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 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.

Stitching Wishes for October

The weather is delightful and I am starting to feel a bit more like myself than I have for the last little while.  However, I am still going to keep my wishes (not goals) fairly simple and with a bit of luck there will be some bonus projects, like happened last month.

Firstly, Betty sent out the next fabrics for her group quilt.  The instructions were to make the prescribed block using the fabrics provided and select a contrast from the floral fabric.

No worries, I could quickly whip that up.  Job done……….then I read the instructions properly……. no green!  Blast!  Jack the Ripper to the rescue.  Oh, and we were to include an additional square of the contrast fabric and I had used a strip. Doh!  Lesson - read the instructions properly…..Well I had, but not when I went to actually make the block.

Here we go again.  Job done…..and sent off in the post this time.

It’s so nice to be able to tick something off nice and quickly.

Now to my other wishes.

The final number for the Chookshed Challenge is #3.  After all my swapping around during the year, this is:

“SASHIKO PROJECT - I have a couple of Sashiko panels that have been stitched.  It will be good to get at least one of them into a completed project.”

These are the two panels I am looking to play with.  I’m leaning towards the ribbon one.

I have a project in mind and bought this fabric while at the Braidwood Airing of the Quilts last November.  I’m thinking it will pair nicely with the ribbon panel to make a tote bag of some description.  I still have to decide on a pattern.  I think the design of the fabric will be too close to the scallop Sashiko panel to be effective.  I will have to come up with something else for that panel at some stage, and I also have a few other small motifs to use somewhere as well.  All in good time.  No pressure.

I don’t have anything on the go for Rainbow Scrap Challenge at the moment.  The colours for this month are brown and black.  Maybe nothing will happen.  Maybe it will.  Once again, no pressure.

I have made good progress on my knitted top.  It is looking very wonky here, so will need a good blocking once finished.  As it turns out, I will have oodles of yarn.  Up to just before the cream stripe only took two balls.  It is knitted very loosely, so I will definitely have to wear a cami underneath.  With a bit of luck this will be finished by the end of the month.  It is knitting up very quickly.  I have a few ends to weave in and need to work out what I am doing with a few stripes to transition to the cream yarn.  Hopefully, it will be something that I will wear.

Yesterday, I was at a bit of a loose end as to what to take to my stitching morning, so had a bit of a look in some project boxes and discovered where I had traced off a couple of the free patterns that Anni Downs provides each Christmas.  This one is from 2021 and I have 2022 traced off as well.  I have stitched 2023, but 2024 is still just the pattern.  There seems to be quite a few Christmas redwork pieces in the box, so I am thinking that at some stage they may be transformed into a Christmas quilt.  Not this year, but it would be nice to get at least this panel stitched.

You may notice that I have an embroidery hoop sitting with it.  I’ve never been comfortable using one, but decided to have a go when I stitched the little dog bookmark recently.  I just grabbed a small one that was earmarked to be used as part of a Christmas decoration.  Being so small, I didn’t mind it.  So, I thought I would have another go this time.  I even ratted around the drawers of odds and sods in my sewing room and found some cotton tape to wrap it, like Mum always told me to do.  I think the last time I would have used this tape was when making a lampshade in high school.  You never know what is squirrelled away and may come in handy one day.

We’ll see how much I end up achieving, but I am feeling inspired to get a wriggle on.

I Have a Finish

I was determined to complete the Wisteria coloured Corner to Corner Rug this month and it is done.  Yay!  It’s just a pity that the wisteria isn’t flowering as yet.

I ended up just finishing it with a simple shell border.

This blanket will be donated to Wrap With Love, a charity that provides knitted and crocheted blankets to those in need, with many being shipped overseas.  I attended their annual local knit in back in July, where just over 100 blankets were on display before being sent on their way.

In other crafty news, I had one more play with the design curtain before packing it away.  These drunkard path blocks were made several years ago as yet another Rainbow Scrap Challenge project.  The original plan was to make two cushions, but I really don’t need any more cushions.

I was recently browsing through some old Homespun magazines and noticed this on the cover of one.  The blocks finish at 4 inches, whereas mine finish at 3 inches.  If you look closely, she has them laid out in two settings - a pinwheel style withe low volume centres and then the ones with the coloured centres with the colour in the corners.  I have enough to make the centre of a quilt, or possibly a border to form part of a medallion quilt.  To make that work for a square quilt, which I quite like, would require me to make eight more of the small blocks, which is four colours.  That wouldn’t be too hard.  Anyway, in the meantime, they have gone back into their box to be played with further at a later date.  The magazine is now with them, to provide inspiration.  

I have made a start on the knitted top, but will share a photo when it has progressed a bit further.

Spending Some Time With my Sewing Machine

When I look back at what I have done this year, it has become apparent that I have done very little stitching at my sewing machine since Scrub Stitchin’.  It’s time to get back into it.

So, what have I been up to so far this month?

Once we arrived back home from our latest trip to Baradine, my first priority was to make three shadow blocks for Betty’s group quilts.  These were July’s prompt, but this was the first chance I had to make them.  Fortunately, there was no real urgency for them.  The prompt was one to be brownish, one kid’s print and one a favourite print in blues or greens.

The next thing I wanted to work on was the Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks for this and last month and look at the Chookshed Challenge goal of putting together the Split Nine Patch quilt top.

It was time to bring out the Design Curtain again.  How to lay out the blocks?  I ended up grouping them by colour.  Now, I have just been making two blocks each month for the last three years, not thinking about the layout.  Of course, that has meant that I have six blocks, which make up one and a half big blocks.  To make it bigger I needed to make quite a few more blocks, which I wasn’t really thrilled about doing.  The alternative was that I could use what I had to make a smaller quilt with two blocks left over.  That seemed a much better idea, so no extra blocks were made.

It didn’t take too long to stitch them together.

While I was stitching away, I continued to make some more leader and ender blocks for “Bonnie Lass”.  I had stitched up what I had previously cut out, so it was time to dig into the scrap tubs and cut some more. There are now sufficient to keep me going for a while.  

Meanwhile, while the design curtain was up, I thought I would see what it was looking like and what other fabrics it would need.  This is 60 units and I will need 396, so quite a way to go.  Mmm.  Some brighter, clearer colours are needed, as it looks rather muddy at present.  I now have 110 units stitched, so a quarter of the way there.

Let’s make good use of the design curtain, while it is adding its decorating style to the sitting room.  Why not have a look at those Rainbow Scrap Challenge fish, now that all the blocks have been appliqued?

My plan has always been to make two smaller quilts, rather than one large. So a bit of juggling to work about the best colour distribution.

Next, to add some filler blocks.  I must say that being able to play with the blocks here, rather than the floor or bed, has been a game changer.  It works so very well.  

Then it was time to add the narrow border around them.  I wanted to have them not quite the same.

Today, I have added the border to the Split Nine Patch and the second border to both of the fish quilts.  That blue batik has been in my stash for about twenty years.  I think there is enough for the bindings and then it will be all used, other than some small scraps.  That is a big win in my books.

I’m so pleased to finally have these to the flimsy stage.  Now they have been added to the ever growing “To Be Quilted” pile.

While the design curtain is still hanging in the sitting room I am going to have a play with something else that has been hanging around for too long.

Did I say that I like the design curtain……