Wednesday, January 15, 2014

New Years Non-Resolutions and Some Conversations with Myself...

My big Christmas cactus is blooming again. It started blooming last year around Easter. Easter was early last week but it wasn't Christmas, so I thought this year it would bloom in March again, but it's January and here it is, blooming like crazy!  Go figure.

I left it on the floor near the patio doors all summer. My aunt Zel says I should maybe have moved it to a darker spot, but I didn't remember that. And I know they grow in the dessert, right? So maybe that bright southern exposure helped.

The smaller one that was in the living room didn't do so well. One little blossom and it's already dried up.

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Here's a good illustration of recycling... my grandchildren decided that knitting needles resembled swords and they picked the prettiest ones, the red ones. 


They were a legacy from my aunt Clara.  The resulting broken needles are helping to hold up my 'grandma' plant, an angel wing begonia that requires propping up when it's too heavy.  So with some yarn ties (also recycled), it makes a statement. 

We call it the grandma plant because it's a chunk of the begonia that was in my grandma's house, we all got a piece of it.  My aunt Clara was the wife of one of this grandma's sons, so it's all in the family.  And since my piece of the grandma plant dried up and died, this subsequent piece was a gift from my cousin Amy and the needles were given to me by my cousin Wendy.  See, all in the family!

I'm trying to finish some projects this year.  Again.  Yes, my header says I tried to do that in 2012 when I started this blog.  Uh huh.  Did the same in 2013.  And now in 2014.

Well, at least I'm consistent.

I did finish some things in 2013.  Really, I did!

  • Made a whole bushel basket of doll clothes.  Sold a lot of them!
  • Finished knitting four baby sweaters.  Gave away two of them, the other two are waiting for babies.
  • Sewed and finished and gave away twin baby quilts.
  • Finally finished the flimsy for my dear daughter and her husband.  In fact, I have to pick that one up from the quilt shop this week.  Not a quilt finish, because it needs binding, but I'm counting that as a victory anyway!
  • Knit the 'mom slippers' for a whole slew of people -- the four grands, daughter, son-in-law and the paying customer.  (Yes, I still have two pairs to go before the entire family who wants them has them, but seven down!)
  • Knit scores of doll sweaters and hats and scarves and slippers.  Sold the bulk of those.
  • Made over some resale store tops for myself... in fact I'm wearing one today.
  • Dyed a jacket I really like but wasn't in love with -- the style and fabric were great but the color not so much.  It was khaki green, and I over dyed it with dark brown.  What a difference!
  • While doing all this, I managed to read more than 47 books.  I read a bunch by some of my favorite authors, and this year added Louise Penny and Kate Atkinson to that list.  (BTW I know it's more than 47 because that is how many are left in my "I read these" pile, which I try to recycle before DH has conniptions about the size of the pile.)
Of course I didn't count up all the UFOs I STARTED this year!  Who would want to do that??  But I think I finished more than I started so I'm considering myself ahead.  

Please, if you're keeping track of what I did and didn't do, do not disillusion me!  :-)

Sew on!