Stories from the Sewing Room

Happy new year! I hope 2026 is your best year ever. Let's start the year off right by selecting a new goal to work towards.

New to One Monthly Goal?  Welcome!  To join, share a photo of your project plus some words about what you want to accomplish in a blog post or Instagram post and add that photo to the link up.  Return at the end of the month and share your results.  (Results link up opens for the last 7 days of the month.)

My goal this month is to get caught up on the current Meadow Mist mystery. I need to do steps 3, 5, and 6. Step 7 comes out today, so I'll have that to do as well. 

I was really hoping to pull off last-minute miracle and complete my 2025 PHD, but it wasn't meant to be this year. 

Linking with Ms. P Designs

I did complete 10 projects, which is not too shabby. (You can review my quilting finishes on my 2025 finishes tab.) I was really relieved to finish one of my older projects, the race car quilt. If you've been around for a while, you are probably as sick of that project as I was. 

Another project that was satisfying to finish is the knitted baby blanket I started back in 2017. 

I had three quilt tops that needed custom quilting on my list and I did not finish those. I do have a quilting plan fully worked out for one and am about halfway done planning a second one. I'm still struggling to come up with a plan for the third one. I will have to schedule in time to quilt them since I was planning to do them in December but didn't end up with enough vacation time.

I also added to my list an inherited a project from a guild mate who passed. I was hoping to finish it. I'm halfway through sewing the blocks, so I'll carry that forward and finish it in 2026.

I finished almost everything I started this year with the exception of a project from a class I took in March. The kits weren't complete at the time of the class, so I had to wait for the rest of it to be shipped to me. The hard components all had a fairly strong smoke smell, so they were in time out for the rest of the year. I forgot the process she taught, but after looking at the instruction pictures in her book, I figured out enough to resume working on it this week. 

Looking back over my progress, I see that my personal productivity really went down when I added the second longarm for work. I worked enough to fully pay back the personal loan I took to cover part of the longarm and all of the computer. That was a pretty big achievement, but I also worked so much that I was feeling pretty burnt out. I have basically worked out the logistics of running two machines and am planning to work less days in 2026. Hopefully that translates into more personal sewing time and more time to address other areas in my life, particularly fitness and house/garden maintenance, that really took a back seat in 2025. 

There are sewing techniques I'd like to pursue more in 2026, particularly trying to perfect my sloper and sewing more clothes for myself. I'd like to try some projects that use techniques I don't use often, such as curved piecing and paper piecing. Of course I'd like to finish more things in general because my closet is overflowing. But I'd like to enjoy working on them as well. I want to do things because I want to, not because I feel I have to.

My 2026 project list will hopefully address some of this, and as long as I can keep to my business plan for next year, maybe things will feel more fun. If not, any step forward is a step closer to a finish. 

I did do quite a few last-minute sewing projects for gifts since I last posted. I made this goose ornament using a free pattern from Ann Wood.

I made two tiny totes using a pattern from Craft Owl. There is a video that walks you through the steps. I found that helpful. You still need the pattern for pattern pieces, fabric and notion requirements, and sizes.

I made a string of prosperity hens using a tutorial from Pin Cut Sew. Use the free video tutorial or you can buy a PDF. The video is sufficient instruction. 

I knitted a ton of scrubbies. I lost track, but I think I made eight. I made one blue/white one that isn't pictured and the rest looked like the photo below.

Over the holiday I started a new knitting project, the Timberland Tweed blanket. I am making the larger size, which required 10 skeins of yarn. My local Michaels didn't have enough of anything to make it. The one closest to my daughter had seven skeins of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick in the Dreamcatcher color way and we were able to pick up three more on the way to Michigan. I've already used up two of the skeins and I'm partway through the third!