what you do on New Years..........

I had to laugh at a comment from my friend Gene yesterday

You know he is right, LOL!  I'm retired but I would love to sleep in but the "boys" usually manage to not let that happen.  Skyler wants to be fed while the husband can take care of himself for breakfast anyway.

As it turned out we had the neighborhood pyrotechnics going on to ring in the New Year---every 4th of July for several days before and after and New Years for several hours before and after.  This year though they managed to keep firing  intermittently till about 2 a.m.  Since I had only gotten about 3 hours of sleep Tuesday night and had been awake for almost 24 hours at that point, I was NOT amused.  Thankfully, I slept about 7 hours straight last night in spite of Skyler's wake up call at 5:30 this morning.

But I stuck to my plan to sew something personal and something pro bono.  I even snuck in a little minor re-organizing and vacuumed most of the house (shudder---housework!).  Last night DJ pointed out that I had not done his floor.  Of course I didn't.   His doesn't get stringed up like mine or the rest of the house unless I drag a large top in to strike some measurements for borders.  I had not done that so I ignored it.  He is still on surgical restrictions or I would have told him to take care of it.  I do not live to clean, he knows that.

On the sewing front this is what how I spent my day doing "what you do on NYD, you do all year"

• Binding finished by machine.  Ongoing goal:  learn or perfect a new technique by practicing on Aline's pro bono quilt I had just quilted Sunday and Monday.

Conclusion?  Looks good on the front.  Looks better on the back than previous attempts.  Needs work as I overcompensated for the pull over factor. The corners don't look as good as they could.  Maybe next time apply it to the back and pull it to the front and try it that way?

• 2nd goal:  piece something pro bono.  I pulled out the 4 patch stacked posie from the fall sew-in and did up 13 blocks.  I think I counted 13 more to go?  I may finish that up today actually but I want these for the centers of another block  (inside a BQ 1 and maybe a Framed like Camille Roskelley)

• 3rd, 4th and 5th goals:  work on a UFO, handwork and a personal project.  Actually I meant embroidery but hand applique works too, LOL.

As background info,  I wanted just one hexagon rosette for my Farmer's Wife Sampler, untouched since Sept 2012.  At the time Brenda had completed her Grandmother's Flower Garden and I asked her what size the hexies were.  I thought that one motif might fit on a 6  inch finished base.  She handed me one of her leftover blocks with the plastic/mylar? pieces that you baste over still in with instructions not to remove them till I had it appliqued down.   Anyway, it stood in for all those goals yesterday.  I placed it on the base at this angle because FWIS is on point.   I am more likely to pull out my FWIS bins and at least remind myself where I left off now.  I KNOW that there is a block in there that needs to be re-done due to an iron stainage and wonky section.  That would not take long to complete.

It was about 9 p.m. when I finished this up and I was wiped out from the two nights of not enough sleep so my plan to knit a bit did not happen.  Whatever---I know I will work on some pro bono hats at some point this year.

Must get started on the guild newsletter at some point today even as I wait for something that needs to be included in it.  So do I be "good" and do that first or go straight to fun sewing???   The great debate rages, LOL.  I also want to do some sort of year end accounting or list of what I want/need to work on in coming months yet.  A reminder can 't hurt!