The past few years I've ascribed to word-of-the-year motivation, and it's worked pretty well. 2015 was all about focus, and I found better ways to keep my priorities on track despite how "squirrel!" our little kids/relocate often/frequent schedule changes life can be. 2016 was for creating a pattern, both in my life-flow and in quilting, and those goals are well underway. I tinkered with my schedule, and now I have a consistent routine for both home and work that still fits the flexibility I need when my husband comes and goes unexpectedly for his job. Plus, my first free quilt pattern will be out soon alongside my new newsletter, with a few other designs underway for 2017 release.

So what's my new word?

Last week another mom in my daughter's Kindergarten class asked if in lieu of gifts for the teacher, we would instead send in donations for a family who had just lost everything in a house fire. The teacher is good friends with the family, and she had been very concerned about their ability to celebrate the holidays following such a huge loss. As tends to be the case in our community, the response was amazing - hundreds of dollars in gift cards, plus groceries and household items. And a quilt.

Welcome, everyone! Thanks for visiting for Sew Mama Sew's biannual Giveaway Day! New to Berry Barn Designs? I invite you to take a look around. My name is Sarah. I love quilting, sewing, teaching (and ice cream!), and lean toward quick projects I can finish between juggling life as a mom and milspouse. Here's what's been happening lately...

I have this habit of squirreling things away and happening upon them at just the right moment: strategic forgetfulness! It's a thing, right?! So while restocking fabric in my sewing cabinet yesterday, I noticed the coloring books I'd set aside for a future giveaway, remembered today would be the first Tuesday of the month... and voila!

As we were putting up our Christmas tree, I started sprinkling decorations around the house and realized we don't have any holiday wall hangings. There's one little (dark, very poorly lit - for the life of me I couldn't get the jewel tones to photograph well for the shot above) corner cabinet where I put our advent calendar, and it was just begging for a splash of color. So what did I [the woman with a half a dozen Christmas gift and swap projects that need to be finished asap] do? Yep. I made one ; )