Project Create & Use or Be Destashed!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving! The passed two days have been really fun with my finance's family eating and playing games together. I was able to read a little bit more of the "Keeper of the Lost Cities", but I doubt I will finish it since today is the last day of November. I still need to finish the pink, black, and white blanket as well as start on the hat and scarf set. I will be posting later tonight an update as to how far I got for November's challenge. Tomorrow, I'll post my goals for December.

Today was a day full of cleaning, playing the new Pokemon game, decluttering, relaxing, reading 5 chapters of The Keeper of the Lost Cities, and crocheting 5 more rows. I think double in length would be a good size. Close up I decided to let go of these books and miscellaneous items. That makes an additional 16 items to this month's challenge! (114+16 = 130) My plan for this upcoming week is to crochet at least 21 more rows. Although realistically, I may not be able to finish the blanket by the end of November, I will keep going at it for December. I should be able to use up all of the yarn and finish in time by the holidays. I also plan to declutter some more. I was tempted to buy swatches of PUL fabric to make reusable zip snack bags. But, after a while with the slow website, I changed my mind and I'm glad I did. I don't need any new projects in my life at least while I still have all my old projects that I need to get done.  The book is going pretty we...

Last night, I worked on the denim blanket from around 10 PM until 1 AM. I finally finished! I ironed each of the seams flat. Then in groups of 3 I sewed the rows together. Once the groups of 3 were attached, I attached them together to connect the whole blanket. I liked how the front had no seams running along it, so I decided to iron the back flat and iron on stabilizer. Here is what the stabilizer looks like after ironing it on, This way I am able to keep the front as clean as possible. For December, I plan to sew up a minky fabric to the back of this blanket and finish it up. I am so excited!  My goal today is to crochet at least 6 more rows on the pink, black, and white blanket. I also plan to read at least 5 more chapters in "Keeper of the Lost Cities"

Turned out that this passed week was very crazy and busy. I am still working on projects for work! But, I plan to sew part of the denim blanket tomorrow and get a few more pages read. See you tomorrow!

Most of my day was spent celebrating a family member's birthday. I also vigorously worked on printing and set-ironing t-shirts for a co-worker. In between those times, I managed to crochet two more rows of colors and start sewing the denim blanket together. Surprisingly, each row took about 5 minutes to sew together! I was able to finish sewing all the squares together into rows.  Next weekend, I am going to iron the seams open and sew each row together. Originally, I wanted to serge the edges, but I think I will skip that step since I will add fabric to the bottom of this blanket. (I will make that one of my projects for December)  I am so excited to finish this project! I am going to see if I can squeeze in some reading during the week. See you in the next post!

Today, I spent most of the day in New York City, so I didn't get to accomplish a whole lot on the projects. I managed one more color row in the blanket and took out the denim squares to study what I had planned for the pattern. If I have time this week, I will sew a row at a time. I had put each row into its now ziplock bag. I'm hoping each row will take me about 20 minutes. I do plan to serge the edges after I connect each square together. So, we will see. This first month is a trial period to see if my planned goals correspond with my actual accomplishments. As an elementary school art teacher and the fact that December (Winter Concert) is fast approaching, I am simultaneously working on other projects for work. There's always a project happening in my apartment. Stay tuned for tomorrow's update!

So, how did I do this first week? Let's see: Project #1 The Final Result! Project #2 The Before: Originally, I wanted to have a rolled up effect.   Watching BluprintDIY as I worked. Hemming the edges with a zigzag stitch. I used up all the hem tape! Woohoo! In the end, I decided to just hem with the hem tape. Project #3 This skirt was too wide. I realized that in addition to making the skirt shorter, I would also need to take in the sides. I measured out my waist. Then, I decided to seam rip the waist band apart. I sewed the side of the skirt... ...and tried it on again. It fit perfectly! Next, I hemmed the bottom. And the lining. Finally, I ended it with the hem. And it fits! Project #5 I was able to crochet 1 more set of each color. This is the actual width....so I have a while to go. Projects #7 and #8 The book, "Keeper of the Lost Cities," is...

      For this month, I will actually have 114 items because one of the projects that I plan to create has 96 pieces to it! The first 3 sets of projects center around hemming.  November 2019 Box. Doesn't look like much. But there's a lot more under the clothes! Project #1 I previously cut this pair of burgundy wool shorts shorter and serged the edges so that it wouldn't fray. The only thing I have left to do, but never got around to it, is sewing the hem so that it would have a more finished look. However, I couldn't find a matching thread, so instead, I am going to use the iron-on adhesive tape. I will be using this for Projects #1 and #3.  (I am only counting 2 of them) (2 items) Project #2 These shorts fit perfectly in the waist. However, the length is too long. Rather than cutting and hemming with the iron-on tape, I plan to fold the edges up and then sewing them in pla...

      This is the month where the challenge, "Project Create & Use or Be Destashed!" will take place in my life. Over the past decade, I have spent so much money and accumulated many materials for projects that I had dreamed of accomplishing, but never actually gotten around to even starting. Instead, the bad habit of impulse-buying took priority over my project aspirations and consumed my life. The spaces in both my childhood home and my current apartment have quickly filled up over the past several years. Before my wallet became paper thin, I knew that I needed to tackle the spending first. In the past year, I was able to get a better hold of my spending habits with the use of budgets and have been spending significantly less. This in turn permitted a lesser amount of items coming into my life. Simultaneously, I have decluttered my childhood room so that it is more breathable and walkable. (There used to be piles of boxes all around and the only way to get ...