Happy New Year! It's time to officially wrap up my creative year for 2025. This is my 17th year writing these wrap up posts, see previous years here. (That seemed like way too high a number, so I went back and counted. Can confirm!)


Wow! 2025 was challenging. At the beginning of the year, Michael was interviewing for academic jobs, but we had no idea what to expect or where we might end up. Fast forward to the present and we are in our new home in State College, Pennsylvania and he started his new job this week! It was a year of change and a slow goodbye to our life in Connecticut. It was much harder to leave than I would have expected when we first moved there in 2017. We really put down roots and fell in love with our area, home and our neighbors. Hamden (New Haven) will always hold a special place in our hearts, that's for sure. Needless to say, the last six months especially have been tough. Trying to pack, show/sell our house, and move out of state (with a toddler and a kitty) was a lot!! I am glad to be on the other side of all that. We have been settling into our new home and exploring our new town.


Just like last year, I didn't think I made that many things this year, but looking back I made more than I thought. Our daughter dropped her only nap in March, so my crafting time decreased considerably. That combined with needing to pack/move meant I often didn't have enough energy left to sew. Somehow I managed to make some fun things, share some tutorials and host my annual Lined Drawstring Bag Sew Along! Let's dive into some of my favorite projects from the year and then evaluate how I did on my 2025 crafty goals.

My favorite quilt finish: Vintage Sheet Schoolhouse Quilt


The most used quilt of 2025: Hello Kitty Patchwork Quilt


My favorite lined drawstring bag: Upcycled Tea Towel Drawstring Bag


My favorite bag project: Upcycled Towel Boxy Pouches


My favorite home decor project: Quilted Tea Towel Pillow Cover


This year I shared 9 free tutorials here on my blog and hosted a sew along:

Lined Drawstring Bag Sew Along
DIY Seed Germination Book and My Seed Starting Setup
My Favorite DIY Stain Remover for Oil Stains
Jeni's Dahlia Growing Guide
HST Leftovers Free Baby Quilt Pattern
Upcycling Materials for Lined Drawstring Bags
Tree Quilt Block Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial
Scrappy Color Blocked Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial
Leftover Quilt Block Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial

I also released a new pattern this year:
Starflower Quilted Zipper Pouch Pattern

Let's check in with my 2025 Crafty Goals:
Use up more yardage than I bring in for both fabric and yarn.
I don't think I bought any "new" fabric or yarn this year. Anything I brought in was secondhand and even that was minimal. I got rid of a huge amount of fabric, especially ahead of our move.

Finish up 1 or 2 long-term projects in progress.
I feel very good about how I did with this goal! I put together two quilt tops out of two stacks of super old blocks and sent them out for quilting. I also finally put together my Night Sky quilt which has been in progress for many years. All of those quilts are quilted and one is bound!

Release 2 new patterns.
Made it halfway to this goal, I released one new pattern this year: Starflower Quilted Zipper Pouch Pattern

Destash fabric and yarn I don't think I'll use.
I destashed a lot of fabric, vintage sheets and yarn this year. Somehow I still have a huge stash, but I feel good about what I was able to part with.

Make a mini Making Backpack.
Bummed that I didn't get to this project in 2025. Top of my list in 2026!

Host another quilt along! Hopefully this Spring, keep your eye out.
Maybe this year? I think this was quite an ambitious goal considering how chaotic 2025 ended up being!

Work on a pair of colorwork mittens.
I started the Snowfling Mitts by Tanis Lavallee. I loved knitting her Sweet Nectar Mitts pattern a few years ago!

Try a new craft! I already have supplies to try out marbling, natural dyeing, weaving (with a simple flat loom), bleach dyeing, etc.
I did not try any new crafts this year! Hopefully in 2026.

Continue to experiment and make things with repurposed textiles.
This applies to most of the sewing I did in 2025! I made a bunch of pouches from towels, two vintage sheet quilts, some drawstring bags from napkins and a towel, plus some pillow covers too.

Finish a crochet project.
I don't think I finished any crochet projects this year. I did knit a hat!

I'll be back soon to share my 2025 garden wrap-up post and some 2026 crafty goals. I always look forward to writing the garden post, especially since it's the middle of winter! A great excuse to spend time pouring over gardening photos and dreaming about the next season.

