Tag / planning

Sewing with Confidence
by Sarah Woodard

Sewing with Confidence

Whether you’re a beginner or an advanced sewer, there will always be projects that seem too tough, that are hard to feel completely confident about taking on. Without a way to approach projects confidently, it can be tempting to skip doing them all together. What a shame it is when we miss out on making something special simply because it seems too hard. Instead, try using these tips to build your confidence and get that project done.

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Break it Down

Often, I find myself feeling overwhelmed by a project if I try to look ahead at all the directions. With simpler projects, I can do that and picture the whole thing coming together in my mind. With more complex projects, reading ahead sometimes makes me feel like it’s too hard. I won’t see the project. Instead, I get lost in the words of it and panic at the sight of terms I’ve not seen before.

The simplest and quickest way to overcome my fears and boost my sewing confidence is to take it one step at a time. Instead of reading through the whole thing, I only focus on the step I’m currently working on and the move on to the next. This makes it easy to look up any terms I’m not familiar with and complete each step successfully. And, of course, doing this generates more confidence. I have a hunch it will be the same for you. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Ask for Help

Although sewing is largely a solo hobby, that doesn’t mean you have to work through every project on your own. If you’re stuck, bring your fabric and the pattern to your local fabric or sewing machine store and ask their experts to help you out. They may be able to give you an explanation that’s easier to understand than the one written in your pattern instructions. Also, having the corresponding fabric pieces may help to show you a way to pin or cut the pieces to match what the instructions are asking you to do. And once you’ve learned it, you can apply it, confidently, to future projects.

These two tricks have helped me tackle everything from a sundress to a wedding dress with confidence and wind up with gorgeous completed projects that I’m proud to wear. The next time you’re feeling overwhelmed by a project, don’t fret. Try these two tips and get the confidence you need to complete the project without stress.

Tell-Tale Traits of a Primitive Quilt
by Connie Smith

Tell-Tale Traits of a Primitive Quilt

As I step further into the world of sewing, I find that there’s plenty of information out there that I didn’t even know to look for. My primary focus in sewing has been patchwork designs, and I definitely continue to hold a passion in regard to that style of work. I’d love to have a patchwork purse, patchwork clothing, patchwork pillows…

My primary focus in sewing has been patchwork designs, & I definitely continue to hold a passion in regard to that style of work.

My primary focus in sewing has been patchwork designs, & I definitely continue to hold a passion in regard to that style of work.

But I’m not sure I fully realized how many other avenues there are to plan out a quilt before I started looking, and those are details that can be interesting finds! Some of them, though, require a bit of an explanation to truly understand what a quilt of that nature is, and this post will explore one of those types in particular.

Once upon a time

I was in a social media marketing program where, for two of the classes, I had to keep a blog for a business. For one course, I used my author career as the business. For the other, I created a could-someday-be-real quilt company. It was fine, by the way, for the company to not actually be real in the current world!

The idea was that we were to explore marketing concepts through the blog and end up with a marketing plan — at least generally — by the end of the semester. During that quilt-company semester, I came across the idea of a primitive quilt, which was a fairly new phrase to me. At the time, I focused mostly on the social media presence of one particular company, but I find myself now thinking on what exactly a primitive quilt is.

During that quilt-company semester, I came across the idea of a primitive quilt, which was a fairly new phrase to me.

During that quilt-company semester, I came across the idea of a primitive quilt, which was a fairly new phrase to me.

If I claim to be quilter, after all, it might help to know the basic terminology!

After research and consideration of a number of quilts with the label of “primitive,” I offer you a number of details that help to make a primitive quilt… Well, primitive! Note: These are commonalities — not necessarily requirements through and through!

A primitive quilt will make use of neutral colors, though things like dark red & dark blue can make appearances.

A primitive quilt will make use of neutral colors, though things like dark red & dark blue can make appearances.

Basic Coloring

By this, I don’t mean a color-equivalent to no-artificial-flavoring! I mean that the colors are typically more straightforward than neon oranges and vivid pinks. Instead, a primitive quilt will make use of neutral colors, though things like dark red and dark blue can make appearances. These quilts often employ the colors that you might think of when words like “rustic” come to mind — which rationalizes why red and blue are used in regard to red barns and blue skies. In the end, if you plan on making a primitive quilt, you might want to keep the lime green fabric stored away for another project!

