(For the past 5 years I have used the same journal prompts in December for my personal blog Hurry Slowly. Inspired by the #Reverb10 prompts, I have kept the best and added a few of my own. Interestingly enough, I have 22 favorite prompts, and they match up nicely with the Major Arcana, so this year I’ve decided to call it #TrumpTheYear.)

THE MAGICIAN. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use?

I made a lot this year! I can’t pick one thing to talk about! At the start of the year I told myself I was going to make 15 things. At least a craft project a month. I declared this to friends who had come to visit for New Year’s Eve. Eyebrows were raised. But I did it!

First, I took my friend to Target before she left and we found a great deal on a sheet set. She should have a say in it, after all, it was for the guest bed. I made a duvet cover after she left for the airport and it was done before she was home.

I made 2 things using a favorite free pattern called Sorbetto. 1 white sleeveless blouse out of a scrap of (free!) linen. 1 blue sleeveless blouse out of super-expensive fabric Japanese I bought on impulse.

I made a 50’s style, lined skirt that is black and white except for the giant red poppies. It was a tricky pattern and I did a darn fine job. I wore it to Passover and it was a hit. Later, it was just the thing for a real tea party.

I made another of the same pattern, a floral skirt with a hidden pocket. I didn’t like it. The fabric bunched at my crotch around the pocket. Who needs that? I cannibalized it…

1 reversible skirt – grey wool on one side and that floral fabric on the other. I call it my Secret Garden Skirt. It’s a pattern called Osaka. I loved this so much I’ll likely make another.

I finished a quilt made entirely from denim scraps. 900 denim circles, to be exact. It’s lovely but soooo heavy. (How did I get 900 denim scraps? Well, they snuck up on me. I’ve had this quilt in mind for a while and kept cutting up denim samples and old jeans that came my way for ‘someday.’ Then I counted and realized I had enough for a queen-sized quilt and better get cracking.)

I found a super short black and white striped knit dress on massive sale that easily became a sweater. I only cut off 4 inches of fabric – it was a very short dress.) That totally counts! Knits are hard! It took me all afternoon to make the right cuts, modify the sleeves, etc…

Feeling brave, made another knit sweater – this time from scratch and this pattern. I really really like it. I’ll probably make another now that I have a reliable pattern.

Using another free pattern, I made three pairs of summer pajamas. I took the Sorbetto top and these gym-style shorts, I got brave and used a fabric I’d saved up for, a slippery cotton voile. Just in time for a heat wave.

Currently, I’m working on blouses. I’m using this pattern and while it’s not going perfectly, (I threw out a version that had cute little birds printed on it!) I’ve got a blue cotton blouse and a black-and-white checkered blouse all ready to for layering under jackets this winter.

That’s only 14? Well, true. But who says that a craft project has to involve fabric? This year I made a blog! That counts too, and it was by far the largest endeavor.