Alright, fellow Christmas junkies, we’re heading into the fourth week of HHP!
Due to being really sick for the past week and a half, I’ve not had the opportunity to work on any of Week 3’s tasks, YET. I’m posting so that you can have the checklists for Week #4 somewhat close to its original posting schedule. I’ll debrief Week #3 with Week #4.
Week #4: Close to Home
Week #4 Cleaning Checklist: Kids’ Bedrooms
Declutter, clean, and organize children’s bedrooms.
Particularly with kid stuff, I like to list available items in my church Facebook group so that congregation members can take them if they’d like. No point in driving it to a donation store when my own neighbors might use it themselves.
This week is a great week to help children work through the process of decluttering so they can learn how to do it from a young age. The chapter on kids’ room in Decluttering at the Speed of Life: Winning Your Never-Ending Battle with Stuff, by Dana K. White, is such a good read for this sticky area of parenting. I started using her tips with my kids about four years ago and they have slowly built up the ability to do a lot of it on their own now. One of my kids even did their own decluttering session around Labor Day because “it [felt] like the right time of year to do it.” I guess end-of-summer decluttering somehow became a tradition for our family?! #parentingwin
FYI: I also do a BIG kids’ room declutter at the end of the school year/beginning of summer break. There’s not enough time to do as thorough a job as I’d like during this one week of HHP, especially against the backdrop of a new school year ramping up. I also like the “chapter closing” feel of doing a big declutter and clean at the end of the school year.
No children in your household? Use this week to tackle a bonus room or any other area this week, catch up on previous weeks, or take the week off.
Next week will be Guest Room week, and I’ve never had a guest room in my home, so I use it as another week for cleaning kids’ rooms. Because trying to clean four kids’ bedrooms in one week is insane. If you don’t have kids or a guest room, it’ll be another bonus week.
These two weeks are also good yardwork weeks, before the weather starts turning. I try to plant my spring bulbs around the Autumn Equinox (~September 21), which falls in this week.
Week #4 Holiday Prep Checklist
Seasonal Spruce-Up exercise: I LOVE THIS TASK; it’s something I do every year because it’s so smart. Do a home walkthrough and write down any home improvements, chores, or projects that need doing before the holiday season gets underway.
Once I have my entire list written down, I rank and prioritize the projects/tasks so I can tackle the most important ones first. I like to use Karen Lin’s Ranker tool to help me figure out what my true priorities are and then copy/paste the prioritized list into a document.
Delegate where you can! When I ask someone in the family to do a task, I write it down on a Post-It and stick to one of my kitchen cabinets so I don’t forget to ask them about their progress. The Post-It stays on the cabinet and I keep “reminding” (also referred to as “nagging” by some members of my family) until the task is done. Then the Post-It note can go in the trash.
Declutter children’s toys: As our family heads into adult children years, there is more of this than you would expect. Specific areas to declutter include board games, video games/dead controllers, sports equipment that’s too small, winter weather wear, and sheet music that is from their elementary years. Arts and crafts supplies was a big one a few years ago, and also books.
Begin collecting stocking stuffers.
Hit the back-to-school clearance sales: Good sources for stocking stuffers, craft supplies, and wrapping and mailing supplies like tape and scissors.
Consult family and decide on Halloween costumes.
Start thinking about Advent calendars.
Start working on Christmas cards or letters.
Update birthdays and anniversaries in your calendar and/or task lists.
Continue working on handmade gifts. (Week 3 of 14)
Keep trying to find daily time to work on HHP. A little bit of time daily can get A LOT done.
The House & Holiday Plan was originally created by Cynthia Townley Ewer, and I use much of her original wording. She shut her Organized Christmas website down, so many people now post their own version. You can also join another Christmas planning enthusiast community at Magical Holiday Home.
Alright, fellow Christmas junkies, we’re heading into the third week of HHP! Let’s debrief Week #2 first.
Debrief: Week #2 Calendar & Creativity
Cleaning
Declutter and clean creative spaces: I cleared some of the floor, particularly in front of my design wall, and it’s much nicer in the craft room as a result.
Assess stored crafts materials: I have more than enough of everything, ALWAYS.
Holiday Prep
Get your calendar filled in: I actually reached out to people and we scheduled some stuff! Woo hoo!
Plan holiday travel: My favorite: None. I’m travelled out for the year, y’all.
Schedule necessary household and family upkeep appointments: Done.
Hold a family scheduling session: Still need to do; we were sick.
Start gathering your holiday ideas: I made my Pinterest board for the year, and as I was filling it in I just felt like I’d rather go a little simple this year and enjoy what we already have. So often I feel that “More, more, more!” feeling, but we’ve had such minimal celebrations in the past couple of years that I feel like just using what we already have on-hand would be plenty, so I might just make do this year.
