Looking Back at 2024

I can’t quite believe that we are already at the end of another year.  It is time to have a look back at what we have been up to over the last twelve months.  This is something I have done for the last few years and I do enjoy having a quick read over them and seeing how we have fared.

At the start of 2024 I made a post with my wishes for the coming year.  Let’s see how things panned out.

As usual, I set some goals for my stitching and joined in with some challenges.

Once again, I joined in with the One Monthly Goal challenge.  I missed achieving my goal for a couple of months, due to travel, but caught up by the end of the year.

A new challenge this year was the Chookshed Stitchers’ Challenge arranged by Deana.  This consisted of nominating and numbering ten projects or tasks. Deana would then select one number at random each month and we would work on that project or task.  Having only ten projects gave us a couple of extra months to make up for any time we were unable to complete the task in the nominated month.  I’m pleased to report that by using that extra couple of months I was able to meet all my goals.  I’m looking forward to joining in again next year.

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge featured again this year.  I worked on a few projects, but completed none.  

Firstly, I continued to make the split nine patches I had started in 2023.  

I also made a few crumb blocks and started a few hexy flowers.  

What ended up being a lot of fun was working on the Fishy Business Quilt blocks in rainbow colours.  Sadly, I fell off the wagon in the second half of the year, so they are an ongoing project.  I hope to make two donation quilts using these blocks.

The Rainbow Fish were such fun that I started a second version of the quilt using batik fabrics.  I’m loving how this is turning out.  Once again, it came to standstill in the second half of the year, so is ongoing.

I did manage to make quite a few donation quilts.  Some went to a local charity that supports victims of domestic violence.

One was used as a raffle prize at the church fete.

There were a couple of things that didn’t progress how I had hoped, one being the Blue Quilt.  I need to remove a couple of borders, as they were flaring, and adjust those borders. They are the checkerboard border you can see here as well as a narrow border that was added after this one.

I have become somewhat obsessed with hexy flowers since autumn, when I made a couple of random ones as part of the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  This morphed into making the Bigs and Smalls quilt pattern by Anorina Morris.  I have stitched 111 one inch hexy flowers and 8 two inch hexy flowers.  I am currently in the process of appliquéing them to background squares.  It has surprised me how much I have enjoyed the process,  It has also meant that other projects have been put on the back burner.

I started a little stitchery when we were overseas and rather than just adding a simple border, I had a play and made a little wall hanging.  It was a bit of fun.

This year I again played along with working on something crafty for 15 minutes a day.  It really motivates me to get at least some little thing done most days.  The hexy flowers were a perfect project.

This is how I ended up:

December = 26/31

Year to Date =  336/366

Success Rate = 91.80%  That’s a little bit down on last year, but I think anything over 90% is definitely a win.

Being a bit of a nerd, I set up a spreadsheet with some goals.  This is how I went.

Complete 24 projects = 25

Quilt 12 quilts = 12  (I had hoped to achieve more here, but Monique has not been playing nicely for the last few months.  Once she is sorted, I should be able to make some good progress - and complete some more UFOs.)

Complete 12 UFOs = 9 (I had listed 24 UFOs to choose from)

Complete 12 donation projects = 10

I started 25 new projects during the year and have completed 16, so there is the start of next year’s UFO list.

I am really enjoying the social side of stitching, continuing to attend my patchwork group on a Wednesday and the U3A group on a Friday morning.  These groups mean that I get much more handwork completed these days.

Participating in the Chookshed Stitchers Zoom sewing sessions continues to be a favourite way to spend time.  It is such a lovely group of women.

Finally, visiting Baradine for sewing retreats is the best fun.  This time with a second retreat in the spring being a bonus, as well as a free motion quilting workshop at the craft shop in Coonabarabran.

What else did we get up to during the year?

Things started out on a sad note, as we farewelled our cat Joey.  He was sixteen and his time had come.

Travel is always a feature.  The main trip this year was rather unplanned and impromptu.  We decided on the Friday afternoon to go to the Isle of Man for the TT motorcycle races and had everything booked that evening and left on the Monday morning!!! I still haven’t got around to blogging about most of the trip.  I may still get to it.  I do hope so.  Anyway, we had a great time while there and in England.

We had quite a change with our caravan trips too.  After the ute started to give us grief, we made the decision to buy a small truck to pull the van.  Enter “Frank” the Fuso truck.  We are very happy with him.  He is shorter than the ute and Mick finds him surprisingly zippy for driving around town.  The vision from the cab is terrific, being so high and, best of all, there is no worries about being overweight when towing the van.  He has already done quite a few miles.

Our first trip was to Baradine for Scrub Stitchin’, when the above photo was taken.  

We then took him to Canberra in May, so that we could see the Rajah Quilt, the Ancient Egypt exhibition, both Parliament Houese and Mr Squiggle.

His next trip was to Queensland, where we visited Dalby, Bell, Gayndah, Cania Gorge and then on to Rockhampton to visit our friends.

We have also taken him to Forbes and Lake Cargelligo.

And finally, Braidwood for the Airing of the Quilts.

As usual we had quite a few days out.  Quilt shows and open gardens seemed to feature a lot.  We went to the Blue Mountains Quilt Show, the Rajah Quilt Exhibition at Canberra, the Sydney Quilt show and the Braidwood Airing of the Quilts.  We visited open gardens at Cowra, Bathurst and Crookwell.  

Meanwhile, we are also enjoying just being at home.  Mick has become really involved with his lawn bowls.  Not only is he playing twice a week, he goes down and practices on a couple of afternoons and has started taking an active role in looking after the grounds. 

I have continued to read some books, but still not as many as I would like and tried quite a few new recipes, but once again, not as many as I would like.

So that wraps up another year of retirement.  Life is definitely good.

