A red, white, and blue sawtooth star quilt block with farm animal fabric squares

Crafty Goals: July 2026

July 1, 2026July 1, 2026Leave a comment

Welcome to Full-on Summer, otherwise known as July! Whew! You guys, the Brookes were very, very busy in the month of June; I’m so glad I didn’t make any actual crafty goals for the month because there simply wasn’t any time available for crafting.

Debrief: June 2026 #craftygoals:

Music and artist ribbon graduation leis in maroon, gold, and white.

Graduation: Rachel is officially graduated from high school! I love graduations so much; the only celebrations I love more are weddings and babies. These life milestones are so special, and I try hard to make sure that they feel extra special for the individuals involved. I made a cute artsy ribbon lei for her and music note lei for one of her friends in the band because I think she’s awesome, and we threw a big ol’ graduation party as well. So much work! But everything went well and the party was well attended, so I’m satisfied.

Rainbow paint chips board with bags of chips attached

Summer Plans: Well…sadly, my husband’s mother passed away the day before Rachel’s graduation ceremony. June 2026 was all about graduation plans and funeral plans. Once graduation was done and dusted, I pivoted immediately into funeral trip preparation. I was also invited to sing at the funeral, so I spent the weeks leading up to it feverishly transcribing (finally) a song I’ve been working on for years and working with Renaissance to write a flute part so she could be a part of it, too. I’m happy to report that it went well. With all of that going on, it’s easy to understand why summer planning has not happened yet.

Family dressed in black at an LDS funeral.

July 2026 #craftygoals:

Time-Sensitive Things That Need Working on ASAP:

Graduation Quilts: All the signature blocks have been collected, so it’s time to start piecing! It’d be really great to get Rachel’s quilt completely done this month, but it will probably take longer than that, much to the dismay of the many people in our circles who have become (in their own words) obsessively invested in the final outcome of her quilt. Hey, if peer pressure helps you move forward with positive, productive things, then put that peer pressure in the driver’s seat and let it motivate you to push towards the finish line! (Looking at this in a realistic light, I think there’s a good chance I can pull off getting both of the flimsies complete in July.)

I am not sure when I’m going to get to Renaissance’s graduation quilt, though. With the realization that I want to put the signatures on the back of the quilt, I now need to create an entirely new quilt for the front of the quilt. As luck would have it, I just purchased a pattern not too long ago to make for her “someday,” but it’s a bit involved. I might work on a “palate cleanser” project once I finish Rachel’s grad quilt and before I get going on Ren’s again. I want to finish Ren’s grad quilt before the end of this year, though, that is a definite goal.

Sewcialites 3 Sew Along: I knew June would be busy and I’d fall behind on this, so I’m not panicking, but it is a goal to get caught back up with my blocks in the upcoming month. It’s just NINE blocks, no big deal…ha ha ha. I guess I’ll shoot for three per week. Oh, man…

Things to Work on After the ASAP Projects:

Machine Stitching:

Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt: The binding is done and Emily even slept under it when she was here for Rachel’s graduation. The label is not done yet, and I got it into my head to make a complicated label, so I’m working on piecing the label during my self-imposed mandatory 15 minutes of “Finishing Time” at the start of every work session in the craft room. It’s possible to get this done this month and do a legit photoshoot and all, but I can also see this label taking longer than that. Hopefully it all gets finished this month.
Riley Blake Designs’ Block Challenge Quilt: There’s so much on my plate this month, so I’m going to shoot for getting six of the chevron blocks done.
Baby Quilt: A friend is pregnant! There’s a baby on the way! Yay for babies!!! I’m trying to decide on the direction I want to go with this—I have a flimsy already made, the “Best Friends Farm Wonky Stars” quilt from during my Blank Quilting ambassador days, that would work beautifully, but I feel guilty re-purposing something I already made? That guilt is silly, right? If I decide to go with the partially-made quilt, I’d like to have it basted by the end of the month. If I decide to make a new quilt from scratch, I will need to decide on my pattern and acquire the fabric by the end of the month. As I write my options down and look out upon the expanse of projects waiting for my schedule to open up so I can work on them, I’m leaning heavily towards using the already-existing flimsy.

