Winter Solstice in March

I think one of the codes I live by is 'do it more, do it better, do it faster'. No one actually taught it to me, I practiced it until it became a rule of perfectionism. I am attempting to relax more in the later years of my life. However, all those decades of having this code control me as an inner voice demanding superhuman efforts is difficult to overcome.

I finished the table topper base for a FB14 project. This friend  who will get the table topper is one of the women I met in an online quilting group. Her favorite holiday is Christmas, and red is one of her colors. Its a bit intimidating to make something for someone who quilts. Usually quilters have standards.

This is a scrappy quilt both front and back. The back is this green holly, with red berries. The binding is an amazing stripe. The shoebox holds petals to the poinsettia flowers that will border the ends. Eight flowers with 7 petals and GOLD buttons for the center. I am excited to find a use for gold buttons!

Each petal needs to be turned. They are pieced with two fabric sides & scrap batting in the center. After turning, the ends will be connected by a gathering thread. It has a way to go. I think three petals are finished. I want to finish all petals and the flowers before posting a photo of the top. 

What brought me joy in this project was being able to use some small scraps, including scraps of batting. The pattern called for reds, greens and golds that were more non-holiday fabric in 3.5" squares. And the reds for the petals were also non-holiday. I used 4" squares and shopped from the holiday bins in my closet.

I am so very surprised how much I have yet to use. In one way, having the challenge to find patterns I want to make, and then finding fabrics to work make it time consuming.

I am going to a retirement party on Saturday night in LA, so plan to stop at Joann's on the way there for the batting, some rotary blade refills and some royal blue embroidery floss. As we talked about people retiring, we agreed that the more successful retirees create goals for themselves. This woman worked in a highly active, high stress job. She is surrounded by family and I wonder if that will be enough.

And still living with my 'perfectionist' code certainly makes enough work and enough goals to keep me busy. Enough is its own code, which sometimes even works.