EEEK! So, following on from last year’s post, it has now been 2 years since my first blog post.

Steady on.

Here are some stats for you:

This year I published 121 blog posts, slightly less than last year, and only 28 of them included chocolate. Poor show.

Must include more chocolate.

The biggest event in our year of course was the big move to California. Soon, I may even have unpacked all the boxes and know where everything is…. Just over a week left until Mum comes to visit!

But let’s go month by month!

January

Oh yes. I published about possibly one of my most favourite items I have made. Mr T(ea) Loving Rex:The Gentleman Dinosaur.

There was also more hobnob making and giving, as is customary every January. For hobnob day in 2014, not only will I be living in California, but the original creator of the day is currently WWOOFing her way around Canada (and occasionally blogging about it here)….. We are of course soldiering on, some others from the Bristol hobnob crew are taking care of the usual handout, and Steph and I will be spreading the love internationally.

I also made some homemade Paneer and with it made some koftas and yummy curry. Time to revisit that beauty I think!

February

This month we went skiing in Switzerland, prompting me to make this splendid neck warmer, and I finally got around to organising my craft room. Hmmph. Now of course I am having to organise it all over again, but thankfully I could bring my shelves and boxes and crafting surface with me, a little more unpacking and it will be done!

March

March was mainly spent on holiday. 🙂

I also did some crochet, a totally transportable craft, and also started playing around with Tunisian crochet.

April

In April, my friend Neil and I made fondant fancies together. Turned out cute no?

I did a couple of cute cross stitch projects, a little camera picture and a welcoming sign. I also got an overlocker, and Mr M and I made a crafting tabletop to put on top of our Hemnes day bed, and I used both of my new toys to make a splendid new Peacock print dress.

May

May involved not one, but two brownie recipes. Mmmmm Brownies. Also some yummy Rhubarb cordial.

I also made my first batch of baby bibs for some new mamas, a knitted breast for my cousin the breastfeeding advocate, a new liner for our laundry basket (rock on right?), and a custom towel for my yoga mat.

June

In June I went to a very fun hen do at Centre Parcs, we had a little party in the tea room at work for the Queen’s not-birthday, and also went to visit my lovely cousin and his family for a big family get together at their place in Buckinghamshire. Lush.

I took along a couple of gifts, some cushions for the outside, so we could all lounge around in comfort, and a Wigwam for the kids!

I also did another couple of cross stitch projects, a patterned elephant and a cute bug, and made some pyjamas, pants and my first Sorbetto.

July

July was my birthday, which was somewhat overshadowed by everything else that was going on at the time. I have to say I was quite grumpy. Nothing birthday related. But Mr M, for the first time ever, and my friends Neil and Jemma got together to make me a fantastic birthday cake. My beloved car reconstructed in cake and icing. I miss my car!

I also made Mr M a present for our fifth wedding anniversary, a stencilled sign with some of the lyrics to our first dance song on it. I also made a bicycle print dress, a crossover back Sorbetto, remade one of my tops, and made some pattern weights.

August

Mmmmmm Rhubarb and ginger cake. One of my favourite cakes that I have ever made. True fact. Quite a rhubarb-y month what with those, and the softies, and the compote for my scotch pancakes. Yummy. Other edible delights made this month included some cherry and white chocolate flapjack, pea and cauliflower curry (YUM), almond and chocolate cupcakes, banana bread recipe testing, and of course the start of the GBBO led to Angel Food Cake and English Muffins (YUM).

I also made a couple of little summer dresses for some little people, and my fancy Liberty dress.

September

Jane Austen Promenade. Yep. Finally, after having been living in Bristol 8 years, I manage to make it to the Jane Austen Festival. It also started the weekend that my friends came to visit, so we had some funtimes making our outfits, leading to very last minute, down to the wire, crafting.

There was more GBBO inspired baking, some not so successful – custard tarts (give them a miss), others more so – traybake!

We also announced that we were moving, having been granted our US visas, which properly started off the next few months of crazy.

October

Yep. At the end of October we moved. Packed up all our stuff, waved most of it off in a big orange container, and then got on a plane and flew to California.

The month leading up to it was a bit of a crazy mix of visiting people, and using up random ingredients from the cupboards. But this led to the delights of the Almond butter cookies (YUM), coconut oil hobnobs, cookie dough truffles, and chili cheese corn dodgers.

And Neil and I made “Cronuts”.

November

November mainly revolved around settling in. Getting a feel for the area, looking for a place to live.

It involved a LOT of paperwork.

I had a pretty limited kitchen. One baking tray. Crappy gas oven. But one thing you can make with very little equipment is bread. So I made a lot of it, raisin and fennel, sundried tomato, and spicy carrot. It usually required a little extra time, due to the aforementioned crappy oven, but was much more successful than the cake I tried to make. But I also made some Banana softies (YUM) and a super tasty vegetable and “biscuit” bake.

December

It took all the way until the end of December, but we finally got our stuff! Yes!!!!!!

I was going all kinds of stir crazy by this time, feeling a desperate urge to get on and get sorted.

But I did a little (quite poorly soldered) wirework, did a few different knitting projects, made some more bread, some pyjamas, and then post-Christmas…. some coconut sorbet.

So all in all…. A busy year!