Hand Stitching:

English Paper Piecing: Get as much work done as possible on Smitten. It’s HOT in the craft room in the summer, so hand-piecing is perfect for this weather. I should set a daily stitching time goal for this. Fifteen to thirty minutes a day or something. We’re in the slog of it; I just need to sit my butt in the chair and stitch and it’ll be over faster.

Knitting: I usually work on the Husband Christmas Socks in secret, but I am much further behind on them this year than I normally am, so I’m going to talk about them because publicly shaming myself works for me. I try to have the Husband Christmas Socks done by the Fourth of July so they don’t hang over me, but here we are, almost at the Fourth of July, and I’m only about two-thirds done with the FIRST sock. Eek! The situation isn’t dire, obviously, but some heat needs to be applied. I’ve been working on them for fifteen minutes a day for some months now, but I guess I need to bump it up to thirty minutes until they’re done. It’d be great to finish them up by the end of the month, but a practical goal would be finish the first sock and get to the heel of the second sock? That’s actually a little ambitious, but possibly doable. I have some other socks I’d like to knit up as gifts this year, so being behind on this is annoying to my Christmas junkie senses.

Embroidery: None for this month. But it is July and hand stitching is lovely in the summer, so hopefully I get through my projects so I can visit some embroidery projects. There’s nothing like sipping lemonade and embroidering in the garden while the bees buzz in the lavender plants.

Summary of July’s Crafty Goals:

Rachel’s Graduation Quilt: Finish both the signature back flimsy AND the pencil crayon top flimsy.
FQS Sewcialites 3: Sew up blocks #15-23. (3 per week.)
Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt: Finish the label, photoshoot, blog post.
Riley Blake Designs’ Block Challenge Quilt: Sew up six chevron blocks.
Wonky Stars Baby Quilt: Baste. (Do I need to secure a backing and batting?)
Smitten EPP Quilt: 30 minutes of stitching a day.
Husband Christmas Socks: 30 minutes of stitching a day.
Embroidery: Indulge in some summer garden stitching on Sunday afternoons and soak in the aesthetic.

Proud family of a White River High School graduate, class of 2026

Rachel’s High School Graduation

June 10, 20261 Comment

Another graduate in the Brooke household! Rachel graduated last night in the rain!

White River High School graduate, class of 2026

White River High School graduates toss graduation caps

It’s been such a great week with all the graduation buildup and festivities. Emily flew back home to be a part of her baby sister’s big day and it’s so great having all my Brookelets under the same roof for a little while! (NOT a fan of this whole “flying the nest” business of parenting!)

In true Washington State fashion, it rained on and off throughout the graduation ceremony, so we were pretty damp and chilled by the time it came to taking pictures afterwards and we struggled to find our brightest joy on film, ha ha.

And now we’re taking some easy days to get over all the craziness before Rachel’s grad party. Whew!

I’ll leave you with the picture that makes me laugh the most, which just sums us all up so perfectly most of the time:

All the blocks in the Riley Blake Designs Block Challenge 2026 sew along, sewn by Cara Brooke of That Crafty Cara in blue, pink and green.

craftygoals: June 2026

June 1, 2026May 29, 20262 Comments

We made it to the summer! We’re in the midst of end-of-school chaos and fun, so I’m just going to leave a quick update!

Cara and Renaissance Brooke serving cake at the end of year band concert — Ren and I serving cake at the end-of-year band concert.

Debrief: May #craftygoals:

Graduation: We are working on it! It’s finally here! Made some leis, sent out most of the invitations, and Rachel and I have run quite a few errands to prepare for her graduation party. We even did her “Senior Skip Day” together because she wasn’t interested in doing the stuff her peers had planned to do, and wanted to go quilt shop-hopping with me instead! Such a fun day!

Cara and Rachel Brooke going quilt shop hopping on Rachel's high school Senior Skip Day. — Senior Skip Day: Quilt Shop Hopping!

Riley Blake Designs Block Challenge Sew Along: I finished all sixteen blocks! It still needs its setting blocks and final construction and finishing, which I had hoped to do in May, but alas, that did not happen.

