Wednesday, 21 January 2026

Crafty Recap of 2025

I wanted to talk about my crafty finishes in my last post, however it became too long with my life updates. So lets do it now . 
2025 was year I restarted crafting and blogging and I'm quite happy with what I achieved .
First finish of the year was this cross stitch wedding sampler I stitched for an Instagram snailmailing friend whose wedding I couldn't attend due to work . 



The wedding was in Feb 2024, I was able to send her before her 1st wedding anniversary. I love the vintage look of this project and quite happy with the framing too.

Second finish of the year was this Knitted scarf , gifted to Instagram snailmailing friend. I wasn't sure about the color, I thought it was gaudy. To my surprise , everyone on IG has liked the color.




Some more knitting gifts , which I showed here 


These cards were finished in May .



40th Birthday gift for my penpal, I was late only by 1.5 years


My next finish is a freebie from Silvercreek Samplers which was a SAL with a Instagram friend. This one I'm keeping for myself.

Knitted washcloths were my next finish, gift for husband's colleague


Husband asked for gloves, I knitted mitten because they were easy :)



My last finish of the year was this ATC I stitched for ATC swap organised thru Instagram

I entered 2026 with 3 cross stitch WIPs and 1 knitted WIP . The knitted WIP was finished last night. Hoping to finish the other WIPs soon(read in 2026)

I will add details of each finish on my finish pages if anyone is interested in pattern names.

Which one do you like most?


Wednesday, 7 January 2026

2025 :Year of big changes and a loss

Year 2025 was a year full of changes ...some changes which I have been working for quite some time and some which took me by surprise.

To start , 2025 was the year I finally made a come back to crafting and blogging. With the long gap of 4+ years, I always felt guilty of abandoning my hobbies and blog. 

The year started with a professional change when I moved to a Management Role after working in Engineering for 19 years. The new role involved something I love-interacting with people, understanding their challenges and help them find a solution.

January was busy with a wedding , hosting a hobby friend at home and attending Stamp exhibition in Mumbai.

February being birthday month meant mandatory Starbucks Frappuccino and birthday dinner with hubby and brother.



For my new role, I traveled to USA and was able to meet my lovely colleagues and find some crafty stuff at Joann's and thrift shops. I wrote it about here .

Knitting at Dubai airport in transit to Kansas city, USA

By the time I came back from my work trip in mid March, my husband had started conversations around moving out of India for work. It was a happy surprise as I have got bored of living in the same city for 6 years and have been asking him to move. We had some opportunities in the past however some didn't work out due to professional reasons and some due to laws regarding pet import.

Things started to shape up in May when we got Scotland as the country we would probably move. I have always loved Scotland- from the pictures husband's cousin would share and our trip in 2015. So it was a dream come true...

I'm grateful that our move went smooth as the challenges we had were how do I resign from a job I started few months back, that I loved so much and how will my 22 year old cat Twitch travel.

With months of planning, packing, selling stuff, sealing the house, we finally moved in the last week of July.

My babies started exploring the house the moment they got out of the carrier, Gabru on left, Twitch on right

My major concern during these months was will Twitch survive the long journey in cargo. Sometimes it felt selfish to make such an elderly cat travel but then leaving her behind was unimaginable.

When I moved here, I took a conscious decision of taking a break from my job to settle in, set up the house, learn about the new place and culture, dedicate time to my hobbies.

5 months flew by - during these we took some short trips around the city, I attended events related to my hobbies, celebrated our first Diwali in Glasgow.

An old phone booth converted to a library in Dunkeld

Postbox topper at Isle of Cumbrae

In December, we travelled to Morocco and that's when the saddest thing happened.

The Sahara

Golden sunset at the Sahara

While we were away, my most beautiful, resilient and intelligent Twitch got sick. She had age related issues but she was a fighter so I never thought this time would come.

Always the Queen of the house

On 14th of December we had to take the hardest decision of our life-to let her go over a phone call. Its been very difficult for me to accept that my bubba is not with us anymore- she blessed us with her love for 8.5 years, travelled two countries with us and lived in 5 houses in 3 countries.

Twitch the explorer, at in-law's house

My husband has been telling me that she was very old, lived a beautiful life and I should accept that she is not with us physically but the fact that we were not with her in her last time makes it very difficult.

My baby Twitch
1-Jun-2003 to 14-Dec-2025

I have been trying to keep myself busy in hobbies but the grief hits now and then.

During the holidays , we went to the city centre to see the Christmas decorations , our first Christmas in Glasgow. 




It was a nice distraction and I'm thankful to the guest who visited us and helped us get out of the house.

Its been a long post, I think I need a separate post for my crafty finishes.

Hope my friends had good time during the holidays.

Happy New Year.





Crafty Recap of 2025

I wanted to talk about my crafty finishes in my last post, however it became too long with my life updates. So lets do it now .  2025 was ye...