handmade by stefanie

My quilted table runner obsession continues as I sew my way through Creating a Quilted Home . I've had my eye on this hexi braid pattern, but was a little intimidated by it. But when my mom mentioned that she'd like an everyday table runner, I figured I should give it a shot.  Turns out, it's really easy to make! The hardest part (for me) was choosing fabric placement - quilting can be kinda difficult if you are a chronic overthinker. The other tricky part was getting the braid started, but once the first two pieces are sewn together it's smooth sailing. I used a charm pack and some yardage from Edyta Sitar's Blue Escape collection for the piecing, backing and binding. The border fabric is actually from my stash, so I don't remember who makes it but it just happened to match perfectly! I had it quilted at Missouri Star - check out the sweet note that they included when they sent it back to me!  I love making this project for my mom so much that I just might have...

Although I don't really subscribe to the whole "new year, new you" thing or making outlandish resolutions that will likely be abandoned by Valentine's day, I have been thinking a lot about my intentions for this year. Of course health and work/life balance is up there on the list, and home improvements are also a major one for 2023 (I have a never-ending list of projects to work on for our house once the springtime rolls around).  So whatever craft time I can carve out for myself this year, I want to make it count!  And as previously mentioned, I want to continue my yarn destashing efforts in 2023. That will most definitely be a guiding principle for any knitting, weaving or crochet (hey, it could happen!) projects this year. I did break my "no yarn except sock yarn" rule at the end of last year, but only to buy a sweater's worth of lace weight yarn from Shi Bui, who announced they were closing their doors. I've always loved their yarns, so I figured...

 When we made the big move to KC at the start of the pandemic, I could no longer ignore the ridiculous amount of yarn that I had in my stash. Since then, I've been working on using up or giving away the yarns currently in my stash while also trying my best not to buy more. Sometimes it doesn't seem like I've been that successful, but I just came across this photo of my stash from February 2021 where my yarn stash takes up nearly 5 large storage bins (and there is also a large bin of spinning fiber behind them!):  I'm also pretty certain that my handspun yarns are not pictured here, because they are in a few bins that were stored in the closet. But I digress. So, here I am in 2023. I've given away a fair amount of yarn, and have been using the rest for knitting and weaving projects. The only yarn I bought in 2022 was for Sock Pals, which meant that I used it immediately upon arrival. And I have condensed my yarn stash down to 1 large storage bin and three of four she...