Looking Forward to 2026

Happy New Year!

I’m looking forward to a good year, after one that had a few “interesting times”.

As usual, I like to set myself a few fun, and hopefully achievable, goals.  It feels so much better to exceed my wishes, rather than fall short.

………I typed this in mid December, getting well organised…… and then went on to make an incredibly long, detailed list of what I hope to achieve.  If I managed it all it would be a miracle and turn what is supposed to be a fun activity into nearly a full time job.

Let’s start again….. and try to live up to that second paragraph of being fun and achievable…..

STITCHING GOALS

In 2025 I started 26 new projects.  Of those, 8 remain ongoing.  Add to that, there was a long list of UFOs, with a hope of completing 12.  I managed to complete a whole 5.  My aim for 2026 is simply to finish the year with less Ongoing/WIPs/UFOs than I start with, unlike 2025.  If I manage to achieve that I will be happy.

To that end, I will list 24 UFOs.  Let’s hope that at the end of the year there are less than 24 outstanding projects from that list and any new starts.

Last year I announced that I wouldn’t join in with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Well, that didn’t last for long and I was soon back on the bandwagon.  It is something I really enjoy.  Therefore, I will once again take part this year.  I still have to decide on my project/s, but whatever eventuates, it will be fairly simple.

In previous years I have participated in the One Project a Month, until its demise, and One Monthly Goal (OMG).  They both worked well for me.  In 2024 I joined in on the new Chookshed Challenge.  It worked OK, but ended up doubling up with the OMG.  Therefore, I decided to drop OMG in 2025 and concentrate on the Chookshed Challenge.  Well, I didn’t do so well on the Chookshed Challenge last year.  A few life factors came into play, which contributed to my downfall, but in some respects the format doesn’t work all that well for me, as I switched around nearly every project throughout the year. 

I have come to the realisation that what works best for me is to set a goal at the start of each month, without any preset parameters.  Therefore, I will work on the OMG format, being at the beginning of the month selecting a project, any project, and working towards the nominated goal.  I don’t think I will join in on the actual link parties, just use the format for my own fun.  It may be patchwork, or stitching, or knitting or crochet.  Whatever works best at the time.

Now that I have “Elly May”, my new quilting machine, I do hope to spend more time at the sewing machine than last year, which was pretty woeful.  Hopefully, my big “To Be Quilted” pile will be greatly, if not totally, reduced.

I do hope to make and contribute towards some donation projects.

I still want to strive towards working on something crafty for at least 15 minutes a day, once again, not actually checking in with link parties.

The other silly thing I want to do is collect all my empty cotton reels into my big jar and see how many there are at the end of the year.  Just a bit of frivolity.  Hopefully there will be more than last year.

As always, I look forward to heading off to Baradine for Scrub Stitchin’ and hopefully again in August.

Zoom get togethers are something I really look forward to, so hope they will continue this year.

Last year I joined in making blocks for Betty’s Rainbow Stitchers group, which I will continue to do.

And, finally, I will continue to attend my two stitching days each week.

OTHER GOALS

I didn’t set any last year, but this year I do want to set just a couple:

• Try a new recipe each month.
• Read a book each month.
• Travel - we seem to aim to use our caravan about 6 times each year.  We have nothing planned at this stage, but will make things up as we go along,  We do have a big trip planned for the end of the year.
• Fun Days Out - this seems to have gone a bit on the back burner.  I need to do some planning, so that we can do something fun at least once a month.

And that about sums things up.  It will be interesting to look back at the end of the year and see how I went.

Looking Back at 2025

I always like to have a little look back at the year and see what we got up to and how I went with my little goals.  You can read about them here.

In some ways, I’m glad to move on from 2025.  There was a rather sad time in the middle of the year when Mick and I both lost our Mums within six weeks of each other and then I had surgery requiring a fairly long recovery.

However, there were also good times to be had.

So, let’s have a look at what I achieved on the stitching front.

After reading my post at the beginning of the year, I had a chuckle at my wish to “try and concentrate on one project on the machine and one by hand at a time rather than jumping all over the place like I usually do”.  Oh my, how I massively failed at that.  2025 seems to have been very much the year of jumping all over the place.  

I actually did very little on the machine.  Most of what I did was handwork that I could take to my stitching days, which I continue to enjoy.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

Considering I wasn’t going to take part in RSC,  I made more of the Split Nine Patch blocks and managed to get them into a quilt top. It was finally quilted and bound this week, being the very last project finished this year - ie. this afternoon.

