December 2018 Recap

And just like that, another year in the memory books! December was a great month for me - my last day of work was the 14th, and I've had lots of time to stitch, read, quilt, shop, and hang out with family. My company has use it or lose it vacation and I usually find that I have a few days left at the end of the year - this year, it was much needed time off to recharge for what I am confident will be a busy year in 2019. 

Let's start with the stitching projects this month - I continued to work on the projects started during Stitch Maynia in May. I finished two of them and only have one left that I started during Maynia! (I still have two others in progress, but they were both started before Maynia). 

First is Happy Halloween by Silver Creek Samplers - I love this one and will be looking for a nice black frame for it - I am thinking it might fit in a Mill Hill frame...will have to check that out! 

Second is the Penguin from a Janlynn kit called Holiday Wishes - it has four characters all together and this is my second - I finished the reindeer in 2016. I wasn't a big fan of stitching on the plastic canvas (in 2016 or now!), so it will probably be a while before I start on the snowman or Santa for this one. That's okay, I think this penguin is pretty cute all by himself. 

On the quilting front, I got to work finishing up the last set of three scrap blocks from the Rainbow Scrap Challenge - dark green. I laid them out with all the others and have decided that I probably need to make one more row, so I will work on them over the next few weeks - one of my goals for the year is to get these into a finished quilt in 2019. 


I did some quilting for my mom (forgot to get a picture - it was a Christmas present!), and also did some quilting for me - had to get one more project done before the end of the year. I've had this table runner on my wall since I finished in in May. It was a quick and easy one to quilt, as I did some diagonal straight lines in the white and stars in the middle of each starburst. I like how this one turned out and look forward to using it in the spring! 
Double Wide Dresden Table Runner
The other quilt I finished this month is the Sun & Planets for my astronomer husband. I had to be stealthy working on this since we share the basement, but he had no idea when he opened it on Christmas morning. I backed it with Minkee and used glow in the dark thread in the top for a little fun.  
The last thing I got done is my square dance blocks - I started these at my May retreat, didn't work on them again until September, and in the last couple weeks figured out that I made the sashing for 1/2 of them wrong, ripped them out, sewed them the right way, and then got all the blocks sewn together. I just need to add a border for this top to be done. 
So, the stash report was okay, no additions and a little fabric used for the table runner: 
Fabric added this month: 0 yards
Fabric used this month: 5/8 yard
Net used in December: 5/8 yard (I will save the year-to-date for my 2018 recap post)

I had 11 1/2 hours of quilting over 12 days, and 2/4 weeks where I sewed at least 3 days. All in all a good month! 

Comments

I think you had an incredible December with your sewing and stitching. Happy New Year to you!
Laura said…
There you go again with those RSC blocks! I love them in green as much as the others. They are on my to-do list, a mile long by now.

I also love your Halloween cross stitch finish. It is super cute! You have plenty of time to find a frame for it, and if you find one that is perfect that isn't the right color, you can easily spray paint it.
Kate said…
You made good use of your time off. Love the astronomy quilt and the penguin. It's always fun to surprise someone with a quilt. Hope Your Guy enjoys snuggling under his. Hope your New Year has gotten off to a good start.