Progress

I feel like I have made such steady progress that I need to document it here, so the next time I feel slogged down with the soul crushing weight of projects undone, I can look to this entry and think, "ah yes, on December 7 I felt accomplished". Ok maybe not, but onward

First, I totally finished the monkey Pj pants

And I cut out and sewed together MOST of the panda PJs (no picture, you'll have to trust me that all it is missing is a waist band).

I also made not one but TWO rockin Barbie outfits.

The white outfit was fashioned after some music star red carpet outfit that my daughter who is into all things glam found online. It is being modeled by a Barbie with a glitter undergarment of some sort.

I always hesitate to write too much about gifts here, especially when one of the three or four people who read this blog might be the one getting the gift. But I do have to talk about two of them. First, the one I have no pictures associated with. Someone in my life wanted a "thing like you made the girls only REALLY soft". She means a cowl like this one:

and this one:

And since, I have no idea what yarn those were in, and I'm guessing they were probably clearance the many years ago I made them, I just decided to look for some soft and bulky yarn. Along the way, I ran into a store that was selling something like this and by golly it was cheaper than what I was thinking I'd have to spend on yarn. HOWEVER, this didn't happen as I was able to buy some chenille yarn at a pretty low price. I got that cast on (twice) and joined (straight) and knit about 3/4 done. No pictures because most of the knitting was accomplished while riding to a band contest. Pictures next time, I promise. And it is soft.

I also got it in my head to make placemats for someone. I have a pattern for a quilt as you go that starts with a center square and builds triangles around it. I was struggling with colors and kind of feeling like it was a bit old fashioned looking. I also was googling just to see if it was a pattern that maybe I could share here (even though I originally got it maybe 18 years ago as part of a class I took--you never know!). Anyway, I found something I like better. A quilt as you go that uses stripes. I had decided that this would be a scrap only project and was originally thinking blues. And this is where I need to back up a bit.

In 2014, I undertook a resolution that I would get rid of at least 2 things every day. And in the fall--I hit my sewing room hard. Except.... Well I didn't want to just throw away the fabric. And I didn't want to just give away the fabric. So I put it all in a giant tub and planned to sell it. Except I never did. I SHOULD have, after a year, just donated it all. But I'm kind of glad now that I didn't. You see I went digging through the tub looking for blues to use in this project and I found the HUGE stash of Christmas fabric that I had been given. I pulled it all out, sorted through it all and discovered I had a bunch that went together pretty well.

I think I'm going to use one of these two groups (there is only one fabric difference)

I have not quite decided which of these. And I have to see if I have enough batting scraps to make at least 4--although I'd like to make 6.

Yep that's right, I just added a project to my list from last time. And I haven't started baking. That's just how I roll in December (and how I roll right to crazytown).