Fat Quarter Shop Sewcialites 3 Sew Along: Kept up with the blocks until this last Friday because I caught the cold that’s going around these parts and I’m recuperating from that. Did not work ahead on June’s blocks as I hoped I would.

Blocks 1-14 in the Fat Quarter Shop Sewcialites 3 Sew Along, sewn in green, pink, red, orange and yellow fabrics.

Graduation Quilts: Received the last block I was waiting on for Ren’s quilt and bought some fabric for the new top I’m going to make for it. Received the fabric for Rachel’s quilt top but haven’t started on it. Sent out lots of blocks to be signed for Rachel’s quilt and received most of them back.

Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt: I am SO CLOSE to being done with the binding; there’s only about two feet left to hand-stitch.

Sew Many Stars BOM Christmas Quilt: Nope.

Smitten EPP Quilt: I put in some decent time on this on a beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon. Rachel has started her own Smitten quilt, and she is surging forward with it, which lights a fire under my keister to finish up mine because mine’s been in progress for almost six years now. Can’t let her beat me!

In-progress shot of a scrappy "Smitten" English paper pieced quilt in a rainbow of colors.

[H1] June #craftygoals:

Time-Sensitive Things That Need Working on ASAP:

Graduation: This is it! We’re there! The next two weeks are going to be such a whirlwind of activity! All focus is on graduation, so I doubt I’ll work on anything outside of that.

Summer Plans: I always flail a little bit when we head into summer break, but there’s a lot going on this summer with Nathaniel, so there’s a lot of logistical details to execute for him throughout the season.

Things to Work on After the ASAP Projects:

I am actually not going to make any goals for June. I’m going to be so busy with graduation and the inevitable clean-up and reset afterwards that I don’t want the extra pressure on my shoulders. IF I find some downtime to work on creative stuff, then great; but I’m not going to publicly declare any intentions.

Heads-Up on Possible Radio Silence:

This is going to be a very busy summer, so the blog and social media channels might go silent. If that’s the case, just know that I fully intend to be back in the swing of things by October, as always. Hopefully I can remember to check in at least once a month, but you know how it gets with sunshine activities and gardening!

In case I don’t pop through until autumn, I wish you the happiest of summers!

"Cherry Limeade" birthday cake, made by Renaissance Brooke in shades of green, yellow, red, pink and white.

FQS Sewcialites 3 Check-in: May Update

May 29, 2026May 29, 2026Leave a comment

More than halfway there! Blocks I sewed up in May:

Block 11: “Snuggle Patch,” by Edyta Sitar

Block 11 "Snuggle Patch," in the Fat Quarter Shop Sewcialites 3 Sew Along, designed by Edyta Sitar and sewn up in yellow, green and pink.

I really like how this block turned out; I’ve been hoping I’d have a chance to use that lemon print at some point in this quilt, and using up some of that lime green and red “Little Ruby” print made me very happy as it’s a tough one to use as well. I was delighted to find some of this pink Lori Holt cherry print from her “Calico” collection in the scrap bins, so of course it had to make an appearance in the Cherry Limeade quilt!

Block 12: “Shoo Fly,” by Sharon Holland

Block 12 "Shoo Fly" designed by Sharon Holland, for the Fat Quarter Shop Sewcialites 3 Sew Along and sewn up in red and green.

I really like making scrap quilts because I happen upon leftovers from previous projects that make me smile. This sock monkey fabric is leftover from an apron I made for Renaissance when she was 3 or 4 years old, and I HAD to fussy cut a sock monkey once I saw it.

Block 13: “Back Porch,” by Joanna Figueroa

Block 13 "Back Porch," in the Fat Quarter Shop Sewcialites 3 sew along, designed by Joanna Figueroa. Sewn up in red, pink, orange, yellow and green.

While scrap-tossing I found all these fruity prints and wanted to use them in this block, which will probably be the center block of the quilt, so I wanted a lot of negative space around it to help it stand out. I thought I used up all of that orange and yellow Sandi Henderson apple print, but a few days later I found another scrap of it. Love these fruity scraps!

Block 14: “Criss-Cross Star,” by Lori Holt

Block 14 "Criss-Cross Star," designed by Lori Holt for Fat Quarter Shop's Sewcialites 3 sew along, sewn up in Heather Ross fabrics in pink, orange, yellow and green.

