Marjorie in the comments said that it had been a long time since either Keryn or I had posted, and hoped we were all right. We're still here, still sewing and quilting for a select few customers but we've wound back our work commitments drastically.

My family has had a few medical knocks this year, Matt my youngest son had a stint in hospital, being flown from Arkaroola by the Flying Doctor, an absolutely wonderful Aussie lifesaver for those in the outback. Soon after youngest grandson Eddie (8 years old) was in hospital and diagnosed with type one diabetes. Just like his dad Robert, who was diagnosed at eleven. This is not as common as one might think and the doctors were very interested in this happening. 

Diabetes care has changed so much and Eddie now has an insulin  pump, a continuous glucose monitor and an app on a phone that lets the parents know what his blood sugar is. So much better than the thousands of finger pricks that Rob had to endure. 

Then Rob has had some issues that required medical intervention and I spent some time in Adelaide providing moral support for him and today I learned Matt's partner Tina had to be flown to hospital from Arkaroola, sheesh! I never say "What next?" because I don't want to find out, quite frankly.

John was in another fantastic musical, The Adams Family, as Gomez, which entailed months of rehearsals and much work behind the scenes, so I spent a lot of time supervising the girls so he was free to concentrate on that. It was the best show he's done and totally worth it, but it's still a huge commitment for the whole family.

I'm feeling a bit exhausted as the end of year approaches, with school concerts and christmas to be arranged and the holidays to be navigated amongst the family. I can't believe that 2025 is rushing towards us, where has the year gone? 

Sewing is still keeping me sane, even though so many of my plans have been disrupted this year. Even if I can't manage to finish my quilts completely I can still sew tops, if I can't finish tops I can make blocks, if I can't finish blocks I can sew smaller units, if I haven't got time for that I can cut fabric and make kits. It really is my therapy.

This top came together quite quickly from a desire to use some odd prints from charm packs; those large prints that don't make sense when cut into 5" squares and other randomn fabrics  that didn't fit into any particular group except Big Print/Floral. All the nine patches were scraps that had been cut into 2" squares and the cream was bits of seeded homespun.

Lovely prints, but pretty unuseable as five" squares.

 It felt good to put them all together, and then it was bordered with a soft green and purple large floral leftover from a backing.

 Pulling all that together seems to give me more satisfaction than using my yardge, somehow. It made a pretty little top out of bits and pieces, just as I'm trying to make sense of a very unsettling year of disjointed events.