So far this month I've shared a couple projects I worked on last year and a couple I'm puttering on now. In addition to these smaller projects, I'm working on a couple quilts too. If you are a quilter and sew, could you take a moment to leave a comment below to answer this question...DO YOU WORK ON ONE PROJECT AT A TIME OR MULTIPLE ONES?

I ask because sometimes I think I should be focusing on one thing at a time but when working on a bigger project, like this John Deere quilt for instance, I like to do a smaller project. The smaller project in between allows my brain and eyes to focus on different color schemes, see a project from start to finish in a weekend, and in the case of the tissue holders, allows me to bless more people, more often.

Then I think of an author friend, Dave Fessenden's advice while attending a writers' conference a few years ago. I'm obviously a distracted artist, lol, as I am always working on a variety of writing projects at the same time. For goodness sake, while I'm looking up different sewing projects, I'm also writing different blogs and brainstorming new book and speaking engagement ideas. BUT, is all this pin-ball-machine-thinking truly a negative?

It might be, within a few minutes I forgot to share Dave's advice with you. He challenged me to write out the word MULTITASKING or was it a statement with the word multitasking in it? I can't remember which, but either way, you write it on a piece of paper. (BTW, this is a scattered thinkers way of justifying not finishing one project at a time, lol) Then he suggested I write out the same word/phrase, one letter at a time going down the paper. I think, my memory is failing me.

If Dave reads this, maybe he will comment and share this since my brain is struggling to remember. Either way, this is the point. When you simply write it out, it goes quick. If you write it one letter at a time, up and down the page, it takes a lot longer. The lesson to learn, focus on one thing, right? OR, is it okay to when sewing and quilting, to have a couple projects going on at a time?

One of the first things I realized last year when I started to sew again and added quilting to one of my sewing projects is this...there are a lot of useful scraps. Yes, there is also a lot of "waste" but rather than focus on this, let's think about ways to use the "left overs". My friend, author and seamstress, Terri Groh, makes good use of her scraps so I searched for  Pinterest  for various ways I could do the same, and bless others in the process. 

In life, there are people and things we could view as waste but in truth, they are the left overs and scraps remaining. Think about it, after a conflict or poor choice, there are bits and pieces that can either be savored or forgotten. Our scraps of previous sewing projects are just the same. We need to sift through the pile and keep the positives and let go of the hurts.  The best part of this process is we can remember what we've experienced, or made in the case of fabric while developing into something new and better. 

When we learn from the past and choose to focus on the good pieces, there is something new to be developed or created...in life it might be a friendship, fogriveness, or peace. In sewing, and in this case...it's a travel tissue holder. A special thanks to http://hellocreativefamily.com/ for having their pattern available on Pinterest, this is the one I plan use to transform my scraps into something new and beneficial.

For the month of December I made my dad a placemat with a Christmas tree on it, so he'd have a tree in the house. It was a little reminder for him each morning as he enjoyed his coffee of how much we love him. Something simple yet a gift that could keep on giving.

With the Christmas decorations tucked away now, it's time for a new placemat. I thought about what to make for him this time. My hope was to have something that could last him through the rest of the winter yet be encouraging and uplifting. I looked at blue materials and thought about doing a snowy scene but with Lake Ontario practically in his backyard, he doesn't need anymore snow reminders. 

As I talked with a friend who blessed me with a quilting magazine and gift card for JoAnn Fabrics, I told her both are appreciated and I had a pattern (or 2 or 3, lol) I hoped to create over Christmas vacation. Somehow my writing came into the conversation and it was thanks to a magazine, the written word, and a friend that I realized something.

It's a challenge to write because when I completed a chapter or piece of writing, my mom was first one to read it. She offered honest (sometimes editorial honest, lol) feedback and I went back to the drawing board. The only time she wasn't reading and editing was if the writing was a gift for she and my Dad. As I thought about this epiphany last night and woke up with it still on my heart I realized something, Mom would want me to write. She knew my heart better than myself. 

As Mom made notes one night, she left this. Dad found it after she passed and shared it with me so I snapped a picture to remind me. On one page she told me to keep writing, I tear up thinking about it. A few pages later there is another note and it ends like this, "...few minutes later laughing, thinking to ask Lisa to write me book Christmas, lol" I did laugh when I read this because as I cared for her in those last weeks and days she told me I should finish a book I'd been working on. We both laughed and I told her "In my 'free time' Mom", and we laughed even more. I didn't write her a book for Christmas last year and with only a week until this Christmas, there won't be a book this year either.

BUT thanks to God, friends, and a note she left behind...I'm ready to create. I'll use the gifts God's given me to share hope, inspiration, and joy with those I meet and even some of you that I'll only know via the Internet and written word. As I work out at the gym or putter in the sewing room I've realized something, both these things relieve stress AND give me ideas of things to write. I might not be writing as much as I used to or working towards a publication goal BUT my heart and desire to create and share with others has been restored.

Call it a Christmas miracle, a gift from God and my Mom from Heaven, or me finally picking my selfish head out of the sand...it's time to create and share with others. You might not have a new book to read in 2017 written by me but one thing I promise you...you can find me here blogging and sharing snip-its of stories and pictures of projects completed. There are so many ways for us to utilize our gifts to encourage, uplift, and inspire others. Mom can see and read from above, who knows, she might be enjoying me taking a break and not pushing so hard to meet self-set-deadlines.