While combing through scraps to start this block, I happened upon the green Rapunzel fabric and I decided to make this block entirely out of Heather Ross fabrics. It includes fabrics from all three of her “Far, Far Away” collections, plus fabrics from her “Briar Rose” and “Kinder” collections. I knew the pink apple print for the background was a bit of a stretch, and I ultimately believe the block would look better with a less busy fabric for the background, but it made me so happy to pieces all these brilliantly-colored scraps together that I couldn’t possibly go back and remove the apples. I smile every time I walk through my craft room and notice this block. It’s just one busy block in a quilt full of better-balanced blocks, so it won’t matter in the long run!

Block 15: “Split Star,” by Lissa Alexander

Today’s new block is the “Split Star” and I have contracted the cold that’s making its way through our community, so I probably won’t get to sewing it up for a little while. Rachel’s graduation is also fast-approaching, so all crafty pursuits might come to a standstill for the next month. I had hoped to work ahead on this quilt so I wouldn’t fall behind, but May is a busy month and I couldn’t find the time. Oh well.

Happy birthday to me!

I am so glad I committed to this quilt as it’s been so much fun to sew! I talk about these blocks and the lovely sewing community in the Facebook group all the time, so much so that Renaissance themed my birthday cake on this Cherry Limeade quilt this year:

Isn’t it the cutest?!?! Seriously, make time to bake with your children as they grow up; you might just raise up a pastry chef that makes holidays and celebrations all the more beautiful in your family! It’s so much fun to watch her in her pastry program.

Download the free block patterns for yourself:

High school senior girl bowling senior night with personalized sash and gift basket in maroon and gold

High School Bowling Senior Night

January 20, 20261 Comment

I’ve been busy in the craft room preparing for Rachel’s Senior Night for bowling. There were two seniors on the team this year, so I was able to do a little bit of extra special stuff because I only had to produce two of each thing. Rachel is such a princess girly-girl who likes to sparkle, so I decided to just run with it and hit ‘em with the full princess treatment for Senior Night: Tiaras, sashes, and everything personalized and sparkly!

A senior high school girl wearing a personalized Class of 2026 senior sash with gold and maroon letters

I’m not a regular user of my Silhouette cutter so I always feel like I’m discovering how to even use the thing beyond its most basic of functions, but I saw some really cute examples of senior sashes on the internet and decided to give it my best try. Now I can proudly say I understand what “offset cutting” is and how to apply it! I love how the sashes turned out!

I also put the Silhouette cutter to use for the tags for the signed bowling pins and the name plates for the gift baskets.

The mom of the other senior supplied the flowers and balloons and it all looked so, so cute!

Senior Year feels like it’s officially underway with this event done and dusted. It’s just going to be a flurry of senior events from here on out, I think. Sigh, another baby bird getting ready to leave the nest. It’s good, but tugs at the heart pretty hard.

A senior high school girl wearing a personalized senior sash with gold and maroon letters

Handknit socks made with self-striping American Flag yarn from The Painted Tiger and royal blue contrasting heel made with Cascade Yarns Heritage yarn.

American Flag Socks: Michael’s Christmas Socks 2025

December 28, 2025December 26, 20251 Comment

It’s the first Sunday after Christmas, which means Michael’s wearing his brand new pair of socks to church for the first time. I made him a really great pair this year! He was completely surprised by them and has dubbed them his most favorite handknit socks EVER.

Handknit socks made with self-striping American Flag yarn from The Painted Tiger.

Details:

Pattern: #216 Beginner’s Lightweight Socks, by Diane Soucy of Knitting Pure & Simple

Yarn: Journey Sock Yarn in colorway “Grand Old Flag” from The Painted Tiger, and Cascade Yarns Heritage in colorway #5636 “Sapphire” from Simply Socks Yarn Company. There’s a fair amount of each leftover, but I haven’t weighed anything to give you specific numbers. I also used two spools of Lang Reinforcement Thread #290, purchased from Simply Socks Yarn Company.

Needles: US 2 (2.75 mm)

Modifications: None beyond the contrasting heel and toe.

