2015 in Review: A Year of Nice Days Out

Flowers at Liberty, London

At the start of 2015 I resolved to get back into the regular habit of taking a Proper Day Off once a week and going on a small adventure - taking a break from my endless work To Do list and stretching my legs, exploring new places and seeing new things.

This was an excellent resolution to make. I had lots of Nice Days Out in 2015 (52 in total) some big, some small, some near, some far... and they were all awesome.

Writing a post about my year's mini adventures is a little tricky though as the trips I blogged about in 2015 are not exactly the same as where I went in 2015. I blogged about some 2014 trips and there are lots of trips from 2015 that I've not yet got round to blogging about (so many photos to edit and so little time!). I also spent several days catching up with friends in various parts of the country, and took my mum to visit historic buildings and exhibitions and to see my book for sale in Liberty and didn't take my camera with me (gasp!).

So, instead of a month-by-month diary of my travels, here are (in roughly chronological order) fifteen of my highlights from 2015.

1. Climbing all 528 steps to the top of St Paul's Cathedral. 

My camera died before I got to the very top (remember to charge your cameras, folks!) so this is actually the view from just part of the way up. You get an amazing view of London and the Cathedral itself is, of course, a pretty special place to visit.

2. Admiring the blooms at the Chiswick Camellia Festival.

As well as many delightful follies, the gardens at Chiswick House contain a lovely long greenhouse which is filled with a vast collection of camellias. Beautiful - and free to visit! (Psst - the 2016 show starts this week!).

3. Exploring a battleship.

The HMS Belfast is one of those places that it would never have occurred to me to visit if it hadn't been for my Art Pass but it turned out to be completely fascinating. I spent hours working my way round the ship, climbing up and down ladders and generally having a whale of a time. Such an unusual space to explore and so much history to learn along the way, I loved it.

4. Enjoying the magnolias at Kew Gardens.

Last January I treated myself to a year's membership of Kew and visited the gardens several times over the changing seasons. It's a gorgeous place at any time of the year but spring was especially wonderful and the magnolias in April were particularly magnificent. Imagine a whole grove of trees filled with these huge, beautiful blossoms! Simply swoonworthy.

5. Following the Shaun in the City art trails through London and Bristol.

The sculptures were cute, finding as many as possible was a fun challenge, and I spotted lots of other great stuff (and did sooo much walking) along the way! You can read about my London sheep-spotting here, here, here and here and about my Bristol trip here.

6. Celebrating makers and making at London Craft Week.

The inaugural London Craft Week was almost overwhelmingly special. So many amazing things to see, so many interesting places to visit and so many incredibly talented makers to meet! I can't wait to what they've got planned for this year's programme. 

 

7. Having tea with a tiger at the Jewish Museum.

I visited dozens of interesting exhibitions in 2015 but my favourite had to be the Judith Kerr retrospective at the Jewish Museum. I adored Judith Kerr's books when I was a kid and still have a huge affection for her characters (the Christmas ad featuring Mog made me blub so much!). This was such an enjoyable exhibition to explore, not least because I got to "meet" the famous tiger :)

8. Witnessing the historic ceremony of Swan Upping.

The annual census of the swan population on the Thames is a delightfully quirky tradition and was a perfect excuse to go for a walk along the river on my day off. History, royalty and swans, what more could you ask for in a Nice Day Out?

9. Climbing Cabot Tower for a spectacular view of Bristol.

I was pretty lazy about exploring Bristol when I actually lived there, so it's been a joy to take some trips back to the city and do lots of the tourist-y things I missed out on. I especially loved climbing the city's famous Cabot Tower, which is situated in a lovely park and gives you great views over the city.  

10. Visiting Osterley House & Gardens.

This is another place I'd never have visited were it not for my Art Pass. It turned out to be rather wonderful and a perfect place to visit on a hot summer's day. Osterley has huge, peaceful gardens and a fascinating house with intricate, pattern-filled decor. Even the veg for sale at their farm shop was patterned!

