July was busy, too; mostly with driving Nathaniel all over the place for his various camps and sports practices, and then Renaissance and I have been trying to become Gym People™ and that not only takes up a lot of time but also makes you really tired. I’m hoping that I will eventually reap the benefits of the gym visits and have more strength to do more of the fun things that make me excited to get out of bed in the morning. Until then, I’m content to lift and swim and sleep and bask in the limited summer sunshine.
Debrief: July’s #craftygoals:
Rachel’s Graduation Signature Quilt: There has been progress. All signature blocks have at least two of their four borders.
Husband Christmas Socks: Finished the first one! (It looks SO GOOD!) I’m only on the ribbing of the second one.
August #craftygoals:
Rachel’s Graduation Signature Quilt: I know myself. If I move off of this project before it’s done, it will languish. So I am not going to make goals for any other project, besides the Husband Christmas Socks, until this quilt is completely finished. Summer is a hard time to find crafty time, so I’m just hoping to get some work done on this; it was silly to think I’d finish it last month, but here we are.
Husband Christmas Socks: I’m just going to keep trying to find thirty minutes a day to work on them.
If I manage to finish Rachel’s graduation quilt, I’ve promised myself I can jump back into working on the Fat Quarter Shop Sewcialites 3 sew along. But not before.
Kind of a boring update, but there it is. Enjoy these last days of summer! Being in Washington State means we don’t start school until later than most, so we’ve still got a good month of summer vacation to enjoy, and I do mean to enjoy it as much as possible, preferably outdoors because the winters here are gray and wet and very indoor activity-oriented and I feel like I’m going to lose my mind by the time February rolls around. You have to balance that part of the year out with by using the summer months to engage in a frenzied amount of watching the sunrise while walking through the woods and eating dinner in the backyard until it gets too chilly to stay outside anymore. Doesn’t leave a lot of time for the craft room. How I manage to forget that every year is baffling. 😉
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
Happy April! We made it through Gray February and Cold & Dreary March; we are LEGIT into spring now and I’m so happy!!!
Debrief: March #craftygoals:
Guild Show & Tell Quilt: Seeing that it’s April and I’ve yet to succeed in this area once again, I’m starting to think this may not be my year for making progress on this in this way? I’m even struggling to attend my guild’s monthly meetings! The kids are super duper busy and their activities inevitably conflict with guild meeting almost every month. I’ll keep trying, but I’m definitely not beating myself up over this. I’ve only got two and half years left of minor children parenting; I’ll lean into guilds and the like once this chapter has closed.
Secret Project: Is off the ground! More on this when it feels right to share.
Penguin Party Quilt: A LOT of work done on this! Getting close to completing the flimsy top!
Easter Say-It Sew Along Banner: Never got to it, boo.
Renaissance Graduation Quilt: Was able to put a little bit of work in on it, nothing much.
Rachel’s Graduation Quilt: I have received a number of signed blocks back, but haven’t done any sewing on it. I still need to distribute some more blocks for signatures.
Smitten EPP Quilt: Put in a few work sessions on it. Doesn’t appear like it accomplished much because it’s in that stage of work…sigh. Slow and steady, consistency, etc…it’ll get there eventually.
Jingle Bell Socks: Made a lot of progress on them! First sock is finished.
April #craftygoals:
Time-Sensitive Things That Need Working on ASAP:
Riley Blake Designs Block Challenge Sew Along: It’s my hope to get completely caught up by the end of the month. I’ve sewn up five of the released ten blocks thus far, and there will be another three released in April, so eight blocks over the course of the month. Two a week, if conditions are favorable.
Fat Quarter Shop Sewcialites 3 Sew Along: I am caught up on this, and will hopefully complete the four blocks that are released in April on-time. Goodness, am I enjoying this sew along! I am using a goodly portion of my lime green scraps, but am worried that there were too many scraps to begin with and I’ll still have enough leftover for another four quilts. Oh, I also hope to get all the setting blocks sewn up in April, but it’s not the end of the world if they’re not completely done. I did get them all cut last week and will probably just use them as leaders and enders.
Renaissance’s Chef Clothing Tailoring: Renaissance started pastry school! She has to wear a chef uniform and the pants are a disaster. I’ll need to spend some time hemming the length and maybe taking in the waists.
