and --- that's a wrap

Well.

That's that.

Another year down.

Can't say I'm sad to see 2018 end,

though.

~

It's been gloomy and rainy for days,

so it's sort of hard to even think straight.

I have made no plans for the new year.

No 'word', or 'intention', either.

I can tell you though,

I'd really like to do more than just survive.

I've already had plenty of years of that.

~

 Looking back over December:

I sold the Razorback Quilt,

I'm so tickled with where it went, who bought it, and how the purchase came about.
And I am continually humbled that it isn't the wealthy
who partner with me, but ordinary people - with hearts bigger than their wallets 💝

made excellent progress on my current commissioned project

and

finished the circle centered granny square blanket

that I started in September of '17.

I'm pretty proud of myself - learning something new,

and having it turn out so beautifully.

But then I remember that I am 50

(Fifty!?!)

and I feel a bit silly about being proud 

that I learned a little bit of crochet.

~

House-wise:

We finally hung a mirror in the upstairs bathroom

(which sounds way easier than it was...)

but the island/bar received most of the attention.

It was a multi-phase project, and still not complete,

but it's completely usable already :-)

Some day, we'll put black walnut on the bar top,

but this pine should serve us well for many years.

One of the benefits of the bar

that came as a complete surprise,

is that it invites people

(my man, guests....)

to sit and visit with me as I work.

That makes me so happy!!

And, of course, 

I love working in the kitchen

while people I love

play games at the table

across the bar.

~

We also spent a bit of time

adding just a few things to the mudroom 

to help it function properly.

We did okay without a bench and coat hooks

spring thru fall,

but they became more important as the temperature dropped.

I know.
Y'all are so envious of both my 'styling'
and my photography skills.
When I tell you the picture of the other coat rack was too bad to post,
you know it's really bad.

We hosted (most of) Tyler's family 

a few days before Christmas

and it thrilled my heart to look in there

and see the coat racks loaded down

and 25+ pairs of shoes in a jumbled heap.

~

Interestingly,

there was exactly the same number of people

at my sister's house the next day,

when she hosted our side of the family.

I"m not going to do an end of the year round up post; 

there's just not enough energy for that.

But in scrolling through my blog and Instagram feed

I am reminded of just how much we accomplished this year,

in spite of what a long, and challenging year it's been.

I would've liked for the end of 2018

 to have felt more celebratory,

as there really was a lot to celebrate.

I mean -

we hadn't even moved into the house a year ago!

And when we did (all) get moved in

in February,

it was another couple of  months

 before we had a kitchen...

Instead,

I just feel worn out and weary.

The loss of my dad has just sort of made everything 

flat.

Don't misunderstand - I *do* feel blessed,

I just also feel very flat 

(it's really the only way I can describe it)

I find that, 

after almost 11 years

(can you even believe I've had the blog this long?!!)

I am still

pursuing joy.

the end of November

I haven't checked my e-mail in over a week.

And now I'm scared to.

I get about a hundred e-mails a day;

most of them are junk,

but there are some that I'll need to tend to,

and weeding through it all takes forever.

~

Remember my china cabinet??

The one that I had to drive the trailer

to go get!?!

We finally painted it

and moved it 

to the spot that it's been waiting for its whole life

💛

It's a tiny tad more 'French's' mustard than I'd have preferred,

but I love it anyway.

As soon as I find the china 

that we bought in East Berlin

while it was still a communist country

I'll fill it up!

~

As you can see,

we also put up the Christmas tree

(and plugged in the frasier fir fragrance...)

though we have yet to put any ornaments on it.

~

no - that's not true.

There is the Operation Christmas Child ornament 

that Lexi picked up when we worked our shoebox shift.

~

For several weekends,
Tyler has been working on our stair rail

and we finally got that finished and up this weekend, too.

I love it so much!!

~

I may have gone a bit overboard,

but I've finalized the fabric pull 

for my new commissioned project.

I'm hoping to get my first block made today,

and after that,

I'll aim for a pair of blocks every work day

(double that when the blocks are small and simple)

I estimate it'll take 4-6 months to complete.

~

Along with other leftovers,

Mom and Bill gave us 

both the ham bone

and the turkey carcass

 after Thanksgiving,

so we had a delicious ham and bean soup yesterday

and our (almost) annual day-after-Thanksgiving

 turkey noodle soup.

They were both scrumptious,

but now I am ready to get back to not eating carbs!

~

I only have four more granny circles

to turn into squares and join!

(obviously, this was taken a few days ago...)
I use an empty candle jar to keep a row of circles contained and in order :-)

I discovered there is a thing called continuous join as you go

which is ever so much better than join as you go

which is better

by far

than joining afterward,

so that has sped the process up considerably.

I couldn't find an exact tutorial,

so I sorta cobbled together bits and pieces

from various blogs and videos

and muddled through

until I figured out a good method.

I should probably write it up 

so I can use it if I ever make another one...

circle-centered granny squares. the saga continues

Two weeks ago,

I could no longer quiet 

the circle-centered granny square quilt

that was demanding to be made.

I tried to shush the old girl,

I really did.

But when she kept shouting at me,

making it impossible to ignore her pleas,

I finally sat down with my designing supplies

and drafted a circle centered granny square quilt block.

I figured that should do the trick.

but no.

She also wanted me to break the design down into a cut list.

So I obliged.

Then,

she wanted me to test the darn thing.

So I did.

And she finally shut up.

Except.

Except, she was too big.

She wanted to be smaller.

So two days ago,

I sat down again,

and shrunk her,

until her smallest pieces were cut at 3/4 of an inch!

And then,

I had to test that.

I am happy to report that the 

circle centered granny square quilt

is sufficiently satisfied. for the time being.

The blocks are an appropriate size,

my measurements are all correct,

and I can resume normal life

until I am able to actually make 

the real quilt.

For now,

I will continue to plug away

5 minutes here

and 10 minutes there,

at the crocheted circle-centered granny squares

which started this whole thing in the first place.

linking up with Julie's Sew, Stitch, Snap, Share
and mostly moody AmandaJean