Looking back, looking forward 2

Thank you so much for reading this blog, making comments both here and on Facebook and generally staying with me throughout 2024. I really do appreciate that you spend time with me.

I aim to post twice a week throughout the year - on Tuesdays and Saturdays. However this year I have written rather less. 

That said, I write my blog for me and only me. So if you find things of interest here, it's a bonus.

And next year (tomorrow!) I think I will aim to blog once a week with occasional extras when I've got something to write.  I want less stress and more focus.

I don't often look at the Stats but for the benefit of this post I thought I would. I wrote 75 posts including this one during 2024.

It's hard to tell which has been the most popular post this year because the Blogger Stats are weird and suggest I have had 8000-9000 views for some posts this year whereas Google Analytics says one post had 225 views. I'm pretty sure the Blogger Stats are way out.  

Assuming that Google numbers are more likely, it is still astounding to me that so many people are interested in what I do. Especially, as I've said, I do this for me. 

So thank you again to those who find me by chance, those of you that follow by email or by blog readers or my Facebook page. I appreciate each and every one of you.

Layering photos in Snapseed

 

So what is to come in 2025? More of the same really.

Photo tutorials.
Recording my creative journey, especially my attempts to finish 3 online workshop I signed up for with Fibre Arts Take Two.
The occasional post on mental health.
Photos of my travels – if I get to do any!
Journaling my Word of the Year 

Sometimes I wonder if I should change it up a bit. But if it isn't broken - why fix it?  

If there are things you would like to see on my blog, please let me know in the comments below. 

Thank you again for sticking with me
Bernice

Looking back, Looking forward 1

This is the first of three posts loooking back at 2024 and looking forward into 2025.  Today's post is a round up of the textiles I've made.  There are numerous posts showing the works in progress but this is the first time they've all been together.  Initially I thought that this year had not been particularly productive but then there's this!

They are in alphabetical order rather than chronological - just for a change.

Captivity, Freedom, Identity

Chaos to Calm

Conviction

 

 

 

 

 

Dancing in Fetters 1

Dancing in Fetters 2

Dancing to Freedom

Hollow

I Am Not A Number

Fettered/Unfettered

I'm excited to announce that you can see all these pieces at Forge Mill Needle Museum in Redditch, Worcestershire from March 19th to April 27th 2025.

Plus there were 2 river pieces not pictured here.  The Story of the River and The River Flows Out

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Happy Christmas

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

(C) Phil Botha (Unsplash)

This is a poem I wrote many years ago.

Night Watch

A cold, cheerless night
Star bright sky and misted moon,
Raw winds around the hillside
Chilling the soul.
My turn to watch,
Keep guard from ten to dawn.
Keep safe the sheep of other men
From predators - meat starved in winter.
Watch over the sleeping men
Who share my troubles and the cold.

So cold it was, high on the hill.
Below the town slept
White houses clutching the hillside.
No lights to brighten the darkness
Or the chill of the night watch.
I was a young man then
Not old and wizened as today.
So long ago, but in my memory
It stays star bright.

One star blazed,
A many faceted solitaire
Shone down, it seemed, on one poor place,
A stable carved from the rocky hill.
The light beckoned, called us forth.
The sky seemed full of music
Sounding a hymn of praise.

We shepherds left our sheep,
Ran down the hillside to the cave
Drawn by the beauteous sound
Of joy, until we reached the place
Where a baby lay.
We knelt before the child
Not knowing why, or who he was.
But we were filled with gladness
And returned to our flocks rejoicing.

So long ago. Thirty years, or more -
And yet it seems like yesterday.
What happened to the boy I wonder?
Is he rich and famous now,
Or a poor shepherd, like me?

Thank you for being here today.
Bernice