2015 look back

ack!  i saw lisa post her yearly review, and realized 2 things.
1.  i didn't blog as much as i had anticipated i would
2.  today is the LAST day of 2015!
well, here's a summary in look back of some projects and events that happened throughout the year.
january
i said i was going to participate in the "sew your stash" following.
but didn't.
BUT it wasn't totally wasted, because i went from fabric in tubs, to fabric stored like this:
it is SO nice to be able to see everything!
february
i jumped in as a swap angel on craftster and made some beauty and the beast pillow covers.
this was my first fandom in stitches pattern, and as you'll later see, i'm hooked.
march
went to colorado again to hang with lisa and her peeps.
visited the lovely quilt cabin and hung out over spring break before heading back to the real world of work again.
april
i sent off my first instagram swap mini quilt (it was cat themed, of course - kitten mqs)
also cat related, i made a middle school friend of mine a baby quilt for her little one.  i love elizabeth hartman's cats... that's for sure  (daffodils and kitty cats)
may
aileen finally got her nerdy ruffle apron
but more importantly...
my pudge cat quilt was finished!
see?  i love those cats...
and i suppose this one...
june
this is apparently the month of actual events i didn't post about.
we had our first family reunion in 10 years, and while we were missing a few cousins and an aunt, we still managed to party pretty hard.  for us being 14+ cousins that are rather spread apart, we get along quite well when we're all back together.  we got pedicures and jamba juice at one point to just chill.
we also had our 30th anniversary dance recital this year,
which was a LOT of work and chaos.
but i got to dance with a handful of my old classmates again as well as some of the "big kids" that were there when i was growing up.  i also got to perform "make someone happy" with my students and my favorite andrew. :)
july
apparently nothing worth blogging.
or remembering...
august
erika and i saw fall out boy again.
never gets old <3
also posted two music quilts for donner mine this year
left: daisy chain
right: musical triangles 2
september
i made this turtle quilt for my aunt to give to one of her coworkers.
and then, we threw amy a surprise baby shower!
thanks to lisa, i found a car seat canopy tutorial, which turned out wonderfully
and then, the main project was finally revealed.
probably my favorite outcome of 2015 was this quilt, which took hours upon hours in construction
but SO worth it.
this lion king baby quilt was perfect for the lion king lover that amy is, and her enthusiasm for it was well worth it :)  fandom in stitches totally rocks.
october
this was the last that i blogged anything, which was those lion king projects.
so i'll just skip to november.
oh wait!  this was the month melissa got engaged and asked me to be in her bridal party next year.  so that's something :)
november
i had a birthday.  whoot.
i also took a painfully long road trip to idaho and froze my butt off doing this.

yep. aileen got engaged this past september, so my mom and i trekked out to idaho over thanksgiving break to go dress shopping with her out there as well as take their engagement photos.  we got really lucky with a fresh coating of snow the morning of, and  even though we froze, they were worth it.  (no, you didn't miss out on a blog post.  they were posted on my website here: freeze frame - aileen & ben)
december
it totally zoomed by, that's for sure!
i made about 20 pillowcases this year for various gifts, and all that good stuff.
baby leonidas was born on december 19th - just one day after his due date!
2 quilts were given at christmas, with a third one finished as we drove to disneyland on the 27th.
i'll do a full disneyland post soon - but here's a little disney goodness in the meantime :)

overall
it may have not been a post filled year like the last one, but i'd have to say some of the things done were pretty monumental.  and with 2 weddings that i'm in next year, it is safe to say some crafting will absolutely be going down for bridal showers & wedding gifts!  hope your 2015 was fabulous, and i'll have more posts to come soon :)

hello, 2015

well here we are in 2015... can you believe it?
i took a look back at last year's "goals" and after not looking at them for an entire year, it is quite impressive to see how many i actually made happen.  or at least close to it.
i DID travel.  while i didn't make it to new york or new mexico, i did make it to colorado and spent a week there escaping reality.
i FEEL like i have done better with money saving.  i've been pretty consistent on my car payment, so that's a plus.  and besides a few expenses here and there (aka more car parts... ugh) my spending has been pretty minimal.  except when it comes to fabric store shopping for projects.  ha.
i THINK i've found a pretty groovy guy to call mine.  he even came with me to update my shot record.  two goals, one stone.
i was SUCCESSFUL in blogging more.  a total of 114 posts in 2014... not too shabby.  and that wasn't even the year that i did that 30 day blog posting goal.  though i can attribute about 50 of the posts to my 365 project...  so that's half of it right there.  oh, and that 365 project is officially complete!  the final post will go up tomorrow, but in the meantime, it is lovely to not have to panic when i miss a day or two or ten.
totally didn't meet the goal of reading more... but i started to read "the fault in our stars" the other night and knocked it out after a few days, so that's at least one to count on the finished list.  and a whole stack of others on my bookshelf that i've been collecting to read for months now.
still working on that "clean sweep" ever since 2013 started...  and again since i got my new bed this past july.  it's rough, let me tell you.  BUT i got my floor pretty much clean, and now it is down to the little things like one of my desks and the middle "entertainment center" which has a cd player i rarely use and a whole bunch of crafty books stuff.
in 2015, i think i want to:
keep doing what i'm doing.
all in all, i have ZERO complaints about 2014
i'm pretty excited to see what 2015 has in store for me, and i plan to make the best of it.
also, i may just make one of these, just to remember all the good times and can look back on it.
welcome to the new year, party people.
and on a hey, here's a super exciting update note...
ALL my catvent blocks are now DONE... as of 2am this morning.  i did exactly what i did not want to do and sewed about 20 cats in one night.  go figure.  i'm sure they'll show up on instagram sometime later today once i get them all stacked.  now it will be on to figuring out a layout and keeping these kitties in order.  seriously... herding cats.