We were discussing his growing collection of handknit socks last year after he opened his 2024 pair, and he mentioned that it would be really cool to have some striped USA socks, but it would probably be really difficult to start and stop with the red and white yarns and how that was too much to ask of me. I tucked that little quip away in my note-keeping app and when it came time to decide what to make him for this year’s socks, I decided to take a quick look on the internet to see if some self-striping Americana yarn already existed out there. I happened upon The Painted Tiger’s version and bought it as fast as I could. So exciting!

Handknit socks made with self-striping American Flag yarn from The Painted Tiger with contrasting heels knit with Cascade Yarns Heritage sock yarn in royal blue.

You know you’ve done a good job when you’ve been knitting for over twenty years and your husband opens his present, after squeezing it and saying, “This feels like socks,” and exclaims, “WHOA! Did you make these?!?!” He was so pleased with the colorway! I’m really happy with his enjoyment of how they look already!

I don’t know if I can top these ever. I’m not too worried about it at the moment; it’s just been great to listen to him fawn over this pair. Merry Christmas, my love.

Note: These socks were originally given the code name of “Cherry Twilight Socks” as I worked on them earlier in the year so I didn’t give away their very distinctive design feature. All posts tagged as “Cherry Twilight Socks” have been updated with the “American Flag Socks” tag.

#craftygoals: December 2025

December 4, 2025December 4, 20251 Comment

Debrief: November 2025 #craftygoals:

Rachel Brooke, wearing a light pink formal gown, and her family at the Daffodil Princess selection ceremony

Daffodil Princess Dress: The dress was altered and hemmed in time. Rachel looked so beautiful! Nathaniel was her escort and I was so proud of the two of them working together. Rachel wasn’t selected as Daffodil Princess, but she says she learned a lot about public speaking and the like, and she really enjoyed “princess lessons,” so the net sum of the experience is positive overall.
Penguin Party Quilt: I attached the bottoms sashing to two rows before deciding that I really do need to take some growth/width out of the penguin block rows to get them to fit the sashing strips better. Life has been an absolute carnival with Daffodil Princess prep, the school district K-12 musical, battling COVID for the second time this year, and Thanksgiving, so I’ve not got back to working on this since then.
Rachel’s Gingerbread Christmas Quilt: No progress
Woolly Wee Sheep Ornament(s): I started one! It’s a finicky pattern, but I’d say I’m about 2/3 done with it.
Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler: Haven’t done anything with it since finishing the stitching. I have the frame for it in possession and just need to do all the things you do to frame an embroidery piece.

December 2025 #craftygoals:

Time-Sensitive Things That Need Working on ASAP:

Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler: I blasted through finishing up the stitching for this so I could display it this year, so I better get it framed!

Wee Woolly Sheep Ornament(s): They’re meant to go on the tree so I need to finish them.

Fair Isle Christmas Balls: I was on a bit of a kick with planning the Wee Woolly Sheep Ornaments and decided to go all in on knitted ornaments, so I bought the books and yarn to make some Fair Isle ornaments, too. Hopefully I can get at least one done!

Things to Work on After the ASAP Projects:

Machine Stitching:

Penguin Party Quilt: Fixing the width of the rows and hopefully finishing this top!
Say-It Sew Along: Lori Holt has designed the cutest seasonal banners to go along with the release of her newest fabric collection, “TYPE/ography,” and I want to sew along! She released the instructions for the “Merry Christmas” and “Let It Snow” banners at the end of November and I’d really like to make them.
Rachel’s Gingerbread Christmas Quilt: I’d be lucky to get to work on this in December, but I’ll put it on the list anyway.

Hand Stitching:

English Paper Piecing: No plans for anything this month.

Knitting: The above-mentioned Christmas ornaments.

Embroidery: No plans for anything this month.

There’s so much going on in our lives in December, so I’m not optimistic about how much progress I can make on crafty things, but it’s better to have a plan just in case, rather than finding myself with some free time and no idea what to make when I finally disturb the cobwebs in the craft room!

