Art, Craft and Needlework, December, 2025

[Harriet]

¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º° Cгε𝔞𝕋𝕀νƗ𝕥𝓨! °º¤ø,¸¸,ø¤º°`°º¤ø,¸


Come share with us!
We'd love to hear about your plans for making gifts, home items, decorating and inspired projects of all kinds!

In November,

Cathy has been cross stitching and finished a long-term project. She's working on a Mason Jar cross stitch project. She has been attending both her stitching groups.
Twins' Mom has been stamping and making Christmas cards for various people in her life, and another for a wedding.
Nancy sewed two lined vests and has gotten back to knitting after her back started feeling better. She's knitting a prayer shawl now and has the yarn for two more.
Harriet found the right oval hoop and has traced her embroidery onto fabric, in the hoop now. Studying machine quilting videos so that quilt can be done at home. She added beads to the ribbons at top of four bookmarks to finish them.
Kittykatt and lucylee came in with encouragement!

[Nancy]

One more maybe two batches of hot pads and dish cloths await my attn.
but I have bruised my hand so progress is very slow on them.

I did get my rows in on the hot pads for today & more knitting so glad about that.
I'd like to get these done by new years as dgd's bday is the first week of the new year they are for her.

[Harriet]

Nancy, I sure do hope your hand feels better soon. Ouch, ouch.

Thanks, Cathy, for an answer to a stitching question in today's PWYC.

When dd27 and I went to Michaels, we ran into a sale on storage items, and they happened to have one I'd been considering - "12" by 12"" clear plastic storage cases that are marketed more for scrapbooking. About 3 inches high, stackable, and use space in closets efficiently. I 'd seen and heard that quiltmakers were finding they helped them by corralling pieces of fabric you can then see from every angle without opening the case. They were only $4 each so I got 4. She latched and unlatched them a few times to make sure each one worked well. She thought I would want the colored ones, but I wanted clear to see the projects inside better.

They are called 12 x 12 but with larger outer dimensions because of the hinge part. So, I thought, good but not great since so many finished quilt blocks that might be waiting in a project are a half-inch larger than that all around. THEN when I got them home and really measured the inside, they are perfect for allowing a 12 1/2" by 12 1/2" block to lie completely flat - no folding. So, the size is really good, even if a project has already-constructed blocks, since most quilt blocks are that size or smaller and will fit flat in that dimension. And if you lay a finished block on the top, you've just identified exactly what project is inside, in the most appealing way possible.

We also found a "drawing monsters" book for one of my grandboys and I got an idea for a painting present for her.

She is getting up early every morning to paint these days. Good for her frame of mind, she says.

[Nancy]

Hand is better now yea! Just a minor cramp now and then from a bit of over use yesterday.
Got the hot pad done and dish cloth one of each;
one more ea. to make a set of two by new years for a bday gift.

Today I have seen up a cloth gift bag; might be for me as a lg. skein of yarn will fit in it to keep it clean.
I had to cut off shoulder seams of the denim vest too gappy got them pinned to sew back together after I trimmed them off.

Socks are my theme for 2026!
I've ordered sock yarn and sock making book.
Going to treat myself with these for a while not sure if it will be monthly or seasonally yet.
Maybe a sock making kit; and or a sock making loom.
It's so much fun to do the research for the different yarns too!

I have been enjoying vlogmas by a sock knitter this mo.
-----
Found the wool I'd spun up so will be trying that for some.
I have knit up a few pr. of socks before but a good fit eludes me.

[Harriet]

Nancy, I'm glad the hand is letting you do things now! Socks seem like such a cozy and comfortable to make but I can see how getting size right would be tricky to learn.

I ordered the type of paints dd27 was excited about - gouache. I remember my mother and aunt talking about it decades ago, but there seems to be a new interest in it now. Described as being between a watercolor and an acrylic.

[Twins' Mom]

Harriet, I've heard of that paint - I recall seeing paintings in museums and galleries labeled so.

Nancy, yes, it must take very fine yarn to knit socks - a bumpy sock would make me crazy!

This evening I need to do a dozen or so tags for gifts for dh. I'll use a simple to/from stamp, and cut the tags with die cuts. The questions are about decorating and whether or not to make them heavier (two layers of cardstock, one the thick white cardstock? or one layer using two-sided paper? Decisions, decisions....)

[Nancy]

Sock Yarn Fail got some today one is like crochet thread what the heck?
The other sigh not what I thought it would be. Forgot the fact that it would take
two of each one for each sock so not enough of one color for a pair.

[Twins' Mom]

Ended up die cutting circles from some older design paper and and cutting cardstock (colors and ivory) slightly larger. Stamp to/from will go on the reverse. Will assemble when I return.

[Nancy]

Finished one ea. of hot pads & dish cloth for my kitchen.
Started the 2nd of ea. to complete these sets. Yea for progress!

[Nancy]

Yea I found yarn in stock at the store today for socks I'm soooooooo excited!

Finished the 2nd dish cloth for the set for my kitchen.