I’ve been on a blogging break all month–work deadlines, holiday prep, everyone’s been sick (I have the flu as I type this, I never get the flu). But this was our December:

One of H’s birthday presents was this adorable mini sewing machine from John Lewis in the UK. Her grandparents brought it over for her when they came for her party, she as excited. I’d been thinking of getting her a machine when she turned 5, and I’d seen that one last year on a trip over. Now, she has it. And we’ve been learning to use it.

My virtual book club just started its third year, and last week I mailed out the prizes to the big winners from 2016. We don’t read a set book each month, we just read whatever we want and talk about it. The past 2 years I gave out prizes for the most books read, the most pages read, and the most audiobook time listened. This year we’ve moved over to Goodreads, and we’re just straight tracking the number of books read. So, next January I’ll announce a first, second, and third place winner.

I’ve been excited about Seedling’s craft kits for a while, but it was just this past summer that H started to get more interested in arts and crafts. We haven’t really been able to tackle a lot of projects before. So I put several kits on her Amazon wishlist for Christmas, and she got a couple that we’ve been working on. I also recommended some of their kits for The Wirecutter’s guide Learning Toys and STEM Toys We Love.

Other posts on this project: Storybook Baby Quilt Pt. 1, Storybook Baby Quilt Pt. 2.
This one is finished! I was making this for H’s speech therapist, who is amazing and expecting a baby girl next month. And I got it delivered to her this week before she heads off on maternity leave. We will miss her! So, she gets a quilt.

Other posts on this project: Storybook Baby Quilt Pt. 1.
So this chevron quilt is from Crazy Mom Quilts Zig Zag Quilt tutorial. I know usually chevrons are made with half square triangles, but I just could not face HSTs at the moment. I needed to get this quilt done ASAP. And this tutorial has been fabulous.

This was a really quick design and assembly. I think I’m going to write up a tutorial for this one when I get some time to concentrate on it, but I just love, love, love, love this quilt. On a Friday morning I was standing in the fabric store picking out emergency Plan B fabric for this super last minute plan, and on Monday morning I was delivering it to H’s teacher, just in time for the end of the school year. It came together fast.

Our Christmas photos! This is the entire glorious whirlwind of holiday spirit that I haven’t already posted. Read more on Christmas!…