July Monthly Report

Happy August! It's time for July's monthly report. See past reports here.


The last few months have been really busy and stressful for Michael, and July was especially so. At the end of the month he defended his PhD, which is what brought us to Wisconsin six years ago. I'm so proud of him, and we're both looking forward to what the next chapter brings!


This month we also had this year's cabin weekend. It was nice to get away, spend time with friends, and sew! I made teeny tiny open-wide pouches for everyone. I used little 4" zippers, and sized the tutorial down proportionately. I used a 1/4" seam throughout. I think they turned out pretty cute. Just big enough for a set of earbuds.

I bought my 4" zippers from Zip-it.


I have a new pattern coming very soon! I'm finally turning the Giant Vintage Star Quilt into a proper pattern. Don't worry, the tutorial version isn't going anywhere. The pattern will have a baby size and a pillow, plus more instruction on how to tailor the pattern to more or less fabrics for the star. Look for that hopefully next week!


I started knitting a new Daybreak shawl. My original Daybreak is one of my favorite and most-used shawls, and I really enjoyed knitting it. So much so that I wanted to knit another one! I'm using sock yarn (as is called for) this time. I am still knitting the entire shawl in garter, just like my first one. It's total comfort knitting, and I love that I don't have to think too much about what I'm doing.


To keep myself accountable for my stash goals, I'm tracking my yardage for fabric and yarn each month. Read more about how I track my here. Here is how I did in July:

July Fabric
Used up: 155.25 yards
Brought in: 18.75 yards
Net: -136.5 yards
Year to date: -151.25 yards

July Yarn
Used up: 819 yards
Brought in: 0 yards
Net: -819 yards
Year to date: -3731.5 yards

Lots of fabric went out this month! I took a bunch of fabric to share on our retreat, just like last year. It's always a good excuse to go through my stash. I also did a fair amount of sewing, finishing my plus quilt, a baby quilt, a pillow, three shirts and a few other small projects. Still brought some fabric in of course, but quite a bit less than last month, so that's good! Yarn wise, I destashed a skein and gifted some leftovers, so another negative month on that front.


I have been terrible about taking photos of garments I've made, but here is a funny one to make up for that. We happened to end up in Mt. Horeb on the day of their art festival and I managed to get a photo with the Culver's cone (thanks for taking it Brianne!). I'm wearing a recent garment finish, a rayon Gemma tank. New favorite garment pattern, hands down. It fits so well. I already have two more rayon Gemma tanks cut out. Hopefully I can manage one big post with them all together at some point.


Didn't do a lot of work focused on my goals this month, but I did make a few more pineapple blocks. I'm also keeping up with The Fussy Cut Sampler blocks too, so that's good! I would love to get back on track in August, in particular with my double wedding ring quilt. Hoping to put together my fantastic quilt voyage top too.


George bunny is finally all done shedding, yay! Now we don't have to limit his treats so much, which will make him very happy.

Happy Sewing!