January 2017 Report

This year has started off well on the crafty side for me. Really, it has been good all around, but I am particularly pleased with the amount of time I've made for my favorite hobbies! 

I started off the year by trying to finish up a few things from prior years. I showed you a few of them in my December accomplishments post. I also spent some time doing some ornament finishing and finally have a few of last year (and the year before)'s pieces ready to hang on the tree or be displayed around the house. 

Once I got these ornaments finished, I let myself start something from my 2017 bag of projects (remember all the ones I purchased threads and fibers for back in early December?). I pulled out this kit thinking it would be relatively quick and it was - but I have to say I am not a big fan of the burlap style fabric and perle cotton. I like how the finished piece looks, but I don't plan to buy any more from this series. This is Candy Corn of Mischief by Bent Creek. I've already passed it on to my mom so she can stitch it next.

Right as I finished that kit, the JSC Ornaments facebook group selected their ornaments for 2017. I swore I wasn't going to stitch along this year - but once they picked the ornaments, they were so cute, I went right over to my local shop and bought the issue! I started in with Blue Snowman, the ornament selected for January, and finished it up in two stitching sessions. I am going to try to be a little more like Carol this year and do my finishing as I complete my stitching...the best laid plans, right?  It was snowing as I took this picture, so the white you see behind the piece is real snow, as is the snowflake at the bottom center of the photo. I think this snowman is adorable, can't wait to hang this one on my tree! 

 Now we'll move on to the quilting activities for January - I started by working on a UFO - Judy Laquidara picked #3, and I was more motivated to work on that than I was #6, which APQ picked. It only took me about an hour to finish this card holder! I had all the pieces, just needed to put them together and bind it. I noticed after doing the embroidery on it that I'd sewn the ornaments together in the wrong order (there isn't supposed to be a big gap between 1 and 2, and the last one should have some space between it and the border), but I decided done is better than perfect, and even though I will notice it, it won't drive me crazy (hopefully!), so it's done! One UFO down, a couple dozen to go! You can see it here with a card in it. I need to get a dowel and a nice ribbon so that it is ready to go next holiday season. 

Right after I finished this, it was time to get going on a class I signed up for to make a tuffet. We met on week one to learn how to do the foundation piecing, and then sewed 8 wedges with 8 pieces each (that's a lot of sewing!). On week 2, we came back together and finished our tuffets. I picked out a jelly roll for mine that I've had in my stash for ages. I originally bought it for a workshop, but for some reason, I decided not to use it then. I am glad I didn't, I think it looks great as a tuffet. The tuffet is still waiting patiently in my basement until I pick up some Scotchguard so that it doesn't get grimy. I told my son he can't put his grubby feet on it :) 

My finished tuffet

The group of tuffeteers (and our teacher in the front row center. 

 The last project I worked on in January was a set of pillows. I picked up this fabric in December when I went with my mom for her birthday shopping. I have all three pillowtops pieced and quilted, so now just need to finish them into pillows. The colors will go with the colors in my living room and I think they will bring a nice, but subtle, pop of color. 

I also did a little shopping in January - I took my mom to Cincinnati for a Garth Brooks concert. I've wanted to see him since about 1994, so I was so glad to finally see one of his shows. We had a great time and stopped at two quilt shops on the way, then dropped a small fortune in our favorite Ohio stitching shop, Keepsakes. I tried not to buy too much...but it was hard to pass up the good stuff! The project folders in the stitching folder are from The Container Store, and a little of the stitching stuff is from my local store at their Super Bowl Sale, which happened last weekend. 

Stitching purchases in January

Quilting purchases

After all of that, my sewing/quilting hours in January really added up - I wound up with 18 1/2 hours - about half of that was related to the tuffet, but I am still pleased with the remainder. I spent some portion of 9 days in my sewing studio, and I stitched all but about 4 or 5 days. It was a great start to the year - how was yours?