To make this quilt related and festive, I am posting my "Light Up the Sky" journal quilt from 2003. Slightly embellished. (How do you like it DebR?) And you can see that I have come a long way, baby!!

I am to old and jaded to make New Year’s Resolutions. I usually don’t keep them because life gets in the way. I do, however, have several goals. Here they are in no particular order.

• Sell the house and get relocated in Portland.
• The studio of my dreams in the new house.
• Wonderful moments with M & M, my grandchildren
• Complete the liturgical commission, happily and creatively
• Continue to create a body of work that is truly mine
• Enter more shows
• Find kindred spirits in Portland
• Keep Mr C happy
• Live a spiritually satisfying life
• Stay  healthy

I am not sad to see 2005 go away – breast cancer and other health problems plagued me. I found myself overwhelmed by the responsibilities I had taken on. Heading into 2006, I feel healthy. I have shed the stuff that has kept me from doing what I really want to do.

2005 did bring me so many new friends via the blog. I started this as a way to keep in touch with my daughters and to share our creative endeavors. All three of us have had amazing things happen to us, and we have made so many new friends. I just love the serendipity of blogging and the Internet. Just call me techno gramma!!

So I am looking at 2006 with great anticipation. I hope you do, too. Happy New Year, good friends!

It’s almost the end of the year. I must get one more rant in for my fans who keep dropping hints. I’ve been reading and hearing lists of various  types regarding the past year – the worst, the best, etc. Here is my list of the good and the bad.

THE BAD:

The Republicans – they just can’t stay out of the sleaze, can they. They have all this power to do some good and what do they do – lie, cheat, steal, and generally give the party and the country a bad reputation. As Amy said: It is beginning to sound a lot like Nixon.

The Democrats – for being wimps and wusses. Every since 911 and the power grab by W and his cohorts, they have acted like a bunch of sheep – baa baa. If I knew that there were no WMD’s and the attack on Iraq was not necessary, why didn’t they? I just don’t get it. Come on, get your act together, soon, time is a wasting!

W, Cheney, Scooter, Rove and those in power in DC- what a bunch of evil men. They will use whatever means necessary to carry out their scheme to control the middle east. Now that the plan is failing, I am scared about what they will do next. Torture, eavesdropping, loss of civil rights – what country am I living in? Then, there was Katrina – could you mess up any more than you did when citizens of this country really needed you?

Arnold, the boobingrabber, our governor – for wasting a ton of money on a special election trying to grab power away from the unions. Shame on him.

Hilary Clinton for taking a big right turn. Come on Hilary, you are not fooling us. I don’t care what you say, you are running for president, but you are not the one I want!!

The corporate media of this country for not providing us with the truth and for not doing the investigative journalism that I grew up with. Especially, the TV journalists. They are more interested in Tom and Katy and Brittany and Kevin and Brad and Angelina etc. etc etc.

I’m sure I could come up with a lot more bad for this list, but I don’t want to depress you too much!!

THE GOOD:

John McCain for standing up to Cheney and W and the other republicans against torture as a means of getting information. It doesn’t work. It only elicits bad information. I would not vote for him for president,, but I appreciate the stand he took.

Martha Stewart for going to prison and taking her licks and coming out a better person. You go girl!!

Cindy Sheehan for taking a lone stand last summer in Crawford, Texas and starting a movement against the insane war we are raging in Iraq. A war that was supposed to wipe out terrorism, but has fostered a gigantic breeding ground for terrorism. Thank you, Cindy and the others who joined you.

Out troops who are dying daily, becoming maimed for life, and enduring psychological trauma. They are fulfilling a duty. Even though they are involved in a war that I don’t support, I salute you – the wonderful men and women of our armed services.

The people of Mississippi and Louisiana for enduring the worst national disaster in our lifetime. I could not believe what I was seeing, and I think you are all quite incredible.

The people of this country who gave and gave and gave to help the people of Mississippi and Louisiana. But let us not forget that it is not over for these folks. They are going to need a lot of help for some time.

Well, that is all my brain can muster tonight. I’m sure I will wake up in the middle of the night and think of more.  Feel free to add to my list.

Happy New Year! 

I am checking in with nothing quilty or creative to share. I have become addicted to Sudoku. I have a book of puzzles that I play while I make dinner, and I discovered an online sight here. I have always loved crossword puzzles and jigsaw puzzles. It is in my genes – my mom also shared this addiction. I have heard that playing puzzle games improves your memory and can ward of aging of the brain so I have a good excuse.

Yesterday I made a grand list of things I need to do before the Realtor comes on the  15th. I call it "Operation Clean Sweep". It was very helpful to put in to perspective what I have to accomplish. I am trying to cross at least one thing off each day. Yesterday, I crossed out 3 things: undecorating the tree, putting away the Christmas stuff and purging and cleaning the storage closet under the stairs where all of this stuff is stored. It is also our wine closet and Maggie’s bedroom. We keep her crate in there where she sleeps at night. I suppose the Realtor and stager will want us to move that!! Today, I cleaned and purged the linen closet in the upstairs hall. You would not believe the amount of stuff I had in there!! Blankets we no longer need are going to the homeless shelter. Some crafty stuff is going to Legacy, a used craft store in Sebastopol that earns money for good causes. The rest of the stuff will go to the guild silent auction table. I will have lots of stuff by the time I am done. The silent auction table supports our library. I also have linens and duvet covers that I will never use again and they are going to The Good Will.

I am no longer doing the guild newsletter, but I have one more issue to do for my church. It has been a drudge because of the time of year. No one had time to do their articles until this week. The Associate Rector, Pat, went off to Egypt without doing her articles. She was responsible for four stories. So they are just not gonna be in this issue. Where her letter to the parish would appear, I put "MIA – perhaps lost in King Tut’s Tomb!" I will finish formatting it tomorrow. Yippee yay!

The recent photos on blogs from the eighties with big hair sent me looking for a photo. Here we are. As I told DebR, I never had enough hair to have big hair. My son was the only one with big hair – good thing he doesn’t read my blog – I’d be in trouble. Ya gotta love the prepster look I have going on. Lisa is on the left and Steph is on the right.

Let me first say that I am having post-holiday blahs. Everything seems to require more energy than I have! And I have a lot to do so I need to get my pizazz back. This is about all that I accomplished today. The first pic illustrates using the sewing machine as a pencil and drawing on the right side of the brain.

This is the same still life from yesterday with the shadows in a different orientation. You are not allowed to draw on the fabric – just start stitching and draw the design with needle and thread. It was fun.

The optional exercise was to take yesterday’s contour cut still life and free motion stitch to add more complexity. Here is mine:

It gives much more definition to the design. I used a variegated thread so that I didn’t have to stop and start and let the left brain get back in control again.

I lied about what I accomplished today! I also got in a couple of hours of work on the SDA website. I’m off to bed for a good night’s sleep.

Here is my new still life. Had to create a new one!

Here is the Contour Cutting of a Realistic Design:

We were to cut identical shapes and create an abstract design that is vertical, horizontal, circular, diagonal, radiating, grid, framed/border, symmetrical or asymmetrical. Then we are to ask a friend which one it is to verify that we have actually done that composition. So I am asking you – what composition is this?

I am going to do the stitching stuff tomorrow before my still life goes south again!!