Friday, January 22, 2016

I was a little better behaved yesterday regarding things I "want" to do and things I "have" to do.  The workout room is looking much better.  I still have a ways to go, but I am gaining ground.  I have made a dent in several rooms, but today I am focusing on the piano room and living room.  It's like losing weight - you don't see a difference for a while, but then all of a sudden - bam!

Yesterday I made a batch of Amish Friendship Bread Tarts.  If you look at the picture, you will see 3 little girls looking out the window.  These Amish young men were building a lean-to on our tool shed.  The girls were fascinated by both the men and their horse and buggy. I happened to snap this on the fly and it is my favorite picture ever.

I wasn't too sure about this scent at first, but I am finding that I love it more each time I work with it.   Of course, the most fun was making the label.  For some reason I find packaging my favorite part of the whole creative process.

I also made a batch of matching candles.

I had planned to make fudge yesterday but discovered I am out of butter.  I was quite surprised because I buy a LOT of butter.  The dairy farmers should have my picture in their milk houses.  

Soooo, since I couldn't make fudge, that freed up some time for quilting.  For the very first time ever I made an "Eleanor Burns" quality pinwheel - every point perfect! (When Claire and I watch Eleanor Burns, we eat a piece of chocolate every time she says "perfect.") I am a very slow piecer and for many years I forced myself to work faster.  I have a niece who can churn out beautiful quilts in record time.  I discovered that in quilting, as in life, one must be true to oneself.  I need to work slowly and methodically, concentrate on what is right in front of me under the needle.  I had to ask myself why I quilt.  I quilt because I love the process.  I got more satisfaction out of that one perfect block that took me almost an hour than if I had made 6 in the same amount of time and had to rip out stitches - which is what happens when I try to do things faster than my abilities allow.  If you think about it, there are many life lessons to be learned from quilting.  Patience, perseverance, focus, planning, organization.  These are all things that quilting helps me work toward.