Welcoming the New Year … with wool

A very happy last day of 2019 to all. I hope that you have been enjoying a wonderful and blessed holiday season. I had very grand intentions of a Christmas-themed post featuring a quilt I completed a few years ago. The time got the better of me, so this will be just a short post to highlight a recently completed project for January and to provide a sneak preview of the beginnings of a 2020 project.
This past summer, my local quilt shop began the Buttermilk Basin "Welcome Home" wall hanging as a block-of-the-month project. It had been a while since I had taken on a weekly or monthly series, so I decided to give this one a go. I try to be pretty selective with any series such as this one that I pursue. While I do have more than my fair share of UFOs sitting in my sewing room, I don't like to acquire blocks associated with a series only to have them sit in an unfinished pile.

As you can see from these two pictures, the project features a quilted banner and then each month's circle fits into the "O" in HOME. The photo at the start of this post features the January circle. I was delighted to see the snowman and cardinal included in this design. I'm one who waits until after Christmas to put up some of my snowman decorations. I always feel like I need something to fill the void after the Christmas decorations come down. In case you are interested, here is a link to my snowman quilt post from a few years ago. I've also included a close up of the "H" in the banner so that you can see some of the embroidered embellishment down the left edge of the letters.

Here's a quick sneak peek at what is likely to be in store for my 2020 stitching. I wrote previously about stitching wool projects on my flights to and from France in October. In honor of that trip to France, my daughter bought me this Joyeux Noel block from Buttermilk Basin. This is the first block in the series, and I'm not sure yet how many to anticipate. I guess we will find out. At any rate, I wanted to get the fusing done before my daughter goes back to college so that she could get a better look.

I hope that you will all have a wonderful 2020. I've told my husband that I want us to make a list of 20 things to do together in the new year. Two that are already on our list are 1) a hike to go see wildflowers when they are in bloom and 2) going snowshoeing. My goal is to get our list made by the end of the day January 1 so that we can be intentional about making plans.
On the topic of making plans, I do enjoy the opportunity each December 31/January 1 to reflect on the past year and to contemplate the coming  year. A few days ago, I was sorting through some past sermon notes dated December 30, 2007. These included a reminder of the choices that do lie before us. While many of us will likely encounter at least some circumstances that are beyond our control, more often than not, the choices that we can control largely influence our circumstances. As I close with these words spoken by Moses as the children of Israel were about to enter the Promised Land, consider how you will respond to the choices that you encounter in the coming year. Happy New Year!

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them. Deuteronomy 30:19-20.