Hello friends. Christmas has been packed away for another year. It was so heartwarming to have both girls (and their partners) home for the holidays. We had the lovely opportunity to show off our beautiful Northern Ontario winter to Lauren’s friend Anthony. The weather seemed to know that we had a new comer in our midst, and co-operated to give us optimal weather for a day of skating on the pond, sliding down the driveway (which by the way I have not done in some 15 years) and cross country skiing through the back woods.

We received a box of goodies from Anthony’s parents. The goodies came packed in the most adorable nesting boxes. They have snowmen on the lids and I do love my snowmen! I can see them packed with fat quarters in the studio. I’m like that little kid who gets the big toy kitchen for Christmas and has more fun playing with the box. LOL Thank you folks at Hope Cottage.

Its hard to believe another year has gone by. It seems like the years are going by faster and faster. I would like to take this time to say thank you for sharing my quilting journey with me. 2016 was a remarkable year for me. I held the first Northern Ontario Quilting Symposium and had one of my quilts featured in The Quiltmaker Magazine. 2017 is off to a great start. There are many new things on the horizon so stay tuned as things unfold.

I do not like new year resolutions per say, but do like having a word, that I post on my office wall, that I use as a reminder of something I want to work towards. Last year my word was “growth”. 2016 certainly was a year of growth for Quilting by the River. With growth comes more work, more opportunities and basically more everything, but time. So, my word for 2017 is “Organization”. I have my new planner and have started to plot the first few months of 2017.

I will keep you posted throughout the year as to how my organizational skills are developing.

Do you have a word for 2017 that you would like to ascribe to? Let us know what you have planned for the year to come.

That about sums it up for now. Thanks for dropping by, and until next time, stay safe, stay warm and quilt up a snow storm.