Goodbye 2014

As another year draws to a close, I find myself getting reflective about the past year, the new year ahead, and work and life in general. 2014 was a good year, all in all. I probably never worked so hard in my life (and that's saying something considering I used to be a senior director at a big investment bank in London in my 'previous' life!). When you have pre-school age kids you tend to work when they are asleep, and with an Etsy shop to run as well as this blog, midnight sewing sessions became my 'normal'. But despite (and if I am honest, because of!) all this hard work 2014 was a fun and productive year for Down Grapevine Lane. I learned a lot about sewing, needlework, crochet, blogging, photography, and running an online shop. Here's a quick round up of my 'makes' from the past year (you may notice there are one or two things here I haven't had a chance to blog about yet!).



What better way to bid the old year goodbye with than this cute trio of festive animals. Meet Jingles the Reindeer, Pepe the Penguin (with his Santa hat), and Jolly the Snowman - all patterns by Little Muggles.



You may have noticed the semi-naked babies keeping Jingles company - they are little dolls made by Sonny Angel in Japan and we are all nuts about them in this house. Alice in particular - she has a sheep 'babee' and she can't sleep without holding it in her palm. There are many different styles of Sonny Angels, ones with animal, fruit or cake hats, or limited edition dolls like this Christmas set. The Japanese sure know how to do 'cute'!



These sweeties tend to hang around my sewing desk, keeping me company (at the moment whilst I am indulging in some hexie paper piecing therapy, making a doll quilt for Alice).



Season's greetings and my warmest wishes for a new year filled with happiness, good health, and cherished memories!