Rachel’s Prom Dress Tailoring: We are awaiting its delivery and I’ll then push forward with whatever tailoring needs to happen. Odds are there will be torturous hemming. Last prom dress ever. [insert bittersweet Mommy feels]
Things to Work on After the ASAP Projects:
Machine Stitching:
Graduation Quilts: I’m still collecting signatures, and I don’t technically need Rachel’s until June, so we are doing perfectly fine with hers at the moment. There are three people who have expressed interest in signing blocks for Ren’s quilt and I need to get that done so that I can finish up that step and plough through towards completion on hers.
Penguin Party Quilt: Getting really close to finishing the top, so it’d be good to complete that soon. No rush at this point in the year. I don’t know when I’ll get this sent out for quilting; might need to wait until after graduation and all its craziness. (Tangent: I discovered a new-to-me local quilter! I’ve reached out to her and she is super nice and looking forward to working with me in the future! Yay!)
Hand Stitching:
English Paper Piecing: I always hope I’ll be able to put in some time on the Smitten EPP Quilt, especially since the weather has turned so nice. Maybe I’ll remember to put the bin into the car so I can work on it while waiting for the kids to come out of practices. I always think I’ll be able to work on stuff at Nathaniel’s track meets, but I end up talking with other parents and y’know, social interaction is healthy and good. As previously stated, there aren’t many years left in this stage of parenting, so I’m going to lean into it all while I still can. There are many empty nest years ahead of me for extra sewing.
Knitting: Keep making progress on the Jingle Bell Socks. Maybe make progress on a Christmas project I’m kicking around in my head.
Nicer weather, gardening, track meets, prom prep—lots going on in April! I like to start with a big list of goals because it’s my vibe, but I’m totally OK with just enjoying the spring weather and finally being able to be outside in the sunshine again.
I am so tired of reporting that I was sick and it affected my ability to move forward on my crafty goals each month, but alas, such is what I need to report. Yet again. Ugh. February kicked my butt, but that’s pretty normal for this time of year EVERY SINGLE YEAR, so I’m not too terribly upset about it, just annoyed. I caught that nasty flu that was going around and that took me out for two weeks. And then, because I was lying around for two weeks, my back spasmed once I got back on my feet and I was down and out with that flare-up for ten days. I finally got to moving around somewhat normally, enjoyed a couple days of productivity, and then BAM(!) migraine for two days. Then another migraine for six days that require an ER visit to shut down. ARRRRGHHHH. So, y’know, basically four weeks of no real progress on anything. I remain optimistic that my luck will trend upwards in March. Always optimistic…
Debrief: February #craftygoals:
Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt: Can’t quilt when you’re sick. Sigh.
Secret Project: I’ve made a lot of progress on this, but it’s not ready to unveil.
Penguin Party Quilt: Did make progress here and there.
Rachel’s Graduation Signature Quilt: I’ve gotten a few of the blocks signed, and am in the process of getting the blank blocks sent out to various people. I am killing this.
RBD Block Challenge: I am almost done with Block #1. Let’s just ignore the fact that SIX of the blocks have been published. Progress is progress.
FQS Sewcialites 3 Sew Along: I am done with the first block! Yay me! I’ll get to working on the second block this weekend. I haven’t photographed it yet, sorry.
Jingle Bell Socks: Coming along nicely in the stolen moments.
March 2026 #craftygoals:
Time-Sensitive Things That Need Working on ASAP:
Guild Show & Tell Quilt: I’d still like to finish the Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt to show, and I’ve got the Sew Many Stars BOM Christmas Quilt on my list for March. I’m so far behind, so I have only the faintest glimmer of hope to get both of these done, but hope I will!
Secret Project: I had to push it back a couple of weeks due to the illness and injury, plus I grossly underestimated how much behind-the-scenes learning I was going to have to do to pull this off, but it should be ready to unveil sometime in March. So excited!
Things to Work on After the ASAP Projects:
Machine Stitching:
Penguin Party Quilt: I’m going to commit: I want to finish the top for this THIS MONTH.
Easter Say-It Sew Along Banner: Easter is April 5 this year so I want to sew this up in March so everything is ready for the big day.
