Laundry has been piling up in my room for several weeks. I DO laundry! :-), I just don't get it put away. But a message at church on Sunday about the privileges of faith (Thanks, Pastor Trevor), convicted me of my responsibilities! Further, a service call to a TV repairman finally got my butkus in gear, and my room looks like it should! Ironically, the TV "fixed" itself, and the TV guy didn't have to come, but the room is clean! :-P
So the end of clutter, the beginning of a season of better behaviour! LOL
I also completed one of the six "commissioned" quilt tops on order for various people/causes. I'm sorta the "assembly girl" for my quilt club, Mountain Laurel Quilters, when we provide a donation quilt for a community event or charity. Last week, I put together a Civil War Repro fabric top for the local Optimist Club to raffle for their Youth Programs. It will be displayed at our annual quilt show, A Quilt Gathering with the Mountain Laurel Quilters this weekend (Oct. 15th-16th).
Paula Philpot at Paula's Quilting Pantry did the machine quilting and another club member bound it for us.
I've already got the next set of blocks, made of 1930's repros and donated by our club for the local chapter of the American Cancer Society, on the design wall. I'll meditate a few days on the setting and put it together before passing it along to the same able quilter.
So the end of one project and the beginning of another!
It's a good week so far for getting things accomplished. I hope the remainder of the week goes as well. It should!! I have LISTS! Here's a list of my lists:
- Things to do today.
- Things to do this week.
- Things to do this month.
- Things to do by the end of the year.
- The weeks remaining in this year so I can map out what I'll do when.
- Thing to do in 2011!!!
(You are positively REELING from the details, huh!? LOL) There's the usual innocuous stuff like house cleaning (I'm behaving better now, remember!?), but the majority of the lists are about quilts I want to do. Kits and Blocks of the Month to complete. UFO's and WIP's and such to conclude. Deadlines for projects. New projects I want to start.Beginnings and Ends.
God is all about beginnings and ends. He starts out His Word with "In the beginning..." (Genesis 1:1). The Gospel of John tells us "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning" (John 1:1-2). I love how Jesus concludes the Revelation. In Chapter 22, He says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (v. 13).
Over the years I've heard people say, "It doesn't matter how you begin; it's how you end that counts" and I suppose that is true. But the nature of God is to begin well (didn't He say of creation, "That's Good!!"?) AND end well. I wanna be like that. As His nature is perfected in me, I want my beginnings to be equal to my endings, to do all things well to His glory.
It's probably a good beginning to end some things before I begin those new projects that I want to end in 2011. Oh, man. Maybe I should make another list.... Help me, Lord!
Blessings!
24 comments:
Your notes gave me laugh, I have just started a UFO and PIP list on my blog, got to three and decided it was to much work to unearth all the rest as it would mess up my first time in the year tidy craft room.
I saw your comment on Tracy's FB page and that you are following my blog now!
Nice to "meet" you!
I love your quilts. My aunt is a quilter and I have a sweet quilt she made for me by hand for my 10th birthday! It is a treasured item for me...
forget the lists I get up everyday and work on what I feel like
I would get nervous if I thought about how many projects I have going on!
its all about the journey and having fun!
Kathie
Powerful words today, Mary Lou,and thank you! And what is it about our bedrooms that they become the collectors of stuff and we clean them up last? I cannot quilt unless my working space (now located in the laundry room) is neat and tidy, but I can walk through the disaster area in my bedroom, plop down on the chaise and watch Criminal Minds for hours, never heeding the mess! I too occassionally live by the list, but it so drove my life when we lived in Owensboro, that I found that most of my journal entries were composed of a litany of tasks completed for the day. That began to disturb me - that all I could record in my journal was what jobs I had completed. I asked myself repeatedly - was that the sum value of my worth, getting things done? Was that the only thing in my life worth recording - that I had completed several tasks. From then on, out went the list, unless I was afraid I would forget something important. Now my journals are not written in if it's only a list of what I accomplished today. Don't measure yourself by the list. You're better than the list. Love ya.
Must be something in the water!!! I'm having the same feelings. The need to get stuff organized and projects completed!! I have made a haphazard list....but honestly if I put everything on it I would be so discouraged I would croak!! But I'm praying for strength and asking God to keep me on task and so far it is working. Keep on keeping on!!
Maybe as you were watching TV the TV was watching you and decided that it was tired of looking at the mess so thought of a way to motivate you. Maybe instead of such a long list. Pick out a few things you would like to finish starting with the closest to being done stuff. There is a lot of satisfaction to getting one or two UFO's completed :o). Good Luck, I'll be cheering you on from the sidelines.