Looking Back at 2023

Here we are at the end of another year and time to look back over the last twelve months, which has been our first complete calendar year of not working.

It has been interesting to read over my post at the start of the year with my wishes for the twelve months ahead.  Let's see how I went with my goals from back then.

A big feature on how I achieve things is to set some goals each month and join in a couple of challenges.

I participated in One Monthly Goal again and was delighted to reach my goal every month.  Some were very simple, but the idea is to make it achievable.

I enjoyed the Rainbow Scrap Challenge again and made two different blocks each month.

I completed the black and white quilt using half square triangles.

The split nine patch blocks will be ongoing in 2024.

I also completed the 1930s butterfly quilt from 2022 RSC, which I was very happy about.

2023 saw me join in the 15 Minutes a Day challenge for the first time.  This worked so well for me.  It gave the push to do at least a little something each day, even when I didn't really feel enthused.  Here are my final stats:

15 minutes a day/2023 = 341/365

Success Rate = 93.42%

I'm really pleased with that.  The success rate is so much better than I anticipated.  It just goes to show that accountability works for me.

It is nice for stitching to be social.  The girls I have met online through my blog, via Zoom and in person are a truly wonderful group.

Scrub Stitchin' was super special this year, as we were joined by seven ladies, and in some cases their husbands, from all over the world.  To actually meet them in person was so nice. We also had some ladies attend from further afield in Australia and met them for the first time, which was equally special.

Our Chookshed Stitchers Zoom days are always a wonderful time.  We chat, laugh, solve the problems of the world and even get some stitching done on occasions.

This year I also wanted to join a local stitching group, now that I had the time.  I signed up for the U3A "Stitch and Chat" group at the start of the year and then very shortly after, a new group "Bathurst/Orange Patchwork and Bag Making" was formed, so I joined that as well.  Now, I head off to my stitching mornings on Wednesdays and Fridays.  They are both lovely groups to be a part of.  One advantage of these groups is that I am doing much more hand stitching, as it is too difficult to lug a sewing machine along.

This year I completed 48 projects.  I can't quite believe that.  Many are small, but it just goes to show what you can do when you have the time.

I had said at the start of the year that I would like to finish my Make it Blue Quilt.  That didn't happen, but I did make good progress.  Just two more borders to add.  My initial aim was for it to be a two year project.  I started it in June 2022, so I still have six months to go.

I finally started to use Monique, my Grace Q'nique 14+ quilting machine.  I have mainly quilted small donation quilts, but have done a couple of larger ones.  They have all been edge to edge pantographs, but I am gradually gaining confidence.

I mentioned at the start of the year that I needed to finish off some UFOs, as they were starting to build up again.  That is still the case.  I didn't get many finished. Quite a few of those just require quilting, which I am still trying to get to.  There is still a definite lack of confidence.  I will get there.

Talking of donation quilts, I took six quilts, a crochet rug and few other things I had made to Ronald McDonald House during the year and am working on another pile to donate fairly soon.

I specifically mentioned that I wanted to complete my kitten cross stitch.  I did make a start early in the year, but that petered out. The last time I did anything was in January.  It is really hard on the eyes, with the pale colours and really slubby, difficult fabric.  It requires too much concentration to take to stitching mornings and also requires good light.  It has waited this long to be finished, so a little longer won’t matter.  I won’t beat myself up about it.

I also mentioned a new leader and ender project.  I did start, but it also petered out.  Oh well, you can't win them all.

Knitting and crochet were on my wish list and I did work on some projects.  They are great to take to stitching mornings. I have rediscovered the joy of knitting.

Kits also were mentioned.  I did complete two bookmark kits.  Better than nothing, I suppose.

I started the Laundry Basket Spring Mystery Quilt and a crochet rug, which are still ongoing, but didn't create too many additional UFOs or WIPs, which is a positive.

So, what else did we get up to during the year?

We didn't travel as much as we expected.  Our trip to New Zealand in February was cancelled at the last minute, but we aren't too devastated about it.  

We took a quick trip to visit friends in Queensland in March.

April saw us have Lou and Tony visit and us all travel to Scrub Stitchin' at Baradine.  Sadly, the dreaded COVID attended as well.  

May took us to Nyngan and then down to Lake Cargelligo for a few days.

In June, we went to Nelson Bay to see the whales.

August saw us head off on our main trip, travelling to the Mundi Mundi Bash at Silverton.

We then kept on our way to South Australia to the Flinders Ranges.

And then to the Eyre Peninsula.  It was a wonderful trip, as we weren't rushed and had a good look around the places we visited.

We also took the van over to Gulgong for their swap meet, when the ute came home on the tilt tray.

Actually, now that I look back, we went away more than I realised.

We had plenty of fun days out, attending both Quilt Shows in Sydney.

There were loads of open gardens in the spring, as well as plenty of events attended in our more local area.

We continued to experiment with more new recipes and I read quite a few books, but not as many as I wished.

Sadly, my intention to be more active and get some organising happening at home seemed to fall by the wayside.

Motorcycling has not featured at all, with us only getting on a bike twice in the year.  As this is not nearly as big a part of our lives these days, Mick has sold "Snubby" the silver sidecar and her camper trailer.  They have both gone to separate homes in Victoria.  We are getting updates on Snubby, which is really nice.

Mick has a new toy and project, being "Rosie" the 1990 Suzuki Sierra.  He has been having a great time sprucing her up and kitting her out in preparation for a planned trip to Cape York in 2024.

We both started to learn to play lawn bowls at the start of the year.  I decided after a while that it wasn't for me, but Mick has really taken to it.  

So, that pretty much wraps up the year of 2023.  It has been a good year for us, as we settle into our "new normal".  It’s been fun looking back over the last twelve months.  Now it will be time to look forward to 2024.