…so much to do! I just realized that nine days have passed since I last posted. Time doesn’t stand still and every December I feel the past 12 months sped by… this year I am more aware of this fact than ever.

What have I been up to? Those who think I was busy baking Christmas cookies are way off in their assumptions. Without family close by, neighbors spending the winter in warmer climates and friends busy with family we are once again spending our time quietly at home This does not require much cooking, basting a turkey or devouring cookies.

The last week I did take a little time to make some healthy no-bake (but ever popular) cookies to share at a couple informal get-togthers. The rest of my time is spent…

…making kits…

…and more kits!

My Mola workshop is quickly becoming the most popular class of 2016. for years there were few requests, but know how these things go. As soon as you decide to take some workshops off the workshop line up, they become the most requested. I am happy about that – but the Mola kits are the most time consuming kits I assemble. Days and days are spent cutting the fabrics, assembling the kit with its many different layers and colors, winding different colored threads onto cards. On average kits of a workshop of 20 take me at least two full days.

While winding the threads and counting how many times to wind it to provide the correct amount required for each layer the mind wanders (and wonders…). I used to bake 17 different kinds of cookies each Christmas, often starting in mid-November (Lebkuchen need to mellow!). I remember how repetitive baking cookies became. By the third batch, it became tiring to stand on my feet while shaping, cutting, glazing and decorating each cookie.

I compared creating kits for workshops to baking and lo and behold, they rank about the same when it comes to repetition and “excitement”. The only positive thing is – creating kits will not add sugar and fat based calories to my holiday diet. 😉

The other important thing that I tackled was to update the Mola full color handout. I made a few small adjustments to provide even more visual clues to the handout as someone follows along. I found that last August with 25 participants and everyone working at individual levels and speed my instructions weren’t quite as clear as they could be there were no complaints, but I became a little frustrated myself). This has now been taken care of. The new original will be dropped off at the copy shop next week. I will need these handouts for my first Mola workshop of the year at World Quilt Florida in Orlando on January 8th.

I best get back to winding a few more thread cards… seven to go before I call it a day. Hope your weekend was relaxing. I had an opportunity to reconnect with a couple of fiber arts friends in person, via phone and Skype. Only 5 days till Christmas…

 

 

20 Dec This entry was published on December 20, 2015 at 5:40 pm. It’s filed under Art, Creativity Update, Design, In the News, Journaling, Motivational, Networking, Quilt Show, Sharing Resources, staying in touch, Workshop Opportunity and tagged baking cookies and making kits, creating kits for fiber arts workshop, five days to Christmas, Mola workshops, World Quilt Florida 2016. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.