Happy New Year!

During the last few weeks of 2018

I did plenty of thinking about how

I want to spend my 2019 studio time.

So here are the top ten things

I've been thinking about:

One

My guiding word for 2019 will be WONDER.

I want to include all aspects of the word

including curiosity, contemplation, gratitude, 

surprise, awe, admiration, etc.

Two

I want to plan less and piece more.

Three

I gave up Facebook a year or so ago

and aside from not being able to

access info for some businesses

who only have FB pages,

I do not miss it at all.

I am active on Instagram with a 

private (not public) feed but

in the past week I've significantly reduced

the number of people I follow

and cut the number of people who 

had been granted permission to follow me.

It's nothing personal.

It's because I want to spend 

less time scrolling/reacting and

more time stitching.

Four

I've chosen one full-size project 

that I'll piece on a month-to-month basis

for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2019.

I'll share that on Saturday Jan. 5 or 12.

Five

I plan to continue playing along 

with the Ad Hoc Improv Quilters,

subject to the challenges and

whether or not they inspire me.

Six

I'm excited about participating in Sujata's 

Unconventional and Unexpected quilt along.

I've spent some time revisiting

Roderick Kiracofe's book

and have chosen several quilts

that suit fabric pulls I want to work with.

Sujata's first post for the QAL

is due on January 7th --

we'll see how she wants us to proceed.

Seven

I also plan to participate in Lori's

Humble Quilts String QAL

using several fabric pulls that

have been waiting to be played with.

These projects will also be inspired by quilts

in the Unconventional and Unexpected book,

just because there are so many I like.

(I'll also share my string projects on 

Brenda's String Thing Along blog)

Eight

I want to make time to enjoy 

quilting and finishing what I've created.

(I'm sure Max will appreciate the play time)

Nine

I want to focus on using what I have

rather than buying more to feed the stash

because of a sale or an irrational fear

that any given fabric will no longer be available.

Ten

And I especially want to honor 

what makes me the happiest --

playing with scraps and strings 

AND chasing squirrels.

Time will tell how things will actually unfold.

Quiltdivajulie

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"Look up at the stars and not down at your feet.  
Try to make sense of what you see, 
and wonder about what makes the universe exist.  
Be curious."  
(Stephen Hawking)