The Best Of 2025

I 'm joining in with Cheryl for a Best of 2025 look back. I've done my five in a couple of ways.

1. The most viewed quilt was Jasper the Bear, finished in February, with 19.5k views!

It was such a fun, creative-brain-stretching, rewarding make, though the cause for it was a rather sad one. I loved the process of designing this on my design wall once I made the (Lorna's--Sew Fresh Quilts) bear section.

2. Close behind it was my August Gratitude and Glimmers post. I think perhaps the link from Instagram where I'd been documenting my incredible wondrous year of inadvertently raising monarchs and swallowtails drew more eyes. Just this past week while picking up a couple of library books, Laurie, one of the librarians, pulled me over to tell me about a crocheted huge blanket her daughter-in-law had made for her, with a stack of books in the top half of the blanket, and in the bottom half was a monarch. She showed me a photo and it is just amazing. And then Laurie proceeded to tell me how she raises monarchs. 215 of them this past summer!! And she started tagging them as well, a study she's part of, affiliated with a university in Ohio I believe.

3. I started off the year with two great boosts to my creative spirit: Project Quilting 16 where I made three  quilts, a runner, a mini and an apron.

and the SAHRR, Stay At Home Round Robin, where I made Arabesque.

4. These two activities led to two of the three published patterns over the year: Winter Blues, which also became my 9th annual QAL, Glowing Hearts,

and Arabesque. Tinker Toys is one that was in a magazine two years ago to which I finally got the rights back. All three are on my sidebar with links if you click the image. I plan to participate in both PQ and SAHRR in 2026.

5. Connections - I made two new friends through selling my makeup bags on Etsy, Lana in Ontario and Audrey in Manitoba. Through making custom bags for these wonderful ladies, my creativity has been sparked, along with the joy of the make and the happiness of the receivers. If I ever am in the Winnipeg area, I have a place to stay at Audrey's, and next time I'm in the Toronto area, I hope to meet up with Lana. Making connections is really what makes the world a friendlier kinder place, and I am so honoured that I have found so many wonderful humans through my quilting, be it this blog, the Etsy shop, or through doing my Quilt Tales presentation. I took a leap and did one on Zoom in January to a guild in BC, and drove up to London in November for an in-person one that was so rewarding, well-received, and so many great conversations happened that morning.

Just a few of the project bags in various sizes as commissioned by Lana.

I am so grateful to have this passion, but also very grateful to have the tools and supplies with which to pursue it. Thank you for reading my posts, and here's to many more joyful hours in our quilting rooms in 2026, adding joy and colour to our corners of this precious planet!