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.

A Day in Sydney

We haven’t been in Sydney in the lead up to Christmas for many years, so thought it was about time to have a day trip to play the tourist.

Lots and lots of photos here, so grab a cuppa.

The planets aligned for last Monday. Our calendar was free, the weather was forecast to be 23C and some friends were free as well.  We caught the early train down.

Our first Christmas tree - on the Town Hall balcony.

The first stop was morning tea with Karen at the Queen Victoria Building (QVB).  We have tried to catch up a few times before, but something always foiled our plans.  As Mick and I had breakfast at 4.30am, we treated ourselves to a second breakfast of French toast.  It was so good.  Karen’s banana bread was pronounced excellent as well.

Check out the floor in the cafe.

Now that we were fortified, it was time to start exploring.  Firstly, the Christmas tree in the QVB.  No Swarovski crystals on the tree these days, but it was still impressive.

And huge.

A kind lady took our photo.

The obligatory photo of the stained glass.  It’s hard to believe this building was nearly derelict for many years.

Time to have a wander through the CBD.

Surprisingly, many businesses had no Christmas decorations at all, while others were lovely.

The Strand Arcade is always a show piece and this year did not disappoint.  We loved how the main decorations were gum nuts and gum flowers.

A fun view of Centrepoint Tower.

Next, it was Martin Place, with its flower stall and Santa’s hut.  It would look lovely during the evening, when everything was lit up.

Another kind lady took our photo in front of the huge Christmas tree.

As we wandered along Mick and I were taken with a sculpture in front of one building.  I wonder why?  We have seen another of this artist’s installations at Forbes.

We also stumbled up on the art installation of bird cages to commemorate all the birds that used to live in what is now the CBD.

As always, there was lots of construction taking place and Mick had to stop and watch the crane lifting some air conditioning ducts to the top of a very high sky scraper. 

Once we reached Circular Quay, Karen headed off home.  It was great to have an explore with her.  Hopefully, we can catch up again at some stage.

We had a bit of time to kill before our next catch up, so had a wander around the Opera House precinct.

Looking back towards the city.

There was a bit of a traffic jam with all the ferries on the harbour.

There are plaques set into the pavement to commemorate Australian literary figures.  This is just a small sample.

A.D. Hope was a poet and received his high school education at Bathurst High School, so a bit of a local connection.

We then met up with Betty and Stephanie for a quick bite to eat before heading off to do some exploring through The Rocks historic area of Sydney.

The first spot that Betty took us to was underneath the YHA building.  It is a large building tha only received building approval if it was built on stilts to expose the archaeological dig on the site, which is called “The Big Dig”.  Very original.

All this exploring was thirsty work, so time for a cool beverage at the historic old Australia Hotel.

From here we wandered along, with no real direction to be followed.  There are some wonderful views, showing the vast contrast of our first settled city.

As we walked down one lane way we came across an art installation like the outline of a terrace house.  We didn’t think too much of it and didn’t take a photo.  Nearby was a cordoned off set of very narrow steep steps, with a more accessible set nearby.  We went down and discovered what appeared to be the footprint of rooms with bronze sculptures of furniture in the them.

It was set on the side of a small sandstone cliff and there were even more really steep steps going down.  

The handrails around our pathway had the cutest little bronze terrace houses as finials.

And looking back up.

We were suitably intrigued and were happy to find an information board that advised that there had been eight homes on the side of this cliff and that they were demolished in the 1930s.  There was a photo from 1908.  Oh my!  I can’t imagine living like that.  A little Google revealed that we had been visiting Foundation Park, which was established in the 1970s.  You can read more about it here.  

Once we reached the bottom, we passed through a narrow passageway into the vibrant section of The Rocks.  Such a hidden gem.

And, we found another giant Christmas tree.

From here we took the light rail from Circular Quay back to the QVB and a bit more wander around the shops, before farewelling Betty and Stephanie.

Mick and I continued to wander around and found a couple of more intersting shop Christmas windows.

A gaping hole in the Christmas landscape was the famous David Jones window displays.  The only Christmassy one was advertising their Christmas shop.  This was so controversial that it made the news on the TV and newspapers.  It will be interesting to see if they take note of the backlash and resume their windows next year.

Anyway, the day was getting on, so we walked back to Central Station to wait for our train.  There were some nice trees there as well.

We caught the later train, so didn’t get home until nearly 10 o’clock, so a very long day.  The “Bathurst Bullet” may be the slowest bullet in the west, but it such a wonderful service.

It was a rather enjoyable day, made all the better for being able to catch up with the girls.  We did all that we had hoped to do, as well as the bonus adventure around The Rocks.  We need to do it more often.