It was easier to collate the information for this post this year - way easier than it was for me last year, and of course I’d been putting it off based on my last experience. There’s a big life lesson there isn’t there - something about eating a frog and all that.
Anyway, I like to take a look at which posts from the previous year have been the most popular and while I’m at it I also take a look at the posts that have been around for a while and still get looked at, and I like to share that each year. Yes, it’s nerdy, but anyway.
Starting with my most popular posts from 2024, I was pleasantly surprised to see the post which topped the list:
1 A walk from Kinoulton to Hickling and back again
It was a great walk though! And I guess we’re not the only ones looking for walks to explore our beautiful countryside. Sadly the pub we had lunch in on that visit has now shut, but the tea rooms remain open - and are just reopening following their January break. They do a great sausage cob, so we’ll definitely be heading back that way.
2 Gardeners' World Live 2024: Win a pair of tickets for Sunday 16 June, plus discount code (Ad)
I was proud to partner with Gardeners World again to host this great giveaway. It’s always great to go along and see the show too - though this year our journey from Nottingham was vastly different to the intercity from Euston, but the show was as good as always.
3 Book Review: The Ultimate Sewing Machine Mastery by Katie Matthews (Ad)
This remains really useful book, so if you’re a sewer (of any level) do pop over and take a look. I think all sewers can learn something from it.
4 Gelli printing using stencils and shapes
I must do more of this. It was great fun and while I use the prints I did in the class I’ve yet to tackle this at home - and yes, I really did print that many!
5 Industrial open shelving in our pantry and utility room
I still love these and they make me smile every single day. Seriously. And what’s more everything’s pretty much still in the same place, and even better MOH knows where to find things, and where to put things back!
6 Getting organised with pegboards in my craft room
What’s not to love with a bit of organisation? These really are fab pegboards and still in use in my craft room cupboard. They’re so nice that you don’t need to hide them in a cupboard, but for me, I wanted to maximise the space I had there. I’ve more tweaks coming for my craft room, as it’s true you really learn about a space the more you use it.
7 Hamid Zenati at the Nottingham Contemporary
This was a great exhibition - and local too, so a good find for us. I’m still in awe of the patterns and the size of the exhibits, and this is a great reminder for me to check what else is on locally. I’m so pleased that I don’t have to go to London for exhibitions, though they do have some fab ones, there’s often something close by as well.
8 The Fontana Garden (Ad)
This was a very striking garden at Gardeners’ World Live from the 2023 show, and rightly was the image that made it into most of the press stories from the show. It was a fab garden, and no doubt the pictures were helped by the blue skies, but don’t let that detract from the design, there’s much more to it than that. And in case you’re wondering why at 2023 garden made the 2024 list, I didn’t share it here until then as one of my posts which ran alongside the ticket competition post (which is on the list above).
9 Admiring Carolyn Forster's quilts at the Newark Quilt Show
Amazing quilts and my first visit to my local quilt show - and a quilt show I’ve been back to this January too. I’ve many photos to share from this year’s show which are very different to these. I think my heart really is with the scrappy quilts, and all their charm though.
10 Getting started with Gelli Plate printing
A new to me craft, and the post I shared after my first class - it really is addictive in the Pringles sort of way, in that once you start the Gelli printing you really can’t stop! I need to set aside an afternoon (or longer) to do this again!
It’s interesting to see which posts appear on the list, and there’s some of my favourite bits of 2024 there too. As I said the number one post was a pleasant surprise, but I guess people are always looking for a good walk.
So onto the second list
This list is posts created at any time by viewed in 2024, the year in brackets is the year it was originally posted - and this list is often very similar to the previous year, although often the order changes somewhat - and it has this year too. There’s a couple of new entries, including my number one post from the list above and another surprise at number six.
Filling our gabion baskets (2017)
Planting a strawberry border (2016)
Bagels, cream cheese & jam (2023)
So not always what I expected but each of them are great posts, and it probably means I should spend some time on these to make sure they’re as good as they can be!
Thanks for being here again over the past year, and bearing with me with this post which you know appeals to my inner nerd. I already can’t wait to see what 2025 brings!
I’ve added the *AD tag to this post as it contains links to posts which were declared as ads when they were published on my blog.