Simple Fabric Patterns

Like the coloring, the fabrics, too, are less elaborate than what might be common for a more vividly styled work. Typically, patterns — rather than fabrics — steal the focus in primitive quilts, so no fabric should be so busy or stand-out that it takes attention above and beyond the level of the quilt pattern as a whole. For this, solid colors or very simple patterns on your fabric are your best bet for forming your primitive quilt.

Basic Shapes

Don’t fancy it up!

Don’t fancy it up!

While the overall quilt might have a remarkably interesting visual in regard to its structure, the pieces of fabric that make up that visual are often based on the simplest of designs, like triangles, squares, and rectangles. This doesn’t mean that only geometric shapes can be used for your quilt though! Other shapes can come into play, but make sure to keep them simple to provide that outdated appearance that’s so synonymous with the rustic, primitive design. Think to yourself what the simplest method of delivering an object or shape is — don’t fancy it up!—and you could have the right look!

Empty space

The patterns for primitive quilts are structured, but those empty spaces between the distinct pattern formations can be just as organized. Now, this isn’t necessarily the case for every quilt! It’s not unheard of though for darker, geometric patterns of multiple fabrics to be separated by pieces of lighter fabric that are larger than any individual dark piece. It creates an overall repetition to the quilt, and the result is an almost soothing effect in that the contrast softens the appearance to something calming and steady. As I said, this tactic might be more pronounced in some primitive quilts than others, but don’t be shocked if you notice it fairly often for quilts of this style.

Geometric patterns of multiple fabrics to be separated by pieces of lighter fabric that are larger than any individual dark piece.

Geometric patterns of multiple fabrics to be separated by pieces of lighter fabric that are larger than any individual dark piece.

If you keep these things in mind, you’re on your way to planning a primitive quilt!

References:
Alcorn, J. (2014, September 10). What Is Primitive Home Decor? Retrieved from: https://www.primitivestarquiltshop.com/blogs/quilt-shop-gathering-place/24406593-what-is-primitive-home-decor
Craftsy. (2017, April 24). Can You Spot a Primitive Quilt? Retrieved from https://www.craftsy.com/blog/2017/04/primitive-fabric/
Make More Time to Sew, Part Two
by Millie Green

Make More Time to Sew, Part Two

Here are more tips to make more time to sew

Here are more tips to make more time to sew.
Hi! I hope you found part one of this series helpful for making more time to sew. I saved my favorite productivity hacks for this week. Here are new ideas for how to make more time to sew; hopefully these will help you, too.

Automate systems

If you can’t get someone else to go for your groceries, could you streamline and automate your system by meal planning and ordering the groceries online, for example, rather than wandering grocery store aisles with your cart?

An easy system for meal planning definitely helps me to make more time.

Another example: some people do laundry on a certain day of the week, but I can’t imagine that. I do laundry every day, automatically. Or I did, anyway; I battled laundry and gave up significant amounts of time to taking care of laundry with love for my family.

Finally, I managed to eliminate laundry backups and piles by doing a load or two — through to completion of putting them away, without exception — every day.

And my work on getting this system into an automated rhythm paid off for me even further. My husband surprised me by offering to take over this daily management! I happily loaded laundry onto my don’t do list and that gives me more time every day.

Keep reading to see more ideas for easy automation of regularly recurring tasks.

Keep reading to see more ideas for easy automation of regularly recurring tasks.

Just having an automated system of where you always put your keys, phone, and other items, for example, could potentially save many minutes of time spent searching for your things.

The same goes for your sewing tools and space, of course. Keep your machines next to their thread, for example. Arrange a hot iron and pressing board within your reach from your sewing machine when you make patchwork. Always know exactly where everything you need is by having a dedicated place for everything and keep everything always in its place when not in use. These little tweaks can save a lot of time for more sewing.

Speaking of systems:

Take a tip from the king of Twitter. I am talking about Jack Dorsey. Dorsey is one of Twitter’s founders and its first CEO. And when Twitter performance was lagging in 2011, he came back as CEO to turn the company around. Dorsey also founded Square, the app that turns a cell phone into a card scanner and enabled everyday folks to easily accept credit card payments.  For a time, he was CEO of both giant operations.

This productivity whiz shared his secret by talking about how he themes his days. When I read his descriptions about how he handles marketing, communications, and growth on Wednesdays, and culture and recruiting on Fridays, for example, I sensed a way to make more time and I started thinking about this.