Happy Sewing!

2024 in Review

Happy New Year! It's time to officially wrap up my creative year for 2024. This is my 16th year writing these wrap up posts, see previous years here.


This year was definitely different compared to years past! As the year went on (and baby girl dropped from 2 naps to 1!), I had less and less time to pursue creative endeavors. Despite this, I actually made more things than I initially thought. It wasn't until I sat down to start working on this post that I realized I actually made a lot of things this year. More than last year for sure! Certainly there have been stretches where I made more or less. I would say what I struggled this most with this year in terms of creativity was consistency. There were times where I would sew every day for weeks and others when I went weeks without sewing at all!

The overarching theme for my makes in 2024 was repurposing. I really enjoyed making things from my vintage sheet stash and other salvaged or thrifted materials. I made pouches from towels, bags from aprons, and a coat from a quilt! I look forward to continuing to experiment in this way in the future.


I didn't track my projects or yardage this year. I think I would like to at the very least keep a running list of finished projects in 2025, but we'll see. So instead of a rundown of everything I made in 2024, I'm just going to share my favorites! And check in with my goals at the end.

Time to look at some of my favorite projects from the year!

My favorite quilt finish: Soft and Subtle Vintage Sheet Plus Quilt


My favorite lined drawstring bag finish: Vintage Sheet Lined Drawstring Bags


My favorite bag finish: Upcycled Towel Zipper Bag


My favorite home decor finish: Ikea Poang Chair Slipcover


My favorite garment finish: Quilt Coat


My favorite craft finish: Dried Strawflower Wreath


My favorite knitting finish: Fuchsia Colorwork Mittens


My favorite thrift find: Thrifting a White Singer Featherweight 221K


This year I shared 7 free tutorials here on my blog and hosted two sew alongs:

- Plus Quilt Sew Along
- 2024 Lined Drawstring Bag Sew Along
- 2024 Stash Tracking Worksheet
- How to Quilt Wavy Lines with a Walking Foot (video!)
- Jeni's Best Chocolate Cookies
- Book Drawstring Gift Bag Tutorial
- Wreath Quilt Block Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial
- Tips for Sturdy Lined Drawstring Bags
- Tie-Dye Twill Tape Tutorial

Let's check in with my 2024 Crafty Goals:

My #1 goal: When I do have time to make, spend most of that time playing. Work on whatever will make me the happiest in that moment.
I feel like I kept pretty true to this goal. Sometimes I got sidetracked by what I thought I "should" be working on, but for the most part I just made things for fun.

Try to use up more yardage than I bring in for both fabric and yarn. I'll track my yardage each month to help me stay on target. I'm less worried about this goal, I feel confident that my buying habits are in check after many years of tracking.
I did not track my yardage this year, but I didn't buy much. I only bought 3/4 yard of "new" fabric, and even that was from a 10 year old collection! I mostly brought in thrifted fabrics. I made one yarn purchase from Eat Sleep Knit during their black Friday sale, and just two skeins.

Finish up 1 or 2 long-term projects in progress.
I finished one long-term project, the Indigo June Baby Quilt. I also used up old leftovers to make the Leftovers Quilt and the Minny Muu Patchwork Baby Quilt.

Sew something with my vintage sheet stash.
Probably 75% of my sewing this year was with my vintage sheet stash! It really made me happy to work with my sheets again, so I leaned into it. I made three large throw size quilts, three baby quilts, a bunch of lined drawstring bags, a couple pillows and two chair covers.

Finish my colorwork mittens (I'm so close already, this should be a quick win!).
I finished these right away in the beginning of 2024! Hooray!!

Restart my art practice. This one is already in progress, I'm taking this class at the moment and feeling so inspired.
This was a big focus for me in the beginning part of 2024, but I ran out of steam a bit as the year went on.

Crochet more amigirumi.
Nope! Didn't work on any crochet amigirumi this year. I made some granny squares though!


That's all for now! I'll be back soon to share my 2024 garden wrap-up post and some 2025 crafty goals.

Happy Sewing!

2023 in Review

Happy New Year! It's time to for my annual wrap up of the creative year. This is the 15th (!!) year I've posted a creative review, see previous years here.


