Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

We had a few busy days with family Sunday through Tuesday, and now it's already the New Year with 365 days of possibilities ahead of us.  Like everyone in the world I hope 2026 brings good things our way.

All 5 grandkids got to spend some extra time at our house.  Jonah (far left) is out of his walking boot from breaking a leg in football this fall.  Olivia broke a wrist sledding about 3 weeks ago, but is able to return to swim team with her innovative brace rather than a cast.  Sophia (center) had a varsity wrestling meet on Monday so she only got to spend 1 night instead of 2 with us.  Jack is the youngest of the crew but quickly catching up in height.  And the oldest grandchild is Mason (far right) who will start his MS basketball schedule as school resumes. 

Today I'll begin putting away the Christmas decorations, beginning with the stockings.  Seems like it always takes me 2-3 days to get it all put away even though I haven't gotten too carried away with decorating this year. 

No sewing has happened at all this week - yet.  But we did put together a puzzle while everyone was here.  Daughter #1 and I started this one with the youngest grandkids as he wanted to work on a puzzle.  10 minutes later he wandered off, leaving just the 2 of us working on it.  Most of the time I buy 1,000 piece puzzles but this one is just 500.  A couple of the grandkids helped finish it on Tuesday before they went home.  The next one is going to be the one they kids gave me for Christmas - 1,000 pieces.  

One forgotten UFO project found on that chair I cleaned off last week is a zippered bag made from a panel.  It had been sandwiched with batting and backing.  As of yesterday, I have it quilted, and a zipper found for it.  Maybe I'll get it assembled over the weekend.   

I think my first NEW project for 2026 will be this kit.  It is mostly paper piecing, and should look great hanging in my office this winter.  I have all of the pieces cut and labeled.  Assembly may begin this morning as I have a little sewing time before we leave for a Jackrabbit basketball doubleheader in Brookings.  

There are some blue scrappy blocks in the works for Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2026, and I'm excited to get a start working on those blue scraps.  The light blue scraps are all on top and ready for some play. 

One important quilt on my 2026 To Do list is the Jackrabbit Stars quilt.  The goal is to finish this one by my husband's birthday in April so I can surprise him with it.  The fabric is gathered and the pattern is tucked in with it.  So - another blue project for January, at least to begin it. 

Blue also means I'll probably do quite a bit of Quilts of Valor sewing this month again.  Shadow Star was a partial set of QOV blocks that I intended to finish last fall.  But it didn't happen, so now they are on my radar again.  All the pieces were already cut, so it shouldn't be a problem to finish them, if I would quit putting them away.  LOL

I hope to finish the name banners I made for both girls families in the next week.  The banners themselves were done but I ended up ordering different hangers and those haven't arrived yet.  Seems like every time I check my order status it's pushed back another day - as is a book I had ordered as part of Dave's Christmas gifts.