Keep it simple, silly: easy to remember themes

For this to work for me, it had to be simple and easy to remember. After working with different iterations of this idea, my current themes for my days include things like:

Monday

Mail and management on Mondays. Some folks might prefer to use the OHIO rule (only handle it once) for mail. For me, though, I prefer to deal with the last week’s incoming mail quickly and all at once on Mondays.

I made this butterfly organizer pocket to hold my mail for dealing with on Mondays.

I made this butterfly organizer pocket to hold my mail for dealing with on Mondays.

Management for me means I am paying bills, scheduling tasks, planning my next week and reviewing the previous week, following up on things, etc.

You could have Making on Mondays, and fit sewing and other projects in on this day every week.

Tuesday

I clean tubs, toilets, and tile on Tuesdays.

Or how about teaching on Tuesdays? You could teach yourself or someone else how to do something new.

Wednesday

For me, Wednesdays are devoted exclusively to writing, and I try to do not much else, because I am currently writing more than one book.

If you don’t have much writing to do, you might like to have whatever Wednesdays instead, for maximum scheduling freedom on hump days.

Sewing could definitely fit into Whatever Wednesday!

If you are in the once a week laundry camp, you could do your washing on Wednesdays.

Thursday

Thrifty Thursdays. I used to choose to do my shopping on this day, since following the thrifty theme helped me not to make impulse purchases or otherwise spend unwisely.

Now that shopping is on my don’t do list, I am helping to free time from excess management on Mondays by theming Thursdays for thinking, too. I allow myself to invest a larger percentage of this day for reading and learning new things.

Friday

Floors, FUN, fitness, and friends on Fridays- I use Fridays for fitting in all these things.

I try to schedule most of our outings, field trips, hikes and other outdoor activities, and also playdates or informal dinner parties with friends, on Fridays.

I also do a good bit of sewing under the umbrella of fun on Fridays. This would be for fun new project ideas, just playing with patchwork or starting a new quilt, stuff that is fun. I wouldn’t do mending on a Friday, since that isn’t as much fun.

We have family time every day here, but if yours doesn’t live with you, maybe you could use Fridays for family time, if this will help you.

I’ll also tell you about a tool that can save a ton of time from Friday’s floor cleaning task. I have a lot of hardwood and other hard floors, and also a pack of boys and a dog. So cleaning floors used to take up what felt like half my day on Fridays.

Luckily, a steam mop is a huge helper that cuts this task from tedious chore to so fast and effective it is almost fun to clean floors.

These are not all made equal, however. I love the well-designed Luna Plus steam mop system, especially because of its handy extra uses in the bathroom. This baby can save time on the floors on Fridays, and the tub and tile on Tuesdays, too.

It cleans twice as well as you can, and in half the time!

Saturday

Sew on Saturdays.

Here are some ideas to get you started thinking about your own themes for every day of the week.

Here are some ideas to get you started thinking about your own themes for every day of the week.

I would advise against any temptation to have Saturday shopping as a theme! That is based on my own opinions, however; you should do what makes you happy.

If you normally shop on Saturdays, could you move to using thrifty Thursdays for this? Then you could save money for more sewing equipment and supplies and a whole day of the week for sewing. I’d love to help you save time AND money, so do consider this option.

Some folks might like to theme their Saturdays for socializing. I do this some weeks myself.

Sunday

Sew on Sundays, too!

It is fortunate that there are two days of the week beginning with S! And it makes perfect sense when theming your days to plan two days of sewing, if you want to make more time to sew.

Of course you could also devote all or part of either Saturday or Sunday to Service or as your Sabbath day of rest and reflection.

And wait, there’s more!

This series will be continued to part three, next week, because I’ll like to show you a few more ways to make more time. And I’ll share a video I am working on for you, where I’ll give you more details and inspiration about all the ideas from this series.

Until then, happy sewing. I hope these tricks can help you to make more time for sewing this week, and I hope you get to enjoy making something you’ll love.

Planning Your Pieces
by Connie Smith

Planning Your Pieces

One of the most important things you can do when beginning a quilt is to plan out your pattern. By this idea, I don’t just mean picking what pattern you want to buy in a store, but also planning out how the pieces of your project will fit together. That kind of pre-thought can make a difference in the appearance of a final product!

