Resolved

When the ancient Romans named the first month of year, they knew what they were doing. January is, of course, named for Janus, the so-called deity of gates, doors and beginnings. Janus apparently had two faces, one looking forward and the other looking backward. This suggests that New Year’s celebrations—and the ubiquitous New Year’s Resolutions–are, frankly, pagan. Meh.

At GenQ, we prefer to think of this time of year as a large, fresh, virginal expanse of fabric, just waiting for a gleaming rotary cutter and needle to craft it into something wonderful. (No, we haven’t been hitting the nog. Much.)

We wanted to share a few of our personal New Year’s thoughts—both stitchy and otherwise—with you, dear Q-Bies.

Megan Dougherty—“Every year, I make one resolution, and it’s always the same: lose 50 pounds. Clearly, something isn’t working for me there. I’m not sure it’s good for my self-esteem to consistently fail at my one goal year after year, so perhaps I would do better to resolve some things I can actually accomplish. Therefore, I have made my list of Easily Obtainable Goals for 2012:

1.I resolve to buy several dozen plastic containers of various shapes and sizes, all of which will seem, at the time of purchase, to be the final answer to all my sewing room organizational prayers. These containers will then all become a part of the clutter they were meant to contain.

2.I resolve to save all my leftover bits of thread and scraps of fabric that are too small to actually sew by completely missing the trash can or other receptacle I have obtained for the purpose (see resolution #1) and letting them accumulate on the floor.

3.I resolve to make lots of baby quilts for people who would clearly rather have received a gift card to Mass Produced Baby Stuff-R-Us.

4.I resolve to sew the ends of my quilt bindings together in such a way that the result is twisted several times like a birthday party streamer.

5.And, finally, I resolve to come up with ever more creative and vile curses every time I make a mistake, which is pretty much all the time, and to do so without regard to what small people might be hanging about.

That last one is in the bag.”

Melissa Thompson Maher—“For me, January is a hopeful month, and I really get into that whole spirit of  a clean year, stretching out with opportunity and promise. (I am so suggestible.) But I also learned years ago not to make too many New Year’s resolutions, and if I did make them, not to blab about them because they have a way of biting you in the butt.

“Instead, I think of things I’d like to do, goals I’d like to achieve, skills I’d like to improve or learn. I know, I know…it’s a matter of semantics, but here’s the difference for me: If I don’t get around to accomplishing something before, say March or November, it still counts in the grand New Year’s Scheme.

“So, I won’t resolve to never sew over another pin (because that will probably happen) or to finish every project (because that probably won’t happen). My stitchy plans for 2012 are these:

“1) To organize and maintain my sewing room/office enough so I will actually
want to be in there.  It’s a mess. With three dogs traipsing under the sewing table on their hairy way to the dog door, dirt is a problem. Plus, sew-time is at such a premium that when I am able to sew, the last thing I want to do is put away the detritus of what I last worked on. You see the problem.

“2) To improve my free-motion quilting skills. I’m terrible at this, and it’s holding me back. I have seriously got to achieve some level of competence so I can enjoy completing all those quilts in my head. For crying out loud, I can’t even meander!”

Jake Finch—“Here are my Top Six 2012 Resolutions (GenQ-Related):

6. Get articles done on time so I no longer torture these wonderful people who help me post.

5. Improve my photography to better show our GenQ awesomeness.

4. Design and sew more quilts and projects for us all to enjoy.

3. Enlist, seduce, entice and/or bribe as many of our wonderfully talented designing friends to come and share their mojo with us.

2. Get us into print!!

And my top resolution for 2012…

1. Get prizes and giveaways mailed out in a reasonable amount of time. Post office allergies are no longer an acceptable excuse for tardy packages!!!!”

Scott Hansen—“I really don’t do resolutions. But maybe I should. I do have many goals for 2012, some are necessary, others are daunting, and many are both.

So, general life-wise, I resolve…

…to be tidier and more organized. (The committee in my head is ROFL’ing at
that one.)

…not to use any more TLAs than socially acceptable (TLA=Three Letter Anagrams
that the world has invented for EVERYTHING. LOL! Oops)

…to be kinder and more understanding of people who come at things from a totally different perspective than I do.

…to spend my computer time more wisely. (Working and networking online can so
easily bring with it distractions that lead to lots of lost time!)

…to cut my lecturing-at-the-kids time in half. (I do have three teenagers, after all. What’s a Dad supposed to do?)

…to approach problems that arise in life as ‘Challenges to Success’ rather than ‘Dark Rain Clouds of Doom.’ (This would be called Overcoming Lake Wobegon-ism.)

Quilty-wise, I resolve…

…to help get Generation Q to print as soon as possible, and have the fun of working with so many creative peeps even more.

…to get my book project finished this year! (Working multiple jobs has not been easy on that project.)

… to get both quilts I made for my nieces’ graduations (the girls are in their 20’s) finished and delivered.

…to get at least eight patterns published and in the marketplace.

Oh, and I want to be tidier and more organized. Here’s some background on that.”

Well, Q-Bies, whether you consider New Year’s a time for reflection and planning, or just a time to eat the rest of the stale Christmas cookies while you Google for palatable low-cal chicken recipes, we offer you our thanks for a great 2011 and our best wishes for an even more rewarding 2012. Love ya! Mean it!