I also manage to get both the Fishy Business quilt tops made - still to be quilted and bound,

The only other RSC project that is unfinished is the drunkard path blocks from a few years ago.

CHOOKSHED CHALLENGE

This wasn’t as successful as last year.  Some projects were completed, others not.  I ended up switching around projects nearly every month.  It didn’t really work for me.  Having said that, it did prompt me to work on some projects that would have otherwise just sat in the drawer.

Thanks must go to Deana for going to the trouble of arranging this challenge.

MY OTHER GOALS

• Complete 12 UFOs - Nope, just 5.
• Quilt 12 Quilts on Monique - a huge fail - a big fat 0! - Having said that, I have quilted three in the last week on Elly May.  Phew, at least that is better than none.
• Complete 12 Donation items - There were only a few.

There were the three quilts I have just quilted. I made the Wisteria Corner to Corner Rug for Wraps With Love and also quite a few blocks for various group donation quilts.

• Complete 25 Projects - surprisingly, I completed 22.  
• Work at some crafting for 15 minutes a day.  I achieved 281 days, which equates to 76.99%.  I’m happy with that.

I started 26 new projects this year, which is insane, and completed 17 of them.  That does mean that there are quite a few to carry over to 2026, but I reckon that none of them will be carried over to 2027. Fingers crossed…..or just a crazy pipe dream?

The year started well with the completion of the hexy flower quilt top and also making the Design Curtain that hangs over our display cabinet when needed.  A very helpful innovation.

I started a new Leader and Ender project.  It is Bonnie Lass, by Jen Kingwell.  I’m going well with it, and it should make good progress as I work on the sewing machine next year.  I have completed quite a few more blocks than shown here.

I seem to have spent more time doing knitting, crochet and hand work this last year.  As well as the Wisteria Corner to Corner Rug, I completed a “Snowy” version.  This was intended to be donated, before Mick paid claim to it.  I also knitted another two scarves, a pair of socks, a beanie as well as my linen sleeveless top.

Two bags were completed, both using stitcheries that were hanging around.  I’m really pleased with both of them.

There were several other small projects.

The finale for the year was working on the Wensleydale Quilt.  After waiting in the wings for a few years, I stumbled up on the quilt along and jumped in with both feet.  What a fun project to focus on.  I had hoped to have the top completed by the end of the year, but it is currently blocks hanging on my Design Curtain. That will be rectified very soon.  It will be quilted next year.

Of course, a highlight in December was receiving “Elly May”, my new quilting machine.  

I have already quilted three quilts on her.  They are all for donation and have been great to get the feel of her.  

The final silly little challenge I had was to see how many cotton reels I could empty and collect in my pretty jar.  I’m trying hard to use up a lot of the odds and sods that I seem to have amassed.  Not as many as I had hoped, but a few of those had a lot of thread on them.  I will now throw them out and start again for 2026.  

So, what else did we get up to?

The start of the year saw me very busy organising the display of wedding and christening gowns for the church bicentenary.  It was far more successful than I could ever have imagined.

We managed to get away with the caravan five times, which is about what we aim for each year.  

We had two trips to Queensland.  Sadly, they were both called off short, due to the passing of our Mums.

In May we headed firstly to Lightning Ridge and then to Hebel and then St George. 

In June we headed up through Bourke, Cunnamulla, Charleville, Barcaldine and Emerald.

We also had an impromptu trip to Tamworth for a few days in October. The other trips were to Baradine.  Considering all that happened during the year, I’m happy with that.

We did enjoy the time we were away.

We went to Baradine twice for quilting retreats, as well as travelling to Sydney to meet up with Janet when she was briefly visiting Australia. Of course, Zoom sessions continue to be one of my favourite times. Such a wonderful group of women to know.

It was special to have Lou and Tony visit.

We had some fun days out.  Having said that, we didn’t get to even one quilt show this year and only one weekend of open gardens.

Portland Bonfire, Nocturnal at Scenic World at Katoomba, Bathurst Winter Festival, Mr Squiggle in Canberra’s, Birdhouse mural at Lithgow and Convent and Chapel Wool shop at Rylstone are just a few.

We had a couple of day trips to play the tourist in Sydney, which is always fun…..and then nice to retreat to the other side of the mountains.

In October with friends from Queensland.

And again in December.

