Checking In On My Resolutions....

I know you just can't wait to hear how my resolutions are going. Yeah, right! In order to stay accountable to these, I feel that I should post my progress at least once a month so you will know someone is actually trying to stick to resolutions made.

Remember, I went over board and made 10, lets see how I am doing:
1- Getting healthier (This one is simple because I am not setting hard to reach goals such as loosing 50 pounds, being able to walk 10 miles, becoming a vegetarian or anything else that might cause me to fail). I am drinking between 2 quarts and a gallon of water per day and have replaced sweets with trail mix, nuts, chex mix and lots of fresh fruit and veggies. I am looking for a reasonably prices treadmill and every other day do stretching for Arthritis!
2- Becoming a more positive person and trying to keep negative people at arms length. Hubby just told me last night since I have been off my medications, I am yelling less and seem much happier...so we know it was either one of the meds or a combination of & since I gave in last night and started back on the pain meds, only time will tell!
3- Forming a prayer/support group for others in my area that are out of work. I know I am not the only one experiencing companies that send rejection letters telling us we aren't qualified when the only qualifications are a high school diploma. With my pain issues, I have fallen down on this one, but I still have it in the works!
4-Forming a Yada Yada style of prayer group for women and I hope this becomes huge, but I would like to keep the groups small (10 people at the most) There are a few of us from my church that are having a prayer group meetings away from the church and I would love to incorporate these into neighborhood walks come spring!
5-Spending more time in Gods word! **If time is the most precious thing we have and spending time or wanting to spend time with someone is our highest complement we pay to one another is when we unselfishly spend time with each other...then I need to give God more time!** Everyday I get up, put on my tea pot and while waiting for the water to boil, I read Starting Your Day Right by Joyce Meyer, God's Little Devotional Book for Moms, Psalms 31 daily inspiration, my Bible reading knowing I will read the bible through in a year and I remind myself of why God is good. So far, I am sticking to it!
6- Getting my financial house is order! I am working with several of the companies I owe money to and doing my best to stay away from a Debt Relief company feeling I can do better on my own. However, our only source of heat (fireplace and insert), the insert blower went out and that comes first!
7- Purchase more handmade items this year and find more artists willing to participate in giveaways to share their products with us. Right off the bat, we had 2 wonderful shops step up and donate for January's giveaway and lets remember to visit these shops and say thank you by purchasing something from them and letting them know you came via this blog. Rachelle at Christian Shirts.net and Amy over at ajewelgift at Zibbet. I will be purchasing from both of these ladies soon and when I receive my order, I will post pics!
8- To enlarge my blog followers to 100. Last I checked, I was at 87. I realize some of you only sign up to get extra points in the giveaway...but I still enjoy getting to know each and everyone of you!
9- To yell less and listen more. See #2 above!
10- To rid my house of lots of clutter! This is a work in progress! The kids rooms are all purged and so is most of the junky clutter, now I am working on upcycling/recycling what I have and, I have joined Val over at Yarni Gras and Crafting With Cat Hair on doing a destashing all year! I am starting with doing a scrappy back on a redwork quilt I worked on while I was down this summer! I am also going to be offering up some of my Christian books and fabric scraps as part of my monthly giveaways!
So, we are only into 2010 by 18 days, but I am on the right track! Hope you are too!

Items Needed For Rename Giveaway

I am calling all bloggers, twitterers, Facebookers, crafters, quilters, crocheters, business owners to join me in renaming this blog and possibly sponsoring this blog. Everyone can get involved, we all know someone creative that may have an Etsy shop, do craft shows and be struggling to get their site known. I am giving you all an opportunity to list here and get your product noticed!

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Thanks to my first 2 sponsors, Please visit their sites and let them know you heard about them from this site!
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1. Joe McCaffrey over at Jesus is My Spotter will be putting together a package of their awesome products for the giveaway. They have some really great products and whether you are a race fan or not, if you are a Christian, then you will understand why having one of these products says it all! From car stickers to tee-shirts, I love this site, I love their products and Joe and his team are amazing!
2. Kimberley over at KC Soap Company of Bend has generously offered to give one lucky winner some of her handmade soaps and I have yet to find one I can say I dislike! If you have children, or just want to be reminded of summer, you must purchase her watermelon scented soap! She has plain bar soaps, Celtic design soaps and embossed soaps and she makes them all herself.

Both of these shops have been on my sidebar for a long time now and that is because I truly believe they are making a wonderful difference in this world with their unique gifts and products and when I find a company I can believe in, I will promote them all I can.

So many people I see promoting buy handmade on their sites and then I don't hear of any products they are buying. While many of us are advertising our own products, we still need to be reaching out to these small business owners who are everyday making a difference. Take a chance, buy something and if you like it, sing like a song bird everywhere you can.

You can twitter about it, Facebook about it, send Emails to friends, help these companies that unlike so many large companies are willing to step out and help support our giveaways out here in blog land. When you stop by, even if you don't purchase right away, let them know that I sent you!

Uniquely Hers

A little over a week ago, I was approached by the website, 'You Can Make This,' and asked to do a product review of one their sewing patterns.

I thought about this for all of a New York second and said YES! To me, it was an honor to be chosen to do my second product review with my blog, but my first product review where I get to combine my sewing/quilting skills.

The pattern is a really neat personalized pillow pattern that came in a 16 page pattern book that explains everything down to the last little detail. It comes with both upper and lower case letters (so you don't have to free hand them any longer & they are the bulk of the 16 pages) and you don't have to be an expert to do this. It is so simple and would be a perfect project for a beginner.

The longest part of this is the letters, but I have to admit, I cheat in this area to make it quicker and easier. I use Heat n Bond iron on adhesive. I trace all my letters first on the shiny side of the adhesive (making sure I leave enough space between each letter for the fabric for the next one) iron all the letter to the fabric, then I cut them out. By doing it this way, you have a more stable fabric and cuts so much easier.

The above pillow was made for my beautiful granddaughter Emerald and because you simply cannot walk into a store and find anything at all personalized with her name, she was the one I wanted to make the first pillow for.

I will finish this up with the back and stuffing today and mail it out to her later this week, I know she is going to love it.

For those of you who have boxes and stacks of extra fabric, here is a perfect way to use it up. This entire pillow was made from my scrap stash, even the linen background. What a better way to begin using up your scraps and making something nice for those you love?

The other thing about this is that 'You Can Make This,' has given me two downloadable E-books to share with two lucky readers of my blog. This will be the easiest giveaway ever. All you have to do is be the first and second person to post a comment directly to this post and I will send you out your downloadable copy of this book.

For those of you that still want this pattern and don't win the book, you can head on over to this location to purchase it:

http://www.youcanmakethis.com/info/applique/Personalized-Name-Pillows.htm

Whats In a Name, 2 Free Pillow Patterns

I was contacted the other day by someone at 'You Can Make This.Com,' and asked if I would be willing to make a pillow from a pattern, then talk about it on this blog. For trying out this pattern (a $6.95 value), I get to pass to 2 people the same pattern at no cost. Who Hoo!! Of course I said yes, I am always up to givingaway something on my blog and when it is given to me to try first and then pass it on, I say, 'Bring it on!'

I will be making the pillows this week-end and posting them here when they are finished. I know many of my blog readers are so extremely and wonderfully blessed with talent, you would not be caught dead reading from a pattern. Then, there are those (like myself), who need a pattern or I make a mess.

I haven't decided how to pick the 2 winners, but I am sure I will think of something when the time comes!

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