Happy New Year! I swear it was only the start of 2019 not so long ago, but I guess the calendar doesn’t lie!

The end of 2019 and the start of this year (already!) has been difficult, with a cascade of bad news, worry and stress. Why do these things always happen all at once!?
Anyway in an attempt to dust myself off and with a metaphorical “chin up” I thought I’d get on and finish my 2019 round-up post. I love doing these, it’s a good way to reflect on what has been done and gives me a chance to focus on what I’d like to achieve this year.

This is my Instagram “Best 9” – The top liked and commented photos. As you can see clamshells feature heavily and I am so pleased you all like them, I love making them and have a whole lot more planned this year. It is also very interesting to see that all but one of these pictures feature hand quilting, another thing I really enjoy.

Funnily enough none of my quilts made it to the top 9, well except a peek of one on the bottom right corner.

I finished 7 quilt tops last year but rather shamefully only managed to fully complete 3 of them! Oh dear!

Three of them are basted and have some quilting started, I just need to get a wriggle on and get them finished! It is hard to pick a favourite they are all slightly different, but I think the pink/Liberty Sidewalk quilt wins my heart with Dream World a very close second because of it’s special bond I have with it. That poor Swedish Bloom quilt was started in the spring of 2018 and I finally finished piecing it in early 2019, maybe this will be the year it finally gets finished! I have almost finished the quilting on the Meadowland Quilt so that one at least hasn’t had to wait too long! The Chamomile quilt (top right) is a beast and I must admit I have been putting this one off. It requires 5 yards of backing so you can imagine how big it is! It’s all too tempting to send it off to be long-armed but unfortunately I can’t really justify the cost.

I thought I’d share some of my favourites, I tried to pick ones that hadn’t made it into the “Best 9” or that were quilts.

From Top Left to Right:

Spotlight Cushion, Pemberley Fabric Dilly Bag, Dorothy’s Journey Dresden Cushion,

Mabel’s school backpack, Clamshell needlebook, Hexie Trivet and Quilty Stars Pillow all from theSarah Jane Swap

Dorothy’s Journey Notions Pouch and Bluebirds and Blossoms Economy Block Cushion.

Fussy Cutting and Hand quilting definitely a key feature in what I enjoy doing, as well as my love of pastels!

I had a rare trip to the hairdressers the other week and we got chatting about what I do, he asked me what was my most favourite thing I had ever made. For someone who is so painfully critical of my own work and can never a believe a compliment when it is given I found this an extremely hard question to answer (you should have seen the anguish picking my own top 9!). Not only is it admitting you’re perfectly happy with something (I can always find a flaw in my work!) it’s like being asked to pick a favourite child! In the end after giving it some thought and being only able to think about my makes this year it would have to be my Dorothy’s Journey Cushion.

So what’s in store for 2020? Well at the start of the post I mentioned us getting some bad news, this happened between Christmas and New Year and it’s totally knocked me. At Christmas time I was excited for the new year and a new decade but at the moment it is hard to focus.

However I want to focus, if anything to take my mind off the inevitable bad things we have coming to us this year. So my plan – finish those quilts! They are basted and quilting has started so I really hope I can do this within the first quarter of the year! I do not and I say this very tentatively because I know what I am like and what a sucker I am for a quilt-along want to start another before they are finished. Well there is one new one in the works but it’s a baby quilt and for a blog tour so technically doesn’t count! 🤣

Oddly I want to cut down on the amount of quilts I make! Don’t get me wrong I love making them, well the tops anyway! However, quilts are expensive to make! It’s fine digging through your stash to make a top, but you still need to fork out for batting and backing and that can be quite a few £££ right there! Plus it is well documented here how much quilting makes me nervous.

Instead I want to focus on making smaller Zakka style projects and getting back to my first love of bag making. Therefore hopefully cutting my spending down as well as hours worked with nothing final achieved. I even hope to develop some patterns this year… watch this space!

I would also like to focus on hand sewing and the mindfulness that comes with cross stitch and embroidery; to include both embroidery such as Sashiko and bag making would be perfect.

I don’t want to set too many goals, I’m going to *try* and go easier on myself this year, and not add too much pressure or stress. It would be nice to finish some of my old WIP’s too.

Finally I would like to say a big thank you for all your love and support last year. Every like, share and comment always means so much to me and I appreciate everyone of you. Wishing you all a very happy and healthy new year 💖