I’m taking a bit of time to share a look back at the things I’ve been up to over the last couple months so grab a cup and stay a while.

As per usual with me I get a little caught up in one type of craft until the next thing strikes.

Playing with fabric and paper is always a go-to activity for me. Making mini collages or “clusters”, as the junk journal community calls them, tends to get my creativity going. Matching up little bits of this and that is a fun challenge.

I use these either on greeting cards or as journal embellishments. Either way it’s nice to have a stash of them on hand.

One weekend, after finding a fun set of fat quarters, I sat down and made the whole lot into journal covers. Did I mention that I get a little caught up? I’m still considering opening a new etsy storefront so some of these might go in there. Otherwise I have a nice stash of gifts for the future.

While sorting through the file cabinet that holds my paper stash, I found piano sheet music that had seen better days. I removed the cover and sewed it together to form that outside of a journal. Since it was Rhapsody in Blue I decided I’d created a blue themed journal.

I’m continuing to work at going through my stash of supplies by either purging items I’ll never use, creating items that are “ready to use” such as these ruffles and just plain organizing so I know what I actually have. I have a feeling this will be a never ending battle.

Speaking of stashes… Here is a stack of 37 quilt blocks with no end in sight. I have so many scrappy bits and friends keep gifting me with more. Someday I’ll have to sit down and sew a quilt top or two.

While I had sorting through some of those scraps, I found some fun ones and was inspired to make a patchwork cover for another journal. I happened to have a stamped leather piece that Mini-me and I made a decade ago at mother daughter camp. It was the perfect addition to the journal.

I got my seeds started about 2 weeks later than I typically do. The weather kept tricking me into thinking that spring was never coming. Hopefully they will be strong enough when I’m ready to set them outside.

Last week was Spring break for my school. The days filled quicker than I would have liked as well a some crazy snow mid week. I did spend some time crafting and sewing which definitely made me happy. When we returned to school yesterday I heard that we only have 40 days left. That’s totally doable even with all of the state testing that’s in front of us.

My Mini-me is quite literally a poster child. I had to share this fun tidbit since it’s published all over the university site. :)

And we can’t forget Marvin…he is becoming a very needy only child.

Thanks for catching up with me for T Stands for Tuesday!

Happy 2025! Yes, I know I’m late but that’s kind of how I roll lately.

I’m starting to write this before work, bright and early Monday morning in hopes that it will get published in a reasonable amount of time.

I’ve been working a bit in my sewing room, organizing and crafting.

It seems as if I’ve been doing more collecting of supplies than using them lately. I want/need to remedy that.

I’ve been playing mostly with fabric but not always in a traditional sense. Fabric journal covers have been one of my recent endeavors.

I’ve been having fun using my stash and creating “sets” if you will. Everything coordinates.

I’m undecided if I’m going to open a new Etsy shop or not. There is a big, frustrating issue on the back end of things and I am no longer able to accept payments since my online bank I used was purchased. Etsy is not being very helpful or accommodating. In the meantime I keep creating without an end goal in mind. Honestly it’s really nice doing things that way.

Since I was sorting through fabric I decided to pull out my Christmas fabrics and make some Scandinavian star ornaments.

Several years ago I made a handful of them but had to look up the tutorial again to refresh my memory. I’ll share the completed ones at a later date.

I’ve been writing lists of crafty things I want to try…so many ideas, so little time.

One of my co-workers brought back these beautiful treats from her trip to India to share with our team.

They are Kaju sweets made with cashews, sugar, ghee and cardamom. The two I tried tasted as good as they looked.

I’m still unsettled on my WOTY for 2025. I loved brave so much, I hesitate to move on. I have a short list of words I may go with or I might just hang onto brave for another year. I don’t think there is any hard fast rule…and if there were I’d likely not follow it. :)

I have put together a full journal that I’m having fun making pockets, tags and other ephemera to include in and on the pages. It really is a lot of fun!

I can’t leave you today without an image of my best buddy Marvin.

Here he was watching an episode of Yellowstone with me. What I goofy cat!!!

I have a before school committee meeting Tuesday morning. No walk for me.

What are you doing today?

Just checking in again after a 2 month hiatus. Life happens but blogging doesn’t. :)

Last time I posted Mini-me and I had just gotten back from our cabin adventure. We were trying to get in as much as we could while she was job searching and I had the impending back to school dates looming ahead.

I was happy to get something canned this summer since my garden wasn’t super prolific this year. I was able to harvest enough hot peppers to make some cowboy candy aka candied jalapenos. I don’t need to make very much as I’m the only one who really enjoys it.

I’ve also been slowly working on using the supplies that I have accumulated. It does no one any good sitting collecting dust. I used the better part of a paper pad from my stash to create gift sets of blank notecards. It’s always nice to have some gifts on hand…and bonus that they are handmade!

Mini-me suggested that we go to the MN state fair on opening day this year. I’ve rarely turn her down when she wants to go somewhere since she tends to be a bit of a homebody. Wowsers was it busy! That day set an attendance record with 138,875 people!

We couldn’t leave without getting a bucket of these! We didn’t eat them all there. Only enough to jam the lid on the bucket after using some elite tetris skills. I froze cookies in small batches to enjoy for the future. In fact, I ate the last two cookies today.

On the bus ride to the fair, Mini-me got a phone call that she got the job she’d interviewed for a couple days previous. This was amazing news! Now she needed to find a place to live in and start work in 12 days. Yikes! It was a whirlwind… She is an admissions counselor for her alma mater. So cool! The only trouble she had was trying to find someplace to live in a small town at the beginning of the academic year. Everything is scooped up! However, between her heavy travel schedule on the college fair circuit and some temporary housing, it all worked out and she got an apartment after a couple weeks.

I had fun finding some furniture for her like this amazing vintage table and chairs at a garage sale!

Her place isn’t ideal but it’ll do for now. She’s hoping to get a roommate since she has a 3 bedroom all to herself. Again…that was all that was available!

So now we are really empty nesters. It’s so strange converting your children’s rooms to another use because its even more sad walking past an empty room. The smallest bedroom has become a sewing room, craft room. And now we have a guest room as well. So strange.

Another good update was that my most recent scans show no recurrence of lymphoma! Remission is a wonderful word!

I continue to walk in the morning before school as much as I can. The sunrise over the new parking lot pavement is lovely.

Last week was only three days which was great. I travelled to see Mini-me for a bit. I’m soaking up all the moments I can since I know they are fewer and farther between. Unfortunately my breaks from K-12 school only mean a busy time for her since that’s when people want to visit the university.

We went out a couple times in the brief time I was there. This place had really awesome coffee and a darn good Reuben sandwich. Eat local.

I’ll leave you with Marvin enjoying the “new” vintage quilt on the spare bed. I brought the comforter up to Mini-me so I’d have some blankets on the airbed. :)

Today had me back to work with an early meeting. No walk before school. :(