1 Family x 12 (November)

 We plunged into Christmas a little early this year - the week before Thanksgiving we cut our tree.  But! there are three weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year...how could we wait?!

Fall Crafts

 

(Started 6/5/24 and completed 9/12/24)

I finished another Project Linus blanket this fall - just in time for a holiday gifting drop off, which is exactly what I was going for.  I think I have enough yarn to knit at least one more blanket for the charity but I'm going to take a break for a bit and work on some quilts and a new blanket kit I bought.  I'm just ready for a new color/pattern combo.  

I take exactly zero credit for this project, puff paint sweatshirts that Erin and Jamie decided we all needed.  I was anti, because I'm clearly no fun and lack whimsy, but, in the end, they turned out cute and I'm not sad I've got one.  But....I did learn (quickly) that you can't dry the shirts in the dyer.  So, I'll be reapplying puff paints next year for my shirt (the Hocus Pocus one).

You might remember I set out to make a handmade Christmas tree skirt earlier this year.  It was my first try at a pattern with rounded edges (these were giant dresdens) and I'll say that I learned a lot.  I wouldn't call this perfect by any means, but I'm glad I made it and maybe someday I'll try to make another one.  I finished the binding awhile back, but I wanted to do one last step of hand quilting the skirt just to add some more flair and make it really handmade looking.  Believe it or not, we're just a few weeks out from putting up the tree now and it was timing to finish this project off so it would be ready for us when it was time.  Slowly but surely, I hand quilted this whole thing and I'm very glad I did.  

(Started on 9/16/24)

I started a new blanket in mid-September and have made good progress on it over the last month or two.  I've got updates on this one further down in the post.

Summer and fall I really whipped through some quilts I had back logged and ready to be made.  I think I shipped 4 quilts to Kristy just before we went on our Acadia trip and then when we returned I worked hard to get two more out the door to her.  This one might be one of the most difficult, and beautiful quilts I've ever done.  I have a plan for this one - a wedding shower gift.  But I love it so much I might not be able to give it away.  We'll see.  It is intricate and beautiful and one of my favorites.  

It's some of the smallest piecing I've ever done and now the second quilt I needed a template to cut.  Thank goodness for my handy husband who can make me anything I need.  These pictures are dark and don't do the quilt justice, but I'll get some good ones here shortly.

Isn't it beautiful?  I love this one a little too much.  I can't keep it here - we don't need more quilts.  But I'm going to have to figure out what to do with this one.  It might not end up being a shower gift at all.

 

 This baby quilt might look familiar, I did a throw sized one earlier this year as that will be a Christmas present this season, but I had just enough to make a smaller baby quilt that I'll keep in reserve for some baby girl down the road.  I LOVE having a quilt or two as back up - takes the pressure off and let's me fully enjoy the process of making.

(10/18 - one month in...)

I've made some good progress on this knit blanket over the last month - but I've had a lot of side projects in the works in between.  Between hand quilting the tree skirt and finishing up the quilts, a fair bit of my craft time has gone towards other projects.  But I still love having a knit project in the works.  It's perfect for couch crafting in the evenings while we watch tv or football or chatting with friends.  I can't wait to get a little further into this blanket.  This bottom section is all the boring colors!  This blanket is knit with 40 mini-skeins that color the rainbow and I have some really pretty colorwork ahead of me!

One teeny-tiny hand sewn stitch at a time but I finally put the finishing touches on this tree skirt and it's ready for our tree in just a few short weeks!  I'm going to close out this Fall Crafts post, which is probably better titled "Late Summer" but I'll start up a new one and keep showing you my progress as we get closer to the holiday months.

Halloween - A Circus Theme

 

I admittedly say every year "I don't want to do costumes this year" but then we get a group photo and it feels so perfect and I wonder "how could we NOT do this next year?"  It always turns out so great, even though the weather is literally always questionable.  This year we skirted the rain and the snow but traded that for WIND!  It was 40 degrees with 40 mph winds.  Not ideal and the kids didn't last too long but everyone had a great time.

This year we were the bearded lady, the popcorn vendor, a tiger and the tiger tamer (of course!).  We purchased the majority of our costumes this year at Goodwill and I was so happy with how it all turned out.  I think we spent $55 at Goodwill and got everything except Ryan's beard/wig, my popcorn box, and the majority of Abby's costume.  She was the picky one of the family and Jamie was so nice to trade for this cute tiger costume for her.  

Beth wins - she always wins.  She and Patrick always go all in and it's nearly impossible to be as cool as them.  I mean, she had an entire case for her fortune teller costume.  How can anyone compete?!  

We had such a good time and even met some new friends this year.  It's hard to imagine how we could find a better set up to top this one!