For the first time in 8 years, I do not have stash numbers to share! I fell off my stash tracking pretty early in the year, and never had a chance to catch back up. I hope that at some point I can go back and at least get some rough numbers, but I can't spare the time right now. It is what it is and I'm trying not to stress too much about it! I did buy some fabric this year, but I feel confident that I still used up more than I brought in. I hope to just start this year of tracking fresh and try not get behind.

For yarn on the other hand, I definitely bought more yarn than I used. I hadn't bought any yarn in four years (whoa!), and it's much harder for me to use it up compared to fabric.

Some of my favorite finishes of the year I actually still haven't shared here yet, so I'm going to share a list of finished projects instead! This is actually more typical of my yearly review posts in the past. In 2023, I made...


3 Throw quilts (Large Keep Turning Quilt), 3 baby quilts, 1 mini quilt and 1 table topper

Lined Drawstring Bags: 28 Tiny bags, 2 Snack bags, 7 Everything bags, 4 Project bags, 2 Artist bags, 2 Wine bags, and 2 Laundry bags.


2 Tote bags (Patchwork Workshop Tote) and 3 scrappy zipper pouches


3 Christmas stockings (tutorial)


2 Pincushions


3 Ghost kitty softies (Ghost Kitties Tutorial by Ann Wood Handmade)


2 Felt grow bags (tutorial)


2 Vintage sheet dresses, 1 knit dress (Out and About Dress Pattern by Sew Caroline)


3 Fabric baby books, 2 pairs baby leggings, 2 knit baby hats, 1 car seat cover, 4 changing pad covers, 1 travel changing pad, 2 nursing pillow covers, 5 tag toys, and 2 crinkle strips. (See this post for baby sewing.)

Knitting + crochet: 2 Baby hats (Garter Ear Flap Hat by Purl Soho), and 5 Woobles amigurumi softies

I shared 8 informational or tutorial posts in 2023:

- Simple Two-Color Baby Quilt Tutorial
- DIY Felt Grow Bags (with Video Tutorial)
- High Contrast Fabric Baby Book Sewing Tutorial
- Easy Puppy Chow Recipe
- Gingerbread House Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial
- Peppermint Stripe Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial
- Exposed Gusset Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial
- All About Cotton Twill Tape and How to Use it for Drawstring Bags

Now a quick look back at my 2023 Crafty Goals. I didn't do great in this department, but I was pregnant/had a baby this year, so at least I have a good excuse!

Sewing & Quilting Goals:

Use up more yardage than I bring in. I'll track my yardage to help me stay on target.
I believe I still brought in less than I used. I got behind on tracking yardage and never found the time to catch up.

Finish last quilt top from my HST book.
So close, I got it basted!

Finish my double wedding ring quilt.
I finished the arcs, but ran out of steam after that. This was a really overly ambitious goal, considering.

Work on my scrappy spiderweb quilt or liberty churn dash quilt each month.
This did not happen at all.

Start another vintage sheet quilt.
No, but I did plan my next one!

Make 1 small project (pincushions, zipper pouches, softies, etc.) per month.
I think I came close on this one. I did sew every month, not sure I always finished something.

Knitting/Crochet Goals:

Use up more yardage than I bring in. I'll track my yardage to help me stay on target.
I fell off tracking just like with fabric. But in this case I know I bought more yarn than I used, for the first time in a long time!

Knit a little every month.
Defintely did not do this.

Crochet a softie.
YES! Finally, after so many years of wanting to, I learned to crochet Amigurumi. I am so happy about this.

Finish current mitten project.
No, but I'm working on it right now!

Finish/frog a shawl project.
Neither.

Finish at least one pair of machine knit socks.
Nope.


And that's it! I'll be back soon to share my 2023 garden wrap up post plus my 2024 crafty goals!

Have Great Day!

2022 in Review

Happy New Year! Is it already too late to say that? I hope your year is off to a good start so far. I took a bit of an unplanned break the last month, but I'm back today to wrap up 2022. Let's look at some creative highlights from the year and how I did on my crafty goals!

First up, my yardage tracking. This was my seventh year tracking my yardage! I can't believe I've been doing that for this long. As usual I tracked both my fabric and yarn yardage. (See how I do that in this post.) My goals in this area are the same each year: to use up more materials than I bring in. I'm happy to say I acheived this in both fabric and yarn this year!

