2019 Memorykeeping

Posted in Creative Practice, Digital Scrapbooking, Make Stuff, Memory Keeping, Project Gal- Memorykeeping, Scrapbooking by

I have mentioned before that I am not so great at tracking things (I’m looking at you MyFitnessPal app) Last year I did however keep track of layouts that I made by month. As with the fiber portion of my life, I didn’t think that I really got that much accomplished. My plan to document in photos and words monthly pretty much did not happen (even though I had everything I needed all ready in an album … AND that is not to say that I won’t get around to that project this year). When I looked at my list at the end of the year boy was I shocked…

Yep… 328 pages… I had pretty much forgotten that I had made collage layouts for the girls school albums which were 100 layouts alone! Yeah, not sure I can keep up with that this year but maybe just doing my thing and not worrying about page counts is the key to success!

In addition to layouts, I made these super cute houses/village buildings on my silhouette die cutting machine out of plain yardstick. The girls did help me fold some of them and they were really easy to do! Now that the Christmas decorations are put away, I need to put the little houses back up!

And that is a wrap! I’m going to try and insert a “gallery” here with a selection of layouts from 2019!

Thank you for stopping by ! Let me know what your crafty plans are!! I have decided to plan by the quarter so as not to get too overwhelmed planning things out for the whole year!

2019 Makes

Posted in Knitting, Make Stuff, Sew this by

I don’t know about you but did it seem like January was concurrently extremely long and extremely fast moving?? I had meant to post a recap of my making adventures last month but since it feels like February is the new January … here goes!

Last year was super busy with two graduating HS Seniors, College selection / College visits / Buying all the things for College, a business and a household I was not sure that I actually had managed to make anything… but the photo evidence tells the tale (as I may have mentioned in a previous post, I am not super good at tracking things). Photos below in no particular order (and I’m experimenting with photo display style so bear with me…

Knitting makes included: My second pair of socks in Regia Perfect yarn : Lace Cowl (can’t remember the pattern now) : Cable hat out of Madeline Tosh Home (just needs the faux fur pom pom I bought last weekend) : Cable scarf out of Madeline Tosh ASAP (needs to be re-blocked!) : Baby sweater for our contractors first baby ! There was also a lot of filler knitting on the scrap blanket that is always nearby and also STILL working on the brioche shaw…which I should finish before I am eligible for Social Security!

Sewing makes included: Hemming and altering 3 Prom Gowns (!) : Drawstring shorts : Cashmerette Springfield Top in floral rayon : Sew Liberated Metamorphic reversible dress in sanded rayon (it’s like wearing secret pajamas!) : Butterick 2925 grey knit top (no idea where I got the fabric!) : 2 underwire bras in an Orange Lingerie weekend bra workshop : Helen’s Closet Patterns Elliot tee shirt in black jersey and Elliot Sweater in grey sweater knit : Helen’s Closet Patterns Blackwood Cardigan in denim blue herringbone french terry ( LOVE this pattern and have a cream sweatshirt material on deck for another sweater) and some more organizational pouches for Charlie out of my cotton fabric stash!

As I mentioned in my post about quilting, I am making modest sewing goals for 2020… one wardrobe piece a month. January will be the Sew Liberated Hinterland dress in red/black buffalo check flannel (yes, I am aware that as of this writing it’s February 4th). February will be some kind of shirt/tunic out of a butternut herringbone flannel and March will be pants in a olive green heavy twill. I am determined to winnow down the wardrobe fabric stash this year and all three of these fabrics were purchased in 2019 or earlier !

Wish me luck! What are you sewing in 2020??? Do you plan or do you sew on a whim??

2019 One Little Word – recap!

Posted in Creative Practice, Documenting Life, In the Studio by

I participated in Ali Edward’s “One Little Word” class last year, this was my fourth year choosing a word for the year (rather than resolutions which, lets face it…never happen). This year I felt like my word – FORWARD – manifested itself in many ways so I consider it a success!

I made a super casual (cue uproarious laughter) video of my completed album, and as I was editing it, I had the thought that this is not really a scrapbook but more of a visual journal. Click on the link below!

My word for 2020 is COMPLETE so I feel like I am getting off to a good start finishing up 2019!

Do you participate in OLW? What is your word for 2020??!