11. Soaking up some history with Oxford Open Doors.

Oxford's annual heritage festival is something very special: dozens of interesting buildings across the city open their doors to the public in a celebration of the city's architecture and history, and it's all free to visit! I still haven't blogged about my 2015 visit but it was a wonderful, busy day spent exploring some really amazing spaces. You can see some of my photos from 2014's equally awesome festival here (Oxford is such a beautiful place).



12. Visiting a tiny island in the Thames.

Guards Club Park is a petite, riverside park with a bridge that leads to the equally petite Guards Club Island. This is quite an enchanting space to visit - and how often do you get to explore a tiny island that features in one of your favourite movies? Magical (and just as delightful in the autumn).

13. Going behind the scenes at Windsor Castle with a tour of the Round Tower. 

I love Windsor and visited it several times in 2015, exploring the town itself (and neighbouring Eton), following the Castle's audio tour, watching the Changing the Guard ceremony (the band played the Star Wars theme, to general delight!) and seeing the magnificent spaces decorated for Christmas.

I also took a couple of special tours at the Castle, one of the Great Kitchen and one of the Round Tower. Both the tours were really interesting (so many fun facts!) but it was particularly wonderful to get to climb the Tower and look out over the Castle and the surrounding area - especially as I grew up being able to see the outline of the tower in the distance from our house!

 

14. Taking a magical autumnal walk along the Thames.

The riverside is so beautiful! Autumn is so amazing! Even on a grey day this was an excellent combination.

15. Last but by no means least, celebrating Christmas at Kew. 

Okay so I know I already picked Kew in the spring as one of my 2015 highlights, but their winter light trail was something really, really special. The mile long trail of sculptures and installations was beautiful and fun and filled my heart with joy. The perfect end to a year of Nice Days Out!

It was ridiculously difficult to select just 15 things to include in this post, which I guess is a pretty good sign that 2015 was filled with good things!

Here's hoping that I have just as much trouble picking my 2016 Nice Day Out highlights :)

P.S. You might also enjoy my look back at my crafty 2015: part one & part two.

2015 In Review: A Year of Craftiness (part two)

Time for part two of my look back at the crafty, bloggy things I got up to in 2015. You can read all about what I got up to in January - August in part one. 

In SEPTEMBER...

 

... I started #Crafting365, doing something crafty each day and sharing a photo of it. This sadly didn't last the whole 365 days (or anywhere near it!) but it did lead to a highly enjoyable burst of creative energy this autumn and a whole flurry of making.

I worked on some colourful felt cushion covers, did lots of knitting and embroidered some text; I cut and stitched lots and lots of felt flowers and re-knitted lots of blanket squares; and I dabbled in embroidery, making envelopes, playing with paint, experimenting with yarn and knitting mini squares.

 

I also made gift boxes, added pompom gift-wrapping packs to my shop and blogged about a new kids craft book, Sewn Together, which includes fun felt headbands designed by me.

In OCTOBER...

 

... my daily crafting continued, with knitting, quilting and embroidery, plus scrapbooking, cross stitch, felt crafting and a DIY haircut.

I shared tutorials for making a starry skies brooch and a felt bow brooch, and I spilled the beans about making a Christmas quilt (this wasn't finished in time for this Christmas but it WILL be in time for next year!).

I blogged about old puzzles and games we found in the attic, a bear I made for my sister when I was about eight, and a set of felt Christmas ornaments I designed for Creativity magazine (which were so much fun to make).

 

 

I also got to let the cat out of the bag about several exciting projects. The eight festive projects I designed for 'Tis the Season to Be Felt-y! The four plush animals I designed for Sew Sweet Creatures! The partridge and pear wreath I designed for the cover of Mollie Makes!

It's funny how often projects you've been working on for ages, all at different times, get revealed in a cluster like that. Anyone reading my blog in October must have thought I was some sort of crafty superwoman, but there were many months of keeping secrets and many, many hours of designing and drawing and stitching behind the scenes before that cluster of slightly over-excited posts saying "look what I made!!!!"

In NOVEMBER...

... I got crafty with felt leaves and glitter and did colouring in and lots of autumnal knitting, I finished the Christmas quilt top, made things from craft kits, stitched lots of felt flowers and doodled in cafes.

