I guess it's really too late to wish you all Happy New Year and with the sunny, mild weather we have today it's probably closer to spring!
We did have a New Year's birthday for this little cutie who turned 2!
Whilst I did not set my expectations high for 2022, the last couple of years have certainly lowered the bar in that regard, I was not expecting such a tumultuous start. New Year was full of illness in our household, not mine just everyone else's, then I did get ill and had been a close contact of a positive Covid case so a period of self isolation followed, then a big change in family circumstances, more on that below, and then an injured wrist and hand with a diagnosis of tenosynovitis. Is it too soon to be wishing it was 2023?!!
I did begin the Declutter Challenge with Karen from Just Get It Done Quilts which was great and it felt so liberating to be decluttering and clearing things out of my studio and I even got two long term WIPs finish in the first week. But then life happened and I was unable to keep up with the daily prompts, but I am going to revisit it throughout February and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking to declutter their sewing room or other spaces in the house because it made me think about things very differently.
I started a new project, the #featherssal with Alison Glass, which was all going to plan but then also derailed due to wrist/hand injury But I know it's there waiting for me when I can cut and sew again.
I am using only fabric from stash .... and several pieces a friend sent me because I was short!
Now onto the biggest thing ....
Some of you will know that I homeschooled my girls for many years, and that was voluntarily long before everyone had to because of Covid! Well, I wasn't expecting to return to that stage of my life but it has happened. Although this time it will look very different, because when they were younger we were autonomous/natural/child led homeschoolers but this time we have a little matter of GCSEs to contend with! For many reasons my youngest daughter, in Year 10, was deregistered from school 3 weeks ago now and we are slowly settling into a new rhythm of life.
This, of course, has meant huge changes for my plans for 2022. It was with a real heavy heart that I had to cancel talks and workshops this year but this is going to be a long journey and I will not have the physical or mental energy to travel to talk and teach - let only the brain capacity to develop new workshops when I am knee deep in new subjects like Sociology and Psychology! I will still be teaching as a Handi Quilter Educator for Pinhole Quilting and there are some really exciting events coming up.
With regard to the longarm quilting services I offer, I have also had to streamline these and I am currently only offering basting and edge to edge (E2E) quilting services. Whilst I do love custom quilting it takes a lot both in terms of the mental energy required for design and the physical aspect of quilting it out so it has had to go on hold.
The loss of the talks and teaching side has hit me hard because this is a side of my business I have been wanting to develop for several years now. Covid put paid to it in March 2020 and I thought this year would see it grow and develop. Initially I felt guilty for feeling the loss because right now my daughter's mental health is the most important thing, but then I realised that it was a loss and something for me to come to terms with - some days I am better at this than others. However, I am hoping that once we have settled into this new chapter of our life other things might open up to me ....
One thing I do want to do is be more present in my blog space - was it really 26 April 2021 when I last posted here?! I often have lots of things to say and share which aren't really captured in a picture on Instagram and I still haven't delved into reels and I'm not that comfy sitting in front of a camera talking! If there is any aspect of quilting, longarm quilting or patchwork that you would like to see discussed then please do let me know.