Kicking Off 2026 and NTT!

Welcome to 2026, my friends!  If you missed my last post way back in November, I decided to take a blogging break for the rest of 2025.  I usually take a break during the month of December and adding most of November to the break wasn't my intention, but things just came at me fast in those last six weeks of the year.  In addition to Thanksgiving and Christmas, my husband and I also celebrated our 27th anniversary, his birthday, and hosted a huge Christmas party.  

And if that wasn't enough, I ended up doing the final draft reviews of my Twelve Days of Christmas book, which is a line-by-line check of every word, number, punctuation mark, photo, illustration-  ALL of it...twice (once to mark any edits/changes, and then a second time to ensure all of those changes were made).  It's a huge job, but my publisher will be sending the book off to the printer in a couple of weeks for a release late this spring (yay!) so it had to get done. 

Oh, and amidst all of that, I had jury duty, AND then was down with Covid for an entire week.  Miraculously, I got Covid during the only week I could without missing any events or travel, so thank goodness for small mercies.  All of that said, it was still a fantastic holiday season.

I'm so happy to be back though!  I went to my local quilt shop today and purchased this lovely bundle of fabric for a fun new design-

If you recall, for most of 2024, I sewed quilts entirely from fabric I already had, and as a result, I completely emptied out my fabric stash.  Then, at the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025, I made my first two quilts with purchased fabric in almost a year (two Twelve Days of Christmas quilts).  After that, in spring of 2025, I worked to sew up all of my scraps, which I have (mostly) done.  I also traveled for five weeks straight, and then came home and wrote a whole book. lol!  All of that is to say that the first half of 2025 was super busy for me...and then we got a puppy and all of that productivity came to a screeching halt.

Tucker completely consumed the last half of 2025 for us, and I wasn't able to sew anything at all, and because I had literally NO fabric or scraps on hand, even sewing something small seemed difficult.  He's 8 months old now (and about 60 pounds), and though he still requires a lot of attention, I am ready to start sewing again.  I'm sure it will be at a slower pace with lots of playtime breaks, but I'm looking forward to creating something more than a design on a computer (and getting to shop for new fabric!).

Okay, y'all!  I hope you've had a wonderful holiday season as well, and I hope your own reflections on 2025 make you smile.  It's time to get our party going!  I know you have lots to show off.  And since our last party was so long ago, we're just going to jump right into our very first NTT of 2026.

1. You can link finished projects or WIP's , but just keep it about quilting and sewing!

2. Link to your specific post (not to your home page!) to make it easier for others.

3. Please remember to spread the word and post my button or a text link within your 

    post.  

4. Spread the comment love far and wide!

5. Following me is not a requirement to link, but is so very appreciated!

*If you're new to the party, here's a helpful tip for linking up- select "Auto Crop"  when selecting your thumbnail photo.  For some reason, trying to crop your own image results in the dreaded "white question mark box," and we definitely want to see your awesome work!  :)