Happy December to you all, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and hopefully I’ll be able to report back with some beautiful progress on some feel-good projects that elicit those wonderful Christmas-y heartwarmings that we’re all in search of in the darkest month of the year! Drink your cocoa and play your happy music!

English Paper Piecing quilt blocks that look like red, green, and white peppermint candy discs

Christmas Stitching in October

October 19, 2025October 25, 20253 Comments

I’ve written a little bit about the Peppermint Blossoms EPP Quilt and the Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler, but haven’t shared any actual info or pictures about them. We shall remedy that today!

Meet the Peppermint Blossoms EPP Quilt:

This one’s going to take a very long time. I spent some time in the past week figuring out numbers for it and I think I’m going to end up needing 50 full blossoms and 10 half blossoms, plus whatever insane number of background triangles and diamonds that I’ll math out later. As of today, I have 8 red blossoms and 7 green blossoms complete. Only 35 to go…

Red, Green, and White Peppermint Blossoms English Paper Piecing Quilt units

This project is my current crafting-in-the-van project that gets worked on whenever I’m waiting for kids’ practices to get over and when I’m sitting at church during Mutual because I don’t want to drive back home just to turn around half an hour later to come back and pick them up. Progress is slow on this, but I can usually knock out a full blossom a week now that I’m working on it during Mutual.

I also need to cut out more white jewel pieces for this quilt—113 more, actually. Yikes.

And here’s the Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler:

The Ziploc bag that it’s stored in says it’s from ~2005, so this project is pretty ancient. I think I bought the pattern shortly after we bought our first home and before I got pregnant with Renaissance. I was leaning towards a primitive and folksy decor look, but decided later that it really wasn’t for me. (That, and my house was decorated in “homeschooling chic” out of necessity for the stage of life we were in, lol.)

Christmas Alphabet Embroidery sampler in rustic colors

I’ve been granting myself some “Whimsical Days” each month to work ahead on upcoming holidays and celebrations when my heart desires it, and I found myself wishing I had a slow stitching Christmas project to pick up on my Christmas days, so I unearthed this and have been putting in work on it while watching movies. I’m not worried about when this will be finished; it’s just fun to work on. Maybe it’ll be ready for this year’s Christmas, maybe it won’t.

But I like to keep track of progress, so this guy is at 12 blocks out of 26, which is ~46%, and we’ll subtract 5% from that to account for the border that will need to be stitched at the end, so 41% done.

"Yuletime" #210 Alphabet Stitches embroidery sampler, pattern by Once Upon a Vine (Kim Goodrich), stitched in primitive and folk colors of DMC embroidery floss

And I just noticed that the pattern itself has a 2006 copyright, so I imagine I actually started working on this in 2006. I do love that fabric and yarn will wait for you!

Hopefully you’re able to find some slow stitching time on this beautiful Sunday! The weather is blustery here and so perfect for some down time with needle and thread.

Linking up with:

Homemaking Goals for the Week: Prepping for Homecoming and Halloween, and other Autumn Vibes

September 29, 2025October 19, 2025

Good morning! It’s such a good feeling to start my Monday morning off with a planning session for the week! I’ve missed this part of my routine—there’s something about having a deadline to post about my plans that makes me far more likely to make the planning happen.

Conditioning

I’ve added two new categories to my homemaking planning routine: Conditioning & Currency. Conditioning encompasses the various categories of self-care that keep me healthy: Physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, social, etc.

Physical Goals this week: 3 swimming sessions, 15 minutes of sunshine/outdoor time each day
Spiritual: Pray once a day, read one article a day on LDS Circles (I’ve backslid a bit in this category over the summer and am slowly rebuilding my spiritual health habits. Slow and steady wins the race.)
Emotional: Go through my Morning Manna ritual each day
Intellectual: I am trying to transition to reading actual ink and paper books at night, rather than e-books and/or scrolling on my phone in bed. This is proving harder to do than I would have thought. So, for this week’s goal I’m going to shoot for loading my nightstand with three books to choose from in the evening when I’m tired and don’t want to think anymore: 1 fiction, 1 serious non-fiction/informational, 1 creative/beautiful. I also need to figure out where my phone is going to live while I’m sleeping.

