What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 With a quarter of the year already gone, it is a good time to take stock of my progress (or rather lack of!) on my UFOs... I had prepared a list of the PhD challenge in January and I fear there isn't much to report...

1. Harry Potter (started 2019)  - no progress

3. Gipsy Wife (started 2017) - no progress

 March has been quite busy with some holidays, a big birthday, still a lot of stress as we are continuing to try to move house and of course quite a lot of work. I have tried to steal some sewing time to face the chaos! I have also spent a lovely afternoon learning to make a yummy and beautiful cake with my mum

Only one finish this month with the tote bag for my friend's birthday.

February has been far less productive than January on the sewing front... on the other hand we had 2 birthdays to celebrate (for the girls) with several parties/meals and cakes... and the month has been quite a rollercoaster for our family actually so I guess I have done the best I could? I am still trying to keep up the Tuesday lists to keep the motivation and focus and that definitely helps.

Let's have a look at how this month went...

I made a few blocks this month for the new quilt-alongs I joined: 2 Birthday blocks and ...

 Wow, what a start for the year! I have finally taken some time to sew, regularly. Not always a massive amount of time but some time. And it has made a difference I am happy to report.

I have also started (too?) many quilt alongs, and I know it will be a challenge to keep up with them all but I'll have to try... 

I have also managed to blog a lot more than I had for a very long time (maybe simply because I had things to blog about!)

Let's have a look at how this month ...

 So the year is over and I haven't fettled many finishes sadly. I had written a mid-year report but I don't think much has changed since when only 2 out of 15 entries had seen some action.

Well at least, I now have one big finish with the Impromtpu quilt

4. Farmer's Wife 1930 quilt (started 2015) - no progress

5. Enchanted Star (started 2019) - no ...

It is January 1, 2024. First day of the new year - one day to reflect and introspect before the onslaught of work and responsibilities.

A review post is always tricky. What do I include? What do I leave out? And how do I say it? Should it be just quilting? But my feelings are so entangled with the threads of my quilts. Can you really keep your work and thoughts in water-tight compartments?

Unable to separate my feelings from my work

I will try to focus on my quilts and if my feelings seep in so be it. Here are ...

 Sadly no sewing at all in December but I am happy to report very little crafting, almost all involving the Cricut that I finally seem to have tamed!

First there were many more Pillow Case Holders for the school plus one for my friend with a little diamanté

And finally, not Cricut related but I finally finished the center part of the Nutcracker Parade during the holidays.

Linking to December Furtle

Céline

 I had great hopes when I joined Gail's PhD in 2023 challenge in January but I didn't do that well after all...

Of the 12 projects I listed; only 3 are now completed: the Impromptu quilt (initially started in 2013), the mini Storm at Sea (started in 2010) and the Messenger bag.

One more has seen some progress: I made more blocks for the Harry Potter quilt but the top is not yet finished.

I unearthed 2 projects but didn't manage to work on them in the end so no progress for the Morgan Jeans or the ...

 2023 is not quite over but we're nearly there... it has been a mixed bag in terms of sewing and crafting for sure with some productive times and some completely empty ones sadly. Life for our family has continued to be quite difficult overall so that's had an effect on my motivation, time and energy for crafting for sure. Now looking back at the year, here are my Best of for 2023.

A busy month, a difficult month, a month with difficult memories but also a few happier moments. Lots to progress this month still for all of us and not necessarily enough energy or time to sew as much as I had planned/ wished.

A collection of pillow card holder, even though I forgot to take a picture, with more in the making at ...

Well, compared to last month I have at least something to report. Whether my sew-jo is back, the question remains open...

Next on my list was to unpick and redo the hem of my Aquarius dress, still not perfect but much better now. I still haven't taken pictures with the dress and now winter has come I'm not sure when I'll do it!

 So September is over or nearly... and what have I got to report? well nothing... zero... no sewing for me for weeks now. I haven't turned up my machine at all, I haven't stitched anything by hand either. Nothing, just a big blank page...

Partly it was like of time, partly lack of energy and partly no motivation really. The month has for sure been very busy with school starting back. And as we thought might happened, it has been far from straightforward so of course that's taken quite a lot of time and energy. 

I had ...

 As I mentioned in my previous post, a good chin of the month has been spent travelling abroad so there has been some hand sewing time while I was far from home. Sadly I haven't really turned on my sewing machine much since we came back, apart to hem my daughter's curtain (and I'm glad I did it straight away rather than pushing it for later!!)

July has been quite productive in the sewing room, which I'm really happy about. Maybe I made up for the lack of sun and summery weather by being creative? 

Night dresses for the girls and I, using only my stash

 June has for sure been a busy month with our youngest daughter Communion a few week-ends ago. I had set to make myself a dress, which I managed - just! I haven't blogged about the dress because although it was finished and worn on the day, there were a few things that needed fixing, and that I have completely fixed yet. I unpicked the hem this week as I didn't quite like how it looked... I don't want to put it away before it is all fixed otherwise I'll never do it and never wear it again ...

 Well we had lots of bank holidays that's for sure, which makes for longer weekend and shorter weeks. That's really nice in a way but it also means that the work needs to be crammed into much less time! We've also been out and about quite a bit this month so in the end there's been very little time in the sewing room...

One boring thing I finally did was to shorten my daughter's curtains (overdue by nearly a year!!)

I also made myself a new dress the Pléiades 2.

And I spent quite some ...

 April went in a flash really with not much sewing. 

I stated the month with some paper craft for Easter on my Maker. I started by making some carrots to fill with chocolates for the kids and some little rabbits for the adults!

I also made a birthday card for my niece on my Cricut. 

Very little progress on my Harry Potter quilt but the central portion and it's already so large that I'm really wondering whether I should quilt it in sections. I could add the other 2 rows after. 

One project that I managed from start ...

 Already one third through April and I haven't even posted my March recap yet... It was a very busy month once again with a lot of work that has sometimes eaten up in my evenings. Week-ends have been quite busy too and that means that I don't have much to show for it really.

I managed a few more Harry Potter blocks, so I have the middle 3 rows together now and "Harry"

I made very little progress on my Town bag, should't take long to finish as long as I can pick it up.

 I had anticipated that I would not have much sewing time and I probably had even less than I hoped. With 2 business trips and one week of holidays, there wasn't much time left to spend in the sewing room. I took some portable projects for my travels but didn't touch any of them in the end. 

I managed to make a little handbag for my youngest, just before we went away so I was very happy with that and she loved it (she picked the fabrics).

 Wow, this has been a productive month on the sewing front (for a change!) 

2 (very) long standing UFOs finished (admittedly, they didn't take very long and could/should have been finished years ago...)

1 cushion repaired (how long for??