One Monthly Goal :: December 2019

Happy December, it's the most scheduled time of the year! In our family, December is especially busy with Sinterklaas (Dutch Christmas) on the 5th, our son's birthday on the 9th, and then our attention finally turns to Christmas. A few of D's friends also have December birthdays, so it makes for busy weekends trying to celebrate each child. And of course, those Hallmark movies aren't going to watch themselves!

One thing I have learned from having a brain injury is how to let go of expectations. If ever there was a month when we feel pressured by the "I shoulds," it's December. Holiday traditions. Memory making. Gift giving. Quilts to finish! My mantra is, "All I can do is all I can do and that's all I can do." Stress triggers brain crashes, so I let it go. Some years I make dozens of cookies. Some years I make done. Some years I finish a flurry of quilts. Some years I don't finish one on my list of UFOs. But every year, I take time to enjoy my family, whether it's doing an activity together, or snuggle on the couch watching a movie. "Together" is what makes memories.

This December is likely to be one of those less active holiday seasons. My mom is home after her double knee surgery (and is already walking with a cane!), I sliced my thumb making Thanksgiving dinner, and we are all ready to relax after a busy six months of moving, renovating, starting a new school, and adjusting to a new city. 

Along those lines, my One Monthly Goal for December is to make time to play with my new-to-me longarm! My local quilt shop was selling the one I took my lessons on, and I was happy to make the splurge as we were just selling the Dream House and I knew I finally had room. It took a month to get it to my new studio and another two months to set it up. For the last three months, I've been too busy with everything else to refresh my memory and start playing. So this month, I will watch videos, ask questions on all my favorite quilting sites, and PLAY!

 To see the ever-evolving state of my new craft room, check out #VesperViewStudio on Instagram. To see what I'm currently working on, follow me at deJongDreamHouse.

Linked to:

Elm Street Quilts

Previous OMGs

One Monthly Goal :: November 2019 Update

As they say in my native Minnesota--Uff da!! November flew by with most of my time and energy going into taking care of my rock star mom, who had bilateral (both) knee replacement surgery this month. She got home from the rehab hospital two days before Thanksgiving and is slowly hobbling around on her walker. On Thanksgiving day, while slicing apples on the mandolin, I sliced off the pad of my thumb! Yeouch! I was able to go to the ER, get fixed up, and was home in time to welcome a full house of guests. 

All that to say, my Black Friday plans of quilting my One Monthly Goal quilt and starting Bonnie Hunter's 2019 Mystery Quilt, Frolic were thwarted. Instead I spent the day in bed watching the Hallmark Channel. Not a bad compromise.

So while my OMG is not finished, the top is done, so I'm calling it a goal complete. 

The pattern is Pat Sloan's  2019 Block of the Month, Out of this World. I added a section to include the recipient's name using the letter patterns from Lori Holt's Spelling Bee. I still hope to have this quilt ready to be gifted in the next few weeks, and then back to the mystery quilt!

To see more pictures of this quilt, follow #jacobsworldquilt on Instagram. To see the ever-evolving state of my new craft room, check out #VesperViewStudio. To see what I'm currently working on, follow me at deJongDreamHouse.

Linked to:

Elm Street Quilts

Previous OMGs

One Monthly Goal :: November 2019

2019 is winding down and the Lake House is starting to feel like home, and maybe, even like our new (and improved) dream house. I'm still putzing away in the craft room, but I do have a plan for everything!

While I'm tempted to make working on my craft room my goal again this month, I think I'm motivated to do that. Instead, I'm going to work on finishing a quilt! 

The quilt on my radar is Pat Sloan's 2019 Block of the Month, Out of this World. I have the first 11 blocks done, so it shouldn't take long. I hope!

To see more pictures of this quilt, follow #jacobsworldquilt on Instagram. To see the ever-evolving state of my new craft room, check out #VesperViewStudio. To see what I'm currently working on, follow me at deJongDreamHouse.

Linked to:

Elm Street Quilts

Previous OMGs

One Monthly Goal :: October 2019 Update

Autumn is my favorite season. I love changing leaves. Our new lake house is surrounded by trees so I've been looking forward to seeing their fall foliage. They have not disappointed me.

With the weather cooling down, I set my goal to unpack my craft room. I am ridiculously lucky to have found a house in which I have such a lovely, large space. But it will take a little more than a month to get it in a more completed state. That said, I did make progress!

View from the door before and after. 

The big obvious change is that I sorted through the 15 or so totes of donated fabric. I passed on about half of it to two local quilting ministries. There's a lot of non-quilting fabric that I will pass on to other organizations, and I'll incorporate the last bit into my stash. The hardest part of organizing my craft room has been figuring out how to work around those three support posts. I have a plan in the works. Stay tuned. 

This is my stash wall. My new studio is a huge room without any closets. I'm storing my fabric in the same Sterilite bins I've been using since I started sewing--just many more of them! I chose the wall farthest from the window to avoid sun damage. Niels and I went on an IKEA date to pick up a few things, the main one being a 4th Kallax unit. Originally I had 3 units placed side by side. I decided to stack two sets of two instead to make more use of the high ceilings. 

