The year that was 2019....................

It's hard to believe that another year has almost gone. And where did it go?? Is it that life goes faster as we get "older"? Or is life too busy?? Or am I getting slower??

Looking back into the files of 2019 I can see where the year went, and the following is only a brief outline.

I started sorting photos and "stuff" and wrote the first section of The Story of my Life,........

Mr Tate, my 9th grandchild was born in January..................

........................and GD1 turned 18, and there was a family celebration....................

My sister and I went on a 3 day road trip in February to attend our nephew's wedding and spent our first ever one on one time together...........................

In March, GD2 also turned 18, and of course there was another family celebration............

In March Miss Billie turned 1, and there was another road trip to Melbourne to celebrate, but this time I had the company of my mother........................

In March, my dad went into full time care in Murray Bridge.................

Early in the year I boasted some lovely flowers and also vegetables in my garden, but I have to say that the latter half of the year has suffered due to serious neglect. My summer vegie garden is struggling in this heat, and was planted very late. This garden bed is empty too.

In July it was Adelaide Quilt Show time, and customer quilts received some awards................

..............................In September, Mr Jett, my 10th grandie was born...................

I did manage to get some of my own quilts done during the year, in an effort to have something to enter into our local group exhibition in October, including the following................

My string quilt, that was pieced in January, and quilted in time for the exhibition.............

I quilted this flower panel that I purchased in the US  in 2018......................

I made this log cabin quilt early in the year, and also got it quilted for the show.............

I dug a long standing UFO out of the dark depths, and managed to get it quilted. It only took 15 years from start to finish!!!

In the last few months I have pieced this quilt for a friend, who wanted a bright quilt, but it is not quilted yet. You know that my quilter leaves my tops in her queue for ages don't you? My dilemma...... do I use coloured thread which will show on the black, or use black thread which will show on the colours?? Or should I just do a custom job, so that I don't have to make that decision?? Opinions please.

Of course the year has also had it's share of retreats (a total of 11!), and 3 of those were Mystery weekends, so that meant I designed and cut quite a number of little kits.

And added to this list is all the customer quilts that have gone "out the door", that you have seen on this blog at times. I did have an email from a reader today, commenting on the last post, and was curious how many quilts I do in a year. The total of customer quilts was the subject of a blog competition some time back and I do know the number of quilts by looking at the invoice number. But I haven't really checked the annual number lately. I know it used to be up to 200 some years. I did look up for this year, and was surprised to find my tally much less for 2019. But upon reflection, I should not be surprised because I have done a lot of intense, custom, show quilts lately, that have taken a lot more time. I guess that I could churn out a lot more per week if I only did allover quilting?? My total for almost 18 years of machine quilting is almost 3000 quilts now!! Here I am wondering where this year went, but how did 18 years go so fast?

Of course there were other family occasions, and visits by family to here. And in amongst the special occasions, there were the sad times, watching loved ones and friends go through troubles, or saying goodbye to people we loved.

Perhaps that explains where the year 2019 has gone.

Be back with another post soon.

Blessings, From Jude