I got a crafty tattoo (well, kind of), shared a tutorial for making stripy cards from colourful scrap paper, and created a DIY Advent calendar with a twist for Tesco Living.

I also shared a tutorial for making embroidered felt Christmas baubles, and blogged about a couple of magazine projects: fabric hydrangeas for Mollie Makes and a reindeer jumper for Creativity (complete with jingle bell antlers and a pompom tail!).

Finally, in DECEMBER...

... I blogged about my visit to Renegade London (aka the best craft fair ever), reviewed an evolution-themed colouring book (fun!) and made plans for finishing my rainbow blanket and my mini patchwork squares blanket.

I also did a lot of simple knitting and not much else, so I decided to press pause on my #Crafting365 project. As a "professional crafty person" it was quite embarrassing to admit to going through a creative dry patch, but I always think it's important to be honest about these things and it was a huge relief to remove that (entirely self-created) "obligation" to be posting daily updates about my creative projects.

I ended up taking a break from social media and blogging over the holiday season and I found it very refreshing! I will continue to make stuff and share it online in 2016, of course, but at a pace that fits better with my life and the ebbs and flows of my creativity.

I hope you'll stick around to see what crafty projects the next twelve months will bring :)

2015 In Review: A Year of Craftiness (part one)

Last year I set myself a de-stashing challenge but otherwise didn't give myself any specific goals for the year. Instead I wrote that I'd "just be focusing on working hard to grow my business and doing my best to fill my year with designing, making, writing, cuppas and catch ups with friends, decluttering, good books, tasty cake, happy post, Nice Days Out... and lots of other good stuff."

2015 was a little quiet but it was filled with all those things, so I am counting it as a success :)

I might not be a huge fan of New Year's Resolutions but I am a big fan of using this time of year to look back at the previous 12 months and take stock of the ups and downs, ready to re-focus and move forwards into the new year. 

I'll be blogging about my Nice Days Out in a separate post (it was a busy year of travels!) but first, here's what I got up to on the crafty, bloggy side of things... 

In JANUARY...

... I made a start on my "Use It or Lose It" destashing challenge: "to either get on and actually make stuff with the supplies in my stash, or admit to myself that I'm never going to use them for anything and just get rid of them."

I'd envisioned a year of making things inspired by random supplies in my crafty stash, with lots of blogging about the projects, but I didn't use up as many of my supplies as I'd hoped. I did clear out a lot of stuff though and my studio is looking all the better for it! The disconnect between my visions of all the projects I'd like to make and the reality of the amount of time I have available to actually make things is, of course, why I had all these unused craft supplies sitting around in the first place.

In January I made lavender sachets (completing 29 in total!), worked on my patchwork mini squares blanket and shared the felt bird mobile I made for Creativity magazine. 

I celebrated whole years of blogging (almost nine years now, eek!), vented some printer rage after doing my accounts, blogged about things I need to stop buying and some very tempting fabric, reviewed Knitting Smitten, and featured Crafty Ladies Kate from Made by Mrs M and Nicole from Follow the White Bunny.

I also finally blogged about my trip to the Thread festival of textiles, way back in September of 2014! I might have been blogging for 8+ years but I am still a bad, slow blogger, haha.

In FEBRUARY... 

... I blogged about a colourful floral belt and headband I'd stitched for Creativity magazine, started an old/new floral embroidery project, shared some of the wonderful sky blankets inspired by mine, and organized lots of magazine clippings (for what I pretentiously refer to as "my archive", which makes me feel much more important than I actually am!).

I also featured Crafty Ladies Laura from Made Peachy and Wendi from Shiny Happy World, reviewed Studio Life, and got excited about some awesome sewing-themed clothing and a visiting trio of goldfinches (I love goldfinches).

In MARCH...

... I worked on a floral cross stitch, a scrappy cross stitch and my floral embroidery project, then finished the embroidered flower but wasn't 100% happy with it so decided to stitch another version... and I confessed to abandoning my sky pompoms project (so many feeeeeeeeelings).

