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!
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!
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.
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!
[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!
Everyone in my household is flabbergasted that we’re already a week into May; like, where did April go and when did it actually happen? Needless to say, spring is in full swing around here! Lots of fun stuff, plenty of sunshine, and a reinvigorating of the soul as we cast our eyes towards the end of the school year.
Debrief: April’s #craftygoals:
Riley Blake Designs Block Challenge Sew Along: GUYS. I am officially caught up! Fourteen blocks sewn up! Patting myself on the back here because it is rare indeed when I get that far behind on something and then am actually able to truly get caught back up again. I haven’t had a chance to do photoshoots on all the blocks yet, so I’ll have to come back and do another post for that.
Fat Quarter Shop’s Sewcialites 3 Sew Along: Staying caught up on that! The Cherry Limeade quilt is coming along beautifully, and I’ve found some great internet friends via the Sewcialites Facebook group. It’s such a nice group of people who are cheering each other on and lavishing praise left and right on everyone. This might be a sew along I continue with for many years because I’m enjoying both the actual sew along and also its participants so much.
Renaissance’s Chef Clothing Tailoring: She never approached me about it and it doesn’t seem to be bothering her that much, so I may not actually help with this after all.
Rachel’s Prom Dress Tailoring: I had to install a lining because the bodice was made from see-through MESH, but I figured it out easily enough and did a good job. Minimal hemming, woo hoo! She looked gorgeous; I’m so thankful that she really loved big, poufy ballgowns and we were able to go crazy with the full skirts over the years. Also thankful that my formal dress-hemming days are OVER. (No, I will NOT be making their wedding dresses, making the prom dresses cured me of that dream.)
Graduation Quilts: I have all but one signature for Renaissance’s quilt. I’ve marked the seamlines on all of the blanks for Rachel’s quilt and have handed out quite a few of them to former teachers. I also realized that I think the signature “top” should actually be a signature “backing” because both of the girls have said they think they’d prefer that. SOOOOOOO…I’m designing new tops for the quilts to match the vibes of the now-backs of the quilts. Because when I said I’d make them a quilt each, I really meant two quilts each but cleverly packaged as just one quilt. ::rolls eyes::
Penguin Party Quilt: Quilt top completed! Yaaaayyyy!! And that is where it will remain for a few months as I shift my attention to Rachel’s graduation. Anti-climactic? Yes. But I told you that THIS IS THE YEAR I FINISH THIS QUILT.
Smitten EPP Quilt: I did put some time in on it. Can you tell? Not really. Rachel started her own Smitten quilt in the last couple of weeks to deal with the boredom of the last weeks of senior year. Everything is wrapping up and she’s tired of wasting time on her phone, so she asked me for some pointers on fabric placement and the like and then employed the EPP skills she acquired when I taught it to her and all the other Activity Days girls in our Utah ward forever ago. She’s completed about five of the large blocks and two or three of the small blocks and they look pretty good. It’s been so much fun to hang out in the craft room together in the evenings as she cuts fabric for her next block; like a little pause between school days Rachel and adulthood Rachel. I’ll cherish these conversations forever. So much is changing on the horizon for her and it is running at us full-tilt.
Jingle Bell Socks: They are done! They still need blocking and finishing, which probably won’t happen until the knitting bug hits again in autumn, but they are technically done.
Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt: Not technically a goal last month, but I decided to start every sewing session with fifteen minutes of quilting/finishing and lo and behold, the Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt is officially quilted! I’ve also trimmed it and created the binding for it. I’m just as shocked as you are. It’s only taken six years.
May #craftygoals:
Time-Sensitive Things That Need Working on ASAP:
Graduation!: I’ve got some massive graduation party planning to do in the next month, so my craft progress may be extremely impacted, but it’s totally fine. I need to make graduation leis for Rachel and her friends, and all the random things that will make her graduation party extra nice. So many fun projects!
Riley Black Designs Block Challenge Sew Along: This ends this month! There are sixteen block and I’ve sewn fourteen of them! Woot woot! There are a handful of setting blocks and sashings to actually finish this thing, but we’re not going to focus on that too much. I’m trusting that the energy of finishing the last block will push me to keep going. Wouldn’t it be great if I just finished this whole quilt by the end of May? A girl can dream…because if it’s not finished by the end of May, it will languish due to graduation and the absolute insanity of our summer schedule. So yeah, I guess the goal is to finish this completely by the end of May.
