Here I am! With puppers in tow, of course. She’s stealing my blankets and giving me sad eyes when I stop petting to type. Silly dog. 

I have been a busy girl this month, but some of it, I can’t show you yet, as it’s super secret Christmas business. You’ll see it next month though. I have been focusing on presents and sewing warm things for our Christmas trip to the snowy North. Which, by the way, is next week already! Crazy talk! 

This sweater was one that I was originally going to make for a gift, however, it turned out to be meant for someone who doesn’t lift (so not my brother’s lovely girlfriend,) so I kept it. Oh darn… I had to keep this lovely cardigan… The Husband claims I planned it that way, but don’t listen to him!

It’s a Cocoon Cardigan from Patterns from Pirates. I love this pattern and it looks pretty flattering on everyone, I think. 

I made another one this month.

To be fair, this grey one only needed the band, but I was undecided on that and it got put away until it got cold out and I suddenly needed ALL THE SWEATERS! Don’t worry, I have some additional ones now, but I think I’m destined to be cold all winter again. It does seem to happen.  Dad will say my blood thinned when I moved downstate, but I distinctly remember being super cold when I lived in the snowy North as well.  

Speaking of warm clothes, I made a sweat suit, which is currently in the wash, as I wear it as much as possible. It’s not terribly glamorous and I don’t have pictures, but it’s a lovely warm blue sweatshirt material. The pants have grey flannel pockets and the top is made from the grey ribbed material of one of my other new sleep shirts. 

These are the flannel pants that lead to using scraps for the sweatpants. 

I used the Linen Lounger pattern and accidentally flared them. 🙂 I think they are cute though and the flannel is so soft! 

I have two more flannel pants planned. I think they will have slimmed down cuffs with cotton lycra to make them stay on my ankles. My blue and grey ones slide up my legs and then I have terribly cold ankles. Fancy doesn’t always sleep on them like she should. 🙂

One of my pretty consistent goals is to use new patterns and I have made three dresses from the CKC Amy pattern, which is a knit dress with a v neck and a gathered skirt. I use pleats because gathering and I are not friends. 

I love them! It’s nice to have dresses that I can count on not to wrinkle and look adorable, if I do say so myself. This dress is made from Liverpool Fabric, which is textured on one side with a pebbly feel and is very smooth on the other. I think technically it’s a double knit, meaning two sides are knit together. It’s a very stable knit and makes excellent pencil skirts and lovely dresses. I bought the last three yards of this fabric because it needed to be a dress and I still have enough for at least one shirt too. 🙂

This Cotton Lycra version has pockets! It also makes me feel a bit gothy, especially when I wear black jewelry, a black cardi, leggings, and boots.

I wore it with my owl cardigan to work and every time I went into the lobby, someone new would compliment me on it. I must have not been wearing my hair up for people to see the owl, because I have worn it lots of times before and it hasn’t been that big of a thing. I was very careful with my pattern placement and think I lined things up pretty well. Both of these were heavier fabrics, but I have some planned with lighter weight fabrics too. I’m interested to see the differences between them. 

This raglan was made out of some of the scraps from the red and a grey french terry material. The french terry isn’t as soft as some other of the same fabrics I have, but it’s still a cozy sweatshirt. Here’s a detail shot of the pattern and the cuffs.

Besides the grey cardigan, my UFO bin also got some love. I finished my tree skirt! My MIL finished her tree skirt too, but I don’t have a picture of it, as there were presents all over it! It is, of course, displayed with the flamingo side up. 🙂 

My other UFO is a wall hanging that’s been sitting in the box for several years. I attempted to do some hand embroidery, but it looked terrible. I finally pulled the stitching and machine stitched around the middle. 

It has watch gears on it, for a slightly steampunk vibe. The squares are the tiniest scraps from my box. I enjoy it a lot and might have to make some more tiny squares. 

Another recent scrap buster project I discovered was these little gnomes or tomte that were presented in one of my sewing groups- So Sew English Craftalong on Facebook. These little guys (and the one beardless lady gnome) are made from only stash materials. They are made with scrap fabrics, stuffed with scrap fabrics, and I used stash yarn. 

Aren’t they cute? I want to make some specifically Christmas ones for decor. Tomte are good luck, according to Scandinavian folklore, as long as you keep them supplied with porridge. 

These ornaments are also made with stash things. I bought these glass balls last year, I think, or the year before on clearance and have started to love the mercury glass look. Since I now know how to make them, I kind of want to mercury glass everything! 

Two of the Christmas presents I’ve made so far can be shared, as they were for the Husband’s sister and she has already seen them. She was happily wearing them today after making sure they fit. 🙂 

The leggings are Peg Legs from Patterns for Pirates and the shirt is the Relaxed Raglan. Be warned, the shirt has some rude language on it, so don’t look too close if you might be offended. 

The white fabric was originally intended to be leggings as well, but it wasn’t going to look good. She loved it as a shirt, so I’m happy with it too. I might actually make clothes for other people soon! 

My goals for the month include making my own snow pants, assuming tje fabric comes in on time, a few more warm shirts, including some layering ones, and finishing my warm pants as well.

Obviously, in the next week, finishing my Christmas presents is a priority and making Fancy a nice sweater.

This post got super long, so I’ll post the food review in a few days. For now, I’ll leave you with this silly meme about buying fabric. 

Have a wonderful night!