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Thursday, December 30, 2021

Thankful Thursday - December 30th

It is nearly time for the calendars to be turned to a new year!  Wow... What a year it has been.  I have much to be thankful for.  I already did a review of 2021... as well as a look forward to 2022.  


Christmas was a quiet day until 2 p.m. when our girls and the grand-children arrived.  Chaos ensued immediately!  The oldest boy promptly headed downstairs to lay down and close his eyes because of a headache, the two bigger girls had to be stalled distracted about opening gifts because of said headache and the baby was content to play with a coaster or anything else she could manage to grab.  




As Dave says ALL. The. Time... As much as we love to see the kids piling out of the car after they pull into the driveway, we love to see the cars backing out again. 😂


I had taken most of last week "off" and enjoyed not having tasks on the to-do list... other than enjoy the day doing whatever I wanted.  I made some outfits for the paper-doll quilts and some Potato Head felt shapes for the kids to play with on my design wall.



I loved the chance to spend one afternoon in the kitchen tryin out some recipes in my new appliances.  You remember???  The air-fryer and the quick pot?  I have come to the conclusion that they don't really save me time.  Salmon still has to cook in the fryer as long as in the oven... but the reheat feature for pizza is amazing!  And we like the french fries... It is staying and the deep fryer is gone.

The quick pot is the bees knees for making brown rice.  But, again, it is not any faster than cooking rice in the rice cooker or on the stove top.  It is, however, much better rice.  No more al dente rice!  The rice cooker has been kicked to the curb. 

I had purchased a whole chicken and wanted to try out the rotisserie feature of the air-fryer.  I'll not do that again.  LOL!  The chicken was good, but it made a mess that was not really worth it.  Though the rub recipe that I used on the chicken was really tasty, as was the sauce that I served with it.  I will use it again... but on a chicken in the crockpot.



I loved having the opportunity to be in the studio early in the morning.  I was making more of the foundation paper pieced double flying geese blocks to be fillers so that I can bring together an assortment of orphan blocks together.

I need to have a few more pinwheels or smaller flying geese or checkerboard units to finish filling in the blanks, but I love how this is coming together.

One last thing I am thankful for is YOU!  Yep, YOU.. the one reading this right now.  I thank you for your support and belief in me as a quilter, as an author, as a pattern designer... and a friend.

You have helped to enrich my life and my year to be all that it can be... BLESSED!

For the last several years I have had a focus word.  The word that continues to come to me for 2022 is SUCCESS.  More specifically, from 1 Samuel 18:14... In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him.  

I have had an internal argument that it seems prideful... or boastful... I, myself, cannot measure the greatness of success.  Against what do I measure it?  Previous years?  Others?  

In the end, I have accepted the word given to me and know that my success in whatever I endeavor will be ONLY because the Lord will be with me.

Happy New Year!  May 2022 be a year to remember for all of the good things in life!

Melva

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7 comments:

  1. I have the same feelings on some appliances - they are not as fast and do not save you time like the promotions say they do - the fast pot I take it is an instant pot? Baked beans do very well in it and I like it for that and cooking a pork loin in 65 minutes to very tender (but a crockpot does the same just for more time but it is in a crock pot so you are not slaving around in a kitchen either it is cooking while you do other things.

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  2. Looks like a fun time with your family. and you have a crafty one there! love it!
    Is your quick pot an insta pot? I cook whole chickens in it - takes less that an hour and they are so tender!
    Have fun learning new things with them ;-)

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  3. Ooh a round loom. I had one of those as a kid. Lots of good stuff. And I love your quilting blocks. too.

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  4. I gave my air fryer to my son for Christmas. I just don't use it that much. I use my Instant pot more, and find it very useful. I love your post with the kids and your design wall with Mr. Potato head. Cute. Have a blessed 2022; and prayers for this COVID pandemic to end with the therapeutics coming out.

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  5. We really enjoy our air fryer - it makes the best thin steaks. Yes - it also heats up pizza nicely!
    You are in my 2022 idea notebook twice now: 1. for your precious fabric dolls and potato heads and 2. for your next SAL.
    Thank you for your gratitude towards readers. I would like to THANK YOU for sharing your wonderful pattern writing skills. Some of the blocks from Pieces of the Past really looked intimidating, but, thanks to your incredible pattern writing skills, I have been successful! This is a rarity for me, so I appreciate you so much! I may not finish "on time", but both quilts will be finished soon and with joy and gratitude to the One who give you - and subsequently me - success! God bless you and Happy New Year!

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  6. Success is an excellent word to work with, no matter how you choose to define it. If you survived the year, you succeeded!

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