The A to Z challenge was full on... but I have participated in it for 3 years now and have previously maintained by usual blogging during the challenge or resumed it straight after it. This year I did make the blocks I blogged about so that was a bit of extra pressure but I had them done well and truly before the challenge started and had the quilt mostly put together as well.
The challenge was organised differently this time - you had to post your blog post link to the various forums (the challenge web page, the facebook group etc) each day - there wasn't a master list of blogs to follow. As well I posted my links to Twitter each time... so it was a bit more work. And I tried really hard to keep up visiting other blogs, which were a bit harder to visit with the absence of the master link.
So that all added more stress to the challenge of the Challenge.
Yet again for the Challenge ie the month of April we were travelling - its always harder to do stuff away from home so there was that too. I don't know why we always seem to travel in April... I'm sure we didn't until I started to do the Challenge. In 2015 we were in Malaysia, in 2016 we had 2 weddings and a trip to pick up our caravan in Melbourne
This year... I went to Brisbane to go to see My Fair Lady with Fangirl (our only daughter), and stayed on. Fixit Guy (my husband) joined me and all the family gathered in the beautiful Tambourine Mountains (hinterland of Gold Coast) for Easter to celebrate Fixit Guy's 60th birthday. It was lovely for the 8 of us to be together and just hang out. We played board games and card games, talked ate, drank, went for walks, had family photos taken and generally just hung out. Our oldest son (known as The Beast) and his girlfriend (Beauty) flew up from Melbourne to spend the time with us too.
The following week we spent in Brisbane, splitting our time between Fangirl's home and the Town House that our younger boys share (Known as Kombi Boy, his partner is Gamer Girl and youngest son Boyo). On the weekend I went to Supanova for the day to get an idea of what that was like. Fangirl has a stall there (that Boyo helps on- he's her minion) and in September Gamer Girl and I will share a stall at Comic Con.
The day after we went to Comic Con Fixit Guy and I drove south to Sydney and environs where we spent time visiting my siblings who live there and my mum. (I am the youngest of 8 and 6 of them live in and around Sydney). On the day of his actual birthday we went out to dinner with my siblings and their partners which was a lot of fun.
We were still in Sydney at the end of April, travelling home in the first week of May.
I did do some sewing whilst away - My first project was the Labyrinth Quilt. I had it all cut out and the pieces all in little ziplock bags to make it easier. I managed to get the top assembled in my first week in Brisbane.
I'd prepped a lot of projects for my Handmade With Love stall at comic con and I sewed them whilst in Brisbane (although I didn't take them up the Mountain with us for Easter) and also whilst at a couple of places we stayed in Sydney. I visited a great quilt shop in Sydney and bought myself a few yards of fabric.
And this brings me to another reason I have been blogging. I have always enjoyed tracking my stash usage - ever since I started doing it. But I have lost track this year. I finished off some quilts and gave them away and forgot to measure them beforehand - and then I bought fabric and used it or put it away before I tracked it as well. I kept thinking I will do that... I will write it down before I forget... but I have forgotten and the sense of not doing it properly has weighed on me. Guilt is a really bad thing for creativity.
Since we got back from our trip - 3 or 4 weeks now - I have done very little sewing. I seem to have lost my mojo. I have several mystery quilts/QAL that I am supposed to be participating in but I just haven't gotten my act together and got myself sorted. I have to fix some of the projects I worked on whilst away - a few mistakes and it just puts me off doing any more since I have to fix them and I can't get my act together to fix them. I have been going to Handmade with Love weekly and sewing or cutting out or doing what I am told rather than sewing any of my own projects. I have also been going up to our own patchwork group but with that I find I am going late and leaving early. But I am still going. Mostly I have been organising myself for one of the Mystery Quilts.
Next week my good friend Lyndi and I are off on a 4 day quilting retreat. I am trying to get myself organised for that... need to get those QAL, Mystery quilt and projects organised to take so I can sew away. This is the first time I have taken a friend to Patch n Piece. I have been going for close on 15 years (all my quilting life) and have gotten to know people there who have become good friends but this is the first time I have taken along my own mate. It will be so fun.
I haven't been idle whilst not sewing. I bought home from Sydney with me a box of my mother's negatives that one of my sisters has had for 10 years or so. She has scanned all (or is in the process of scanning all) mum's slides but wasn't up to tackling the negatives as well. About 2 weeks ago I started the job and man is it absorbing. I have scanned all the 35ml negatives and this last few days started on scanning the negatives that are older and bigger. Its super time consuming and the results aren't always the best but it is lots of fun. I have been putting the scanned, enhanced images onto facebook for my siblings and cousins and families to enjoy and they have been a source of great enjoyment and discussion.
So... this was just to check in and let you know I am still here and still intend to blog... just lost my mojo for a little while. I will be trying to be more regular.
this is me as a 3 year old, dressed as Old King Cole for the Fancy Dress Ball held in our community each year. About 1962