Renaissance Graduation Quilt: Hoping to make more progress on this. I’m still waiting on some signatures, so I’m doing the best I can.
Rachel’s Graduation Quilt: I don’t know if I’ll get to touching this, but it’d be great if I could get some signatures back so I can start assembling the blocks. It’s largely dependent on others’ efforts/timeliness, so I’m keeping my hopes low so I don’t feel disappointed if nothing happens this month.
Hand Stitching:
English Paper Piecing: It’d be good to get work done on Smitten. It’s a weird time of year, whatwith the weather changes and garden needing more attention, so I have no idea how this will shake out.
Knitting: It’d be great if I could finish the Jingle Bell Socks.
Embroidery: I don’t have anything in the works for March.
There’s a lot of stuff to get caught up on in regular life before I can really get into the craft room, so this might be a low achievement month. However, sometimes things come together easy and then I get to do lots of crafty stuff, so we’ll see. Gardening needs to start happening too…it’s that time of year! So much fresh goodness coming our way with more light and sunshine as well. We made it through the darkest part of year, friends! Good job! Enjoy the upcoming spring!
Sorry there’s no pictures to go with this post, but if I take time to do pics, it takes up time to craft. I’m going to get caught up eventually and then it’ll be Picture City ’round these parts!
Happy February, everyone! I don’t know what it is about this year, but I feel like it’s gotten off to a productive start!
Debrief: January #craftygoals:
Bowling Senior Night Stuff: Turned out GREAT! I’m so pleased with the sashes, and the baskets and bowling pins looked really good, too. Her senior year feels incredibly real now that we’ve done the bowling senior night. Graduation is in our sights!
Lori Holt Say-It Sew Along Valentine’s Banner: I put in so much work on this, and then realized I’d messed a really important step and there was no saving it. I’m not even going to post pictures of any part of this project. So annoyed with myself. I cut up some really cute fabric for it, too. It’ll stay on the To-Make list though, I really love it. Next year, fingers crossed.
Smitten EPP Quilt: Also got a little bit of work done on it. It’s in the super boring part of attaching the rows together and it is thankless, no-ending-in-sight work. Slow and steady will win the race. I guess.
Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler: Didn’t touch it. I’m not sure I even know where it is in the craft room, ha ha ha. I don’t know, man, this one might go into the archives until the Christmas spirit strikes again. It just needs to be framed, but it’s not like I’m going to display it anywhere when it’s done, so it’s just not a priority. Maybe I’ll feel like tackling this tiny task after graduation.
February #craftygoals:
Time-Sensitive Things That Need Working on ASAP:
Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt: As part of my “Quilt Guild Show & Tell” goal where I want to have a finished quilt to present at each month’s quilt guild meeting, I’m hoping to have this one done in time for February’s meeting.
Secret Project: I’m really, really excited about this, and that’s all I’m going to say. Hopefully I can tell you more at the end of the month!
Things to Work on After the ASAP Projects:
Machine Stitching:
Penguin Party Quilt: As always, hoping to make some significant progress. I WILL FINISH THIS QUILT THIS YEAR.
Rachel’s Graduation Signature Quilt: The fabric has arrived and I’ve put out requests for signatures, to which many have responded. I’m hoping to get all the blank blocks sent out to people by the end of the month so they can get signed and returned to me well before I’ll get started with the actual sewing of this.
RBD Block Challenge 2026 Sew Along: I’ve committed. The fabric finally arrived. I’ve even cut the pieces for the first block. It’d be great to get caught up on January’s blocks and stay on top of February’s blocks.
Fat Quarter Shop Sewcialites 3 Sew Along: It starts at some point in February, and I’m hoping to sew along. I’m going to work from my scraps and use up the huge amount of yellow-green/leaf green scraps I’ve accumulated over the years, paired with pinks, reds and yellows. Think “summer fruit” color palette.
Hand Stitching:
English Paper Piecing: I’ll try to get more work done on the Smitten Quilt, but I also think it’s going to go back into hibernation until after graduation. We’ll see…
Knitting: I hope to get more work done on the Jingle Bell Socks. I’m not terribly worried about them at the moment, we’ve got all year.