Currency

Update my money book/register twice this week. The ultimate goal is to do this daily, but I fell out of practice over the summer, so we’re rebuilding. Everything else is pretty much automized, so yay.

Cooking

This week’s meal plan: It looks like we’re heading into some seriously autumn-feeling weather this week! Cooler temperatures and some rain means it might be time to start dipping into some soups and comfort food! Woo hoo! Yay for autumn!

Monday: Corn Soup with Bacon & Sage, green salad with Italian vinaigrette
Tuesday: Quesadillas
Wednesday: Baked Chicken Parm, Caesar Salad
Thursday: Waffles, Bacon, fruit
Friday: Pizza
Saturday: Chicken Pad Thai
Sunday: Chickpea & Quinoa Chili, cornbread

Clothing

The regular upkeep plus getting Rachel ready for Homecoming. It’s that time of year! I’ll need to do the autumn wardrobe rotation soon, but Homecoming prep takes precedence this week. Also need to check with the kiddos to see if they need anything for their Halloween costumes. (Are they even planning on trick or treating?)

Cleaning

I’m still slogging along with the house decluttering. We did a phenomenal job of getting the kids’ rooms done over the summer, so I’m still very proud of that. I’m currently in the process of moving my home office out of my bedroom and into my craft room, which will require decluttering both of those worlds so they can fit into one room together. It is not a fun task whatsoever. But I’d like my bedroom to be less “business” and more “sanctuary,” so I’m making this long overdue move. I’ve been hit with all the back-to-school sicknesses in the past couple of weeks, so I don’t know if I’ll make any novel gains this week because I’m just trying to get caught up on the regular cleaning tasks around the house.

Caring

Getting Rachel ready for Homecoming.
General Conference is this weekend, so it’d be nice if I could do something special for that. It’s a busy, busy week leading into it, so I don’t know what I’ll actually be capable of doing.
It’s Week #13 in my 12 Week Year goal cycle, so I’m also deciding and planning my goals for the upcoming Autumn Cycle. I’d like to revisit my Life Vision plan and rework it, as the last time I updated it was in 2020 and things have changed A LOT since that time.
Nathaniel Driver’s Ed drives and tests scheduling
Make optometrist appointments

Creativity

Rotation Project: I am currently working on Renaissance’s Christmas quilt. All the penguins have fully formed heads! Next up is the wings and bodies. It’d be great if I could complete all of those this week.
Scrap Project: Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt. Why am I still working on this?!?! It’s gathering dust somewhere; the goal for this week is to unearth it and put in some work on the last bits of quilting it needs before it’s done. The resistance I am feeling towards this, guys…yeesh.
Crafting-in-the-Van Project: I am currently working on a Christmas EPP quilt that will look a lot like, if not identical, to the Tales of Cloth “Bonnie” quilt. I should probably count how many “blossoms” I’ve completed and extrapolate how many more I have to go. It’d be good to cut up the charm pack of Christmas fabric I bought a few months ago to add to this project and make sure I have enough fabric cut for the remainder of the quilt. I’ll get an hour’s worth of work done on it while I’m waiting for the kids at Mutual this week, and I’ll also get some work done on it during a kid’s dentist appointment as well. I also need a name for this project…Peppermint Blossoms EPP quilt.
TV Handwork Project: Uhhh, *checks notes*…huh, I’ve decided to unearth another long overdue project that I think I started working on back in 2005? Decluttering the craft room will have you finding all sorts of stuff! The embroidery floss has long since been lost or allocated to other projects because I thought I lost the instructions to this project, but I FOUND THEM while decluttering, so I really want to finish this up and be proud of myself for finishing a thing. I need to go shopping and purchase replacement embroidery floss this week, hoop the embroidery back up, and hopefully get some actual stitching done whenever I’m watching television/movies. This also needs a name…Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler.

Gardening

Yeah, work should be done out there. We’ll see. Michael went through the yard this past weekend and burned away all the weeds and it looks so nice and neat. There’s a FAT SQUIRREL that is snapping off the heads of all my sunflowers and stealing them away to his nest, so I’m leaving them up while he does his harvesting. All the herbs have bolted so I probably won’t try to save them.

