Fresh start in 2016

Hi everyone,

and first – wishing you a happy, healthy, creative and joyful New year! 
I hope that 2015 was a great year for you and that 2016 will be even better. In my case, 2015 was a truly wonderful year full of deep family happiness, lots of joyful moments that are now lifetime memories. I am truly and deeply humbled and grateful for everything I have and all the family love I enjoy every day. I wish you the same.

There is one part of my life that I can vastly improve – my creative life.

Sewing, quilting, teaching, designing patterns and sharing it with all who are interested through this (currently neglected) blog. Of course one question is obvious – WHY? Why do I think that? Why do I want to do more? At the end, it is mostly just a hobby and pastime, so as much as you get to do is as much as you should do, right? And that would be completely true if I  didn’t constantly feel the need to do more – need to create, need to make, need to share. Constantly.

So, what is one to do? Any good suggestion my friends? 🙂
Well, I do know one thing I should NOT do – whine about it. Right?

So I decided to start fresh, clean up my sewing room, get few tools to get organized better and just – DO IT!
I have truly the best ally and supporter in my wonderful daughter and she used her time here during the holidays to help me do just that. We went to Lowes, got supplies and added more shelves to my fabric storage – she cut with circular saw, she drilled, she measured…I helped and – VOILA!!

I almost doubled the shelf space and organized better and yes – even got rid of some fabric! But let’s not be kidding ourselves – I still have A LOT! Ha ha!

And my design wall is now a blank slate, waiting for something new… 
By the way, this design wall is made out of two Tyvek home insulation boards (4’x8′) that you can get in any Home Depot or Lowes, wrapped in white felt (about 60″ wide, from Joanns), then reinforced with a frame made out of 1″x2″ slats (on the back of it), and hung on the closet door sliding kit (again, in any Lowes or…) – really easy to make!
We also re-organized my ruler storage and hung this great peg-board – I simply LOVE it!!
And see that great work table? That is all my daughter’s handyman skills!! She turned my old cutting table (one from Joann’s, with two leaves that fold) and two cube shelving units (ones from Target) into this great work table!! Still using cubes for storage and also some free space in between them – just perfect for few bolts, batting etc.
Nothing like a good cleaning and reorganization to make a fresh start and get you going!
I decided that my humble goal will be to finish one UFO and one new project every moth. Do you think I can do it?? Well, it’s here, it’s written, so hold me up to it, please?? 🙂
OK, so starting with something NEW. Just look at this stack of beauties!!
This is yet another amazing new collection from my talented friend Katarina Roccella, called Avantgarde , for Art gallery Fabric. You can see it in more detail HERE
As soon as I saw it, ideas started flowing and one of them Katarina liked a lot, so here I am again, with huge privilege to play with these gorgeous colors and designs and help her celebrate her new collection! Lucky me!
So if you like it as much as I do, hop on to follow all the creative ideas during the AvanGarde Blog Tour – you will find all the links HERE! And yes – you can win some of this great fabric too.
In the meantime, I am cutting and sewing…
Flipping corners and pressing…
…and will let you see the whole thing in just few days!! Hope you come back and let me know if you like it!!
OK, with all this “fresh start” talk, I completely forgot to show you something very, very important and – CUTE! 
MEET CHARLEY!!
Charley is a new member of our family, Marley’s new brother!!
He is about 8 months old bundle of love and huge cuddle-bug. We adopted Charley from a wonderful local rescue organization, called Educate-a-Bull and we can’t be more in love!!
Marley too! Him and Charley hit it right off as if they lived together forever (and that was the biggest factor in how we choose him), and big brother is showing him the ropes now.
They eat together just like you see them here – what more can you ask for? 🙂
Did I mention Charley is a big cuddle-bug? 
Specially if I am sewing on biding…
…or in any other moment too! His poses while sleeping are just hilarious!
So, this southern boy (he came to the rescue from roadside of North Carolina) is learning how to love snow now that winter finally arrived in Buffalo
He is not entirely sure what is so cool about snow, but if big brother says it’s cool, then it is!
See what I mean? He makes me laugh and giggle every day! 

Puppy love is all around in our house again and that makes us all smile.

Leaving you now and off to my sewing room to finish that project – can’t wait to show you!!

Have a wonderful week ahead,

Marija

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  2. Pam Hansen
    Pam Hansen says:

    What a beautiful post! This is a lovely story of how special our dogs are and the joy they bring. I know all to well the not so fun parts but you have shown the best. Charley is a fortunate boy.
    I should also mention how much I enjoyed reading through your process of making your quilt from Recollection. The quilt is beautiful.

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