First Finish Of The Year

I finished Home Of A Needleworker the other day and since I knew that I was going to finish it as a wall hanging I had to make a trip to Joanne Fabrics in the hope of finding something that I thought would work. I don't know about you, but sometimes I got to look for fabric for a certain project, and I have something in my mind, but I can never seem to find what I see in my mind's eye. I end up roaming around the store, endlessly looking for something that apparently does not exist. For this one, though, I really didn't have any idea what kind of fabric that I wanted. The color green kept leaping to mind, but I was not really sure about it. So, I took the finished stitched piece with me so I could hold it up against any fabric that I thought might catch my eye. I was in the store all of five minutes when I came across this brown and blue fabric and I just could not believe my eyes! It was perfect!!

Two hours were spent sitting at my sewing machine this morning, with this as the final result:

I am not a sewer by nature. I took a quilting class about six years ago, where I learned the basics, but I'm not the best finisher in the world, but I honestly think that this is one of the best finishes that I've ever done and I'm quite excited about it. My plan was to hang it in the living room, but it came out a little bigger that I thought it would, so I'm not sure if it will work in the space that I have in mind for it.

I took the HAED pandas out last night and gave those little guys a little of my attention. Now that it is the new year, I am hoping to make so good progress on this project. I have a couple of other small projects kitted up and ready to go also, so I'm sure that they will be making an appearance soon, too.

Now that the month of January is here, I must face a sad fact: in all of three weeks I will turn the big 4-0! The thought is so depressing! But, I convinced MJ that a big party would make my getting older a little more bearable. I am so excited because, barring any bad weather, my uncle and his wife, and my cousin and his family are going to come down here for it! It's always nice to be surprised and know that family will be able to make it here.

This is going to be a good stitching year. I can feel in my almost 40 year old bones!