Fat Quarter Shop Sewcialites 3 Sew Along: Almost halfway there! Block #12 comes out tomorrow! I am still just absolutely loving this sew along. I ordered my border, backing and binding fabrics last week. It’s going to be such a pretty quilt! It’s so different from what I normally do and it’s proving that deviating from your comfort zone can be a really, really good thing. With graduation coming up and some really crazy scheduling in the weeks right after graduation, it would be a good thing if I could actually finish both May’s and June’s blocks during May. I’ve mocked up the entire quilt already so I’d be working off my own guesses at how the scheduled blocks are going to go together, but who cares?
Graduation Quilts:
Renaissance’s: I might be able to really get going on Ren’s here soon. Needing to also construct a new top is going to slow me down, obviously, but the quilt will be used a lot more as a result and I cannot stand it when people stuff a quilt in a closet, so here we are. It would be good if I could finish Ren’s quilt entirely.
Rachel’s: It could start moving forward; I’ve received quite a few signed blocks back already. I’ve mocked up her quilt top design and she’s enthusiastically approved it, so the fabric for that was included in the Sewcialites order and will be here next week. It would be good if I could finish the top this month and add the borders to the blocks that have already been signed.
Things to Work on After the ASAP Projects:
Machine Stitching:
Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt: It’d be good if I could get this finished for good! That fifteen minutes at the start of each sewing session accomplishes a lot! We’ll see…
Sew Many Stars BOM Christmas Quilt: This is the next UFO to finish on 2026’s list. I highly doubt I’ll get through my other projects to the point where I’ll work on this, but I’m listing it as a possibility.
Hand Stitching:
English Paper Piecing: Smitten EPP Quilt: My Smitten quilt is permanently located in its rolling cart next to the couch in the TV Room, and I’ll pick it up here and there to work on, but with daylight lasting longer and life being busy I don’t know how much work will go into it during the month of May. Watching Rachel’s quilt come together makes me want to get my own quilt going again, though, so perhaps her enthusiasm will rub off on me?
Knitting: I need a new car knitting project. I could wind some cool yarn and just make some regular ol’ socks? Although, with warmer weather coming up I probably won’t accomplish much knitting in the next while. I do prefer to do embroidery or EPP in the warmer months.
Embroidery: Perhaps, given the knitting conundrum, I should figure out an embroidery car project? There’s a beehive embroidery kit that’s been languishing for some time. I could pop it into the car for the summer.
It’s a great time of year, full of all sorts of fun things! I hope your projects are going well, and if you’re too busy with other things at the moment, remember that it’s totally fine to take breaks because the yarn and the fabric will wait for you. Enjoy the sunshine, the celebrations, and the time with family and friends, if that’s what’s pulling you away.
Summary of May’s Crafty Goals:
Graduation projects: Leis, party prep, etc.
Riley Blake Designs Block Challenge: Finish up last blocks, maybe finish the entire thing?
Fat Quarter Shop Sewcialites 3 Sew Along: Definitely finish May’s blocks, but try to get June’s blocks done ahead of time, too.
Renaissance’s Graduation Quilt: Try to finish completely. Crazy goal.
Rachel’s Graduation Quilt: Try to finish the new top and add borders to the already-signed blocks.
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)
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!
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!
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It is mind boggling to me that I managed to abstain from most creative endeavors for eighteen months! Of course, one way that I dealt with the inevitable withdrawal pangs was to promise myself that I’d be allowed to work on crafty things to my heart’s content once I was done with school, which has resulted in a HUGE “Want to Make” list. Unfortunately, now that we’re to the point of being able to grapple with all the beautiful projects I earmarked, I’m overwhelmed by all of my choices! What a fantastic problem to have! Hee hee. I work through decisions better with writing and visuals, so here’s what’s on my mind:
Quilts:
Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt: (ASAP) I am finally quilting this! It’s horrible quilting because 1) I’m very out of practice, and 2) I wasn’t that great a quilter to begin with, but it’s in-progress! I’ve realized that the quilting step is the huge bottleneck for my quilts; there was a time when I could just send them out to a long-arm quilter and wash my hands of the task, but prices and shipping have gotten so expensive in recent years that I can’t justify the cost anymore. I invested in another sewing machine with a much larger throat space so I can quilt my own quilts, but they’re definitely not as pretty as the long-arm pantos that I love. Sigh. Done is better than perfect here. And hey, maybe I’ll actually develop my quilting skills to a level that pleases me. The Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt will not reflect that sort of level, but I’m telling myself it’s ok because it’s a scrap quilt that will get the snot kicked out of it anyway, so wonky quilting won’t be a tragedy.