Start a shopping list: Done.
Review gift lists: Done.
Inventory unfinished crafts projects: I have a UFO storage system and spreadsheet already, so I was aware of how bad it was. I did unearth the Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler while decluttering the craft room and have set it aside to frame in the next few weeks.
Begin a “Gifts to Make” list: Done.
Decide Christmas music performances, purchase sheet music and figure out logistics: I’m adding this to this week’s tasks after a conversation I had with a friend who is a piano teacher and she mentioned that she had assigned all her students’ Christmas recital music in the last week. I generally start thinking about Christmas music around Labor Day anyway, so it’s a good thing to add to this week’s checklist for the future. AND I do have a piano solo of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” that I started messing around with as a result. I also have a cute arrangement of “Away in a Manger” that I wish I could track down again because it’d be good to finally perform that.
Week #3: Me & Mine
Week #3 is all about the master bedroom, seasonal clothing rotation, Christmas cards, and gift wrapping.
Week #3 Cleaning Checklist: Master Bedroom
Declutter, clean, and organize the Master Bedroom
Decorate/update the Master Bedroom
Declutter your clothes closet: Rotate out summer clothing and get ready for sweater weather
Week #3 Holiday Prep Checklist
Inventory holiday cards, gift wrap and mailing supplies
Make a Christmas card list
Create a digital address book for Christmas cards
Print/order address labels for Christmas cards
Order, buy or print Christmas cards or letters
Plan personal pampering sessions, and add them to the calendar
Set aside a gift closet or create a gift box; inventory any previously-purchased gifts
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!
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!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know that we’re halfway through the month, but it’s better to do the thing late than to not do the thing at all. And I really do love to read through my #craftygoals posts years later, so here we go.
Debrief: October 2025 #craftygoals:
Penguin Party Quilt: Coming along well. Really thought I’d have the top done by now, but life keeps interrupting. Life be like that.
Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt: Ha ha ha. I think I’m getting too old to have multiple projects in-progress anymore. I don’t think I even literally touched this quilt once.
Peppermint Blossoms EPP quilt: Some progress made, but I need to be honest with myself and admit that I’m just not feeling this anymore, so I should probably set it aside or figure out a way to make something from what I’ve already got prepared, like a pillow or table runner or something like that.
Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler: This was not done at the end of October, but it’s done now!
November 2025 #craftygoals:
Time-Sensitive Things That Need Working on ASAP:
Daffodil Princess Dress: Rachel is running for Daffodil Princess this year, and the selection ceremony is coming up. As such, she needs a dress for it, which we have secured and, SHOCKING, it needs hemming. All I do is hem formal dresses for this kid! Ugh. It’s a very pretty dress, though, so at least I’m working on pretty things. It’d be torture if they were ugly dresses. And this dress doesn’t have five skirts like that one prom dress at one point. That was pretty torturous, that one. So, hemming…STAT.
Things to Work on After the ASAP Projects:
Machine Stitching:
Penguin Party Quilt: So close. Really, really hoping the top is done and I’ve got this bad boy in the mail to the quilter by the end of the month.
Rachel’s Gingerbread Christmas Quilt: Prewash the fabric, maybe get some of the cutting done? I don’t know if I’m going to make it to working on this quilt in November.
Hand Stitching:
English Paper Piecing: I don’t know what I want to do here. I might take a break and focus on knitting instead.
Knitting: I want to knit some Christmas tree ornaments. I cast on a Churchmouse Woolly Wee Sheep today, so I think I’ll focus on making those for the next couple of weeks.
Embroidery: Get the Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler framed.
There’s not a lot of November left, and Christmas prep is surging forward, so we’ll see how much we get done on these goals! Wish me luck!
Following that wild storm that knocked out the power for a bit, these past couple of weeks have continued in the same vein. More storms, more (tiny) power outages, more craziness of getting kids to their activities, more, more, more, more. As the rain pelted me whenever I stepped outside, as the rain drums on the minivan’s roof, as the rain turns every cross-country course into mud soup, as the rain and wind tease my hair into a Halloween-worthy work of art befitting the season. Wind, rain, driving, rushing, tensing at every time the lights flicker. More, more, more, more. The urge to get ready for a fight-or-flight situation has been my constant companion as we steel ourselves against the weather and flurry of events.
And it’s completely the wrong waiting phase for these kinds of moments. Being on edge doesn’t protect against the storms. Hyper-vigilance doesn’t make my kids finish their races faster or score higher games. Stress doesn’t equal success.