Let’s say, for instance, you decided to make a blue-based quilt, and you have a number of types of fabric to use for the product. If you don’t plan out how the pieces will go, you could end up running out of one particular style before the end, so the final portion is suddenly void of that one fabric. If you, like me, want a quilt that looks more balanced than that, then planning ahead can give you that quality.

Let’s think about where this is going…

Beyond that point, making these decisions beforehand can also ensure that you don’t pile a series of similar fabric all in one area. Otherwise, your product could look like this not-so-beautiful piece of artwork I created with my not-so-wonderful skills at Paint.

Otherwise, your product could look like this not-so-beautiful piece of artwork I created with my not-so-wonderful skills at Paint.

Otherwise, your product could look like this not-so-beautiful piece of artwork I created with my not-so-wonderful skills at Paint.

See how the same shades of blue are really close together? Now, imagine, what it would look like had I just mixed the fabrics in a more thorough way. The overall result could’ve been much more balanced, which to me, is a better strategy! And that’s the beauty of planning: No matter what your preference is, you can make sure you end up with a quilt that reflects it!

Lay out your quilt pieces on the floor & continue to adjust them until you come to a pattern you decide is right.

Lay out your quilt pieces on the floor & continue to adjust them until you come to a pattern you decide is right.

Options

So the question arises about how to plan out those details. There are a couple of options available that you can use right in your own home! The easiest and least-costly method between the two I’ll cover is to lay out your quilt pieces on the floor and continue to adjust them until you come to a pattern you decide is right. You don’t need any extra materials for this stage at all, and so long as you have the free floor space, you have this opportunity right at your fingertips!

A quilt design area on your wall.

A quilt design area on your wall.

The other option is a quilt design area on your wall. This one might cost you a bit of money since you have to buy the supplies for it (though those supplies can be as simple as clips!), and you might find that you have to rearrange your wall décor to make room for it. Still, it’s a better candidate than the floor method if you want to eliminate the possibility of having your quilt-in-progress trampled by feet or if you just don’t have the right amount of space available for a clear plan-out area. Once you construct the design wall, you can start pinning and planning, shifting around your fabric blocks until everything fits in a way you’re comfortable with!

Start pinning & planning, shifting around your fabric blocks until everything fits in a way you’re comfortable with!

Start pinning & planning, shifting around your fabric blocks until everything fits in a way you’re comfortable with!

From that point, there are a number of ways to remember the quilt structure that you’ve planned out. Sure, if you’re using a quilt design wall, you could take it a bit at a time over to your sewing machine and just leave the extra pieces in place on the wall until the time comes to use them. But if you want a method that doesn’t involve leaving your pieces there — or if you’re using the floor method — you might want to think about alternative tactics!

One idea is to take a picture of what you come up with. If you do that, you can use it as a point of reference as you go through piecing your quilt together. By following the design you created, your quilt can turn out just as beautiful as you meant for it to!

Collate your blocks

Another option would be to keep your pieces in the order that you’re going to use them. As you take them up from the floor or off the wall, make sure you’re doing so in the exact order they’ll appear. You could start from the top or the bottom corner and progressively layer your quilt pieces on top of one another as you go. With this strategy, your blocks are in the order you wanted them, so you can just go through your stack one piece at a time to recreate your pattern!

But whatever your planning and preserving methods are, the important thing is to be thorough with them. Take your time, both in pinning or sorting those pieces, and in keeping them in sequence, so that errors are less likely to happen. When you have a well-balanced and well-considered quilt as the reward for your efforts, you’ll be glad you did!

by Sarah Woodard

Project Rescue

Oh no! What a disaster!

Oh no! What a disaster!

Oh no! What a disaster! This whole project is ruined! Sound familiar? We’ve all had at least one project we think we’ve truly mangled. Thankfully, there are ways to save it. The best method to rescue your project depends on where the mistake occurred.

Cutting – Take Two

Did you misfold the fabric and now your cut pieces are all wrong? It may not be the giant disaster you think it is. If the fabric store has more of the fabric you’re using, it’s easy enough to get more and begin again. If not, you may be able to find it online or at another store. If that fails, treat this as an opportunity to find a new perfect fabric for your project (Don’t forget to exercise restraint, as we’ve looked at before).

