Post Comment Love 10 - 12 January

Happy New Year and welcome to the first #PoCoLo of 2025 - a relaxed, friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they will be removed from the linky, and if older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

And well, hello there! It’s been a slow start to the year here - partly as Christmas was both relaxing and at times a bit hectic, where we managed to see all the family, exchange presents and eat probably more than we should but also with plenty of down time too.

But also partly as just after the new year I managed to catch one of the many illnesses that appear to be doing the rounds, and a week later I still have the most rasping cough which I’d be very happy for it to go now please! I’m sure it’s not helped by the super cold temperatures (but no snow) here but that gives me the perfect excuse to cosy up indoors.

This week’s photo is one I snapped on Christmas Day as we walked home full of Christmas lunch, it was a cheery sight and a really good waymarker which we hadn’t spotted before.

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Makes of 2024

Having done this for 2025 for quilts and other makes, I’ve gone back in time and done this for 2024, however as there was only one quilt in 2024 I’ve combined both updates.

The year started with lots of English Paper Piecing patchwork with Tula Pink fabrics, and by July I was sharing the sewing machine mat which I hadn’t even set out to make at the start of the year! Since then it’s appeared unintentionally in many of my photos, and it still proudly sits underneath my sewing machine.

To coincide with my blog’s eleventh birthday, and completely unplanned, I finally got around to making some lavender sachets - spookily eleven. That’s not too bad going as I first saw, and fell in love with the pattern back in 2014!

By March I was making use of some of the Gelli Prints I’d completed on the course I’d attended, and trust me, the gelli printing is slightly addictive - and me being me, well I keep the offcuts too as you never know…

In April I was crocheting, or more precisely finishing a crochet project. I’d made the intricate rainbow squares back in 2020 and after rediscovering them in our house move I was determined to finish this project, and boy, I’m so glad I did.

Isn’t it gorgeous?

I also started my next course run by our local library, and this time it was bags. I started by making a pincushion and two pouches for starters, which I’m still using - though I’d clearly like to use my sunglasses case even more!

Within a few weeks I’d made a zipped pouch and a bag from old curtains, which is my ‘go to’ bag for quilt shows. It’s strong, holds a lot (and I mean a lot) and when I bring it home it doesn’t look like I’ve shopped hardly at all - always a bonus!

Then I started to embroider the Indian Block printing I’d done on yet another adult learning course. My first makes were two sets of bunting, one for my great niece with her name on as she has an out of the norm name, and another for my dad who was celebrating a milestone birthday, neither of which I shared on my blog at the time - though I have since shared dad’s birthday bunting a year on.

In September I was scratching my head and working out how to repurpose a cycling top into a drawstring bag, like you do! I’m not sure if it’s particularly spider-proof but it is used to store a cycle helmet in our gym. I impressed myself with how I managed to incorporate the logos, some of the reflective panels, and more from one of MOH’s first cycling tops.

Then, just as summer was ending, I got my act together and made four cushion covers for cushions for our garden chairs - well, they were ready for the following year’s use! Though given my previous fear of everything zipped, this was a major undertaking for me - and all thanks to that bag course that I went on, where as well as making some lovely bags and pouches, I conquered zips!

And having conquered zips, in October on came the pouches - and to be honest, they haven’t stopped since!

It wasn’t until November that I completed my first, and only, quilt of the year - and it was shortly after this my ‘stretch' project idea started to form. The Flying Geese quilt also informed another project I’ve had on my Quilt list for 2025, but didn’t get to so it remains on my list for another year.

But there were more pouches to end the year.

Although I didn’t share the completed embroidered heart here until February the following year, it was all done by Christmas - and a gem of a present to myself, and again it was one that developed as I embroidered. At the start I had no intention of adding the creamy beige lines, but now I can’t imagine it without them.

I ended the year by sharing the pouch love, with hand made Christmas presents in various shapes and sizes for some of my family. That’s also something that’s ongoing, whether or not they think they need a pouch or not - I’m on a mission to convert them!

Quite a year of makes, and yet, quite a different year of makes to the year that follows!

Post Comment Love 13 - 15 December

Hello there, and welcome back to this week’s #PoCoLo - a relaxed, friendly linky which I co-host with Suzanne, where you can link any blog post published in the last week. We know you’ll find some great posts to read, and maybe some new-to-you blogs too, so do pop over and visit some of the posts linked, comment and share some of that love.

Please don’t link up posts which are older as they will be removed from the linky, and if older posts are linked then please don’t feel that it’s necessary to comment on those. If you were here last week it was great to have you along, if you’re new here this week we’re pleased you’ve joined us.

Our Christmas preparations are continuing, and gift buyer has come along leaps and bounds. We’ve also had a trip to London and bought some mince pies from Fortnum and Mason, saw the fabulous ‘Monet and The Thames’ exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery, and a bit more excitement besides.

Storm Darragh arrived with all the force they said it would, and it seems taking a particular fondness to our garden table and chairs, which it unceremoniously upended and dumped on the grass. We were lucky it was the grass and not the patio as I’m not sure the patio would have been so forgiving to the table top. Needless to say it’s now in the garage and secured more safely, what’s better is we didn’t get soaked moving it there.

Anyway, this is the last PoCoLo of 2024 - we’ll be back on Friday 12 January 2025.

Thank you for supporting our linky and our respective blogs this year, and I hope you have a joyous and restful time celebrating the Christmas period with your families, friends and loved ones.

See you in 2025!

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