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.

My Stitching Wishes for November

My goals each month seem to be less and less as the year progresses, especially as the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and the Chookshed Challenge have finished for the year.  This takes some pressure off and anything that is achieved is a bonus.

The main thing that I want to achieve is to finish the knitted top that I am working on.  Since my last post I have completed knitting the body of the garment and just have to knit the bands around the neckline and the armholes.  One armhole was completed this afternoon.  By far the slowest part is picking up the correct number of stitches.  After several attempts and ripping back, the actual knitting took very little time. Hopefully, I will have a finish to report shortly and a garment that I can wear, now that the weather is finally warming up.

I plan to keep working away in the redwork stitcheries that were freebies from Anni Downs over the last few Christmases.  I’m currently working on 2022, then I will have to prep 2024 to stitch.  2021 and 2023 are completed.  There are still no concrete plans on what to do with them, but at least if they are stitched I have something to play with.  Chooky had a Zoom session this morning, so a bit was achieved while chatting away, until my eyes decided that they didn’t want to focus on the work, so I called it quits then.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get all my Chookshed Challenge projects completed during the ten months.  I would like to work some more on the outstanding ones.  They are the Natalie Bird pincushion, then the project using the hexies that I prepped, when it was discovered that the charm squares I had planned to use for a table runner weren’t square.  I’m still not sure what they will become and I really want to get the Sew Together Bag made.  

In addition to all these there is the Anni Downs Pouch we were given at Scrub Stitchin’ 2024.  Fingers crossed, at least one of the above projects will be progressed this month.

If I do any machine stitching there should be some progress on my leader and ender project, Bonnie Lass.

Hopefully, I will have some decent progress on something to report at the end of the month.

October Stitching Update

As you can maybe imagine, I didn’t get a great deal of crafting done during October, seeing as we were busy doing other things.

Here is what I did manage.

I have previously mentioned the Sashiko Bag for the Chookshed Stitchers Challenge.  I was very happy to have that done and it meant that I did at least have one finished project for the month.

I had shared the block I completed early in the month for one of Betty’s group quilts.

Well, I made another one to send down to her for another quilt that has been planned.

In addition, I made two blocks for a group quilt that my Wednesday patchwork quilt are putting together.

While making the blocks I have been adding to the pile of my Bonnie Lass leader and ender blocks.  140 down out of 396.  It is time to get cutting some more.  This is a nice slow bonus project in the background that really is making itself.

I did manage to progress the Christmas redwork stitcheries a little.  They have been good to work on at my stitching mornings.  Nice and mindless.

Finally, I have been slowly working away on my knitted top.  It would have been much quicker if I had just followed the pattern and knitted it flat, but due to the stripes, I made it hard for myself by knitting part of it in the round.  It has also been compounded by me not using the prescribed yarn.  I think (hope) it will all work out.  Anyway, the back is completed and I now just have to knit the two sides of the front v-neck and the ribbing around the armholes and neckline.  It didn’t get completed in October as I’d hoped, but realistically, it shouldn’t take too long to get done.  It doesn’t look much at the moment, but a good blocking at the end should hopefully sort that.

My stats for 15 minutes a day for the last couple of months were:

September = 30/30 (the best for the year)

October = 20/31

Year to Date = 211/273 = 77.29%  

This is way down on last year, but better than nothing.

I Made a Bag - Do Da Do Da

Not only did I make a bag, I ticked off the last month of the Chookshed Challenge.

The project this month was to make something with a Sashiko panel.  You can read about it here.  Well, I dithered about the size.  Then, I completely changed my mind and was going to use different fabric and a couple of small Sashiko panels.  Then, I came back to Plan A and told myself not to overthink it.  Just make a simple tote bag using the fabric you had bought for that purpose.

This afternoon, I finally put on my big girl panties and got stuck in and made the tote bag.

It is a fairly simple design, which showcases both the stitchery and the striking fabric well.

The dimensions are similar to another tote bag I made some years ago that is rather practical for taking projects along to my stitching mornings.  Therefore, this should get plenty of use too.

I’m happy to actually have completed a project in the designated month.  I still have several from this year that haven’t been completed, so fingers crossed I may progress something more before the end of the year.

I still have the scallop Sashiko panel as well as smaller ones with flowers and dragonflies.  Hiding in my stash was a small bag of Japanese fabric scraps I bought about 15 years ago at a market and recently I bought some yardage of another Japanese inspired fabric.  The challenge is on to make something using those before too long, but probably not this 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.