February is always a good month for getting some crafty work done, so I imagine we’ll see some progress on things. There’s some birthday work to do, and I think I need to start busting out some seed starting things pretty soon, so gardening will start taking up more of my time come March. It’s the last of the cozy winter months, better use it well!
Hello January! Hello New Year! I always get bit by the Resolution Goal Fairy this time of year. How exciting to have a fresh page of life to look forward to! I would like to write a 2026 Goals post, but it’s been busy like always and I haven’t gotten to it yet. So, we’ll make do with just January’s goals for the moment.
Debrief: December 2025 #craftygoals:
Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler
Wee Woolly Sheep Ornament(s)
Fair Isle Christmas Balls
Penguin Party Quilt
Say-It Sew Along
Rachel’s Gingerbread Christmas Quilt
I’m just going to make this easy and tell you that I did NOTHING on any of these. December was a rough month and I’m just glad I got the Christmas stuff done that got done. And I think I’ll set aside all the Christmas projects until later in the year; it’s one thing if they just need a little bit of work to finish, but these projects are not in that place. Well…the embroidery only needs framing…
I did do a tiny bit of work on the Penguin quilt in this last week.
January 2026 #craftygoals:
Time-Sensitive Things That Need Working on ASAP:
Bowling Senior Night Stuff: Senior Night is this month and, as the resident Crafty Mom™, there’s some stuff I’ve been asked to do to make it a little more special and pretty. Time to bust out the Silhouette Cameo!
Lori Holt Say-It Sew Along: I really want to make that Valentine’s Day banner.
Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt: I rejoined my local quilt guild; one of the reasons being they have a Show & Tell at each month’s meeting, and I’m setting the goal to show a completed quilt at each meeting. I want to present a completely finished Rainbow Coin Strip quilt at February’s meeting.
Things to Work on After the ASAP Projects:
Machine Stitching:
Penguin Party Quilt: Call me delusional all you want, but I keep hoping to finish this quilt!
Hand Stitching:
English Paper Piecing: I’m hoping to work on Smitten a little bit this month.
Knitting: I’ve cast on for a new pair of Christmas socks for myself! When I was reading through last year’s blog posts I remembered how much I liked making my Stripey Christmas Socks, so I decided to order another self-striping Christmas colorway and do it again! I think I’ll call this new pair my Jingle Bell Socks. #newyearnewsocks
Embroidery: Try to frame up the Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler.
As always, a big list of to-dos! But I prefer to have too much to do rather than too little. Let’s see what we can do in this joyful January month! (If I tell myself it’s destined to be a joyful month, maybe it will happen! #positivemindset)
I’m not sure I ever posted about this, but it happened. Rachel was helping me declutter my craft room and she came across my tattered collection of friendship bracelet instructions from my middle school days. As she flipped through them she saw the fish pattern and commented that it’d be cool to have, so I made one for her for her birthday. Not a big deal, project-wise, but it was fun to dust off that very, very old skillset.
Star Climber Scrap Quilt
This is still a project-in-progress, but I’m loving it. Star Climber is another free pattern from Fat Quarter Shop, created especially for scrap-busting.
Stripey Christmas Socks
Started in 2024, but not finished in time for last year’s Christmas, so I got them done in February. I loved wearing these fabulous Christmas socks this Christmas season! I’m on the hunt for all the different Christmas colorways of this West Yorkshire Spinners’ Signature 4-ply yarn so I can own the entire holiday rainbow!
Layer Cake Crêpe Quilt for Fat Quarter Shop
You never saw this, and neither did the rest of the quilting world because I shut down my blog in from May through September of this year, with the full intention of never coming back. I had a stalker in the last part of 2024 and was granted a restraining order that forbade him from making any contact with me for an entire year. However, in the spring I started seeing some activity in my analytics that suggested he might be checking up on me via the blog and it spooked me, so I made the decision to stop feeding the monster and walk away.
But it turns out that I really love blogging and sharing my creative endeavors on social media, and I resented that I had been forced out of the things I loved by that dude. After some serious therapeutic work, I made the decision to come back online in September because I don’t think it’s fair that I be expected to abandon what I love because of someone else’s poor behavior. It’s definitely a personal, multi-faceted choice, and I do worry that it might be a foolish one, but I don’t want to spend my life hiding my talents under a bush just because someone got weird about it all. How do you continue going on if, every time you get good at something, someone behaves dumb about it and you’re expected to quit your hobby because of their choices? It’s crazy. Nope, no thanks.