Far Far Away Quilt: (ASAP) I started this one back in 2022 and even worked on it a little during a school break. It’s sewn into its rows and is awaiting the rest of the top assembly, which will then require me to pull out all the foundation papers, which is causing me some task paralysis because papers removal just plain isn’t fun! But, oh…it’s a pretty quilt! Cara! Just slog through the unpleasant part and get this finished so you can have this awesome quilt! Geez!
Chatsworth Block of the Month: (January-December) This is a sew along hosted by Fat Quarter Shop this year and I really want to participate because I’ve been collecting some fabrics for a couple of years now that will work really, really well for it! The first installment of blocks were due by the end of last month, but I haven’t started yet.
Piece & Quilt Sampler Sew Along: (March 2024-February 2025) Another sew along with the Fat Quarter Shop. I bought the pattern book a while back because it looked awesome, and then I saw there was a sew along this year and I got really excited about it. I’ve even stash-dived and decided on some great fabric to use. The question is whether or not I have time for it? You can look at the general info and fabric requirements here if you’re also interested. It’s going to be a pretty quilt!
Birthday quilt for Nathaniel: (April) He at least has his own Christmas quilt, but alas, still no everyday quilt, and he rarely resists the opportunity to bring it up in conversation that I’ve deeply neglected him in failing to provide this necessity of life. He’s given up on the Rocket Age quilt, and has been asking for a pig quilt for a couple of years.
Reading Nook Quilt: (May) For the most part, I avoided even looking at fabric while I was working on my master’s degree; but, during a particularly stressful couple of weeks of student teaching, I indulged in a lot of online window shopping as I grappled with the challenges I was facing. As luck would have it, Ruby Star Society’s “Reading Nook” collection was released that week and I was completely smitten with its adorableness and ordered a fat quarter bundle of it with the promise that I could make myself a reading quilt once student teaching was completed. I’ve mocked up a pattern for it, it’s super simple and satisfying, but I’ve lacked time to start working on it. I’d really like to finish this as a birthday gift to myself this year.
Fig Tree Strawberry Garden Block of the Month: (May 2024-April 2025) Another FQS sew along; I absolutely love it and hope I can make it happen! I’ve placed a reservation order for the book and I’ve definitely got enough stashed Fig Tree fabrics to work with, so it wouldn’t even require purchasing fabrics.
Renaissance Graduation/College Quilt: (June/August) ‘Cuz I gotta. No idea what I’m going to make or what fabric/color palette I’ll use. I figure that will get worked out once we get her through the college application/acceptance process.
Penguin Christmas quilt for Renaissance: (November) Because she’s a senior in high school this year and she still doesn’t have her own Christmas quilt! She’s been making do with the Hipster Christmas Tree quilt, but I’d really like to get her very own, made-specifically-for-her quilt done before Thanksgiving this year. I have no idea where she’s heading after high school; she’s vacillating between studying music out of state or staying close to home and earning a technical certificate in pastry arts, so the quilt could be a “welcome home for the holidays” thing or it might not be. It is nerve-wracking to watch your barely-adult children make these huge decisions.
Gingerbread Christmas quilt for Rachel: (November) Rachel also doesn’t have her very own made-for-her Christmas quilt. She’s been making do with the Double-Nine Patch quilt I made for Fat Quarter Shop back in 2018, but has been wishing and wishing for a gingerbread quilt for years and years. Due in large part to the euphoria of having submitted my last ever final paper right before Black Friday, I bought an embarrassing amount of fabric at various quilt shops’ Black Friday sales, and the majority of it was various precuts and yardages of the Holiday Cheer collection by My Mind’s Eye, solely for the purpose of finally sewing up a “just for Rachel” Christmas quilt.
