Goodbye to 2008 with a Fabric Journal

In the hurry to get rid of this year, which truly was a bad one for so many people, it helps to remember that many good things happened, too.

I am not going to bore you with a "year in review". That's what that Archives list is on the side bar for! You may choose your own.

Being human, though, we tend to think the most immediate event is how things are over-all.

You can help change that by keeping a journal of some kind. It will amaze you to look through it and be reminded of what really happened.

This is my journal:

The large spiral binding of a sketch book allows for the added thickness of the fabric swatches. The glue stick is kept close at hand along with the purple pen!

Your journal does not have to be fancy and artistic, though it may end up being a place for you to try out a few things. It does not have to contain all your deepest secrets (you already did that when you got the one with the little lock for Christmas...about 20--30--40--50 years ago!).
This book is just for you.
It may help to select a theme for it (which, of course, you may change at will).
My journal is about what I'm doing with fabric (mostly).
Let's take a look at 2008...don't worry, not all the pages!

This book just runs from one year to the next. Look! It's the only photo in this book, to celebrate Patchwork Pie's beginning.

My goodness, it's the end of 2007 and beginning of 2008 right together. In the words of Yogi Berra, it's deja-vu all over again!
There's the bag I made for my sister, and trimmings from my sweatshirt jacket.
I don't draw pictures or show photos of any projects...this journal is just about the fabric.

When one moth ends, the next begins...April made the top of this page, but August starts in the middle several pages over.

I was looking at this and wondering: what happened to March? Then I found the note at the top of the right hand page, "Obviously some of this was done in March but the journal was under a pile of fabric!"
Most of the time I just glue in the fabric bits, and then write around them.

A reminder of the lovely "green bags," followed by samples of the fabrics in the "invisible quilt", which is why you only see half the page...I sketched a little diagram of the block!

All this fabric is really cheerful!
Now I am feeling pretty good about all the things I've done this year.
Rushing from one project to the next (and often leaving a trail of UFOs behind) can leave us thinking we didn't get much accomplished...as usual, we just need some perspective.
Like a good friend, a journal can remind us what the truth is, and make us feel so much better!

A blog is another kind of journal, and I surely do enjoy sharing this Patchwork Pie with you!
May your 2009 be filled with fun & fabric...I'll see you back here "next year" with some tales of the BGPC's first day of 2009.