It might seem like progress is slow but I now have 39 completed blocks on the sunflower themed granny square blanket I work on whenever I am in the car, traveling on a plane or train, or just hanging out somewhere.
Here’s what August 2024 looked like:
And here we are in January 2025:
39 blocks done! I would have more done but there are 4 time consuming rows to each block (which I work on in batches “production style”).
I have a stash of 23 more blocks completed through row 3 to finish up that will bring me to 62 blocks:
Then I will decide when I have 62 blocks done just how big I want to make the blanket.
For now I’ll keep taking my zipper bag with my blocks in progress and yarn around with me!
I know, I know, but a week or so ago they were taking down the Christmas tree display at my favorite library (see my 2023 post O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Trees… for images of their awesome 2023 holiday season display) and I just had to run around and take photos of the 2024 themed Christmas tree displays before they all came down!
So here we go:
In case there are any you couldn’t figure out, they are in order: Beetlejuice, Winnie the Pooh, Super Mario, Garfield, Cat in the Hat, Charlotte’s Web, Curious George, How to Train Your Dragon, Little House on the Prarie, and Indiana Jones.
I remember seeing library staff in November setting up the trees. A lot of work and creativity goes into these trees each year. There were many more trees than I share above but many of them had been taken down by early January.
I do love my library and I appreciate they do special things like this:
And in the Women’s restroom they have free feminine products for the community:
The library is such a wonderful place!
Postscript
Just a little beginning of the year silliness: John and I love to go to the store HomeGoods and wander around looking at stuff we don’t need.
Well the other week we found these ridiculous items (my apologies if you already have these in your home or want to add them to your home) – a giant box of fried chicken sculpture, and a giant stack of pizza slice sculpture. We laughed pretty hard at these sights!
Also if you look closely at the image above, you will see on the floor a giant sculpture of a stack of Oreo cookies. Please note I used the term “sculpture” very loosely – ha!
“Art is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone will have their own interpretation.”
This post is a follow up to yesterday’s post 2024 Travels. When writing yesterday’s post looking back on my big travel events in 2024 I realized I left off a significant trip, an Oregon Coast road trip with our friends MJ and J.
This trip was significant because it was the first time I was able to return to Cannon Beach, Oregon, where my late husband and our dogs would visit yearly for vacation.
First John and I flew into Portland, Oregon and visited his son who lives there. It was awesome to see the quilt I gave my stepson on the sofa in his apartment, apparently being used and enjoyed 🙂
After a day and a half in Portland we drove our rental car to Cannon Beach on the Oregon Coast.
It was awesome and emotionally overwhelming to return to Cannon Beach. With John’s support I was able to visit many of the favorite places that my late husband Terry and I used to always visit including Center Diamond Fabric (the wonderful little quilt shop); the little cafe across from Center Diamond Fabric; the awesome bookstore the Cannon Beach Book Company (with a sofa!); and the Screw & Brew – a hardware store turned into a brew pup!
Although it was a bit of am overcast day, we also walked over to the beach so John could see Haystack Rock:
It was quite the emotional experience to return. Here is what I share on the Instagram post I did back in October 2024 on this return to Cannon Beach:
(I returned to) Cannon Beach for the first time in six years since my life changed forever in 2018. It was hard to be there, but it was good and healing. I got to return to my favorite quilt shop on the Oregon coast and have delicious hot chocolate in one of the cozy cafés of Cannon Beach. The library had a book sale AND we stopped at the bookstore! (Public library + independent bookstore in the same day = Bliss)
After our jaunt to Cannon Beach, we drove to Pacific City, Oregon to meet up with our friends MJ and J who we rented a home near the beach with for a couple days. After we got checked into our rental house we all walked to the beach to enjoy an amazing sunset:
From Pacific City we went on various days trips, roadtripping along the Oregon Coast for a couple days and returning to our home based in Pacific City. We went on some wonderful hikes, checked out various areas of the coastline, had lots of delicious seafood (Colorado is landlocked so whenever we are near the ocean we eat as much fresh seafood as we can!), and spent one morning doing some beach clean up and returning a jellyfish to the sea.
It was a memorable trip and I think it was healing to return to Cannon Beach. In the spring this year I am going to do something big (and hopefully healing) and return to Central Oregon/Bend, Oregon for the first time in 6 years. Until now I’ve been emotionally unable to return to the place I lived for 14 years and where I left a piece of my heart (and maybe my soul) when I moved away in 2019 after my husband suddenly passed at my home there in 2018.
But as I’ve mentioned to my other widow friends (both online and in person): “Remember: We can do brave things, and we are stronger than we realize!”
Here’s a summary of my travel adventures in 2024. I’ve included the link to the blog post about our adventure if you’d like to read/re-read about that specific adventure.
