Past, Present and Future

...and I'm back!

Wow, that was a blogging break...after 5 weeks of reading no blogs, writing no posts and no sewing and my unread posts toppling 1000, I think it's time to take stock.

My TEFL course is done - I lived and breathed it for a month, seven days a week. It was worth the 6 am starts, the 1am finishes and the working day of input sessions and teaching practice, the fleeting glimpses of family, the bad diet and occasional bad humor. I made new friends, learned a ridiculous amount, had fun, cried tears but I passed and can now teach English as a foreign language!

Anyway, I am so glad I had a break...the weirdest thing happened when half way through the course I could hardly recognize my quilts - I looked at them and I couldn't believe that I had made them. It was good to do something different...to meet new people, share new experiences and has made me love this adopted country again and appreciate the things I make. All good.

I know I have missed so much but have no hope of catching up so will press the Mark as Read button and move on. A couple of highlights which I have caught up on is the wonderful work done by Jude and her Bee Blessed ladies to finish the Siblings Together quilt top I made back in May. I asked for help to finish it here and Jude immediately put her hand up. I so want to meet Jude but I guess I shall have to wait a little longer. In the meantime, this is the completed quilt - thank you so so much. I love it! Jude will be taking it with her to the FQR this week before handing it over..

Siblings Together quilt top (photo courtesy of Jude)

Another highlight was Cindy and her partner receiving a secret quilt which a group of us made for them. Cindy and Brian had had a tough springto say the least and well it seemed a good idea to make them a quilt. A bunch of far flung friends across the globe made some blocks and sent them to Susan who beautifully coordinated the whole thing, including collating the blocks, piecing them, basting, quilting and embroidering the quilt before packing it off to Ireland. The quilt is appropriately called Circle of Friends after the book by the late Maeve Binchy.

Circle of Friends quilt courtesy of Susan

I'm sure there are loads of things I have missed but I can't wait to see what everyone gets up to in London next weekend at the Fat Quarterly Retreat.  I shall be watching from afar and sad that I won't be meeting everyone and joining in the fun...particularly my Stitch Tease buddies.  Next year?  Perhaps third year lucky?

Now I have to work on my FAL3 list before the linky closes tomorrow evening...seeing how atrociously I did in the last quarter I may just be cutting and pasting FAL2!