Something I figured out when the kids were younger, that still applies today, is this: Slow is fast, and fast is slow. Which I’ve expanded in recent years to: Peaceful is winning, stressful is losing. Which sounds harsh but hear me out: I have always known that I can achieve anything. Doesn’t matter what it is or how impossible it may seem, I can figure it out. When I was considering getting my master’s degree a few years ago, I wasn’t worried about succeeding because I knew I could do it. Full stop. Make a plan and work the plan. It’s not rocket science.
However, as I’ve been getting older, I’ve started to realize that living in a constantly fearful state of hyperarousal isn’t enjoyable. I used to be proud of being super busy and getting lots of stuff done, but the other side of that productivity was that things were almost always stressful in my personal life. Cooking dinner at the end of the day while being overstimulated from doing too much is torturous. Orchestrating a carpool schedule that only has five-minute leniency windows seems impressive until you’re actually living it in real life and get stuck behind a tractor on the highway. Go, go, go, more, more, more, not enough, not enough, not enough.
Which almost always leads to a shortened temper. Snapping at the kids. Rolling my eyes towards the heavens at yet another inconvenience. Numbing out on the couch after dinner because my brain cannot handle computing another thought after feeling like I’ve been doing all the thinking for five people’s welfare, and logistics for various organizations, all day long. Too much, too much, too much. The choices that led to that sort of stress are choices to lose at the experience of life. No one wants those outcomes. Why am I making the choices that regularly result in these stressful moments?
Enter: The Beautiful Side of the Autumn Storm Season.
Enter: Being forced to cancel plans, sit in the darkness, exist without the hum of the millions of appliances in your house (for a little while…), and to exercise patience. That moment when you know there is nothing you can do to change the outcome of the inconvenience in front of you, and you surrender to the moment.
And it’s really nice.
And you wonder why you don’t approach life like this all the time.
The invitation to pause. To wait. To trust the process. The invitation to believe that it’s all going to work out fine in the end and knowing that it’s true because you’ve done this a few times before already.
So, I’ve decided to carry that feeling in my heart a little more consciously, and it has really helped calm that always anxious feeling that is synonymous with what it feels like to be inside my head most days. Maybe it’s a season for patience. You’re doing enough. Sink into what’s already going on and don’t worry about adding more.
With that in mind, I’ve spent some quality time with my holiday hand embroidery project, the Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler, and I’m pleased to report that the stitching is complete! I’m now waiting for the frame to be delivered to my house so I can frame it up. The fate of the timing of this project’s total completion is happily surrendered into the hands of the delivery people who will bring it to my door someday. No amount of worrying and fretting will make that go any faster. Get cozy with this “almost done but not quite yet” feeling, it’s going to be our best friend for the next while.
I’ve also spent time working on my daughter’s Christmas quilt, the Penguin Party quilt, and it’s also getting near completion. The blocks are all completely done and the vertical sashing between them has been attached. I’ve cut all the horizontal sashing and have attached one of them to one row. I have run into more issues with the flannel stretching and it is very frustrating. I think I may have to accept that there will be some gathers in the vertical sashing pieces to get them to fit on the horizontal sashing pieces. Or let the gathers happen on the penguin tummies to give the illusion of fuller bellies? I don’t know, but it’s definitely an issue.
A thought just occurred to me that I could unpick a vertical sashing or two and just turn the penguin parades into less of a grid by eliminating the excess through removal of vertical sashing pieces. I don’t want to do that, but I think it’ll be way better than gathering/pleats in the top. We’ll just call it a design feature. That might be my solution going forward unless some of you have some other ideas. I’m all ears. There is no extra fabric to cut longer horizontal sashing, or I’d just do that.
Regardless of which way I go forward, in the end it will be fine. No need for anxiety.
I talked with Renaissance about whether I should quilt it or if I should send it out and we’ve decided to send it out for quilting. Which means it won’t be finished for this year’s Christmas, but when you zoom out for some perspective, then it isn’t a big concern. By sending it out it will end up with prettier quilting, and I can start working on Rachel’s Christmas quilt this year, too, which will be appreciated. These quilts won’t be done in time for this year, but they’ll be done for the rest of the Christmases. No need for anxiety. It’s enough.
I’m not running a race or trying to win at some game. I’m enjoying my hobby and using my free time to create beautiful things for my children. The timing is fine.