I used the “A Very Sweet Christmas” collection by Bunny Hill Designs, along with Moda Bella Solids in Baby Pink (#9900-30). It’s a super fast pattern to put together because the blocks are HUGE. It’s available for free over on Fat Quarter Shop’s website. Thank you, Fat Quarter Shop, for our ten years (!) of working together on projects like this. I’ve really enjoyed it all.
Hemming Rachel’s Prom Dress
I know that hemming isn’t an interesting “project,” but I have to include it on my list of projects because SO MUCH OF MY CRAFTING TIME is taken up with hemming formal dresses for Rachel, and I forget that I did the hemming and then wonder what was up with my time management skills because I don’t seem to get any projects done these days. Except I do; it’s just that it’s tailoring and hemming ballgowns for my daughter.
Marching Band Uniform Repair
I just want an excuse to share this picture with you because I absolutely love it:
One of the drum majors’ pants split right before a parade, so they were tossed to me in the back of the band trailer truck bed and I sewed as fast as I could as we travelled down the back streets of whatever town we were in to get to our starting location for the parade. Ha ha ha, another mom snapped this photo and I was very quick to ask them to share it with me because I knew I’d love it. (Pants were completed just in-time!)
Patriotic Graduation Lei
I made a bunch of music-themed graduation leis in 2024 for my daughter and her band friends, and one of the parents reached out to me this year and asked if I could make one for her graduating daughter, but with American Flag ribbon. I was pleased with how it turned out.
Smitten Quilt
All the individual blocks are pieced! I think I started this during 2020 Lockdown, so it’s been a slow and steady work. I started attaching the blocks into rows this summer, but it will probably take a long while before this quilt is actually done. I tend to only work on it in the summer.
Fourth of July Pennant Banner
I’m realizing, between the patriotic graduation lei, my husband’s Christmas socks, and now this little banner, that I’ve done a lot of Americana-themed stuff this year. I threw this together one day in June because I was decorating for the upcoming holiday and wanted my mantel to be a little cuter, so it happened.
Reading Nook Cottage Quilt
I briefly mentioned this as a possible crafty goal in 2024. I ordered the fabric while I was completing my Master’s degree back in…2023(?), promising myself that I’d make something nice for myself with it once I graduated. Well, I was busy when I graduated and then everything went crazy, so I didn’t get to actually working on it until the summer of 2025. It’s a pattern of my own design, but nothing special; anyone could reverse-engineer it pretty fast. It’s still a work-in-progress; I decided to set it aside so I could resume working on Ren’s Penguin quilt.
Penguin Parade Quilt
This is the quilt that never ends. I really thought 2025 was going to be the year, but alas, it was not. Fingers crossed for 2026!
Hemming Rachel’s Homecoming Dress
Such a pretty dress, but I was sick while I hemmed it and when she went off to the dance, so I don’t really have any photos of it.
Oh my gosh, I am sick of hemming formal dresses. I would so much rather make the entire dress than hem a store-bought one. Hemming the dress is the worst part, and Rachel does not enjoy the process of being fitted for a handmade dress, so I no longer get to experience the exciting parts of dressmaking, just the worst parts. Boo. (She did look so pretty in this dress at the Daffodil Princess Selection Ceremony, though! Still proud of her!)
Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler
I really enjoyed working on this. It is FINISHED, but awaiting framing. The frame has even been purchased, but between the Thanksgiving bout of COVID, the Montana funeral chaos and all the schedule upsets that accompanied the Epic Washington State Flooding in December, I haven’t yet gotten to framing it.
Peppermint Blossoms EPP
I think I’m going to scale down this project. I’m tired of it. It’s cute-ish, but I’m just not seeing a vision for it anymore.
Hubby’s Christmas Gift Socks: American Flag Socks
They turned out pretty amazing. He loves them! Such a fun yarn colorway, and I’m really enjoying throwing contrasting heels and toes onto self-striping yarn socks. If only I could remember to also do the cuff/ribbing in the contrasting color as well! It makes my heart happy to see another set of socks in his growing pile of gifted Christmas socks.