2020 Mini Quilt project – January

Posted in Craft, Creative Practice, Handmade, In the Studio, Make Stuff, quilting, Quilting, Quilts by

I have been thinking about crafting goals since last December. I have the habit of making lists of things to do that are so huge that there are literally not enough hours in the day to get it all done. Then I get frustrated that I can’t get 40 hours of work done in a 16 hour day (assuming 8 hrs for sleep … but not accounting for anything else like work, or dog walking or laundry… you get the idea). SO This year I decided to set ATTAINABLE goals for my creative endeavors. I am still working through the details on knitting and memory keeping (but enough to say that my goal is to use up both stashes of supplies) but I have narrowed down quilting and garment making.

Today…I present to you completed project #1 on the quilting list for 2020! My quilting goal this year is to complete at least one quilt block and a mini quilt each month following Alyce Blyths “Mini Master Pieces” book of 12 essential blocks and techniques. I love Alyce and several years participated in a Half Square Triangle quilt along with the result being a beautiful quilt for our home!

The first lesson is a basic 9-patch block, super simple so I wanted to play with dark backgrounds and using some fabrics from my stash that have been aging like fine wine under the piles ;-). I’m very happy with the result!

The block finished size will be 6″ square and I made up 7 to set aside and see what percolates after working on more blocks from the book.

I don’t have a design wall but fortunately, the mini quilt is about 24″ square so laying out the squares on the craft table totally works! Some blocks were fussy cut around motifs and I will admit to liberal use of the seam ripper when I sewed blocks together in the wrong order and upside down.

No photos of quilting, I used two layers of scrap cotton batting… I think by the end of this project I will have used up my bin of batting scraps in the attic – huzzah! I set my machine to it’s slowest setting and used my walking foot, remembering I had quilting gloves after about 1/3 of the way done. Definitely room for improvement as far as machine quilting. But that is the beauty in smaller projects, room for experimenting on a small scale.

I am very pleased with the finished product! This series will also be a good exercise in binding. My corners need a bit of work and there was a bit of hand stitching involved but still a success!!

Looking forward to Februarys block…I’ve got my fabric all pulled and set aside!

What projects are you working on in 2020?

(Also…am not a huge fan of this new “block” arrangement on WordPress, I feel like it’s getting in the way right now more than it’s helping…anyone else out there have feelings on this???)

2019 Reads

Posted in Writing by

Oh poor neglected blog…let’s see if I can blog more than twice in a year for 2020? That would be a good goal….

I have discovered over the course of the last year that I am really not good at tracking…I think I start out strong and quickly lose interest because it’s usually too annoying or time consuming or frustrating. There are a few things however I do manage to keep a bit of a handle on because they are easy. Keeping track of my reading has been made infinitely easier with the Goodreads app on my phone and iPad. My preferred way to read is with an actual paper book in my hands but I have been reading on my iPad more and more especially when I travel and it’s so easy to pop over to the Goodreads app and update when I’ve read a book. I’ve also participated in their Reading Challenge for the last few years and this year is the most books yet at 44 when my goal was 30. I will also add that while I am a huge podcast listener, I do not listen to audio books so all of my books are read not listened to.

I think stats like this are kind of fun (yes, channeling inner geek)…

So many good books this year! I had several favorites… Stories for my Sister by my friend Elizabeth DuVivier is a must read!! I’ve linked her website so you can go and buy the book directly from the author (gasp! imagine that not buying a book from Amazon or Barnes & Noble!)

My other fiction faves for the year were: The End we Start from (haunting but good) Verity (thriller!) Daisy Jones and the Six (rock and roll) Where the Crawdads Sing (such beautiful imagery) The Testaments (Love Love anything by M. Atwood) and rounded out the year with Christmas Shopaholic (because..who does not love Becky Brandon nee Bloomwood?)

As far as Non-Fiction I’d say my faves were Outer Order Inner Calm by Gretchen Rubin (you should definitely check out her podcast with her sister) and Slow by Brooke McAlary (who also has the Slow Home podcast also very good).

So there you have it! 44 books in 52 weeks… Come and follow me on Goodreads to see how 2020 progresses. I’ve made the same goal of 30 books this year and hoping to read even more than that!

What were your favorite reads of 2019?