July 2026

Busy month for making here! The chalk outside is based loosely on one of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries at the Musée de Cluny in Paris; it started the month very bright, got faded, and was revived with a mosaic effect (my usual trick to extend the life of a drawing in the summertime). I’ve been working on a patchwork calico dress (using fabric from Buy Nothing, as usual), and my dress for the Trashion Show in Long Beach this September. (Join in if you’re local! This will probably post too late for new designers to sign up but you can still get tickets to the show.) I started a bunch of Wikipedia articles as usual. And I sewed at the Shakespeare by the Sea production of Macbeth at Polliwog Park, and we danced at some summer concerts, always nice. I need to make son some more summer pants soon, and hope to replace daughter’s favorite but very worn tote in August too. Stay tuned.

June 2026

Fun month for making here. I’ve assembled the second quarterly panel for my 2026 book quilt–twelve books I finished in April-May-June–all stash fabrics and embroidery supplies. I’m still working on my Trashion Show 2026 dress and crown. Tickets are now available!

Chalk on our walk was a crocheted afghan for most of the month, currently transforming into one of the human figures from the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries in Paris. We enjoyed listening to other people making art at SoundPedro earlier in the month. I started new Wikipedia articles as usual. Didn’t really crochet much–I’m having some wrist/thumb issues that are exacerbated by pretty much everything I do, so took a little temporary break from crochet.

May 2026

Very busy month of making here. The first week of May required some Star Wars themed chalk on our front walk. Then there was a jellyfish. Now there’s a crocheted chalk afghan. Indoors, I’m moving towards something wearable for the 2026 Trashion Show now, involving a lot of shirting and decor fabric samples and my (free-to-me second-hand) serger. On Wikipedia I participated in the Destubathon of the Americas, improving 50+ articles on US women (mostly). Haven’t done much crochet, just a new phone pouch (wrists can only handle so much), but I’m keeping up on my reading log quilt–second quarter of that should be done a month from now. And I bought a mallet; I’m playing with cutting up metal trash for a crown, maybe? Stay tuned on that.

April 2026

Busy month of making! I’ve finished the first quarter of the quilted book blanket/reading log blocks, for books finished in January-February-March; that’s already a fun project and I’m learning a lot. I chalked a bunny for Easter, and reused the circle to make a plate from our wedding china, then added spaghetti, before it was washed out by rain. I crocheted a hat (not pictured), and started crocheting a beanstalk for a costume later this year (not pictured yet). Starting to plan with more detail for the Trashion Show 2026, stay tuned on that. Wrote Wikipedia articles as usual, and finished a Shutterfly book of Jake’s spring adventures.

March 2026

Very busy (and dry) month for making here. I say dry, because the chalk I did for St. David’s Day (March 1) is still mostly intact on March 29–it’s based on a self-portrait by Welsh artist Gwen John (1876-1939), with daffodils and a Welsh-language greeting for the day. But I added a second chalk drawing for Nell’s birthday late in the month; this one is based on the very fun utility covers in Japan. Nell gave me a calendar featuring them, and this one is from Shimizu, Shizuoka, featuring Mt. Fuji (of course), and tea fields (of course), and a local mascot, Shizulla, offering a friendly cup of green tea.

But wait, there’s more! My FADLA 2026 panel, “Facing the New Year”, became a rally banner when I added some lettering to it for the #nokings event in Torrance March 28. A lot of people enjoyed seeing it, so that’s always nice. At the small end of the crochet spectrum, I crocheted a tiny Sam Reich, complete with his Game Changer podium, for my favorite Dropout subscriber. (That last sentence will make very little sense to non-Dropout viewers, but I promise she is pleased.)

And I worked on Wikipedia articles as usual, and I am still chugging away on a book quilt for my 2026 reads. When I was crocheting book covers last year, I thought, “oh, this would be easier with fabric.” Folks, it is not easier. Just different. Fun challenge either way! Stay tuned for more on that. Oh! And Jake and I finished a Women’s History Month challenge on Instagram–I might make a separate post about that soon.

February 2026

Wet month for making here. I finished a new little quilt for young kin who wanted “space and birds and blue and purple”. It was fun hunting down a few thrifted cotton shirts with bird prints to meet the brief (I already had plenty of space prints). I’ve been “making faces” for a small crochet project for Fun-a-Day LA on the last day of February. Started a bunch of Wikipedia articles as usual. And I got my vintage serger threaded and working! No pics of that yet. Might take a few projects before I can make something that’s actually okay. But I’m already wearing a shirt I serged as bedclothes, so that’s a start.

January 2026

The big making project for January was to finish the Book Blanket 2025. It’s huge! And heavy. We’re trying to figure out how to display it at Fun-a-Day LA in February. But for now, here it is, cider can for scale:

The list in text form is in my most recent previous blog post, What I read in 2025.
The chalk on our walk this month was loosely based on a painting by French artist Élisabeth Sonrel (1874-1953).

What I read in 2025

Past editions of this list: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008. This list is also available in pictorial format at Pinterest, and I often post photos of books on Instagram and Ravelry too.

