The Year that Was

I’m a little late sharing my 2021 quilting progress with you, but then, I’ve only just returned home from holiday.  It doesn’t seem that I’ve achieved a great deal in the quilting stakes this last year, and a look back through the blog confirms this.  Guess my back problem, subsequent diagnosis, surgery and recovery had a lot to do with this.  But I did finish a few, and here they are.  First up were two donation quilts,one for a boy and one for a girl, and some draw string bags for donation as well.

Donation quilts

I really loved working on Teddy Darling,  it’s a small little quilt, only 25 inches square, and the pre-printed  panel was a gift from my quilting penfriend Carol from South Dakota.  Must admit I've had it tucked away quite some time before I finally started stitching it, then hand quilted it in big stitch quilting.  And of course, after all my hand work, I’ll be keeping Teddy Darling at home with me, perhaps one day we will welcome a little great grand-child into the family.  Won’t that be wonderful.

Teddy Darling

Later in the year I received a big pile of quilting fabric when my neighbour Dorothy was moved into a rest home.  Included in the boxes were two partially completed small quilts, which I finished as donation quilts.  And just recently I stitched Gemma a couple of cat mats backed with toweling  to place under her litter box in the caravan, using two pretty pussy cat fat quarters that I had tucked away.  These look nice, much better than the piece of matting  I was using, and wash very well indeed.

Made for Gemma

I did complete two caravan themed stitcheries, a tea towel for me, and a place mat for my friend Dot.  I quite enjoy doing this sort of thing, and have several more stitcheries on the go.  They are so easy to pick up and do a little stitching, usually while I’m away in the caravan.

As for knitting,  I completed a pink and white baby jumper, and a blue toddler sized cardigan, both are now residing in my baby box, waiting for my grand-daughters to produce…. sometime.  I knitted a small rug out of selvedges to use in my laundry, and some baby beanies.  And socks galore, four pair of thick 12ply wool socks, and six pair of 4 ply socks!  I have to admit that I’m really proud of this achievement.  And believe it or not, I’ve two more pair that I’ve started this year, but there’s no hurry on these.  I did a lot more knitting this year, probably because I found it very uncomfortable to sit at the sewing machine  for quite some months after my spinal surgery.

Socks made for Christmas

I like to send some donations to Foster Hope Charity, and according to my notes have sent four children’s quilts (two of these were my neighbour Dorothy’s which I finished), baby beanies and a knitted scarf, about a dozen draw string bags for the children to use for toiletries, or coloured pencils and such.  Some of these had been waiting to be delivered for quite some time, because of lock-down, so I’m pleased I could finally pass them on.

So that’s my year, Covid lockdowns  kept us home for a while, but we managed to get away in the caravan for club rallies and other trips.  And I enjoyed meeting up with the Sew Wot ladies when I could, that’s always fun.    One thing I have missed is listing my UFOs and rolling the dice to see what I should be working on.  Perhaps I can resurrect this again, I know I have several Rainbow Scrap Challenge projects which need finishing.

Many thanks to all of you who read my blog, and all the other bloggers out there.  I really do appreciate your interest and friendship.  May we all have a better year in 2022 keeping Covid at bay, and may lots of stitching happen.