This is my hundredth blog post and, by total chance, it's my first post of 2020. I'll try not to be too wistful, but this New Year does feel a bit special. And before we look forward, let's take a few moments to look back.
Can you remember what you were doing ten years ago? I've spent a little time (OK, most of the morning...) looking at old photos to jog my memory. Aside from ooh-ing and aah-ing at how young my boys look and seeing how much the garden has come on - I was still working as a garden designer then - there was a significant absence of quilts of any kind, or any sewing at all for that matter. All of that was to come. I've written before about how I stumbled into quilting and looking at those photos reminded me that a new adventure was about to start. I made my first quilt during the school summer holiday of 2010, never dreaming that it would become a full time job.
I don't know why the turn of a decade should feel any more significant than the turn of a year, but somehow it does. I'll be taking down most of our Christmas decorations today, although I'm leaving a few up for twelfth night tomorrow. The house always feels a little bit empty so I usually cut some stems from the garden: our Witch Hazel is alight with dainty little flowers and bare Cherry branches will burst into bloom in the warmth of the house. From my desk I can look out over the garden and it has such beauty to offer, bulbs are nosing out of the cold ground as the rhythm of the year begins again. Traditionally it's the time to make plans and write lists and maybe this year those lists are a little longer, because a decade is stretching ahead of us.
But I'll be sure to leave a little room for the unknown and, if you're doing the same, so should you. This summer you might discover something new that changes your life...
Happy New Decade,
Nicola xx