Happy January! It's time for December's monthly report. See past reports here.


This month's report is a bit of a formality, as I did zero crafting in December! We made our move from Wisconsin to our new state of Connecticut, with a few days spent with family in Ohio in between. I'm excited to share that we bought our first home! We're very happy to be leaving apartment living behind. We will look back fondly on our time in Madison (already miss it lots), but we were pretty tired of our living situation there.


We've already been painting and fixing things up, I'll share more soon! Michael has a few more days before he starts his new job, and we've been taking advantage of every moment to get as much done as we can!


One little corner that we got put together right away was in our living room. Having a space to relax in the evenings was a big milestone in the moving process for us! Most of my Pyrex and enamelware is in Ohio at my parent's house, so I'm decorating with my quilts in the meantime. I picked up this tall shelf from Ikea that fits perfectly in this spot by the TV.


I did manage to make a few Christmas gifts this year! One was a yoga bag for my Dad, which I forgot to get a photo of. I was able to use leftover waxed canvas and webbing from the duffle bag I made Michael a few years ago. I made my Mom a Singer Featherweight mini quilt for her craft room! The block is a free pattern from Artisania, you can find it here. It has a lot of pieces, but it does turn out super cute.

To keep myself accountable for my stash goals, I'm tracking my yardage for fabric and yarn each month. Read more about how I track my here. Here is how I did in December:

December Fabric
Used up: 0 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: 0 yards
Year to date: -295 yards

December Yarn
Used up: 787 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: -787 yards
Year to date: -6854.5 yards

I'll be back soon with my end-of-the-year wrap up post as well as thoughts and goals for the new year.


Bobbie enjoying a quilt after we celebrated Christmas. (Find the tutorial for this quilt here: Modern Plus Quilt Tutorial)


George the bun is very happy that he isn't in the car anymore. It's been extra cold lately (I think we brought Wisconsin winter with us), and he has enjoyed snuggling under a quilt. He's pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Have a Great Month!

Indigo Dyeing + Handmade Shower Curtain

Last month I had the chance to squeeze in one more day of fabric dyeing before the weather turned. I had a leftover indigo dye kit from our retreat, and wanted to use it up. I also had plans to do a mini-makeover on our bathroom. Blue is a calming color so it seemed like a good idea to use indigo in our tiny bathroom.

I planned to replace our shower curtain and also make a curtain to go around our sink. The sink curtain would provide some hidden storage and hide the plumbing. I looked around for tutorials for both a sink curtain and a shower curtain, but ended up winging it. I wanted something simple.


Knowing I wanted to make a shower curtain, I ordered some 108" wide Kona Cotton in white. In addition to the Kona, I also dyed a piece of Cambridge lawn in white, some cotton canvas, and a few other random pieces of regular width Kona white and an off-white solid in my stash.

For more information on indigo dyeing, check out my Indigo Dyeing Tutorial.

Here is what I dyed and I how resisted each piece of fabric:

Fabric was scrunched into big messy balls and then resisted with rubber bands. This is the piece I used for the shower curtain.


Fabric was scrunched into big messy balls and then resisted with rubber bands. This is the piece I used for the sink curtain.


Fabric was scrunched into big messy balls and then resisted with rubber bands. This is the cotton lawn piece.


Fabric was folded and secured with twine.


Accordion folded, secured with twine.


Accordion folded, secured with clothespins.


Loosely accordion folded, secured with rubber bands.


Fabric was twisted into a cone and then resisted with wrapped twine.


Fabric was scrunched into a ball and then wrapped in twine to secure.


For the shower curtain, I used the shower curtain we already had (a cheap one from Target), as a starting point. For the length, I started with the finished height of the curtain then I added 3" for a 1.5" top hem, and 6" for a 3" bottom hem. For the width, I started with the finished width and added 2" total for a .5" hem on either side. The top hem has twelve button holes for the curtain hooks.


For the sink curtain, I measured around my sink and the height from under the sink. For the width, I added 2" total for the .5" side hems, plus around 10" extra for gathering. For the height, I added around 1" for the velcro, and left plenty of extra length to do a test measure on the sink. I ended up with around a 2" hem. To attach the curtain to the underside of the sink I used home decor velcro. It's holding up okay, but I may need to reinforce it somehow, we'll see how it does over time!