I am really hoping to do more creating in 2026. 2025 was a tough year that was spent in a quasi-paralysis as I recovered from the complications of my 2024 surgery, the trauma of the stalker, and adjusting to some big life changes. I have high hopes for 2026 because, really, things should definitely trend upwards after all the weird upsets we’ve experienced recently. The law of averages works that way, right?
So, hopefully, part of the reason that 2026 will be better than 2025 is that I’ll do more creating in the craft room. Fingers crossed!
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.
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!
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.
As one would expect, I looked at these upcoming fourteen-hour long drives and immediately began planning a creative project or two to work on. I find knitting to be my best “in a moving vehicle” project, so on the first trip out I packed both my Wee Woolly Sheep Ornament in-progress, and the materials to start making some Fair Isle Christmas ball ornaments. It turned out that I was too keyed up and stressed to be able to work on those projects, so no real progress was made.
Wee Woolly Sheep is a fiddly pattern, the Fair Isle Christmas balls are too chart-heavy…neither is good for truck knitting.
We had to make another trip back for the actual funeral, so I decided to pack something easy to work on: The Better Days Sweater, which I started at some point during the COVID shutdowns. It’s at the point where I just have to work the body of the sweater in plain stockinette stitch, so I figured I could handle that in the truck.
Well, I could have if I had had the correct size of needles. #strikeone
And if I hadn’t cast on only enough stitches to fit a child’s torso. #striketwo
Derailed further by the fact that the sleeves are long enough for an adult, but with a number of stitches cast on for a kindergartener. #strikethree
“No worries,” I told myself, “I’ll just find a local yarn shop in Billings and buy some new needles and then take care of business.”
The closest yarn shop to our hotel in Billings was Yarn Bar, so we set out for it amongst the ice and snow. Rachel accompanied me into the shop and we both stopped in our tracks upon entering because it was so beautiful. Shelf upon shelf of rainbow hues and tweedy goodness, all brightly lit and displayed with obvious care. A rack of knitted baby sweater samples to stroke, cute hats on mannequins. Fun and happy colors everywhere you looked.
After all the stress of travelling, all the care and worry about the funeral preparations, all the anxiety over the weather…I walked into a yarny wonderland and felt all my troubles lift for just a little bit. It was a sorely needed balm of color and joy that warmed my heart and stoked the embers of inspiration that have been lying too ashen and neglected for too long. I could have sat in that shop all day.
I was responsible and only bought the needles I had planned to buy, but I really wanted to take a lot of their tweedy yarns home, and I spied another Christmas colorway of the West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4-ply that I made my Stripey Christmas Socks with earlier this year. I might have to go and order that after the holidays in preparation for next Christmas.
It was such a warm and inviting space to visit, I absolutely loved it and wish I lived closer so I could frequent it often. It had a lot of the same feel as the now-closed Churchmouse Yarns Bainbridge Island location and the old Black Sheep Wool Company in Salt Lake City before it was transferred to new ownership. I love that homey, traditional ambiance of those types of yarn stores. It’s the traditional wools, tweeds, and good old-fashioned colorwork patterns that really do it for me, knitting-wise. There’s just not a lot of stores that go in that direction anymore.
I was so glad to have had the experience of stopping by Yarn Bar and feeding my soul with all that color and those yummy yarn vibes. I wish I’d taken pictures of the shop, but Michael was circling the block while I completed my quick errand, so I had to hurry away. Oh, it made me so sad to leave that beautiful place, but I kept that feeling of happiness-in-color in my heart as we traversed the blue and icy Montana landscape for the rest of the weekend and on the long journey home. I have new ideas in my head for some really pretty projects that I can hopefully get going on after the holidays.
How good it is to be creative souls that, in the midst of bleak weeks and stressful moments, can just pop into a shop for a moment to be soothed by the materials and tools that we work with to create our art. Such a blessing.
Which is more than I can say for my attempts to resurrect my Better Days Sweater. Truck-ice-skating down the freeway hampered my desire to knit, so I gave up on the idea for the trip home. Now that I’m firmly situated on a stable surface, I’ll be picking it back up soon.
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!
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.
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!
That Crafty Cara 