Oooh, I’d also like to start up my countertop AeroGarden, probably with herbs or lettuces, because The Big Dark is creeping in and I like the extra “sunlight” that the countertop garden shines on us during breakfast and dinner time.

Celebrating

Put out the last of the September apple decorations that I still haven’t gotten to. (Oops.)
October starts on Wednesday?!?! *sighs* Alright, put out the Halloween decorations, too.
I’ll have to tell you more about my newest obsession when I get a chance: Whimsical Days, where I just spend a day getting ready for the next holiday/celebration. I generally have been doing them on Wednesdays, so with October starting on Wednesday this week, I’ll be focusing on Halloween this week.
Beginning of October means I need to send out some birthday cards to Canadian family.

Community

I’m not involved with a lot of stuff this year. I’m focusing on getting Rachel and Nathaniel to their various activities.
I am still in charge of music at church and we’ve been taking a little break after a jam-packed summer of music. I should do a debriefing on that because I’d like to do things differently next year. I need to get the Christmas Sacrament Program written up and submitted for approval. I also need to get October and November’s special musical numbers planned and organized. And get October’s sacrament hymns chosen and posted.

Top priorities this week:

Homecoming Prep
Driver’s Ed schedulings
Swimming & sunshine
Aerogarden
Halloween decorating
Church music stuff
Consistent time for creativity so I don’t go insane

As I look over this week’s plans, I’m reminded that homemaking is less about checking every single box and more about creating an environment where peace and progress can flourish. The lists keep me moving forward, yes, but the ultimate reward I’m aiming for is the good feeling that comes from making my home a place of care, order, and creativity. Here’s to a week of steady steps, small victories, and the joy that comes when we pause at the end of the day and see the good we’ve accomplished. Let’s get to it—one task at a time! And Happy October!

He’s Fifteen, Christ is Risen, and the Ham is Frozen

April 21, 2025Leave a comment

We had a birthday this week! Can you believe that this:

Is now this?

Seriously, where did the time go?!?! I’m pretty sure that I just brought this child home from the hospital!

Top priorities this past week:

Celebrate The Boy’s birthday
Easter Sacrament program
Easter dinner
Try to make some progress on the Star Climber scrap quilt

Celebrating

He’s a whopping fifteen years old now. He can start Driver’s Ed and we’re just careening towards independence with this baby of the family. It’s going by so fast.

Creating

The Easter Sacrament program went really, really well! Everyone showed up on time and did the things they said they would do and many ward members remarked that the program helped them feel the Spirit, which is the basic goal of any of these programs. It was a lot of work and I’m trying to focus on some self-care practices this week to release the tension that’s been building in my shoulders and neck for the past three weeks.

Easter dinner did not happened as planned because whomever unloaded the car after my Easter dinner grocery shopping trip, and it very well could have been me despite having no recollection of it, decided to put the Easter ham into the freezer. So when I went to get the ham out of the fridge yesterday to bake it, I discovered that it was not in the fridge, but in the freezer as hard as a rock. Easter dinner has been rescheduled for later this week, and we enjoyed leftover chili and mac & cheese, with a healthy helping of carrot cake.

Didn’t make any progress on the Star Climber quilt because I was too busy with life this week. Here’s the thing—I’ve also been feeling a sense of burnout. I’ve given so much of myself to quilting and this blog over the years, but more and more I’m thinking that I might want to step back and refocus. It’s not an easy decision, but I’m starting to feel like it’s time to make room for something new. As difficult as it would be to walk away, I believe this might be the best decision for me right now. I’m ready to turn the page and embrace new things. This chapter is coming to a close, and I’m excited to see where life takes me from here.

Final Thoughts

So here we are—celebrating a milestone birthday, reflecting on a meaningful Easter, and thinking seriously about where to go next. Life is busy, beautiful, and a little overwhelming sometimes. I’m feeling the pull to slow down, breathe, and make space for what’s ahead. I don’t know exactly what that looks like yet, but I do know this: It’s okay to grow, to shift, and to let go of things that once filled you up but now feel like too much. Thanks for being here, for reading, and for walking this journey with me—even when the ham ends up in the freezer. (I never offered perfection…and I thank you for laughing with me over the many mishaps over the years.)