For fabric, I used up almost 75 yards and bought only 20 yards worth of fabric. Not too shabby! I'm not using up (or giving away/destashing) as much fabric each year as I did when I first started tracking, but I'm also bringing in about a tenth of the fabric I was.

2022 was the fourth year in a row that I haven't bought any yarn. As I (hopefully) explore crochet more this coming year that streak will probably come to an end, but I'm really happy about this. It has been so nice to just use up my stash and enjoy the beautiful yarns I already have.

2022 Fabric Stash Totals
Used up: 74.75 yards
Brought in: 20 yards
Net: -54.75 yards

2022 Yarn Stash Totals
Used up: 3494 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: -3494 yards

Time to look at some of my favorite projects from the year!

My favorite quilt finish: Vintage Bear Paw Quilt


My favorite lined drawstring bag finish: Ruler Paper Drawstring Bag


My favorite bag finish: Michael's Waxed Canvas Travel Bag


My favorite home decor finish: Abstract Fabric Artwork


My favorite yarn craft finish: Crochet Scrap Yarn Basket


My favorite woodworking finish: Dusty's Hidden Litter Box Cabinet


One of my (unspoken) goals for last year was to recommit to blogging on a regular schedule. With the exception of December, I exceeded my own expectations in terms of this goal. In 2021, I published 36 blog posts. In 2022, I published 103 blog posts! To be honest, I think I may have overextended myself a bit, so I am aiming for a little less this year, but it was nice to be back here so regularly.


I shared 16 informational or tutorial posts in 2022:
- New and Improved Stash Tracking Worksheet (with Formulas!)
- DIY Abstract Fabric Artwork
- Ideas for Storing and Organizing Sewing Notions
- Tips for Dyeing Raw Eggs
- Fabric Folding Video Tutorial
- Indigo Courthouse Steps Quilt Tutorial
- Easy DIY Row Markers for Quilting
- Tips for Keeping Your Sewing Room Clean
- DIY Budget Wooden Tomato Trellis
- Tips for Dusting and Displaying Vintage Dishes
- Packing Tips for a Sewing Retreat or Workshop
- The Cheap Secret to Preventing Fabric Bleeding in Quilts
- Making Templates for the Lined Drawstring Bag Pattern
- Patchwork Star Lined Drawstring Bag Tutorial
- Tips for Tidy Drawstring Casing Openings
- Tips for Working with Paracord

In the second half of the year I went on a pattern writing spree! I managed to release six new patterns in 2022:

Candyweb Quilt Block Pattern


Expanse Quilt Pattern


Indigo Steps Quilt Pattern


Keep Turning Quilt Pattern


Floral Chain Quilt Pattern


Vintage Bear Paw Quilt Pattern


Now a quick look back at my 2022 Crafty Goals. I think I did okay this year. Better than last year at least!

Sewing & Quilting Goals:

Use up more yardage than I bring in. I'll track my yardage each month to help me stay on target.
I decreased my fabric stash by 54.75 yards this year!

Complete two long-term quilt projects (all green quilt, double wedding ring, vintage sheet bear paw, Night Sky, HST book quilt tops, etc.).
I completed three long-term quilt projects: Floral Chain Quilt (all green quilt), Vintage Bear Paw Quilt, and one lingering HST book quilt top.

Sew a quilt primarily from scraps.
I started a quilt primarily from scraps, my Candyweb blocks.

Make a few more pieces of fabric/patchwork artwork.
I made one, it hangs above our mantle!

Sew four handmade garments.
I only made one garment this year, a housecoat for Michael. He loves it.

Knitting Goals:

Use up more yardage than I bring in. I'll track my yardage each month to help me stay on target.
I decreased my yarn stash by 3494 yards this year!

Complete four weaving projects.
I only completed one weaving project this year.

Finish current mitten project.
I worked on it, but did not finish it.

Finish/frog a shawl project.
Again, I worked on my Briochealicious shawl project but did not finish or frog it.

Finish at least one pair of machine knit socks.
Didn't touch this project.


And that's it! I'll be back soon to share my 2022 garden wrap up post plus my 2023 crafty goals!

Have Great Day!