Goodbye 2011 and Hello Happy New Year

For you, maybe this saying is a bit trite, but for me, it says it all...Some green tea with local honey and a message I could wear on my forehead..my hope for me for the New Year.

 I decided that in saying goodbye to the old year, I should be saying goodbye to some old blocks. So after our foray out to our annual Mexican food New Year's dinner, I scrounged around for some UFO's.  It was not hard to find these, that is for sure.  All in pieces, several years old, were these Ohio Star blocks.  I hurried   to make them at least into recognizable blocks.  Delighted with myself, I counted them....19...Hello...is this my old year or what???

 So I decided to be creative and whipped up this 20th block..yup..this is me..new and old..

 I put them away and had more plans for myself this old evening.  I then took out some red blocks...when low and behold what do I see, but a red Ohio Star staring at me:)

 Old and new,my favorite way to work is like in Rayna's book.  I always thought I was making strips into "new" fabric...Rayna has coined the phrase, "therapy sewing" and that is the truth. Today I enjoyed this book in a spirt of "self care", sitting in the 60 degree weather on my cool and awesome deck.  Heaven!

Now, this New Year's post would not be complete without a review of the highlight of this past year... my mother's wake.  It was fun and scary and sad and joyous.  Visiting with family and friends and my mother...we had the best time.  And the joy of it all is that my mother "missed the train", in her words, and skipped the funeral.  Today when I visited, she was sitting in her wheelchair with her hair newly done, enjoying her 90 year old life.  The lesson I learned and learn again and again is that I am not God.  My mother learned it too....and I know that the doctor who gave her 48 hours to one week to live has also learned that lesson.  A liberating lesson if I do say so myself.  Happy New Year!