November 2016 in Review

For most of 2016, I have felt creatively blocked. My unfinished projects weighed on me. As the year went on, I steadily worked away at them, until finally I had finished enough of them and inspiration returned. The creative floodgates opened and I finished sixteen things in November. It was by far my most productive month this year. 

Finished 

Cuzco Baby Quilt: Back in 2013, I received a bunch of Kate Spain's Cuzco fabric as a gift. I was really excited about it at the time, but never found the right pattern. I settled on a pattern called Sunny Days that I found in a Creative Quilting: Special Issue magazine. I intended for it to be a lap quilt and picked away at it until I ran out of solid fabric. It sat neglected for a long while. After using some of the blocks in a mini quilt, I decided to use the rest to make a baby quilt. My mom taught me to spray baste and I basted and quilted this baby quilt in a day. As soon as I finished the binding, my husband sent this quilt to one of his coworkers who recently had a baby. It felt so good to finish it and give it to someone. 

Penny Raglan Tee: This past August, I tried my hand at Grainline Studio's new Penny Raglan Tee pattern. I was deeply disappointed by the fit. I wasn't inspired to break out my twin needle to complete it, so it hung unfinished for months. Then I read a post on Lucy Lucille about how she finishes her knits with a zigzag stitch. That was the push I needed to finish this. Once it was done, my garment sewing sewjo returned.  

Hemlock Tees: I needed more long sleeve shirts, so I grabbed my Hemlock Tee pattern (also by Grainline Studio). I sewed four Hemlock Tees in less than a week, and they are in constant rotation. 

Dice Bag: My husband requested a new dice bag. I whipped up a basic drawstring bag for him, using his design suggestions and fabric choices. 

Scrappy Christmas Gift Bag: Using part of a charm pack, I made a quick drawstring bag to use as Christmas wrapping. 

Bento Bags: I was super inspired by the Origami Bento Bag tutorial by So Very Shannon and made six in November: two non-Christmas ones and four for Christmas gift wrapping. 

Snack Sacks: The scraps from a couple of my Bento bags turned into two Snack Sacks. The pattern is from the book Ruby Star Wrapping by Melody Miller and Allison Tannery. I made mine larger based on the sizes of the leftovers I was working with and they both came in handy while I was wrapping Christmas presents. 

Started 

Scrappy Christmas Gift Bag: With Christmas looming, I started another drawstring gift bag from charm squares. 

Existing WIPs 

Building Blocks Shawl: After working non-stop on my Building Blocks shawl in October, I stalled in November. Due to the fact that I didn't know the whole pattern when I chose my color order, Section 6 ended up being knitted in Graphic, which is a basic black with no speckles. It was a long, boring slog, but I managed to finish the section in November. About 25% of the last section is knitted, so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel on this one! 

Rae Scarf: When I grew bored with my Building Blocks shawl, I pulled out my Rae Scarf and worked on it for a while. In November, I finished all the increases and got started on the decreases.