out with the old . . .

Here it is . . . the last day of 2016.  Wow, this past year has simply flown by.  I don't know that I can handle time marching on any more quickly than it did this past year. If time moves more quickly the older one gets, I'm in trouble! I was woefully negligent to my bloggy-blog for the past twelve months--with only 41 posts for the entire year--but I don't for a minute regret the time I spent doing other things . . . like cuddling grandchildren, tinkering in the Nook (which actually was also a tad neglected), hanging out with my best friend/hubby, chilling on the lake, being with family . . . nope, no regrets. All-in-all it was a pretty terrific year!

Ellie and Evey agree that 2016 was pretty good!  :)

Todd and I will be serving our last Sunday at Wears Chapel tomorrow . . . so 2017 will be ushering in big changes right from the start. We plan on taking a brief furlough, visiting other churches in our association, before being re-assigned.  As of right now, we have no idea where we'll be!

I wanted to have closure on my 2016 stash report, so here it is . . .

. . . unchanged from the last one I reported on 11/20.  -grin-

And here's the first report for 2017 . . .

. . . all sparkly new and fresh and clean!  Although, I'll admit right off the bat that Patches & Stitches has it's annual sale on January 2nd, and I plan on being there. I wanted to start a little project, but realized I had very little 'grey' in my stash.  *sigh* At least I know it'll be out almost as soon as it's in!

Good thing wool isn't counted in stash reporting (and I'm not about to start). Todd and I took a little overnight jaunt to Nashville, just the two of us.

We stopped at Quilter's Square in Franklin, Tennessee, on the way home. They were having a nice little sale and I picked up some yummy wool (among other things, none of which was fabric) . . . 

Isn't that pretty?? And a four new little patterns, the bottom two of which are kits . . .

One of which I've started working on . . .

This will be my slow Sunday-into-Monday Stitching, for sure!

I'll be linking up to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts (tomorrow). Happy New Year's blessings to you and yours!

:)

busy, busy, busy . . .

Tsk, tsk . . . the working hours have changed again.  I'm working less hours, but over more days, and it's really thrown me for a loop! I see it in my ability to get in quilting time *and* to my ability to blog and read blogs.  I need to find a routine and get settled in . . . the first week was a doozy, filled with a lot of other activities, too!

The main one was preparing for our first Global Missions Conference, hosted by a local church!

We have just started the process (aka, we just got approval from our board and are now talking to the attorney) to change the name of our ministry from Restoring the Church Ministries to Church Strengthener, so we needed to get new business cards made and highlight a new ministry website. And, since this was our first conference to be a part of as a ministry, we weren't quite sure what to expect, but our display looked pretty good:

It was a terrific learning experience and we got some good exposure. We were a little late in getting into the game (so to speak), but we'll be ready in the fall, when another of our local churches holds a similar conference. One of the highlights of my evening there was being across the way from the Missions to Haiti table. He and his wife had served in Haiti for forty years . . . that is just so incredible and wonderful! He gifted us with some Haitian coffee and some Haitian vanilla!  Sweet!

Yesterday the weather was simply gorgeous - sunny and rather mild - and the Panter crew came up to soak in some sunshine and exhaust some energy!

Pawpaw is always a fun one to follow in follow-the-leader! Unless you've got rocks in your boots.  Olivia took it all in from her carrier. Mostly she just dozed . . . the warm sunshine was good for that, too!

My stash report remains unchanged from last week . . .

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  *sigh*  I'm still plugging away on the pineapple quilt.  I got all the handwork finished up on it, at least for the time being. I hope to get out into the Nook and assemble the borders (which involves piecing and quilting them) so I can attach the corner blocks to them and then attach the borders and hand stitch those seams down. Phew. Then all that will be left will be the binding! Whoohoo! Today, though, in my slow stitching time, I'll be working on a little mini weaving . . .

Isn't that cute?? It was originally a challenge from my StitchMAP group . . . I finished that one and am making several more -- they make great fobs!

Linking up today to Patchwork Times and Kathy's Quilts. Y'all enjoy a happy Sunday!

:)