I can’t believe its the end of the year and one of my goals had been to post on my blog more regularly and to send out monthly newsletters. Alas, these goals I did not achieve! Going into 2022 this is really something I am going to work on.

Covid continued into 2021. We all gradually got vaccinated and then boosted and coming to the end of the year the virus is affecting more people than ever. It will be part of daily life for quite some time now so teaching and presenting online to guilds and quilt shows around the country and globe is the norm. It is great to teach to an audience that otherwise I would not have been able to reach.

I like to add a summary here of how I spent my time over the year. This is my record of what I achieved in quilts, classes taught and quilts donated.

Memory Quilts 46

Art Quilts 18

Donated Quilts 8

Lectures and Workshops taught online 32

Lectures and Workshops taught in Person 9

It was a hard year for Artistic Alchemy this year. Having to postpone the retreat from 2020 we went ahead with preparations for the retreat in Sept 2021 despite pandemic uncertainties. But shortly before it was a wildfire threatening South Lake Tahoe that got it shut down. Smoke levels and air qualities issues were bad enough but when the fire approached the lake we knew the event could not happen. Sadly earlier in the year we had decided this was going to be our last retreat. Currently plans for Artistic Alchemy are on hold.

Every year I try to make one big quilt but I didn’t achieve this goal. I received so many custom quilts to make for people that I felt a little overwhelmed. I do enjoy making these quilts as its always a challenge and I think they do make a difference in peoples lives especially when they are clothes or ties of a loved one that is no longer around. Next year I will be only taking on a few custom quilts.

Below is a compilation photo of some of the quilts that I did make for people. One donation quilt was for the Social Justice Sewing Academy remembrance quilt project made for a family of a man who was killed through police intervention. I also made two quilts for a man who lost is wife in a motorcycle accident.

I made some custom pet portraits and also some new samples for new classes I plan to teach in 2022. I hoped to make a dent in the 15+ collage quilts I have ready to free-motion quilt and finish but didn’t! My Coursecraft Love of Pets Online workshop still continues to be popular and I would love to write some more workshops.

My family and I did get to take a few road trips this year visiting Cayucos on the Central California Coast, Crater Lake in Oreon and The Redwoods on the Northern California Coast. Visiting the Fern Grotto was incredible. And not forgetting a big family week on Kauai in October. Its been over two years since I visited my family in England so a trip back home is overdue.

Oct/Nov I had three weeks of crazy travel. A relaxing weeks vacation in Kauai which was wonderful staying on the North Shore next to the ocean. A day at home then I flew to Houston to teach for five days at the Fall Festival. I met some amazing, enthusiastic students and the energy at Houston is always great. Then a night at home before driving to Lake Tahoe to attend a Pat Pauly fabric printing workshop at Art Quilt Tahoe. It was a crazy busy time but I enjoyed it all!

Going into 2022 I am making preparations for a busy January of teaching; Craft Napa, Road to California and Peace River Quilt Guild retreat in Florida. I recently had a hand stitching article published in Quilting Arts magazine about the Crazy Covid Stitching I’ve been doing. This is the mediative work I do in my downtime and is a workshop for Craft Napa.

22 is my favorite number. I was born on the 22nd, as a child I lived in a house number 22 and our phone number had 22 in it. So this is how it became my favorite number. I have a feeling its going to be a good year.

Best wishes for 2022. Let’s hope its a healthy, creative and hopeful year.