Seams – Take Two

Did you missew a seam or several seams? If you can use your seam ripper to remove them and sew them again, this isn’t a big deal. However, if you’re not able to do that or did more damage to the fabric trying to pull out the seams, there are other options. If the item is too big, simply sew additional seams to make it smaller. On the other hand, if it’s too small you made need a more drastic solution.

Project – Take One and a Half

If your project is basically complete and you realize it’s too small, don’t worry! You may not have to redo the entire thing. Even if you’re not a tailor, it’s possible to alter your project to the larger size you intended. Best of all – you may not even need to buy more fabric to do it!

Remeasure

Figure out how much fabric your need to add to make the project fit and in which areas. For me, it’s usually the sides and/or bust area need an extra ½ inch or so (I blame patterns meant for smaller breasted women!).

No one, besides you, will ever know that it’s not exactly how it was planned to be.

Snip, Snip

Since you’re going to add more fabric, there’s no need to carefully rip out the seams. Instead, take your fabric scissors and carefully cut along the seams you need to alter, say the sides for example.

Add it up

Grab your left over fabric – the stuff that was destined to your stash pile. Making sure that it follows that pattern in your existing project, cut enough to add what you need to make your project fit, plus seam allowance on both sides.

Pinning and Sewing – Take Two

Pin the newly cut fabric additions to your project, right sides together and following the existing curves. If possible, try it on while it’s inside out to be sure it will fit better this time. Head over to your trusty sewing machine one more time and sew in the additional pieces. Viola! You’ve saved a project from the trash. No one, besides you, will ever know that it’s not exactly how it was planned to be. And what they don’t know, you don’t have to tell them, so wear it with pride.

I Didn’t Think It Would Look Like This
by Sarah Woodard

I Didn’t Think It Would Look Like This

Oops!We’ve all been there. You spend hours, days even, working on a sewing project. In your mind, you’ve got this image in your head of the gorgeous completed project, but when it’s finally done it doesn’t look anything like you thought it would. You thought it would be a simple one, so you didn’t bother with a muslin mock up, but it’s not at all what you expected or wanted. So now what?

Grumble

If you’re like me, you spend a fair amount of time grumbling and cursing about the “messed up” project or worrying about what you’re going to wear to the event instead. This is helpful short-term. It lets off the stress and and can be cathartic, but it doesn’t really solve anything.

Alter

Once you’ve finished grumbling and worrying, try the piece on again. Take a careful look at the seams. Can you alter them to change the fit so it’ll more closely match your vision? Maybe adding some darts or a tuck at the waist would help?

Accessorize

Often the picture on the front of the pattern package shows people wearing shoes or jewelry. Can you add your own accessories or shoes to make the item more closely match your imagined outcome? Maybe a shawl or scarf would help?

Change it Up

Sometimes, when choosing a fabric, you might choose one that turns out not to flow the expected when it’s all sewn up. In these cases, rather than remaking the entire project, add sections of another fabric in areas that will help the flow. It’s nerve wracking to cut apart a completed project, but since you’re not going to wear it the way it is anyway you don’t have much to lose.

Embellish It

Try adding a little pizazz to change the look of your sewing project. Patches, lace work, embroidery, beading, or other fancy details can completely alter the look of your project and provide it with a touch of class or color that may help it more closely match the vision in your head.

Combine It

Depending on how different your vision is from the completed project, combining two or more of these techniques may be necessary. In most cases, though, it’s possible to save the project and make it work for you – sometimes in ways you didn’t expect.

What other techniques have you tried to make your project work?

Let's Make Some Goals!
by Connie Smith

Let’s Make Some Goals!

Once upon a time, I attempted the 101 goals in 1001 days challenge. Ever heard of it? Basically, you come up with 101 goals (at least, that’s the goal—you can decide whether or not that pun was intended!) and you give yourself 1001 days to finish up said goals. It’s a fairly simple idea, and I was intrigued enough to come up with that many things and start on working toward success for the list.

I think I finished writing the list. But I did not finish accomplishing the goals on that list.

I later tried again. Some of the goals might’ve been new. Some might’ve been on the earlier list. Still, I made a list (I think it was full!) and started over.

Again, I didn’t finish with that whole accomplishing-thing.

Even though I might loooove making lists (Nerd? Probably!), I don’t think I’ll ever make a 101-in-1001 list and see the process through. Why? A couple of things are worth mentioning for reasons.

