The new year, in full force

 Things are so busy at work, I can hardly turn around.  I'm logging in early every day and working hard all day and by five, I'm pooped.  I still got those two last inches into the sweater body during TV last week and have set that aside and started an arm.  I'm still working on the cuff, so nothing to report there, but even though it's still part of the same project, the sleeves, which are knitted in the round, feel like a new project to my hands.  

I was able to work on my flower block several mornings and got the tulip finished and got started on the Iris.  I'm going to have to be careful cutting flowers out of fabrics that are too close in tone of the background.  

I am enjoying this project as much as I thought I would when I bought the patterns and am so glad I cut these from 10.5" blocks to 8.5".  Thank goodness for home printers.  Have you been quilting long enough to remember what a pain it was to resize back in the day?  

I made a cutting mistake last week and cut the pink tulip out of a poly fabric.  I didn't know I still had poly in that bin, but both my medium pinks turned out to be poly blends at best.  They've moved to the goodwill box because both pieces are big enough to make something for a kid.  The fabric wouldn't crease along the stitched edge, so I took that one off and cut a new flower out of a light pink, didn't like it and cut another out of the lavender.  I'm surprised that poly got past me.  I can usually smell it when my hot iron hits it, but I missed this.  Those pink tulips would have been beautiful, tho, and I liked them better than the lavender.  Who knows...I may make that block again after a trip to the fabric store.

I got the last of the quilting done on the falling leaves quilt and made the binding and got it attached late yesterday afternoon.  Now, all my hand sewing time will be devoted to getting that sewn to the back so this is ready.  The deadline is the 17th and I've easily hit it.  I didn't have to feel rushed and I didn't have to set everything else aside to devote all my time to hitting a deadline.  I'm glad I started in October.  Plus, there was lots of good falling leaves inspiration going on outside my window from the maple in the front yard.

The only other news is food.  We eat good, but I didn't take any pictures.  I baked bread yesterday and Saturday, I made three light, flaky tart shells and put a chocolate filling in one that reminded me of my Grandmother's chocolate pie.  All it needed was meringue.  

I had a hard project last week.  One of those things I do once every year or two and am unfamiliar with and slog my way through, feeling insecure and stressed.  And, I couldn't get my manager's attention.  They were all busy and no one took time to review any of my work or give feedback.  It was very lonely, but now it's done, I see what a great compliment it was that no one felt like they needed to put everything aside to check my work and make sure it looked right.  This week, the state will let me know if I got it right by either letting it sail through, or sending a bunch of questions.  And, whatever feedback they give will make me feel embarrassed and bad, but after that, I'll take what they say and learn from it so next time I have to do this task, maybe I can do it better.  

Everybody have a great week.  It's going to be a noisy one, lots of stuff going on.  For me and for our country.  I'm going to try to keep focused and maintain a good attitude.  

Lane