Best of 2024

Good morning, my friends. Hopefully, everyone has recovered from Christmas festivities. We had a lovely holiday here, and I hope you did too. Today begins one of my favorite linky parties of the year. My thanks go to Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs for hosting this party for the past ten years. Thanks, Cheryl!

It's been a good year, all-in-all. We did some wonderful traveling, and crossed off a few bucket list items. A big bucket list item was visiting the 48th state of the lower 48. We've been to Hawaii, and so Alaska is the only state left on our quest to visit all fifty states. If you're a regular reader, then you know it's on our list for the new year. There was also plenty of time for sewing and relaxation.

In choosing these posts to re-share, I went through the list of comments and views on my Blogger dashboard and selected the ones that generated the most views and/or the most "conversation." Also, I selected a couple of my favorites. So let's get started. 

1. Looking way back to March, we crossed off some long-time bucket list items with a day spent sight-seeing in San Francisco.

I'd only just finished a quilt top called "Painted Ladies." (The pattern is available right here.) When I learned the pattern was inspired by the actual "Painted Ladies" row of homes in San Francisco, I wanted to see them in person. The weather was iffy leading up to the one day we had to visit, but the sun rose, and we had beautiful weather for our day of sight-seeing. Also, we saw possibly the oldest item on my bucket list, the Bonita Point Lighthouse. We'd tried many times to see it and were always thwarted for one reason or another. And so it was an extra special day to finally be able to see it.

You can read my post about our day right here.

2. This trip, dubbed the "Eclipse Trip," was combined with our usual "Rainbird" trip south for the winter. We wanted to witness the total solar eclipse in April. For that, we'd scoped out a spot in Whitney, Texas, where we thought we could get the best and longest view of the spectacle. Another item on my bucket list was to see the Texas Bluebonnets in bloom. I'd only hoped to see them, but wow. I had no idea what a wildflower wonderland Texas is. We can thank our former first lady Ladybird Johnson for this stunning landscape. All along the way I kept my fingers crossed to see them. When we arrived in Texas, I realized they were everywhere. You'd have to keep your eyes closed to miss them. This was a particularly impressive field.

You can read my post and see more pictures of Texas wildflowers right here.

3. And then the day of the eclipse arrived. We were fortunate to see the eclipse in Oregon in 2017. A dear friend was with us for both eclipse events. I took the photo below using my cell phone. Amazingly, it was even able to capture Baily's Beads at about the five o'clock position.

There was no guarantee we would see the eclipse, especially when the sky was overcast all morning. Just about five minutes before it started, the clouds cleared, and we had a spectacular view. You can read my post about our day right here.

4. Missouri was on the list of states we hadn't visited. And no quilter should visit the state of Missouri without paying a visit to that quilter's mecca, Missouri Start Quilt Co. in Hamilton, Missouri.

As you read through my post, be sure to notice the "Quiltmaker" t-shirt I purchased there. I've learned that my t-shirt makes me a very approachable person! I've lost count the number of complete strangers who've approached me to tell me they are quilters, or that they know a quilter, or wanting to take a picture of my shirt so they can send it to a quilter they love. You can read my post right here.

5. Finally, I'll end with something quilty. I enjoy making quilts with an art quilt group known as The Endeavourers. One of our prompts this year was "Vintage," and I grabbed at the opportunity to make a quilt I'd wanted to make for years: the Tin Cup Store in Tin Cup, Colorado.

You can read my "reveal" post right here.

So, I hope you're enjoyed this return trip through 2024. You can see more "best of" posts right here.