In July 2022 I followed along with Heidi Parkes' Creativebug class, ‘Story Quilt Top: A Daily Practice in Hand Stitching’. 
It’s a month long class with daily prompts & it was an enormous amount of fun.

Obviously it took me a bit longer than a month & I finished the quilt top sometime in November, chose the backing & the wadding & then decided I wanted to see what happened if I stitched the entire top 😂 
I took my time 😏 & completed the quilt around the 3rd week of January. 
It’s around 95cm & it’s squarish. 
Although it looks kinda stiff with all the stitches it’s amazingly soft & deliciously tactile.
It’s such a cool concept that I’m looking forward to having another reason to make one, although I think I’ll simplify the quilting tho 🤣  

these things i never leave home without
L to R: my dickproof jacket, my taonga pounamu, my 'reflect the haters' sunglasses, my finger print (sense of self)

stitched elements that were just fun shapes to create
​L to R: goddess of the bench top, stitched circles, seaweed shaped elements 

elements left over from other projects
​L to R: hexies, my first quilt, a favourite dress & from practising adding curved shapes to fabric

and finally
L to R: a little mock up of my everyday bag, made from the bag fabric; puffy thingamabobs called yo-yos made from dress fabric & the label from a pair of pants which I never wore because they shrunk so much when I washed them !
I cut them up & saved them for a rainy day lol

I'm trying something new
something different 
it's a little bit exciting

is this even possible ?

a needle so small & fine 
astonished that i can actually get a thread thru that teeny, tiny eye
my hands & fingers feel so - human
clumsy & inadequate

and then i realise 
relax
breathe
feel
connect 
​stitch