to visit my daughters. It’s been over 2 years since I’ve even seen my oldest daughter — unacceptable!
I’ve also been planning a new quilt-along for next year, so at some point, I hope to come up with something and get that going, and we still need to finish up the Christmas ornaments! I figured by pushing it back and spreading it out further, I will be better able to do it justice rather than rushing through it just to get it done. I know everyone is busy this time of year — not just me.
So please bear with me as I regroup and I will be back soon with more fun stuff, an updated quilt-along schedule, and those other things I had planned for this year that I didn’t get done. And meanwhile, please join me over on my other blog for The Final Countdown on the last three days of 2019. It’s always fun.
Time for me to slow down and stop being so scattered! It’s all part of my grand plan to simplify my life and focus on the things that really matter. I hope you are all focusing on the things that really matter, too.
Have a safe and wonderful Merry Christmas, and God willing, I’ll be here as we launch ourselves into a new decade, so I hope you’ll stick around and join me for some fun stuff, both here and on my other blog.
The Life of Hazel Ilene 