English Paper Piecing quilts: I have four in-progress and it would be nice to finish up some of them. There’s the Star Spangled Diamonds quilt from forever ago that needs borders, the Smitten quilt that needs a few more filler pieces to assemble the top, a Christmas-themed jewel quilt I started this last Christmas because I wanted a Christmas project to work on in the car, and the Roses Hexagon quilt that I’ve slowly been working on for years whenever I need a break from current projects.
Knitting:
I don’t think I have any definitive knitting projects in mind, which makes me sad. It’s just not that cold here in Washington, when compared to winter weather in Utah, so the need just isn’t that high anymore. However, I just like the *feel* of knitting needles in my hands, so I’d like to do more knitting…I just don’t know what to work on. I wonder if I equate knitting with babies and children for the most part, and because there’s really no little people in our families anymore, there’s not a lot of pressure to knit right now?
However, I do have a lot of stash. Some things I’m inspired to make when I think about my stash are:
Lace shawls: I have a lot of laceweight yarn in really beautiful colors. Unfortunately, I don’t really lead a life that uses lace shawls, so creating them to then just let them sit is silly. I could try to become a shawl-wearing person, though…or just enjoy the creative process and not worry so much about the end product.
Socks: I also have a lot of fingering-weight yarn that would make good socks. I think I just need to grant myself permission in this vein. Socks are awesome mindless knitting that are oh-so-portable. I should pause my EPP in the car and concentrate on knitting instead until the weather warms up.
School mascot hat/beret: I was exploring yarn shops in the area and bought some yarn in my kids’ high school colors because I had a vision of a cool beret knit in fair isle technique of the school mascot. Should probably move along on this idea.
Brooklyn Tweed Shelter project: I’ve been collecting random colorways for years, and decided, on a whim, to cast on a Baa-ble Hat last week. I’m enjoying knitting it up!
Clothing
I have so much apparel fabric and I literally have no plans to use any of it. It’d be nice to get back into clothing sewing, but my focus may just be on quilts this year. I don’t know even know where I’d start with clothes. There is a lovely feeling of satisfaction when you sew your own clothes, though…I miss it.
Embroidery
Weird things happen when you put things on your Amazon wish list—sometimes your husband will actually buy you the things! Michael generously gifted me an embroidery machine for this Christmas, and it’s on my radar to learn how to use the thing…at some point. I didn’t think I’d ever receive it as a gift, so I have no plans in effect. I put it on my wishlist while I was really leaning into tablescaping for the holidays and I think I’d enjoy creating specially embroidered table linens. And monogrammed bridal handkerchiefs. And I’ve always wanted embroidered pillowcases with matching embroidered flat sheets, and, and, and…hee hee hee. It might take A WHILE to circle around to this, though; I really do have a lot of quilty plans to plough through first!
So that’s what I’ve got on my mind for 2024. I guess I should print out this list and hang it up somewhere to remind me that I’ve got some serious sewing to get to this year! I really got out of the habit of daily creativity during grad school, but I missed it dearly and am going to make an earnest effort to reintegrate creativity back into my daily life. Wish me luck! And I wish YOU luck with your project goals for 2024!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s the fourth of August and I’m only just now posting this. It’s the end of my summer quarter and everything is piling up on me, so things are a bit crazy at the moment. At least I’m posting within the first week of the month, right?
I’m going to combine this month’s #craftygoals wishlist with the Friday update of what I’ve accomplished in the craft room in the past week. We’ll all survive the uncertainty, I’m sure.
Debrief: July 2023 #craftygoals:
Patriotic Mini Charm Chiffon Baby Quilt:Done and blogged. Finished much, much later than planned, but technically done.
Farm to Table Mini Charm Chiffon Baby Quilt: Just started cutting it. Did I want it to be done by the end of July? Yes, yes I did. Sigh.
Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt: Nope.
Scrappy Thursdays:
Brickhouse: Finished the blocks!
Clementine: I think I’m going to put this one back into hibernation
Mixed Berries Quilt: Started cutting the fabrics for the 12-inch blocks
Leaders & Ender HSTs: Nope. Thinking about abandoning this one as well.
Smitten EPP Quilt: I don’t know where I was exactly at the beginning of July on this, but I’ve made a lot of progress in joining the small hexagons into large hexagon blocks.
