Memories of January

I was cruising through my photo archives and wondered what I did during January over the past few years. In 2025 I also made a big beautiful basket out of scrap yarn -- obviously one of my favorite projects to crochet.

In January 2024 I was working on an art quilted tote much like the one I'm making now for my calendar project, too.

2023 saw me repairing this Fabscrap sample sweater in January, which I later donated to the church thrift as I don't often wear sweaters. I have some trousers I thrifted that I'll probably alter this month, too.

Finally in 2022 I took these two pieces from a cut-up crazy quilt and repaired them to make a pretty mat holder for my vintage brooches. I have another damaged crazy quilt piece that I want to use to cover some gift and storage boxes this month.

I often do the same projects over and over, I admit, which may seem boring. I am limited on the complexity of projects I take on; they usually involve making something useful for my home, arty for my soul, repairing or restoring things to give them new life and making something unique out of what others consider trash. I say my materials always inspire me but there's an aesthetic I have that also repeats, and it's never about new things, only making the old into something new.

Happy to see I'm on the same track with my projects in 2025. :)

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Better than Fried

I cut some chives from the kitchen garden to make garlic-chive baked fries for dinner. This is a great side dish for veggie burgers. Click here for the recipe from Taste of Home.com.

Stuff

After finding this Caron one pound skein of lovely peach yarn in my thrifted lot I raided my stash for two cakes of Mandala in Pegasus, which matches it perfectly. For practice and hand therapy I'm going to make another Worth Street Afghan with this free pattern , but this time I'll use the yarn that was recommended for it plus the one pound skein. I'm not quite ready to do the vintage/recycled linen quilt I had planned (still a bit too nervous about the idea), so I'm going to use some color therapy and make a quilt from these thrifted green fat quarters. I considered doing another Yellow Brick road patchwork pattern, but I might go with a split rail fence like this one.

Make It Yourself

As we head into December, here are ten ideas for easy handmade gifts: Cookie Exchange: If you live close to your friends invite them over for a cookie exchange. Basically everyone bakes a set amount of their favorite cookies, and these are exchanged at the gathering by lottery, sharing a little from each batch with everyone, or however you want to do it. You can also exchange recipes, too. My neighbor did this once and it was wonderful. Favorite Recipe Cookbook : For my favorite person I found a copy of my favorite cookbook from a vintage bookseller (yes, I am that old) and went through it making notes on all the recipes I used, how I tweaked them, etc. Ornament: There are probably a million free tutorials on how to make your own holiday ornaments, so do some research online. I like to make hanging pomanders , which smell heavenly and are biodegradable after the holidays. Mug Rugs: If you sew, making up a set of mug rugs is simple and easy; I add these every year to my ...

Rayen

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