2016 is officially underway and I am ready to start fresh. It seems silly to wait for the new year to try and make changes to my habits, but it does offer extra motivation. The general mindset I have for this year is to make do and mend. This is going to be a year of making do in many ways. The last year and a half was high-stress and busy for me. Primarily work-wise, but also personally what with getting engaged, planning our wedding and actually getting married. We were lucky that during this time Michael wasn't super busy with his work. This year is going to be a lot of long hours and stress for him, so I am going to try to be less busy this year. We can't both be crazy at the same time!

This is pretty good timing for me. One of the few perks of running your own business is you generally get to make the rules. I can decide to have a quieter year, take on less work, and aim to keep things low-stress. Hopefully I'll be successful at that! I think after being so high stress, it will be a nice relief to take things easier.


Michael is nearing the end of his PhD program, which is why things have ramped up. The goal is he will defend before the end of the year, and we'll be moving on to somewhere new in 2017. Even though that's still pretty far away, it has already made me very aware of how much stuff we have crammed into our apartment. Between all of my collections and fabric/yarn stash it has gotten a little out of control. To start preparing us for a move, I am going to try to really evaluate what we buy this year and do plenty of purging. The little bit I've started doing is already making me feel better.


Amanda, Jacey and I are going to support each other in using our craft stashes and ending the year with less than we started with. It's nice to set goals and rewards to keep motivated and even better to do it with friends. I wanted to share a few of my goals to help keep myself accountable.


- Knit/Sew with more yardage than I buy. Make do and get creative to come up with yardage for projects.
- Challenge myself to do more piecing for play/to warm up each day.
- Finish Double Wedding Ring Quilt Top. Make approx. 15 wedges per month for 10 months, leaving two months to assemble top.
- Sew through some of my garment pattern stash: Emery dress, Derby dress, Plantain Shirt, Lark Shirt, Mercer tunic, Josephine Blouse.
- Start cutting into my Liberty fat 16th stash.
- Make a list and work on works in progress (WIPs)
- Knit Fiddlehead Mittens.
- Knit another sweater.
- Finish Follow Your Arrow Shawl.


I am also doing another 365 Project. I am challenging myself to take one photo every day of 2016 with my DSLR camera. I have been using my phone to take photos more often than my camera, and I want to change that. I have done this challenge twice before, in 2010, and in 2011.

So, that's pretty much where I am at so far! Here's to a happy and healthy year!

2016 Printable + Desktop Calenders

Happy New Year! I have a new set of desktop and printable calenders to share with you for 2016! I almost didn't do any for last year, and ended up with a number of requests. So I am pleased to continue the tradition this year too!

Just like in previous years, there are two color options for both the printable and desktop wallpaper versions.


2016 Desktop Calender in Coral, download here.


2016 Desktop Calender in Turquoise, download here.


2016 Printable Calender in Coral, download here.


2016 Printable Calender in Turquoise, download here.

You can download all four calenders in one fell swoop, here.

For the printable calenders, print at 100% on regular paper or card stock. You may choose to trim it down to size (7.5"x10") or leave a 1/4" of white space like I did! See mine from years past here. My printer won't print on card stock, so I printed it normally then I mounted my print on card stock using spray adhesive. Afterwards I trimmed it down.

Enjoy!

2015 in Review

I don't even know where to begin in reviewing this past year. So much was crammed in, it's hard to process! Let's just say there were plenty of freak out moments and diet coke to get through this past year.


Personally, I was so happy to get married this year. I don't know what I would do without Michael. I definitely would have gone crazy by now! We had a wonderful day surrounded by family, and then escaped to Disney World. All a dream come true.

Photo by Dennis Crider for Imagen Photography.


Professionally, I checked a big thing off my list this year with my book, Patchwork Essentials: The Half-Square Triangle. I put so much work into this book, and it's both exciting and terrifying to think it's actually out in the world now! A big thank you to Lucky Spool for making this possible. I have some fun stuff planned for it in 2016, hopefully early in the year!


Let's be real though, the biggest news this past year was that George now has his own fabric. I released my fifth fabric collection with Art Gallery Fabrics, Curiosities, in June!


This year I discovered Tsum Tsums, and am now a happy member of the Tsum Tsum of the month club! Yes, it is a real thing!


Knitting continued to be the perfect hobby for me, and I finished 15 projects this year! I really tried to challenge myself to try new things. I knit my first sweater, knit colorwork, tried weaving and knit three pairs of mittens. Plus, tried felting for the first time! I have lots of projects to share still.


I finished three of the book quilts in January this year, but otherwise didn't have a ton of quilt finishes. Three I have yet to share, will be able to do that soon!


I did manage to make five pincushions this year. My love of pincushions continues to grow!

It's always fun looking back on the year, and this sure was a busy one! Will share some goals and resolutions for 2016 next week. In the meantime, Happy New Year! Thank you for your continued support. It was a quieter year that usual here on the blog, I'm hoping to hit the ground running next year and be better about making time to write!

Holiday Pattern Sale!

Happy Friday! It's time for my annual holiday sale! This year, take 25% off all PDF patterns in my online shop using code HOLIDAY25 at checkout. For EU customers, this code works in my Payhip shop too!

Coupon code is good on all PDF pattern purchases from Friday, December 11th - Sunday, December 13th, 2015. It cannot be applied to previous purchases.

Happy Holidays!