Wow, I cannot believe it has been a whole year since I launched this blog, and what a year it has been. I'm not sure if any of us will ever again experience quite such a set of unusual circumstances as this past year has thrown at us, but for me, despite the more challenging times, it has still been a year of progress, for which I am hugely thankful. The extra time at home has given me the time and space to really calm down and enjoy my love for quilting, to learn and expand my skills and to think about how I might be able use those skills in the future. I set myself a goal this year (again, as I hadn't succeeded the previous year) to make 1 quilt a month, and so far this year we are still in May, and I have finished or almost finished 10 quilts already, so I'm way ahead of schedule! :-D I've also made a number of cushions and smaller items in between. Another challenge I set myself was to use some of the fabric that I've been hoarding, which I have done, and I am excited to see how many more quilts come to life from my stash.

On the moving forward note, today I have a really exciting announcement, which I have been bursting to tell...This year my amazing hubby has gone one up from the blog and has been building me my very own online shop, which is now ready to launch!!! :-D I am often asked if I sell my quilts, and to be honest, the answer has mostly been " no not really", for a number of reasons. Firstly, quilting is my hobby, something I do to unwind and an outlet for my creativity, and I never want it to become a job - I already have more than enough of those! I have made a few commissions, and it does get stressful working to deadlines and exact specifications, so it's not something I want to do regularly. Secondly, quilting is an expensive hobby, and most people are unaware of the costs involved in making even a small quilt. It makes for an awkward conversation all round when someone enthusiastically asks if you can make them a quilt, and then when you detail the cost of materials, they have to politely find a way to retreat. I totally get that, we've all been there on both sides of the conversation, so it's definitely far easier to avoid it altogether! ;-) Lastly, I simply haven't wanted the pressure. Sometimes I make a quilt perfectly, and it's a thing of beauty. Other times I might try something new, which isn't quite perfect, or I might simply make a mistake, and although it's still beautiful, I am my own biggest critic, and it bothers me. If I felt under pressure to churn out absolutely perfect quilts one after the other, I would lose all the joy of creating, and leave myself no room to try new things and learn from the mistakes in doing so.

So, after all that, I do however simply love making quilts, and I am now making far more than we can possibly use (or store!) so it seemed like the right time to offer a small selection for sale. My production rate will continue to be erratic, as family will always come first, so sometimes there may be nothing listed, and other times I may have made lots. I am not taking commissions as a general rule, but I would be happy to make something you might like, aka, if you say ooh I'd love something like that in purple, I might well make something in purple, and list it, but there is no pressure on either of us if it turns out you didn't like it in purple after all ;-) For now, I'm just happy to start with a low pressure/low key system and see how it goes. You can find the link to the shop under the Quilts for re-homing tab (I know I am silly, but I prefer to think that I am 're-homing' them with a lovely new family rather than 'selling' them, as I do get rather attached to them!) here on the blog, or you can visit directly shop.loveandlegacyquilts.uk  I do try and post updates on Facebook/Instagram, so I may post via there if/when new items have been added, but generally it's probably just worth checking back every now and then.

I think that's enough rambling for today, and I've mostly been focused on finishing items for the shop over the last month, so I'll save my sewing chatter for another post. Now I'm going to take 5 minutes to steady my nerves before I make this public, here goes... :-)