....in with the New!

                                               Tree in dining room from unlit kitchen.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year! We have no way of knowing what the future holds for us - fortunately, I think - but I would wish that we enjoy good health, sufficiency in wealth and goods, great riches in family and friends and wonderful and creative pastimes (and the time to indulge them) to nourish our spirits and souls.

I haven't done New Year Resolutions for years now, although I understand the natural drive towards new beginnings and self improvement; I think too many resolutions fall quickly by the wayside to get  excited about nailing my colours publicly to a mast! However, I do love the idea of Intentions. I read in Karen's blog Chelmarsh Chunterings, that she is drawing up some personal intentions, which somehow have less of a feeling of being written in stone, and therefore are more achievable.

Another activity we often indulge in at this time of year, is to review what we got up to over the past twelve months. This time last year, we were sitting on the edge of our seats watching the awful weather, and worrying that the airports would be closed just when we wanted to be flying off to New Zealand. We made it my the skin of our teeth!

I find I just haven't got the energy to even think about composing a 'year in pictures' post though the idea appeals, and I've read some lovely blog-posts this week doing just that.

Sooooo....I will just leave you with a couple of shots of my latest creative venture. It is a wool quilt - well, a throw, really, as I don't think - at the moment - that I am going to put wadding (batting) in it, but there will be quilting stitches. It is all hand work, using flannel and wool for the appliqué, and wool yarn for the stitching.

Yes, unusually for me, I'm using a hoop. I find the flannel and wool need to be kept taut while I am stitching the seams and free edges. This is one of two hexagon composite motifs.

 
This is a free-style log cabin block with the logs just laid down overlapping, and then over sewn with this beautiful hand-dyed wool. I feel the need to go over the outside stitching with some random wild stitches, as it looks a bit prissy to me at the moment!

I'm really liking the looks of this - making it up as I go along. The vibe feels a bit like darning with a nod towards the Japanese Boro textiles which I have blogged about at length earlier last year.

I can't tell you how many hours of stitching these three motifs have incurred! Much more than it would have taken me to needle-turn applique them, I promise you! Next post I'll tell you more about the inspiration for this quilt and hopefully be able to show you the completed Sunflower Farm quilt. I have cut and pressed the binding!!

I hope you are not in the path of the flood warnings, stay safe til we meet again!