In addition to all of this, we have just enjoyed spending time at home.  The garden is looking good and Mick is thoroughly enjoying being a part of the Bowling Club.  He has taken on more responsibility this year and takes pride in keeping the greens and grounds looking good.

On the whole, life has been good and we are still enjoying retirement very much.

Another Completed Quilt for 2025

After having no completed quilts for the year up until a week ago, I now have three.  That is so better than none.

This also finishes off a UFO, so a double win.

The next one is the Dr Seuss Quilt.  This one was pieced back in September 2024 from fabric that we found at a garage sale in the street behind us.  You can read all about that discovery here.

This was the second quilt that was quilted using Elly May.

I used a quilting pattern that looked a bit whacko, so I thought it suited a Dr Seuss quilt.  I could have made it a bit bigger, but it does give a nice texture.

I added the binding today while joining in with the final Zoom session for the year.

This quilt will be donated.

Quilt Information 

 Pattern - Made up using a panel and scraps from fabric cut out for face masks from a garage sale and stash.

Measurements - 58” high x 46” wide 

Quilting Design - Chloe E2E Lizzy Allen

 Batting - Cotton/Polyester

Backing - Wide back from stash

Thread - Glide - Steel Blue

Binding - Green solid from stash.

A Rainbow Scrap Challenge Finish for the Year

After working on blocks for just one quilt for the last three years I finally have a completed quilt.  The colour is looking way too yellow in these photos.

I finished piecing the top back in September.  This shows the colour much better.

This was the third quilt that I quilted on Elly May, using an all over loopy design.

I added the binding today while joining in on the final Zoom session hosted by Chookyblue for 2025.

This quilt will be donated.

Quilt Information

Pattern - Split Nine Patch using fabric from stash.

Measurements - 51” high x 41” wide

Quilting Design - Loop Meander E2E

Batting - Cotton/Polyester

Backing - Wide back

Thread - Glide - Cool Mint

Binding - From backing - added and finished by machine.

I am linking up with So Scrappy. Thank you so much for running this challenge and I look forward to participating again next year.

Another Finish For the Year and Post Christmas Happenings

We had a lovely day on Christmas Day, spending time with family and friends. The weather was perfect, being sunny and with the temperature in the mid 20s C.  We may have got a little sunburnt, as it was nice to sit in the sun, without being hot enough to look for the shade.

Boxing Day was a nice, relaxing recovery day, with the Test Cricket on the tele. I have a new tradition, this being the third year, if you can call that a tradition, of starting a jigsaw on Boxing Day.  Another one found at the church fete.  When I had a good look at it I realised that it wasn’t going to be a quick easy one, with all that quilt section in the middle.

This is how much I achieved on Boxing Day and I haven’t done much more as yet.  As you can see, all the easy bits are done and now I have to concentrate.

In the meantime, yesterday was another coolish day.  Check out our morning temperature.  Brrrr.  Tomorrow morning isn’t forecast to be much warmer.

What that did mean was that it was rather pleasant to sit on the back verandah and knit. I now have a completed beanie.  I love the way it turned out.  This was a great introduction to knitting cables.  The pattern chart was easy to follow, I just had to sit quietly so that I wasn’t distracted.  

I had read a comment that it was a largish size, as there was only the one size in the pattern, due to the design.  After blocking, it is definitely too large for me, but Mick has happily claimed it.  My plan was to knit him one the same in blue, but I will now knit another pattern for him in the blue and will find another pattern for me and find some more neutral coloured wool.  A good excuse to knit something else. 

What else have I been working on?  Well, I set up the design curtain and laid out the Wensleydale Quilt blocks.  They have been sitting there for a couple of days and I have tweaked it a bit, when walking past.  I think it will have to do, or I will start to overthink it, which I don’t want to do.  Next, to get it sewn together into a flimsy.

I have found some suitable backing fabric to quilt another couple of quilts, so hope to get to those fairly soon as well.

The other main job for today was to put Christmas away.   We were expecting this to happen a little later than today, as it is normally a job for after the cricket match has finished, but it was all over in two days!  And the Poms won!  Not the plan at all, so we go the decorations down a little earlier than scheduled.  Mick packed up all the lights outside, while I packed away all the inside decorations.  It takes a while to get it all out and then away, but it does look nice for those few weeks.  As usual, everything seems a little bare at the moment.

And that about sums up what we have been up to since Christmas.  I had grand plans for these few days between Christmas and New Year, but as usual, they will not all get done.  However, that doesn’t matter.