My work popped up in a new issue of Made in Felt (which also included a kind, surprise mention of my blog!) and in Love Sewing Australia. I was also delighted to announce German and Italian editions of my books (so thrilling).

I also resolved to try and read more books (this was semi- but not super-successful!) reviewed Crafty Dolls and featured Crafty Ladies Gretel Parker and Laura from Laurafallulah.

In APRIL...

... I finished the second version of my embroidered flower and shared the pattern. I blogged about the biscuit-themed mug mat I'd stitched for Creativity magazine and shared a tutorial for making a box of sunshine, celebrating the release of Annie on DVD (this was a sponsored post which I know some people aren't huge fans of but this was actually one of my fave projects of the year - it was a huge amount of fun to make and I was so pleased with how it turned out!)

I also reviewed Ladies of Letterpress, got excited about the upcoming London Craft Week and lined up all my finished sky pompoms so I could share some photos of them in all their fluffy glory along with tips on making your own sky pompoms should you decide to record the weather in pompom form.

In MAY...

... I blogged about my childhood eraser collection! I wanted to keep a few special pieces with particular sentimental meaning and to record the whole collection before finding a new home for some or all of it. I ended up selling all but my few favourite pieces to someone with an eraser collection of their own (they were thrilled) and donating the money to a charity of my mum's choice (she'd bought most of the erasers for me when I was a kid, after all!). The money ended up going to a children's charity, so something once-beloved-but-no-longer-wanted from my childhood has ended up helping kids enjoy theirs. Perfect.

There was more nostalgia as I found She-Ra books and a trio of Keypers in my parents attic, and my eraser collection made an appearance in Mollie Makes.

I also blogged about two projects I'd designed for Creativity magazine - a button cushion and a village of felt houses (the felt houses tutorial can now be found online, here). I shared tutorials for two projects I'd made for Creativity the year before - a cute cat pincushion and a folk flower brooch - and finally bought the missing yarn needed to re-start a neglected woodland-themed project ("I'm resolving to get this finished by Christmas 2015 at the very latest", I wrote, but it's still very much a work in progress. I will eventually finish this project! I will! I swear!)

In JUNE...

... I shared a tutorial for making felt swan brooches or collar clips, got hold of a copy of the Italian edition of Super-Cute Felt (my first book), and admitted to myself that I was never going to finish a couple of long neglected "in-progress" knitting projects and unravelled them to make mini squares for my patchwork blanket.

I also did more destashing, explored the different names and animal noises in the German edition of Super-Cute Felt Animals (my second book) and blogged about the start of London Craft Week (so awesome!).

In JULY...

... things were a little quiet on my blog as I suffered an attack of blogger's block (ugh). Luckily the kitties were on hand to cheer me up and keep me company as I took some time off.

I blogged about a couple of recent projects for Creativity magazine - a festival-inspired bag and an embroidered heart which the Creativity team turned into a lovely card (the tutorial is now available online, here) - and my decision to turn my in-progress brightly coloured "happy" blanket into a happy rainbow blanket (mmm... rainbows...).

I also wrote about turning 33, and a wonderfully busy afternoon at London Craft Week (I have realised writing this that my final London Craft Week recap is still sitting in my drafts folder! Oh dear!).

In AUGUST...

... I realised I'd knitted a bunch of squares the wrong size and had to unravel them all and begin the slow process of re-knitting them. Ugh.

In happier crafty news, I got to blog about two projects I designed for a new kids craft book, Craft Camp, and some felt ice lollies and felt fruit I made for Creativity magazine (the felt fruit tutorial is now available online, here).

 

I also designed a heart for a Mollie Makes feature about the Craftivist Collective's latest campaign, took part in a summer postcard swap, shared lots of awesome things people have been making from my patterns and supplies bought from me and blogged about my childhood shell collection.

My shells found a new home with Polly, who is practically a mermaid so was the perfect person to take charge of these! She's already used some of the shells for a crafty project, which was awesome to see after so many years of them sitting forgotten and neglected in a box.

My look back at my crafty 2015 will continue in part two, later this week...