Speaking of timing, I also went to my first quilt guild meeting since the beginning of the pandemic. I was entrenched in grad school craziness when they started meeting again, and then I was busy with the kids being teenagers, so I haven’t had space for that until now. Some of the women even remembered me, so that was nice. It felt good to be in a room with like-minded folks, and I’m looking forward to future meetings. I’m trying to remember patience and actively resist the urge to sign up or volunteer to help with anything until I’ve been going for a few months, or even a year. It’s not a race and there’s no game to win. It all waited for me to be ready to return, and it will keep being available regardless of my role/non-role.
So, I’m just going to hunker down and keep stitching. The quilts will get finished and the embroidery will be framed, and we’ll enjoy them for decades afterwards. It’s all enough. The pace is enough. No need for anxiety. Sit down with that cup of cocoa and listen to the rain and enjoy it. It’s a beautiful season of life if you allow it to be. Storms pass, seeds germinate, beauty blooms…all in their own time.
Let’s decide to enjoy this stormy part for its storms and learn from the lessons that those storms offer. Less is more. Pursue the peaceful options when you can.
I mentioned, in Friday’s post, that we were experiencing some rain and that I was hoping for more rain that wouldn’t knock out the power so I could have more time to sew on the Penguin Party quilt.
I got half of my wish.
Saturday was a really big sports day for the kids with Nathaniel running in the League Cross Country meet and Rachel participating in the Unified Bowling Tournament. We left the house at 6:30 am and didn’t get back until after 3:00pm, all while battling pouring rain and gusts of wind that had us literally leaning forward over our toes to stay upright. I tried to talk our family out of going to the church Halloween party that night on account of the weather, but everyone thought I was being overly anxious and pooh-poohed my concerns.
Nathaniel asked Rachel to help him come up with a costume fifteen minutes before we left, so she outfitted him with odds-and-ends from her camp counselor costume trunk!
Our power went out around 5:00pm. The power was still on at the church, and teaser photos on social media showed the promise of a banger of a party, so the fam insisted we head out to enjoy it. The road into town was a warzone of leaves and downed tree limbs that elicited quite a few gasps from us as we drove by, and the drive home treated us to a traffic backup on the highway as the police diverted us around an accident that was in the midst of towing a car out of the ditch. The rain continued on, the wind gusts picked up and our entire area lost power around 10:00pm.
Power still wasn’t on in the morning, so Michael went into Super Generator Man mode and had us set up by 5:30am with all the extension cords our hearts could desire. Each year he invests in another piece of “Power Outage Kit” to make our lives a little easier during power outages and this year’s investment was a very nice, very long extension cord that he snaked through my second floor craft room window so that I could still sew and iron to my heart’s content AND supplies power to the internet router. True love, right there. All the bases covered with one simple extension cord!
Unfortunately, I didn’t do any sewing because I was simply too tired from all the running around the day before, the stress of the power outage, and the lack of sleep from how loud the rain and wind were throughout the night. So, yes, I got half of my wish and I really could have gotten my full wish had I not been exhausted. I guess, in the future, I also need to hope for the energy to sew…silly me!
We Brookes decided to power through the last bit of our goal to watch all the Harry Potter movies before Halloween, and so we did that once we found out that the church didn’t have power and services were cancelled. It was a very chill day. I got out my Christmas Alphabet embroidery sampler at one point, but the mental load of trying to work on it was also too much so I just put it away and rested.
Power came on around 4:30pm for us, while our friends were without power until late this morning. I’ve been running around attempting to catch chores and the like back up to pre-storm conditions and restocking our groceries. So, no sewing over the weekend AT ALL. Oh well.
Looking ahead for the week:
I’m hoping to make A LOT of progress on the Penguin quilt. Maybe even to the point of ignoring all my other projects-in-progress. Ride the wave of motivation, right?
I’ve made a lot of progress on the Christmas Alphabet Embroidery Sampler in recent weeks, but might set it aside in favor of working on the Penguin quilt. If I can stand, I’ll work on the Penguin quilt. If standing is difficult/my back is hurting, I’ll work on the embroidery sampler.
I am tiring of my Peppermint Blossoms EPP quilt, mostly because I’m wishing I’d worked on an autumn/Halloween project over the last couple of months. I’m wondering if having different, seasonal, EPP projects in-progress might work best for my interest cycles in the future? Or maybe I’m not as in love with Peppermint Blossoms as I thought I’d be and it should be scaled back to a smaller finished project? Or maybe I’ve been working on it for two years with very little progress and I’m just fed up with it? Thinking on those ideas at the moment.
It is so weird that this is the last week of October. Next week is the doorway to the Christmas season, y’all! (I’m a Christmas junkie; it starts on November 2nd for me.) It doesn’t even really feel like it’s time for Halloween yet, how can we already be nearly at Thanksgiving and Christmas, too?!?!
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…
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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.)
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.
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.