August 2023 #craftygoals:
TIME-SENSITIVE THINGS THAT NEED WORKING ON ASAP:
Farm to Table Mini Charm Chiffon Baby Quilt: I’m doing better with this one, in that the baby hasn’t been born yet, so I’m better prepared with this particular quilt. I am going to need to sew like the wind on this, though.
Renaissance’s Birthday Party: I am really excited for this, even though I have no idea where to start or how big I want to go on this party. There is a (very cute) theme and we’re starting to gel our brainstormed ideas into something cohesive. I’m sure there will be a lot of work I’ll need to do to make this into something special. It’s her last “kid” birthday party, and we’re leaning into that really hard.
THINGS TO WORK ON AFTER THE ASAP PROJECTS:
I’m torn between working on:
Rainbow Coin Strip Quilt: It’s basted and just needs to be quilted and bound, OR
Nature Trails Quilt: Because when August is over, it will be September, which is autumn and this quilt is an autumn quilt. The top is done, but it’s not basted yet. I wonder if I even have a backing for it?
Maybe I can just be amazing and get both done. Ha ha ha.
Scrappy Thursdays: I’m going to simplify and get rid of my rotation. Furthest completed projects will be prioritized. I’ll work on the Brickhouse Quilt until it’s done, and then move on to the Mixed Berries Quilt.
HAND STITCHING:
English Paper Piecing: Music lesson time will still be spent on the Smitten EPP quilt. I think I’m assembling one combined large hexagon per week, so hopefully I get four more put together over the course of August.
Knitting/Embroidery: I didn’t plan for it last month, but then I realized I wanted to include some mandatory knitting time into each day. As a result, Eeyore the Unicorn was born.
I was going to move onto another knitting project after finishing Eeyore, but then I happened to see an embroidery kit that Michael bought me for Christmas and I wanted to do that instead. It’s not a big project and I’ll probably finish it by the end of the month.
However, I don’t like the idea of rushing my embroidery projects because I just enjoy the work so much, so I hesitate to force this into the confines of a goal. I give myself the gift of thirty minutes each day to work on this; it’s a small project that I expect will be finished by the end of the month and I will absolutely not be frustrated if it’s not completed because it will be what it will be with the time I have for it. I don’t even want to make a plan for what I’ll do after it’s done because I don’t want to burden myself with the excitement of another project that could dampen my enthusiasm in any way for this embroidery project.
(I do have a lot of knitting projects I’d like to get going on though…)
I’ve been working away on the Rainbow Coin Strip quilt, spurred on by the, frankly, heartwarming reception my kids have been giving it whenever they wander through the craft room. Everyone loves to look for fabrics they remember, and oh my goodness, have I been feeling like a Winner.
I finally got all the borders attached and laid out the quilt on a bed so it wouldn’t wrinkle while I prepared the backing. I mentioned to Emms that the quilt was pieced in its entirety and laid out on the bed if they wanted to see it in its full glory, and they headed off to the room. Moments later they shrieked and then started laughing, which piqued my curiosity and Nathaniel’s, so I went into the room after he ran in and saw this:
So I walked around the end of the bed to see what was so interesting, and saw it:
And those little punks squealed with glee, took pictures of it, and texted it to their friends for a laugh.
And you know how people say, “Will it matter in ten years?” I decided that yes, it would still matter in ten years and they would probably still be making fun of me, so I decided to fix it:
I don’t think it will matter much, jokes about snipers and presidential assassinations are going pretty strong in our house at the moment.
And it’s no longer the “Rainbow Coin Strip quilt” to my kids, it’s now called the “Kennedy Sniper quilt.” Which is not a name you want people to adopt for anything you make, ever.
Seriously, who OK’d the decision to put that on fabric?!?! Why?!?! What quilt would be elevated with that headline?!?!
I imagine it was one of the fat quarters included in a low volume or text only bundle, and when I was cutting fabric for the border I just grabbed white fabrics with black on them, no reading necessary, stacked them in a pile and did a batch cut. And then I sewed them together, right sides facing, so I missed it again. Ugh.
Oh well, the hexagons are cute, and it allowed me to use up a little bit of canvas that’s been sitting in the stash since I made the original Storybook Hexagons quilt with it. It was nice to revisit memories of that quilt, which is still to this day the most popular quilt on this blog.
And now that adorable fabric is covering up a presidential assassination headline. Lovely.
That Crafty Cara 