I noticed there are some day trips I posted on my @tierneycreatesInstagram account but never blogged about (I just discovered this when I went searching for these imaginary posts I thought I wrote on my blog!)
It was a pretty fun year of travel!
Postscript
John just read this post and reminded me I left off a major trip we had in October 2024 – to Portland, Oregon to visit his son and an Oregon Coast road trip! It was momentous trip and I think I will do a post on that trip for tomorrow’s post 🙂
I’ve enjoying seeing galleries/summaries of what my blogging buddies made in 2024 and thought I would share the same type of post. I thought I would share my finished projects (no other work to be done on them) and my open/ongoing projects (that I hope to finish in 2025):
Finished
Curiously I did’t finish a lot of projects in 2024 but here are the crafting projects I actually finished 2024:
Unfinished
Here are the pieces I began in 2024 and didn’t finish; or worked on in 2024 that I started before 2024:
You might be thinking: “Tierney, you didn’t get a lot done in 2024”! That’s what I am thinking but then I did a lot of traveling in 2024 – see my next post.
I’ve enjoyed the posts some of you have written showing how you’ve reinvented, remodeled, revitalized, refurbished, rescued, etc. an item that was headed to the rubbish heap/landfill; and made it useable again. I wanted to share how I rescued/remodeled a blanket that was not working.
During the pandemic I discovered at Costco these magically soft and cozy blankets: Pendleton Sherpa Fleece Blankets. They were on sale and I bought it in King size.
Found this photo on eBay, I bought the King size version
Photo credit – eBay
Well the blanket has become worn out and I ended up buying a newer one a couple years ago. It is still a super fleecy cozy and I was using it as a blanket in the basement, however it was cumbersome to use to snuggle under on a sofa as it was king-sized blanket (meant for a king-sized bed).
My initial options were to 1) keep using the huge bulky blanket; or 2) donate the blanket. I was leaning towards option 2 but then I realized that the charity thrift shop I donated it too would like throw it own as it the blanket was worn down in several areas and it might not be resellable.
So I decided to cut the king-size blanket in half, overlocked stitch the edge and turn it into TWO blankets!
I don’t have a serger so I had to overlock stitchthe blanket and then I trimmed as close to the edge as I could to clean up the fibers (I didn’t take a photo).
John and now each have a cozy large lap-sized fleece blankets to snuggle under when watching TV in the basement!
Cabinet Building in Progress
While I was remodeling a blanket, John has been busy in his workshop making a cabinet for the upstairs primary bathroom. For years I’ve just had shelves about the “water closet” room the toilet in the primary bathroom resides in, and finally John is adding a cabinet.
Here are some images of his project in progress:
When he finishes the cabinet I’ll share the completed piece in its own future blog post.
We spent the week of Christmas (12/22 – 12/27/24) in Miami, Florida with my family. One of my stepsons joined us along with my siblings, their kids and my sister-in-law. We came from Oregon, Virginia, Delaware and Denver to meet up for Christmas week!
Here is John on his way to get our rental car in the Miami airport with the artificial Christmas tree we brought along on his back!
John and I rented a couple loft condos in a converted former industrial building so the 8 of us would have plenty of space; and made our condo the main Christmas area with the tree, stockings and meals served there. I put on a fireplace video with Christmas music from YouTube and hung the stockings on the entertainment center for ambiance – ha!
Here’s what our condo looked like with a view of Miami’s skyline:
John made several wonderful meals and it was so good to sit down with the family from all over the country and share his yummy cooking:
I spent an evening on Espanola Way in South Beach with my siblings and their kids wandering around and it was magical!
John got to go on several rented bike rides along South Beach with his son Z who is an avid cyclist in Portland, Oregon (they didn’t appear to take any photos).
Miami was beautiful and decorated for the holidays:
I got to spend a morning wandering around downtown Miami with my sister and visiting the really lovely Brickell City Centre shopping area.
We stopped for some amazing pastries at the Rosetta Bakery.
Our family was so sweet and the day after Christmas they threw a surprise party in the afternoon for John and I at the other condo to celebrate our love and our commitment to family. They decorated the table with my favorite – sunflowers!
My brother, sister and stepson all made amazing speeches and John and I got pretty choked up! It was a very special afternoon.
On our last day in Miami, before heading to the airport, a couple of us went to Coral Gables and spent time in a delightful independent bookstore – Books & Books. It has a cafe, a bar, and endless rooms of books! I didn’t want to leave but eventually we had to head to the airport – ha!
I loved the cozy looking windows looking out to the outside dining at the bookstore.
The week flew by fast and we didn’t get to do all the things we planned (like go to the beach!) but it was a very special Christmas!
Hope your holidays were wonderful, I’ll be catching up on my blogging buddies’ posts I’ve missed in the near future 🙂
tierneycreates 