One is that I don’t know what I’ll want to do in over two years. I might know big things, maybe even *some* small things, but to commit myself to 101 things that’ll fit my plans approximately 2.74 years from now? Doubts are reasonable!

Congratulations graduate!

Congratulations graduate!

Also, while going through the process earlier, I found that my goals changed, and my beginning list didn’t really fit at a certain point. Possible example: I think I was working on my MA in Ancient & Classical History for the beginning of one list, maybe both. I never got that degree, but I did end up getting a fancy MA in English and Creative Writing. The school I graduated from even sent me this little guy for social media potential. Lucky me!

The point? I accomplished something, but not what I named if I specified what I wanted an advanced degree in. Things change, and my lists might not have kept up with those things.

And even if the changing goals wasn’t an issue, who actually has 101 things they want to do at any given moment? I might have to make a few things up or stretch my imagination to come up with that many goals—which could heighten the chance that I won’t want to continue with said goals. A scrambled-after goal isn’t necessarily the strongest one. I mean, if I didn’t *seriously* want to do something in the first place and had to think waaaaay outside of the box to come up with it, why make an extended effort to accomplish it? Am I right?

I bring this up because, while I don’t feel like I’m overly good at committing tiny goals to myself for the so-distant future, I do still have goals. Beyond that detail, I also like the idea of giving myself a cut-off for those goals. And, as I said, I like making lists like this!

So… I’m going to do another one! This time though, instead of having such an extended time period of a 101-list of potentially made-up goals, I’m going to focus on something more foreseeable and sizable. The smaller the time span, the less time there is for goals to change. The smaller the number or goals, the higher priority they have to be before they make the list (and the smaller the chance that I made them up as fillers!). Combined, the scenario could make my list more doable and successful. Maybe. Possibly. Hopefully? 🙂

An early step of this process is clearly to come up with that list. And no, I don’t have a finished list to hand to you. Instead, I’m announcing that this will be a concept that will likely pop up on blog posts in the future. This list and these goals won’t be the focus of all future posts, but they might show up as casual “Hey! New Goal!” mentions. If you see one of those at some point, reading this post will have given you a warning about what’s going on!

In early 2017, I plan to have a specific, finished list of quilting/sewing goals to tend to during the year. One year at a time, maybe a dozen goals at a time, seems more like a potential recipe for success than scrambling for something to list and pretending what I want will stay what I want for a long time. I can focus on what I do want to do, and take it in small enough batches that could lessen the likelihood that my interests will do a one-eighty!

But I do have a goal or six to start off with, so my list has already begun! Want to read the goals so far? Here you go!

  • Make a rag quilt – Why do I adore these things soooo much? I’ve never even owned one that I specifically remember, but I’m so interested in making my own. I’m thinking of a conversation-heart design for sentimental reasons, but I guess I can work out the ends and outs of specifics at a later time!

    Behold! The Christmas purse I bought. Isn't it fun?

    Behold! The Christmas purse I bought. Isn’t it fun?

  • Make a Halloween purse – It can be a pretty big holiday person (I already have a Christmas purse I bought!), and I’d love something that I made myself to carry around during the month of October. I don’t know that I’ve ever made any kind of purse, so the whole experience could be new—maybe challenging. Even if I make one this year, I could make a more challenging one next year.
  • Make quilts or blankets for all who know me as an aunt – This goal in itself could be handful, but I think it might be worth the effort. They’re pretty awesome kids, after all!
  • Make a patchwork piece of clothing – Like with the rag quilt, it might be hard to tell why this idea intrigues me like it does. I do like patchwork things though, so why not make a patchwork design I can wear to the store for people to see? Easier to show off that way! 🙂
  • Go through all of the free Craftsy classes for quilts and sewing – I’ve already improved my technique because of the video I watched, so browsing the rest of them might be a good idea. Who knows how much I could learn from them, or how much better my sewing/quilting could become because of them? Let’s find out!A pre-assembled sewing kit and a Muppet tote with fabric in it.
  • Improve my sewing tools collection and organization – Not saying this is all I have in the way of tools and organization, but this is a pretty decent percentage: A pre-assembled sewing kit and a Muppet tote with fabric in it. Even when added to the other things I have, I could use an upgrade! Why not tend to that next year, too!

Six goals to start off, and months left to build! Hopefully, the months leading up to 2017 can help me gain ideas through projects and posts.

Any ideas from you guys? If so, post a comment!