Looking Back at 2013 (part two)

So, what did I get up to in the second half of 2013?

In July I knitted lots of hats for the Big Knit, stitched together some blankets, cut out abstract shapes and stitched lots of felt birds. I wrote a crafty To Do list (much of which still isn't ticked off), added some new things to my shop, and shared tutorials for making lucky pants badges and iced biscuit brooches. I also decided to do some decluttering, and started my second Less 365 Project.

I re-designed my tutorial pages in August and shared new tutorials for making jammy biscuit brooches, leaf cards, ribbon scrap cards and felt crowns. I ticked things off lists including finishing all my little hats, sewing together a blanket and making some owl masks. I showed off my childhood badge collection, resolved to try and read more books and was thrilled when a box of copies of my new book was delivered.

I also visited the Festival of Quilts and had such a lovely, inspiring day that I decided to try and have a Nice Day Out once a week. In August I saw Kensington Gardens and lots of butterflies, and walked along the Victoria Embankment and visited the National Galleries.

My new book, Super-Cute Felt Animals, came out in September and I shared lots of fun extra tutorials to celebrate: a snake, a tropical tree, a sun, a starfish, some shells and a couple of ducks. I decided to make another big change to my business and take a break from selling handmade things. I also finished some blankets, organised my book reviews page, bought some fabric and started a new knitting project.

For my nice days out I took trips to Reading, Notting Hill and Oxford Street.

My series of free tutorials to celebrate my new book continued in October, with an apple tree, a bumblebee, a ladybird, a leaf and daisy, a cactus, a hamster and a heart and a pair of blackbirds. I started a (still ongoing!) series of posts about how to write craft tutorials for your blog, did some cross stitching, shared a tutorial for making eyeball buttons, photographed my finally finished sky blanket and blogged about a felt brooch tutorial I wrote for Tesco Living.

I also completed the first 3 months of my Less 365 Project, and blogged about all the books I'd been reading lately (so glad I resolved to find the time to read more and have been managing to stick at it!). And I went on Nice Days Out to Windsor and Eton, Cookham and Marlow, and the Knitting & Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace.

In November I organised the Crafty Christmas Tutorial Link-Up with 30 other bloggers - my tutorial was an embroidered mistletoe ornament. I worked on some secret projects, wrote a guide to making a sky blanket, blogged about my project from Mollie Makes: Woodland Friends, and shared a pattern for making a cross stitch snow globe plus instructions for turning it into a felt bauble.

I also bought an Art Pass to help save money on my Nice Days Out and went to the British Museum, toured lots of London galleries with a friend, and visited the Renegade Craft Fair. 

Then in December I continued my series on how to write tutorials, shared some of the lovely things people have been making with my supplies, patterns and tutorials, tidied up my thread stash and shared some free embroidery patterns and a tutorial for making felt snow globe ornaments. I also got a new lamp for my studio, did a book sighing, blogged about books I've been reading and some much loved books from my childhood, and did some last minute knitting.

Plus I tried to squeeze in lots of Nice Days Out before the year ended, with trips to some London exhibitions, a local craft fair and a couple of museums, the V&A Museum of Childhood & the BUST Christmas Craftacular... and a couple more days I've not yet blogged about :)

 

I hope you've enjoyed reading my blog this year and that you'll stick around in 2014! I have lots of crafty things planned for next year, I can't wait to get started.