Happy New Year! Welcome to 2023. I hope your year is off to a good start. We have celebrated the new year with a wonderful church service this morning and a glorified Sunday afternoon nap! I love a good Sunday afternoon nap!

This new year finds me more thankful than ever to be alive and having health to do the things I want to do. It is a new chance to do things that are fulfilling and give life meaning. It is a chance to start over. The past few years haven’t been much fun for most of us. But here we are at the beginning of a brand new year once again. This year holds all kinds of positive possibilities that bring us hope that things are going to get better.

A new year. A new start. A “do over” so to speak. I’m all for that!

This is the year I hope to start a king sized quilt for my bed. I have PLANS y’all! This quilt is going to be made from the Nantucket Summer fabrics by Camille Roskelly. I love the blues in that line of fabric (see the picture below). I have done a good bit of dreaming about this quilt but have yet to get going on it. I have most of the fabric that is needed but it is patiently waiting for me to get started.

As far as a pattern for this quilt, I am thinking of using the Swoon pattern. I love how other people’s quilts turn out in this fabric. I am afraid it will mean a lot piecing (meaning it will be slow going) and I guess that’s why I haven’t picked it up to get started yet.

I have started another quilt though! I actually have a few other works in progress, all in various stages. Mostly, I am working on some lap sized quilts for the couch. I want to have something new for after all the Christmas decorations are taken down. I am hoping to work on a house refresh tomorrow.

This is my current project. This pattern is named “Sweetcake” in the “Oh Happy Day!” book by Corey Yoder of @Corianderquilts. The Fabric is called “Happy Days” by Sherri and Chelsi from @aquiltinglife.

(above: Sweetcake piecing all cut up and ready to sew!)

Last year, after a serious house disaster, I had to leave the Christmas tree up most of the year (there was no place to put it if I did take it down). My tree was decorated for Valentines day and Easter before I could find a way to take it down. It was a joy to have the lights up for such a long time. Last year’s Christmas tree took on new life the longer it stayed up and it was fun to re-decorate it for each season. We will see how long it takes to get the Christmas tree down this year; I am in no hurry again!

That tree getting extra chances last year reminds me of how God offers us renewal in each season of our lives. He carefully rearranges and redecorates our lives with things that matter most; family, friends, “Framily”, endurance in trials, comfort when our hearts are broken and on and on. And about the time we think it’s over, He gives new babies to remind us that life is still worth living and should be cherished.

I am thankful that the Lord gives us second and third chances. We can have a new start by coming into relationship with Him. He offers forgiveness of past mistakes and wipes the slate clean and keeps giving us chances to start new. Scripture says that He will ultimately make all things new when we get to heaven and I am looking forward to that!

2 Corinthians 5:17 says He also, right now, offers to make us into new creatures. He wants to give us that coveted fresh start. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” The old passes away. What a promise!

Psalm 103:12 says that “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” We are created anew when we come to Him with an humble faith asking to be made new. That internal renewal is offered and accomplished at the point we choose Him and, thankfully, every day after that forever. If you don’t know who Jesus is, you can read about Him in the book of John in the Holy Bible. That’s a good place to start in getting to know who He is.

We all have a chance to do things differently now that it’s a new year. I hope that you will choose to do it with Jesus in your heart this year.

2023 used to sound like it would be so far off in the distance! But this is where we are today! May the Lord bless you this year as you choose to start anew. And, I hope you are starting the year with fresh desire to create beautiful new things! I plan to do that with quilts!