It’s been a hot minute since I updated this blog. I won’t offer any excuses other than…2020. What a crazy year it was and I’m looking forward to a new year, new start, new projects, and a new word for 2021.

Like many of you, I have always chosen a word for the year as a mantra or reminder of something for which I have intention. Last year I chose two words – ‘service’ and ‘believe’. Service led me to join the Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America organization and to increase my blood donations to the American Red Cross (though I wasn’t always successful donating due to low iron counts). Believe became my mantra for most of the year as Covid and general upheaval had me feeling like climbing into bed and never getting out again. I must have repeated ‘Who do we trust? We trust God’, a million billion gazillion times to myself. It worked – I never stayed in bed though I wanted to.

So this year I have chosen just one word and it is ‘people’. Right now it represents seeing people, listening to people, and truly connecting to others. As the year progresses, it may take on other meanings as well.

Have you chosen a word for 2021? Please share in the comments as I’d love to hear about it.

How about quilting projects? Have you chosen several to work on for the upcoming year? I have so many unfinished ones to work on and I’ve made a list of all of them – quilts, cross stitch, crochet, hooked rug – they are all on the list! I know I won’t finish them all but if I can knock a few off this year, I’ll be very happy. My long arm remained super busy during 2020. It was an absolute blessing to have work to do each day that was meaningful. I loved seeing and quilting everyone’s beautiful quilt tops.

I also picked up a new hobby – photography! I’ve always wanted to understand the settings on my camera and not rely on the automatic setting each time. I bought myself a new camera for Christmas and I’ve been reading and learning about things like aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. It’s been so joyous to learn about something and try it out with immediate results…it’s a much different experience from quilting where everything takes longer than expected! LOL!

Here are a few photos I have taken in the last few weeks…the first is a close up of a pineapple crown, the second is the pond near my home, and the third is a practice shot where I slowed the shutter speed to capture the flow of water.

What have you all been up to the last few months? I’d love to see your work, feel free to share!

Sandi