2025–The Year in Review

Ok, it wasn’t my best, but I’m not complaining.

Ah, goals. I make my lists while I’m amped up at the beginning of the year and, of course, life happens. I never add in the chaos factor when making my lists.

A lot of what kept me from getting more projects completed was living life in the moment. I always come back to this. The first year of retirement was like a vacation from everything, and I relished it. Have I missed work? Not even for a nano-second. But I have lolled a lot, said “Yes!” to a lot of things, but I know I need to add some more structure to my routine so that I can accomplish things that need to be done, and not just quilts. I'm studying my habits in an effort to become more aware of how I fritter away time instead of wisely using it.

But back to “accomplishments”—I completed more than I have in recent years, but not as many as I had hoped. Here we go for what was on the list from January 2025:

Not my Circus, Not my Monkeys, aka The Tattoo Quilt: finished in June 2025 and gifted July 2025, and I still don’t have her glamour shots. I hope to remedy that soon--I'm meeting the honoree for lunch next week and we'll discuss a date and time for the photo shoot.

 

The Down & Dirty Civil War Quilt—started in 2013! This was a gift to our youngest son, David, and his wife, the lovely Emma. 

Everything’s Just Beachy in the Cabanas—another International Mystery Tour quilt curing in a bin for 20 years now completed and will be gifted to my great-granddaughter in April. 

Not on the list:

The secret project—alas, I cannot show it to you, but I’m really happy about it, just like its owner. 

A baby quilt top for our great-grandson due on my birthday in April:

Neither a quilt nor on the list:

Diving back into garment construction, I made a pair of knit shorts for the Hubs, a tee for me (I still need to make some adjustments to it) and a sleep sack with matching hat for our daughter-in-law’s new nephew:

A baby wipes case, also for Emma’s new nephew.

And 16 big napkins for our dinner table. 

Not a bad year at all in the making department. 

But when you compare what was accomplished to what I listed in January 2025, it seems clear that I really overestimated my abilities. Three items from the list were completed. Most of the others on the list were new projects and at least I didn’t start them and leave them in the NewFO pile. BUT--what I don't always tell you about are all the other sewing, quilting and embroidery-related things that happen that take up a lot of time and the dreaded mending (gasp! Yes, it happens), but may not be of interest to you.  I’ll talk more about 2026 plans in January and I will probably pare down my expectations. I hate that, but it is what it is. There are so many things I want to make and I want to make a significant dent in my stash so that when I go, there will be little left to distribute. 

Also, later in the year I slipped back into a habit (not necessarily a bad one) where I was working on multiple projects at the same time. A couple of years ago I started focusing on completing what I started before working on another project and that was good for me, but right now I'm staring at two recently started projects taking up space in my sewing room as I start another one (with a deadline of January 3) and realize that I need to rein it in. I want those projects finished lickety-split. 

Thanks for tuning in and reading about my maker life. I am hopeful that next year brings a renewal of the excitement I have had of finishing old projects but also the excitement of starting and finishing new ones. I will continue to do a lot of living in the moment!  (And wait until you hear about all the other making that will be happening here at our home on top of the ridge!)

Go make!