If 2022 was lighter on quilting, the craft that REALLY took a hit was knitting. In 2021 I knit 26 projects (most of them socks). In 2022… just 17 projects. And all of those but one, were small projects.

The same reasons apply for the lack of knitting as it did for the quilting. Just too much time spent on other things. While knitting is usually my evening relaxing craft, by the time evenings rolled around, I was too tired to pick up the needles.

The biggest project I completed was my Hemlock Ring blanket

I’m still chuffed with the finish of this. It had been on my to-knit list since the pattern came out over a decade ago. And I’ve made good use of it this season. The office is quite chilly, so it’s almost always on my lap while I’m working.

The next biggest project was the Birthday bolero for Miss Wren. Can you believe that little stinker will be SIX in 2023? I have to start thinking about her next birthday knit soon.

After that… the rest of the projects were all wee…. baby things, or socks.

I only managed to knit four measly pairs of socks this year. And all of them were vanillas, and all for small lady feet. By comparison, I knit 15 pairs in 2021!!!

Yet… while 2022 was light on knitting, I did cross off a couple things I really wanted to knit… like Hemlock Ring AND…

Knitted pumpkins!!!!!!

I do really hope 2023 brings more time to knit though. If not only because I may or may not have lost my mind seeing Felici on sale for $3.49 a ball, and have a big Knit Picks order working its way to me as we speak…

Looking back, there’s no doubt about it. 2022 was a slow year in terms of crafting. And I don’t even have the excuse of the move this year.

In 2021, I completed 28 quilts. In 2022, I was down to 20.

I think it all comes down to just being busier at work. There wasn’t time during the week to sneak in and throw a few blocks together here and there. Getting the garden established also took up a good chunk of my free time in spring/summer/fall.

Still, 20 quilts in a year isn’t too bad. Nine of those were baby quilts, and two were Burton quilts.. but that means nine of them were lap-size or bigger.

The biggest, of course, was my cousin’s wedding quilt.

A big blurple batik beauty!

I made a couple quilts for myself too.

My gnomes for chilly evenings on the sun porch, and my retro Kitty Corn Hallowe’en quilt.

But I think, of all the quilts this year, my favourite was Fright Night.

This is one of those projects that came out looking even better in real life than it did in my head. It was also my first project that involved applique! So new skill added!!! I have enough fabric to make another one like this (though I’ll change kitty up a bit so it’s not an exact match), as well as fabric set aside to make a spring/summer version.

So while I might not have had as much output as I would have liked in 2022… the quality of that output was pretty pleasing!Still I hope 2023 brings me a little more time at the sewing machine.

Im happy to say, I’m in sight of finishing the Christmas Gnomes before the new year.

I got all my blanket stitch done. It did improve a little as I went along. After that I sewed the beards and noses on.

I added the bell to the left gnome’s hat, and some stripes to the candy cane. There was supposed to be some embroidery on the middle gnome’s hat, but as I said before, my embroidery skills suck… as evidenced by the terrible stitching on the candy cane. I decided the hat was just fine with out it.

The next step was sandwiching and quilting. If I was headed to Mom’s any time soon, I’d just whip it off there on the quilting machine. But I’m not. And there’s too much going on for much straight-line quilting.

So…

I put it in my big cross-stitching frame and I’m hand-quilting it! It’s the first thing I’ve every hand quilted. And my hand quilting skills are barely better than my embroidery skills. But still… I think it’s going to be fun!

Like many of you, we got hit by the big pre-Christmas storm. It started as rain Thursday night, and by Friday morning it was a full on blizzard. By Saturday things were calmer, but the wind was still high

The snow was light and dry, and with the wind that spells trouble for travel – especially in wide open spaces. Large parts of the area around us had roads closed due to whiteout conditions, and blowing snow.

On Christmas Day, we were supposed to head to my brother’s. He lives three hours north of us and the drive takes us all along the shore of Lake Huron. We were hoping things would clear up by Christmas morning, but about 70% of the roads we needed to take were closed. The other 30% were marked as snow-covered with poor visibility

So it was Christmas Day at home.

The snow might have changed our plans, but it sure is pretty!

Burton and I decided to take advantage of the unexpected free time, and work on some languishing quilts.

We had a marathon trim session and trimmed up all the flying geese for the Little Wishes nine-patches. It took quite a while (There were 116 to trim!), but we got them done and started sewing our blocks together.

And we just kept sewing. It took all day but…

We now have 30 big, beautiful scrappy blocks ready to be turned into a quilt top.

I’m sad we have to wait to celebrate, but I’m happy I made such good use of the time!

Wishing you all the very best today and the new year to come

Love Valerie, Lord Burton Bearbottom, Baron Rupert von Scrufflebutt, Lemmy Purrmister, and Relic!

‘Twas the night before Christmas
and all through the house
Not a creature was stirring,
not even a mouse.

‘Cuz the cat had pounced on him
and tore him apart-
Ate his mousey intestines
And chewed up his heart.

Kitty thought he heard sleighbells,
which made him take pause-
He stopped daintily lickng
the blood from his claws.

“Must be Santa” thought Kitty
(that quite clever cat)
‘Cuz nobody else climbs down
the chimney like that.

Indeed it was ol’ Santa,
so jolly and fat
With a load of presents
and all for the cat!

“Wow, the best Christmas ever!”
Kitty thought with a purr,
Then he coughed up a hairball
and shed some more fur.

They say where there is darkness…

There is also light.

And that seems to be so true of these two.

These days, you can pretty much count on the fact that wherever Burton is, Lemmy will be too.

There is, of course, a lot of rough play. But they truly do seem to enjoy each others company.

And are more than happy to share their favourite spaces, most of the time.

I’m certainly enjoying watching their friendship grow.

Kittens…. we have a problem…

There is no way we are going to have Dad’s sweater done in time for Christmas. I just have not been able to devote the time needed each evening to it.

It’s maybe four inches further since you last saw it. Which means I still need to knit seven inches of plain knitting, and two or three of ribbing to finish the body. Then there’s still the sleeves.

My mother-in-law arrives for a visit today. I still work today and Friday. And then there’s baking to do… it just not going to happen by Sunday. Even if I had nothing else to do, I doubt I’d be able to finish it in time.

But I’m not sweating it. I have a couple other small things set aside for Dad, and I popped out and got him a gift card on Monday.

The question now is… do I finish it some time in the new year and give it to him when it’s done, or hold onto it for Fathers Day, his Birthday, or next Christmas???

So Burton got his Christmas quilt, but he still needed something else… a Christmas bandana!

I found this cute fabric at Walmart – I didn’t realize it was Christmas fabric at first – I just saw the mushrooms. I got it home, unfolded it, and that’s when I saw the Christmas birds!

Burton, of course, immediately claimed it as soon as he saw those birds.

Of course, with all that floof, it’s not really apparent it’s a Christmas bandana at first glance. But he’s happy, and that’s what matters!

You will recall that I like to have a little fun with the presents I make for my brother. We love puns and double entendre, and general toilet humor.

My brother also loves to cook, so this year I decided to make him a gift he can use in the kitchen… an apron.

I did have a pattern, but I figured I could wing one by taking some direction from my own drywalling apron…

With a little help from Miss Pee and her Cricut, I was able to bring our brand of humour to the top part of the apron.

And for the bottom half, I got this fabulous fiery fabric.

It’s very basic in terms of design, but I’m very pleased with how it turned out. I hope my brother likes it just as much!