It was a very good year for reading here! I finished 47 books, to make a good 6×8 rectangular Book Blanket for 2025 (which will be completed and displayed in February 2026 at Fun-a-Day LA, stay tuned). I stop reading books without guilt, and go through spells where I don’t finish any books, for weeks at a time; so you can assume I also didn’t finish a dozen or so titles, and it probably wasn’t any fault of theirs. I have continued to enjoy audio books through Libby and Hoopla. I get most of my paper-and-ink copies of books from PaperbackSwap; I used to get more from thriftshops, but I don’t do that so much now (because #covidisnotover). Reading (by ear and by eye) has improved my neighborhood walks, and given me some mental space to roam beyond my house’s four walls.

Notes: Just because I read a book and listed it here doesn’t mean I liked it or would recommend it (but I guess I liked it enough to finish it, anyway). By my count (corrections welcome), 35/47 books listed are by female or non-binary authors this year. I really don’t read much non-fiction; there’s only one non-fiction book here, John Wood Sweet’s The Sewing Girl’s Tale — which is very accessible and interesting late 18c. US history; Alexander Hamilton even makes a cameo. Some of these titles are probably classified as YA, but that’s not something I always notice. I think the only authors repeated in this list are Haruki Murakami and Toshikazu Kawaguchi.

Books in winter panel (blue), so 1-12:
Melissa Albert, The Hazel Wood
Ezra Claytan Daniels, Upgrade Soul
M. L. Rio, If We Were Villains
Lauren Groff, The Vaster Wilds
John Wood Sweet, The Sewing Girl’s Tale
Maja Lunde, The End of the Ocean
Fiona Mozley, Elmet
NoViolet Buluwayo, We Need New Names
Paterson Joseph, The Secret Diaries of Charles Ignatius Sancho
H. G. Parry, The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep
Lily Brooks Dalton, Good Morning Midnight
Lauren Beukes, Afterland

Books in spring panel (yellow), so 13-24:
Chuck Wendig, The Book of Accidents
Haruki Murakami, Dance Dance Dance
Sara Novic, True Biz
Percival Everett, James
Maggie Shipstead, Seating Arrangements
Ben H. Winters, Golden State
Sarah Gailey, Upright Women Wanted
Tana French, The Hunter
Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Before the Coffee Gets Cold
Patricia Lockwood, No One is Talking About This
Akwaeke Emezi, The Death of Vivek Oji
Te-Ping Chen, The Land of Big Numbers

Books in summer panel (purple), so 25-36:
Kelly Link, The Book of Love
Samantha Harvey, Orbital
Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet
Becky Chambers, The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
Ann Napolitano, Hello Beautiful
Lincoln Michel, The Body Scout
Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles
Jennifer McMahon, Night Sister
Tommy Orange, Wandering Stars
Justina Ireland, Dread Nation
Andrea Bartz, We Were Never Here
Danzy Senna, New People

Books in Fall (no panel yet), 37-47:
Sue Burke, Semiosis
Megha Majumdar, A Burning
Nita Prose, The Maid
Nghi Vo, Siren Queen
Eliza Jane Brazier, If I Disappear
Barbara Kingsolver, Demon Copperhead
Haruki Murakami, After the Quake
Bethany C. Morrow, MEM
Toshikazu Kawaguchi, Tales from the Cafe
Banana Yoshimoto, Kitchen
Riku Onda, The Aosawa Murders

December 2025

Hello! December featured a trip to Japan and making a few hats for my kid who lives there. Crocheting hats is a nice portable travel project. I’m signed up for FADLA 2026 in February; I’ll be showing my completed Book Blanket 2025, and another crochet project called Facing the New Year. Join in! It’s free and fun. (If you’re not local, there might be a Fun-a-Day project in your city too.) I ended 2025 with 275 new Wikipedia articles started, so my 3000th all-time milestone (by my count) should happen in January. And the chalk on our walk was based on a 13c. Spanish illustration of musicians.

November 2025

This might be the first month in a long time that there’s no new chalk on our front walk! A combination of having our house painted (yeah! House Painting did a great job) and two big rainstorms (yeah!) and the shorter days meant there was never a great time to work on something new. But I’m ready when the time comes. I’ve been making stuff indoors, of course. I sewed up a few dozen scrunchies from fabric scraps (it’s not an obsession, it’s just more efficient to make them in batches), and made a reversible bucket hat for my favorite resident of Fish Town. Both the scrunchies and the hat were made following video tutorials by Notches Sewing on YouTube–really clear, good tutorials, worth a mention.

I’m still working on my book blanket for 2025, and cooking more, now that the evenings come earlier and cooler. Still contributing articles to Wikipedia, though I might not hit my annual target of 300 this year, because I’ve been doing other editing (also useful, also fun, just not making new articles). But that means I’ll hit 3000 new articles (by my count) in January.

I wish I made more things for holiday gifting this year (besides Shutterfly books and calendars), but the inspiration wasn’t there and can’t be forced. I absolutely need to replace my Little Free Library after 13 years, which is a big project for this winter. And I’m looking forward to participating in year 10 of Fun-a-Day LA, in February. (Want to join in the fun? There’s a form at that link. And it’s free.)