At our retreat this summer I also dyed some flour-sack towels. I picked them up a few years ago for a project, but didn't end up using them. They've been collecting dust, and I thought it would be fun (and low risk) to dye them.


After dyeing, I sewed a little loop of twill tape to one corner of each towel to make them easy to hang from a hook in our bathroom.


I found this vintage metal shelf on Etsy. I spray painted it white and hung it above one of the towel racks. It doesn't add a ton of storage, but it adds some interest to the walls and has room to display some pretty things.

I'm happy with how the bathroom is coming along. Since we rent, we can't make any major changes, but it still feels nice to try to spruce things up a little. The small changes have been refreshing.

January 2016 Report

The first month of the year went relatively smoothly for us. We got back into our regular routines pretty quickly after being home for the holidays. I think it helped that we came home a few days earlier. It was only a couple days, but it made a difference. I didn't waste nearly as much time getting back into the swing of things as I usually do. Part of that was out of necessity. I actually did quite a bit of sewing this month, but it's under wraps for the time being. Luckily I get to share soon!


I actually tackled my tax organization already! I am normally doing that in late March/early April, so I'm pretty proud of myself. I do very little along the way, so it's a pretty big undertaking when I finally do tackle it. This time around I set myself up with documents and a new organizer to help ensure that I do more to prepare throughout the year. Hopefully I'll keep up with it. I think that I will, it's a bummer to spend so much time at once thinking about and working on tax stuff.


I finished a few knitting projects this month, including a hat using only leftovers from other projects (this one). I'm getting ready to start two new knitting projects that I'm excited about. To keep myself accountable I'm tracking my yardage for both yarn and fabric, so here is how I did in January:

Fabric
Used up: 12.5 yards
Brought in: 21.75 yards
Net: +9.25 yards

Yarn
Used up: 942 yards
Brought in: 885 yards
Net: -87 yards

Not bad for the first month! It's amazing how fast some fat quarters and a bit of garment yardage adds up! I need to be more careful in February.


Looking at my other goals, I met my Double Wedding Ring monthly goal by making 16 wedges. I also finally stitched up the bodice muslin for the Emery dress and am hoping to sew up my first one this week! I have everything ready to starting knitting Fiddlehead Mittens (I can't stand waiting any longer!!). I also completed my first month of Project 365: a photo a day using my DSLR camera.


This coming month I'm primarily focused on getting ready for Quiltcon, specifically sewing up class samples. I'm also hoping to launch a fun project using the blocks from the 60 block chart in my book, Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle!


In other news, I was able to visit the newly opened Stitch Supply Co in Altoona, WI! Part of our summer cabin crew went up and attended an open sew retreat there. It was so much fun! The retreat space and shop are lovely, Ann and her husband thought of everything. I actually sewed (which is not my norm, I talk too much), and it was great to catch up with friends and do lots of laughing. I'm excited to be teaching from my book at a retreat there in October. I hope you'll join me! It will be a beautiful time of year to travel! All the information about that retreat can be found here.

(Bags: Jane Market Bag, Super Tote, Sew Portable Tote) 


George the bunny! I have a George video for you today! I bought him a Trixie Snack Board. It's a logic game made specifically for bunnies! This was his first time using it, and he aced it! I need to order him something more challenging.


Enjoy!

Disclaimer: You may end up watching this video more than once. It's pretty crazy cute.

This Month

Happy Wednesday! I'm back, at least for today. This month has been pretty draining. I am working towards finishing up some deadlines, doing regular work, trying to keep the apartment in order, and planning our wedding from afar. Plus, it was Michael's birthday and our anniversary this month.

I haven't had much to talk about or show in this space, and honestly I think I needed a little break. I've been pretty quiet on Instagram too, I guess I've pulled back from most social media this month, and it's been good. I can't do everything, so something has to give. Hopefully next month things can get back to normal.

I did find time recently to refresh the quilt ladder. I love having quilts on display! It was made using this tutorial.