My shelving corner was mostly neglected this month as my priority was getting everything moved to the right place. I had these shelves put up this summer. I'm a little scared to go through those white flexible bins because they were some of the very last things packed on the last day when all the boxes, bins, totes, and grocery bags were filled. I'm sure I will find some treasures.

Here you can see where I've moved a few things around. The desk I have by the posts now is made up of the top of the tall "desk" in the before picture attached to some IKEA legs we had in storage. The brown CD rack has been moved to our theater room temporarily while we wait for a buyer on Amazon Marketplace. The white Trofast towers were moved back toward the posts. You can also see that I moved my long arm. The new white cutting board was a nice garage sale find!

I decided to move my long arm to the opposite side of the room because the posts are not in the center of the room. Moving it means I have more room to walk around it. Plus, having it in the back of the room makes it less likely to be bumped by young visitors. I sold the big brown bookcases because they took too much visual and physical room. I've re-organized the Trofast scrap bins so I have more space for each color, plus bins for squares that are 1.5", 2", and 2.5" squares.

Other than the long arm, the view from this corner hasn't changed too much. My sewing machines are along the wall to the right and they were the first things set up, along with my main table. 

With the long arm moved to this side, and my desk and printer moved in its place, I now have a row of machines along the far wall.

The room looks the most different from this angle. It feels so much bigger without the big bookcases and after clearing out those tubs. I'm hoping to have some friends over for a quilting retreat next summer so I'm happy I can have so many spaces to cut and sew.

I'm still noodling through how I want to set up behind the machine. I have a leaning shelf, Kallax, and Trones. Only one will stay.

The Trones hold my gift wrap and Cricut vinyl. I think I will move them by the other cutting table so I don't have to walk around the long arm to wrap gifts. (Christmas is coming!)

Here's my thinking corner. I love this chair but I'm stalking Amazon Marketplace for a leather recliner, or maybe even a small chaise sleeper sofa in case we need an extra guest space. No hurry on that. I do like to have my legs up when I work on my computer to plan quilts or write blog posts like this one!

To see more pictures of the state of my craft room, check out #VesperViewStudio. To see what I'm currently working on, follow me at deJongDreamHouse.

Linked to:

Elm Street Quilts

Previous OMGs

One Monthly Goal :: October 2019

The time has come. I have unpacked every box and have mostly organized everything on the main level of the house. It is time for MY ROOM!

We moved into the de Jong Lake House in June, and immediately tore out the kitchen and area by the garage. It had taken us until last month to finish that up and get everything where it needs to be. Ah, so nice to be done with construction dust and able to have everything in its place. 

Downstairs, my craft room has been waiting very patiently for my attention and in October, that's my OMG. 

How's that for a scary start to October. No wonder my sew-jo has been off! Fingers crossed that by the end of the month, it's all spic and span and I am back to sewing every day!

I'm not sure if I'll get much sewing done this month, but I sure hope I have a place for it by the end of the month!

To see more pictures of the state of my craft room, check out #VesperViewStudio. To see what I'm currently working on, follow me at deJongDreamHouse.

Linked to:

Elm Street Quilts

Previous OMGs

One Monthly Goal :: September 2019 Update

Oy vey! It feel like it's been forever since I have been blogging and sewing regularly. May was a long time ago. That's when we were bought the de Jong Lake House and began the process of selling the Dream House, moving, and renovating. 

On the plus side. The kitchen is done! I'll do a full write up at some point, but here's a sneak peak.

This is what it looked like when we closed.

Pretty much the only things the same are the tile (which we would have loved to change to something softer and quieter like cork, but, money), frig, and ovens. We knocked down the two small walls on either side, took everything to the studs, and rebuilt it all over again. The previous kitchen was pretty, but the new kitchen is much more practical and modern.

Currently, we are finishing up our family foyer. This is one big room--mudroom, laundry room, drop zone, and walk-in pantry--that used to be three little areas. We knocked all the walls out and completely re-designed the space. Most of the cabinetry installed and are just waiting for some molding, a couple cabinet doors, the bench and backing, and the sink and counters. That sounds like a lot, but it so little compared to what we have done!

In the meantime, I have loved being able to finally put away all the things that have been sitting in our bedroom on the other side of the kitchen for the last 3 months, and were in a state of packing for a couple of months before that at the Dream House!

Ah! It is good for my soul--and my brain--to have a place for everything and everything in its place!

I spent a lot of time upstairs, and not nearly enough time downstairs, but I did manage to complete my September One Monthly Goal!

My goal for September was to catch up on Pat Sloan's Out of this World BOM Blocks. I had quite a few to do, so it felt really good to catch up!

This is where I stood on September 1. 

And here I am now, without only one block left.

With a little luck, this may be one of my first finishes in the Lake House. Next month's goal is to finally get my Vesper View Studio unpacked. I am SO ready!

To see more pictures of this quilt, follow #JacobsWorldQuilt on Instagram. To see more pictures of my progress on the craft room, check out #VesperViewStudio. To see what I'm currently working on, follow me at deJongDreamHouse.

Linked to:

Elm Street Quilts

Previous OMGs