Crispy
I totally agree with you...we should begin and end well...I know not everyone can, but we should endeavor to do well each day.
You have a lot of things to do...glad you got the room cleaned. I think I need to make a list...so I can feel a bit more organized.
God bless!
Go to Bed! 1:00 am, girl! Do I need to start a "quilters rehab". Big changes in the air with us. Hope to see you soon! by the way, I feel as if I have learned to let go and things are actually getting dusty around here. It is funny, as we get older the things that become important to us! I too, want to begin well and end well. As Pastor Lynn used to say, I want to go with my "boots" on. Keep up the blogs!
Now this is the Mary Lou I know and love!! Glad to see you back. I think after our quilt show I will have to buy you a new notepad!!!
Good beginnings make for better endings. Your bedroom is beautiful and I'll bet you just love to walk in there when it looks like that.
Such a good post. I'm better at beginnings than endings, and need to work on that.
On a side note, I LOVE the color of your bedroom, and the Mystery Night Pinwheel quilt at the bottom of the bed!
That's funny how the "threat" of a visit from a repairman can spur us on to tidy up. And, in our mind we know that this person doesn't know us, we don't know them, and we'll more than likely never seen them again. I try to keep the bedroom fairly free of clutter because it seems I sleep better. Oh there is that clothes basket full of UFOs I have in there. Maybe one of my goals for the day will be to move that basket out of there and see what is in it. Then I may need a nap. Love the quilts you've been working on, and your bedroom looks great!!!
love these quilts! so much work put into all of them. keeping busy is always a good thing. :)
Love your post and your humor.
You are my current blog of the week.
http://ascotintennessee.blogspot.com/
Enjoyed your post so much! I love lists! I really do make daily, weekly, monthly lists. I have lists for chores, and shopping, lists for my husband, lists of things we need to do together, lists of things we need to discuss. Yesterday I began a list of quilting goals for 2011.
I'm a terrible worrier, and lists help me to calm down and focus on the needful things in front of me, and not become overwhelmed. LIsts make me a calmer, kinder and more helpful person. But-- I never allow myself to become a slave to my lists! So, YEA LISTS!
great post. Your BR is lovely!
I'll quote my favorite: Mary Poppins.
"Well begun is Half Done"
:)
Your bedroom is lovely, Mary Lou, and the guild quilts are wonderful. You have heard, I'm sure, that you can count on a busy person to get things done. Lists, be they on paper or in one's head, are the oil that keeps that busy person on track.
Your comments on "beginnings and ends" is thought provoking. End often is a negative thought, but end can mean goal, also. First and Last, Beginning and End... all wrapped up and contained in One Person. All of time, forever, in One. Thank you, Mary Lou.
Blessings!
The quilt is beautiful. I love the blocks on your design wall. Would you like to come and clean my room next? LOL!
Oh, you crack me up! Our bedroom is the LAST room in the house to get any attention because the door can be closed, and let's face it, we don't entertain anyone ELSE in that room. We've been in this house for 15 years, and I just now got around to painting it! Now, DH and I feel like we are staying in a swanky hotel because the walls are painted and I, too, put the clean clothes away. I'm usually better about the rest of the house. Sometimes that seems backwards...I should honor our union and keep our room nice. You know how I keep saying that we were twins separated at birth??? I just painted our bedroom what appears to be the exact shade of yours!! Isn't that WEIRD?
Great post!
In stitches,
Teresa :o)
What a lovely, inviting retreat your bedroom is! Love it, and that quilt on your bed is wonderful. Lots of quilts you have assembled, each more gorgeous than the next!! I too am a list maker....but I made a list on my i-phone, and I found it was frustrating that I could not take a pencil and scratch through it when the task was completed! Guess I am just a 19th century girl, after all.
The quilt on the bed is really pretty. Great Sampler quilts too.
Thanks for sharing a word from the Lord.
I love your bed covers and setting. I am shamed now, lol. I need a new bedroom set, maybe then I would be encouraged to clean it;)
Debbie
I'm a list maker from way back, and I really don't know if they spur me to get more done, or if they just frustrate me cuz I don't get everything marked as done.
I hope a lot of money is raised by that great raffle quilt.
I'm a list maker too, somedays I believe that they will do me in... and yet, I know that without them I would wander aimlessly. Best wishes with your plans, both short and long term. Your bedroom is lovely!
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