I've joined a quilt bee for the first time in years and I'm pretty excited about it. It's a traveling bee, so we had to send out our quilt "start" last month. I choose some orphaned blocks that all happened to coordinate in color. I can't wait to find time to work on this project.


I started my first knitting project of 2015, a Schwimmen hat (pattern by Shannon Cook). It's another gray hat, because I love gray hats. This is the fourth gray hat I have made, whoops! Oh well, I know what I like! More on my Ravelry.


We are finally to the point where we are simply running out of space in our apartment. Since we aren't planning on moving until we leave Madison, this means some purging is necessary. Thankfully, I love ridding through things, so it's not all bad. This past weekend I tackled my sewing room. I took almost everything out of the wall of closets, and got rid of a decent amount of stuff. Not enough, but there is nothing being stored on the floor anymore, so definitely an improvement! I also ordered this FJÄLKINGE shelving unit from Ikea to take better advantage of the space between my sewing table and the window. It's definitely one of the better quality pieces I've seen from there, and it fits perfectly.


Last month when it wasn't quite so cold (it's 2 degrees right now), we got brave and went out onto Lake Mendota for some photos of the ice. It was really cool. Don't worry, this is as far as we got from the shore.


George bunny has been good. He is so sweet, I like to pick him up for a squeeze everyday. He has been waking us up every morning at about 6:30am to go out in his play area. Stinker!


One more George photo just for good measure, cause he is so cute!

Have a great day!

Dreamin' Vintage x and + Runner

Happy Thursday! I have a recent project finish to share with you today. In the main living area of our apartment, I have a little blue side table next to my side of the futon. A couple years ago I made a little quilt to top it for decoration and to act as a giant coaster (you can see it here). It had seen better days, so I made a new one this past month!


I decided to use Dreamin' Vintage to make this runner because I always have a vintage sheet on the futon. I knew it would match nicely, plus the color of the table is really close to the blue in the collection. I have plans to make new pillows and maybe new curtains!


I have been wanting to try my hand at x and + blocks for ages. There have been so many beautiful quilts made from this block. Check the flickr group for the block for lots of inspiration! I thought a small project like this would be a great time to give it a go. I used Amy Gunson's tutorial as a starting point, then sized everything down for 6.25" finished blocks so that it would fit my table.


I used the Jolly dots print in both colorways for the background, then used the rest of the prints for the x and plus bits.


For the quilting I wanted to keep it simple. There are a lot of seams in these blocks, so to help secure everything and flatten things out a bit, I went with straight(ish), lines. I upped my stitch length to 3.0 and used my favorite #2024 white Aurifil 50wt thread.


I finished it up with Pretty Poesies in Jam for the backing and Tonal Melodie in Fresh for the binding. I'm pleased with how it turned out, and after a good wash is a perfect fit for my little table! It's seen use for a few weeks already! I love working on little projects like this. They're so satisfying! Plus, I get to enjoy it everyday, total bonus!

Have a great day!

Weekly Snapshot

Happy Monday! I thought it was high time for a snapshot post. Mostly because it has been too long since the last George photo! He is one photogenic rabbit!


It is wild black raspberry season! I have been eating them as soon as I pick them. I did break down and make a couple batches of freezer jam.  I had made it before but was so-so about it. This time I took the time to strain out the seeds and it's 1000x better! I am looking forward to enjoying it all year!


I started a new knitting project! It's for the third quarter challenge over at Eat Sleep Knit. I'm knitting the Pogona Shawl by Stephen West. More info over on Ravelry.


I put up some simple skinny shelves last week for some of my mini collections. Some of my favorite Hello Kitty trinkets took over! I might shorten the loops and add another row, there are quite a few more HK tins!


I have been putting some new knitting goodies to use lately! These are from my sweet friend Holly! You can find the knitting gauge and thread organizer in her shop, here!


I love having matching things, so I didn't hesitate to add these things to my purse! (Both are from Target, purse is from Amazon)


Michael and I managed to get out the big camera on the 4th! We're making an effort to take more photos!


Ever hear of the Prince and the Pea? :)