Looking Ahead

I’m still recovering and cleaning up after having 4 adults, 3 toddlers and one canine as houseguests for 8 days. I have almost finished putting away our Christmas decorations. I finished another donation hat, but forgot to take a photo before giving all the hats to a friend to donate. I started another hat. This one is for me.

I donated the previous blue hat that I had considered keeping for myself. 

Since there has been very little crafting happening this past week, I decided to make a list of the crafts I hope to work on/complete in 2026. 

Let me start with what WIPs I would like to finish. 

Having a Ball is well on its way to completion. There should be plenty of time for hand quilting over the next couple of months.

The Royal Squares quilt needs to be sandwiched, pinned and machine quilted. I’m not sure when that will happen, but it is on the list to be completed this year. 

Cinnamon House has become my travel craft. I would like to work on it more once Having a Ball is done. 

Finishing the Summer Oak Embroidery is long, long overdue. That is on the list also. 

Three Boats will be a continuous WIP. I have no illusions that it will be completed this year. 

So what projects do I want to start. I want to make my youngest granddaughter an I-Spy quilt. This is sort of a WIP as I have cut out the squares of novelty fabrics, but nothing else is cut and fabric may need to be bought. 

In July I will start making Christmas ornaments for my grandchildren. I think I will make them from this kit. 

I also want to make myself the last Mill Hill Santa face kit that I have. 

I’m debating starting to knit a pair of socks for myself once I finish my hat. I have yarn all ready to go. I’ve never made socks before. 

Other possible crafts this year are this Hankerchief quilt. 

I have several handkerchiefs from my mom and from when I was a kid. 

This Snow Globe cross stitch that is all kitted up ready to make. 

This Candy Cane Santa kit the my son gifted me several years ago. 

I would also like to try my hand at making either a macrame style or machine sewn rope basket. 

I have so many crafts, quilts, cross stitch patterns as well as knit and crochet patterns that I am itching to work on. Sometimes I find it overwhelming to think about. I also need to go through my extensive collection of old craft magazines and pamphlets and purge what I doubt I will ever work on. 

I didn’t receive any crafts as gifts for Christmas this year. That is probably a good thing, but my daughter did buy me this wonderful wine glass. 

It says Sip by Sip, Stitch by Stitch. It is just perfect for me. 

I will be joining Frederique at the Quilting Patch on Saturday and Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. I hope you take some time to relax with some tea, coffee or hot chocolate and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

2025 in Review

The year has almost come to an end and it is time to look back and see what I accomplished in the last 12 months. 

January 

At the very end of this month I finished knitting a hat for my Hubby.

I also assembled a pillow from the small whole cloth that I had quilted in 2024.

February 

This month I finished a hat for no one in particular. It used up some yarn that I really didn't like to work with at all.

March

Royal Squares finally became a flimsy. It still needs to be quilted.

April 

My newest granddaughter’s birth announcement was finished this month. It is so adorable! 

May

May saw Windows Into My World, now called Having a Ball, become a flimsy. It is still in the process of being hand quilted.

July

I finished two Christmas ornaments this month. The first was for my younger granddaughter. 

The second was for my older granddaughter.

August

One more Christmas ornament was finished in August. This one for my grandson.

October

The Harvesttime pillow with the scarecrow of this trio was completed quickly at the beginning of the month. 

Another hat for donation was also completed. I like the hat, but the pompom needs some help.

November

This month saw three finishes. First I made a quick pillow out of a small printed panel.

Second I finished a polar bear hat for my older granddaughter.

I also finished the scrappy baby blanket that will eventually be donated.

December

I finished a hat that was supposed to be for donation, but ended up in my wardrobe.

Then, of course I had to make another hat for donation.

Hubby requested a hat.

So did my mother in law.

I also finished my granddaughter's stocking.

Two Prairie Schooler Santas were made into small pillows. One has braiding around the edge, the other is still waiting to get its braid.

All in all there were 20 needlework items finished this year with 3 of them still needing final finishing touches...quilting or adding the braid to the pillow.

I will be joining Frederique at the Quilting Patch on Saturday and Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. I hope you take some time to relax with some tea, coffee or hot chocolate and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year! Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2026!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Around town and at home

 Although today is a miserably rainy, windy, stormy day, recently we have had some warmer clear weather that was great for driving around our neighborhood at night and viewing the pretty decorated houses. 

The house below is just down the street from our house. We will bring the grandkids to see it for sure.

This is known on social media as the "Big Santa" house.

 It is a few blocks away from our house. Yes, the Santa is taller than the two story house. 

We had about 6 inches of snow at the beginning of the week.

The view out our front window was a winter wonderland.

 I love baking on snowy days, so I made chocolate thins (a new recipe for me that is just okay) and Raspberry Walnut Thumbprint cookies. The latter are a Christmas time staple that I make every year. You can find the recipe under the Baking tab.

You can see some more recipes scattered around these cookies. I will be working on them this weekend. I like to make the clams and cream puffs early and put them in the freezer until needed. I have also put half of every cookie dough in the freezer to use later or to have my grandchildren help with when they are here.

You can see in the photo above a Prairie Schooler Santa that has been made into a pillow. It still needs some braid around the outside, but at least it can be on display.

I finished another Prairie Schooler Santa into a pillow also. This one has its braid completed. 

 I worked on the braid while baking the chocolate cookies.

Another hat has been almost completed. The seam needs to be sewn. This one is for Hubby. 

I have started a green one also for donation. My mother in law has requested another hat as she has lost/misplaced the last one that I made for her. I will be knitting a whole lot of hats over the next few weeks. 

I quilted the centers of two more blocks on Having a Ball and have marked one of the blocks for the rest of its quilting. 

As I listen to the wind whip around our home, I think I will head to the kitchen and start on my Christmas Butter Cookies. The butter should be softened by now. 

Merry Christmas!

I will be joining Frederique at the Quilting Patch on Saturday and Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching. I hope you take some time to relax with some tea or coffee and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Done!

My granddaughter’s stocking is done!! It is completely stitched and assembled. I finished all the stitching on Friday and assembled it today.

 

I used fabric that was in my stash for the lining. 

The donation hat has grown. It is almost long enough to finish. 

Decorating for Christmas is all done. The bay window in our dining room has handmade Santas facing the front porch and my snowman collection facing the dining room.

 I scattered my mom’s Putz houses around my china cabinet along with several bottle brush trees. 

The dining room is decorated. 

Here are some other displays.

 I used almost all of my Christmas decorations this year. Of course I had to make our home magical for when the grandkids come. 

We bought our tree this week. Lights were strung on Thursday and ornaments added on Friday. We were able to use almost all of our ornaments also.

 I love seeing the tree in the front window. I know, by January I will be ready to be done with all the decorations, but right now I am a happy camper. 

I am joining Kathy for some Slow Sunday Stitching tomorrow. I hope you take some time to relax with some tea or coffee and pop on over to their sites to see what other bloggers are stitching. 

Thanks for stopping by!