Happy October! It's time for September's monthly report. See past reports here.

Thank you for your kind comments and emails on my last post, it was tough for me to share something so personal, but I felt relieved after I wrote it. I appreciate your support and patience with me!


I finally hung up my pincushion shelf! My Dad helped me make this simple shelf when we lived in the apartment in Madison. It's been sitting in the attic since we moved and this month I finally got it up. It's completely stuffed and there are more pincushions that didn't fit! I probably should make another, but for now it's nice to have most of them displayed!


Speaking of pincushions I started another set of snack size pincushions, this time out of Liberty lawn! Find the pattern here: Snack Size Pincushion Pattern.


Another task I was procrastinating was piecing a backing for my scrappy pineapple quilt! I picked up this print from Noe by Erin McMorris last year. I knew I wanted to pattern match it, so that held me up a little. I think it turned out pretty good though!


Currently working on a new vintage sheet quilt! I forgot how taxing free-motion quilting is. Only a couple thread breaks at the beginning and it turned out to be a bobbin issue, so it went pretty smoothly after that.


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

September Fabric
Used up: 6.75 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: -6.75 yards
Year to date: -77 yards

September Yarn
Used up: 0 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: 0 yards
Year to date: -426 yards

I actually did a lot of sewing this month, despite my low yardage number. I made 7 drawstring bags! All testers for my expansion pattern. I have so many to share, hopefully really soon. No fabric in this month, which was good since last month I brought in quite a bit!


Not much longer for the garden, so I figured I better keep sharing while I can. This dahlia just opened it's first flower this week, so pretty late. Hopeful that our warm Fall continues so I can get a few more!


I put up the Halloween decorations last week, so we can enjoy them for a whole month! This is the only new piece I've picked up this year, I love these little candy dishes. This bat is from Target.


Michael and I celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary in September!


George, always tangled up in hay! Such a sweetie.

Have a great month!

Life Update

Somehow it's almost the end of the month and this is my first blog post other than my regular monthly report! I thought it was time for a bit of an update on what I've been up to, not just this month but in the last year too.

As social media has made it easier and more natural to share every little bit of your life, I've felt myself wanting to keep more things private. But I do miss sharing a bigger look into what's going on in my life, especially here on my blog. I love looking back at older posts and seeing what I was thinking or feeling at that time.


To be honest, this last year has been tough for me personally. In August last year I experienced the biggest flare-up in my arthritis* that I've ever had and it was pretty out of control until May/June of this year. There were stretches of time where I was limiting my times up or down our stairs to 2-3 times a day because my knee would swell up so easily. Since my sewing room is on the second floor, that made it pretty hard to be productive in my sewing! I love to be busy working on projects and generally working with my hands so it was difficult for me to do what I needed (rest) to get healthy.

*I have juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Read more here: Safe Crafting: Sewing with Arthritis


The entire situation forced me to evaluate how I was doing everything, including working on my business/blog/sewing. It made me realize that I needed to take a step back and work at a slower pace in order to maintain my health. That's the main reason why blog posts, patterns, and even my social media posts have been fewer and farther in between. Just like everything else, nothing is permanent, so I may return to my prolific sewing habits someday. For now though, I'm taking things slower.


I have so many things to share, from projects that never got photographed and all the creative work I've done on fixing up our home. It's a challenge for me to fit everything into a day without overdoing it. Taking care of an entire house has taken up so much more of my time than I anticipated. It's all good, but it does mean less time to work.

In the last two months I painted our kitchen, including the inside and outside of our cabinets, which was quite an undertaking. It was actually the big push on finishing up the painting that kept me away from the blog this month. I've also been working steadily on the lined drawstring bag expansion pattern, which I'm still hoping to release this Fall. I'm including a lot of different options, so it's taking longer than I expected. I do think (hope!) it will be worth the wait.


My sweet George bunny has had a bit of a rough summer too. He's been having a major shed and it has been hard on his digestive system. So that's been a lot of extra worrying and he has needed extra care and attention. He has been improving and I'm hoping things will return to normal once it cools off and his shedding is done.


My little cutting garden on the side of our garage has brought me immense joy this summer. I usually go out to check on it a couple of times a day, it's so peaceful to watch the bees and butterflies enjoying all the flowers. I'm looking forward to an even bigger garden next year. I'm going to be really sad when there isn't a constant rotation of flowers in the house over the winter.

I think that's plenty of an update for now! I'll be back next week (for real this time) for my regular monthly report. Then I'm hoping to get back to a more consistent blogging schedule. I can't make any promises, but I would like to be in this space more regularly.