2023: The Review (and a brief look at the year ahead)

This past year has been, from a personal viewpoint, truly wonderful. Our wee boy has continued to grow and flourish and brings such joy to our lives that even the most ordinary of days has a magic to it. In terms of making, I feel like I really fell back in love with the making process again this year, and I have really enjoyed looking back at everything as there is a lot to love. This year I made:

6 Tops / Jumpers / T-shirts
2 Dresses / Jumpsuits / Skirts
5 Trousers / Dungarees / Shorts
2 Accessories (one hat and a nappy cover)

Of these, 8 items were for me, 3 for Joey and 4 for Lachlan.

I think this has been a very successful year in terms of fit and wear as well. I have created some of my favourite ever items, including Lachie’s halloween lion costume (he still wears the Eden coveralls as I made the tail removeable!), my Hali jumpsuit and Turia dungarees. The turias have been in such high rotation this year that I bet the other mum’s at playgroup wonder if I have any other trousers!

The Gilbert shirt reminded me how much I love wearing a shirt, and a more wintery shirt will be getting made soon. The Jocko pullover is much loved and worn loads. It is my perfect shape, I think. The Avery leggings have been worn so often that the fabric is disintegrating (I will not be buying any more of this fabric).

And the only not-so-successful items include the first pair of Eden coveralls I made which just plain didn’t fit (but will be worn by any future babies), my self-drafted tee is good, but I just do not love the print. Lesson learnt there! And though I did not enjoy making my Bernadette skirt, I have enjoyed wearing it over the festive season so that’s lovely!

I call that a very high success rate. I started 2023 wanting to work my way through 9 key fabrics that had lingered on my shelves for too long. How did that go?

I think I would call five out of nine not bad! I was delighted to make up things with all these fabrics, except I can now understand why some hadn’t been used. The flowery cotton just wasn’t me any more, and in hindsight I should have sold it. The yellow 70’s fabric wasn’t used as the shorts I had made from the other curtain literally disintegrated this year. I absolutely love them (they’re pietras that actually fit!) and might use this curtain to undertake a repair, but it has made me more wary of using vintage fabric.

The corduroy will skip over to the year coming, as will the checks and the wool and linen (destined to become part of the same item). I do not mind that they weren’t made this year. And of the scraps of the used fabrics, well, this is the year of the quilt and I intend on incorporating wee scraps into this project (which I am super excited about!, read more below…).

In terms of other highlights, it’s really very simple. I feel like this has been a really good year for our wee family so there’s been loads of special moments. Sea swims have been great, including the Dornie dook and dram on New Years Day and swimming at Durness. I’d love to do more and should seeing as the sea is literally outside my door! Walking has been fantastic, exploring locally, and sometimes taking our tent to camp overnight. Time spent out of doors has never been wasted, with my veg garden coming together, teaching myself dry stone walling (definitely need more practice!), and growing lovely edible food for us to eat. Getting hens again was another highlight, and those birds are well loved!

And then there’s time spent with family and friends. Everyone has loved spending time with Lachlan, and we’ve enjoyed spending time with friend’s and their wee ones too. This Chrismas Lachie spent loads of time with his cousins on my side of the family which has just been hilarious, he’s really enjoyed time spent with them all!

We didn’t have any big holidays this past year, but took the opportunity to have mini breaks to different locations. And we enjoyed it all: Uist, Durness, Applecross, North Berwick, Glasgow. Where next year will take us is yet to be discovered: at this time last year, not one of those trips had been planned.

And what of the coming year? Well, I am just going to talk about crafting here. I really loved my last year of crafting and hope to carry that pressure-free, joyfulness into the next year. Here’s my make 9. You’ll see it’s a combination of fabric and patterns, to keep my stash turning over, but also to introduce that which I actually need into my wardrobe.

My Make 9 2024:

1. Fran pyjamas by Closet Core Patterns. I have the fabric for this and am inspired by this Toast pair. I also have the pattern so this will be made soon!
2. Fabric moved over from last year. I know what pattern I’m using for this, and really want it to be off my shelf and on my body so hopefully soon…
3. A comfy, cosy, plain, non-cropped jumper for me. Pattern to be decided, but this is Dad’s Sweater by EmWeeCurt on Ravelry.
4. I will finish Joey’s jumper, which I have been knitting for… a while. I promised it for this Christmas, but yeah, that didn’t happen. It will now be finished before our holiday in February. I promise! The pattern is Whispers by Les Garcons.
5. My quilt! For Christmas this year I received a pack of background colours that work beautifully in our bedroom. The aim is to get this finished for next winter. I want to choose a block that I can make one at a time and not lose my place or feel overwhelmed. I am also intending on interspersing the plains between scraps from other projects. I think it will looks beautifully chaotic, as all my favourite quilts do! If you have a favourite block you’ve used, please let me know below. This inspiration photo is the Ramona Quilt by Penelope Handmade.
6. Helene jeans! I am so excited about this: it’s going to be my first project of 2024. I have the denim, I have the pattern… I will get started, probably tomorrow night!
7. Gorgeous check fabric moved over from last year. It’s the last unsewn fabric that I got from the now-closed Wild Orchard Fabric shop, and it’s too beautiful to be left on the shelf. It will be sewn this year.
8. Merino sportswear! I am moving away from polyester and am excited about introducing merino to my wardrobe. This inspiration pic is taken from Findra Clothing.
9. And finally, gorgeous fabric from Bawn. This is going to be made up in a shirt, not sure of the pattern yet, but I have a wee plan re embellishment which I am excited about. Watch this space!

And so there’s my magical 9. I have good thoughts about this year. Coupling my making with working to improve my world too. Taking steps for the positive: annoying my government representative with emails about Gaza, Congo and Sudan; the first year with my second hand electric car; starting a new contract at work, where I’ll be pairing rangering with outdoor education and taking positive action wherever I can. On a more personal note: more swimming, more cycling, more yoga and more hills. Anything that makes me grin my head off is a winner, so more of that!

Wishing you all a happy and healthy year, and if you’d like to share a thought for the coming year, I’d love to hear it!