Since every blog post needs a picture, I'll start with my current project, a UFO of course. I've reworked the plan several times until I came up with a design and sizes that will work. Not loving the colors yet, but I hope they will grow on me by the time it is finished. I need a name for it too. Nothing comes to mind yet.
This month has just flown by and I don't feel that I've accomplished much. Our home-in-progress has barely changed, although Hubby did get a bathroom somewhat usable, and the washing machine is now in it's permanent spot. Yay, I can wash with warm water again! He wanted a bathroom for two reasons. One, for the guys who came here for Amateur Radio Winter Field Day, and two, for the hvac and sheetrock guys when they spend all day here. Since we had the porta-potty picked up, workers have to drive to town if they are here very long. So far, we have had very few workers here for more than a couple of hours. But putting up sheetrock will take a day or two, so we really needed a bathroom for them. Although I have no idea when that will happen. Apparently, brick is next on our to-spend list. I've given up calling it a to-do list.
We started building last year around this time, and the weather was very pleasant. This year, January has been very windy. There have been only a few days where it was enjoyable outside. We have had a burn pile growing outside for months and haven't had the perfect conditions to burn it yet. Either it is too windy, or we are under a burn ban, or both. Ideally, we need a calm, drizzly day. Those days are rare. Last year, February wasn't bad either. There were a few windy days that kept the builders from putting up siding, but nothing like we have had so far this year. I hope this February will bring some nicer weather. We need to tear out a dam blocking the flow of water into a creek. It is causing spring rain to flood our lower pasture. We also need to do a lot of tree trimming before the poison ivy starts growing again so we can run the mower through there.
That sounds like goal setting. I've been thinking of my 2018 goals lately, and the statistics that show most people don't keep up their New Year's resolutions past January. I wonder if that is because they make their goals at the end of December and forget what they've written by the end of January. So I've decided to review my goals at the end of each month and see what progress I've made, if any, and what to concentrate on in the next month.
1. Organize my sewing space. Since I don't have a real sewing space, this one has been tough. Our new home is going to be half the space of our last house, and I really didn't have a dedicated sewing room there either. What I've decided to do here for the first few years is have my sewing desk and cutting table in the living room, and put my stash and accessories in a closet in the attic. Not ideal, but that's the space I have. To that end, I am rebuilding a cabinet and will put glass doors on it to keep out dust. So I can report success here.
2. Find and list my UFOs. I have found quite a few, but not all. We still have one storage unit in town, and it's possible that some are in boxes there. I can't go through those boxes like I can the boxes in the attic here, so if it isn't here, it will just have to wait. Semi-success here. In reviewing my list, I see that I left out an actual goal to work on UFOs. I talked about it on the same post and listed the UFOs I want to finish this year, but I need to make that an official goal when I revise this list. For now I'll call it goal #2b.
2b. Participate in monthly challenges on blogs and facebook to finish these UFOs. My 12 UFOs for both are 1. Cars, 2. Trailer Quilt, 3. Second Saturday Sampler, 4. Christmas Among Friends, 5. Antique Tile, 6. Gairden Walk, 7. Depression Blocks, 8. Baby Bow Tie, 9. Double Irish Chain, 10. Raggedy Hearts, 11. Sweet Sixteen, 12. Summer Crossroads. So far this is a success even though I did the January quilt in my order rather than the one called for by American Patchwork & Quilting.
3. Pull out fabrics bought to make specific quilts and put them in boxes with the patterns, thread, and everything needed to complete the quilt. Again hard to do. I've found a lot of the fabrics I know I bought for a special quilt, but I have no idea where the patterns are. With the above UFOs most likely. So far, this is a fail.
4. Organize scraps by color and participate in scraphappy's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Luckily, I found my blue scraps and that was the January color. If she picks red or yellow for the February color, I'm in luck. I can't figure out where I could have put the rest of my scraps. Semi-success here
5. Participate in 2018 Monthly Color Challenge at Patterns by Jen. Well. That didn't work out for me at all. Her color this month was red, so that was good, but I had fits making the block. She gave directions for a twelve inch block and a six inch block, and I wanted to make the six inch. But the measurements didn't work for me. I don't need the aggravation right now, so that goal is out. Kaput. Fail!
6. Start the cross-stitch quilt block project that first made me want to learn to quilt. Luckily, I didn't say this had to start in January. I don't need to start any projects right now. So far, another fail.
7. Take up Kate's Life in Pieces now official 15 Minute Challenge. This one has been a success and is helping me stay on track.
8. Limit my current projects to four. Success here too. So far, I only have three projects going.
9. Start Christmas projects in June. This is neither a success or fail yet as it isn't June yet. No use getting a head start, right?
10. Go to guild meetings. Now this one is kind of odd. I printed the membership form and thought of going to the January meeting even though it wasn't something I was particularly interested in. But then I noticed the fine print that said membership was half price after January. I guess their year starts in August. So that is something I'll do next month.
11. I want to find a Sweet Sixteen sit down quilting machine. This probably isn't going to happen until we finish building, and I don't really think that's going to happen this year. So fail here.
12. Take a Craftsy fitting class. I may have to call this one Kaput too. Without a real sewing space, sewing clothing is on the back burner. I'll wait until next month to call this a fail though.
13. Make a clothing project once a month. This one I am calling a fail and kaput. No way is this going to be possible every month. Removing it from my list. Maybe next year.
14. Build something for the house every week until the cabinets and organizers are done. I may have been over-zealous when I wrote that one. I have been building every week, but can't complete anything until we have sheetrock and final dimensions. So a fail here.
15. Take a scroll saw class. I haven't done this, so is is also a fail so far.
16. Exercise 15-30 minutes a day. Now how hard can this be? And yet, I haven't done it. A definite FAIL.
17. Cut out sugar and find 15 good autoimmune recipes by the end of January. Didn't get that done, so it's a fail but I'm not going to abandon this goal, just changing it to the end of February.
18. Stick to an autoimmune diet in February and then re-evaluate for March. Since #17 was a bust, obviously, this is a fail also. I'm changing this to read March and April.
19. On days that are over 50 degrees, work on landscaping 15-30 minutes. I'm changing this one to read "wind chill over 50 degrees" as I am a total wimp and 50 degrees with the wind blowing is just miserable. I'm not calling this a fail just yet.
20. Join a book club. Well, finally. An out and out success. I have joined a book club and so far enjoying it.
My results this month were 7 successes, 10 fails, and 4 pending out of 21 goals. 2 of those failed goals will be removed from my list, which will help next month.
Recently, there was a segment on the local news that said people who write down their goals for the next day before going to bed tend to sleep better and longer than those who don't. I'm sure it is the peace of mind that comes from identifying a problem and planning the solution. That's one of the reasons I wanted to review my goals and hope I remember to do it again next month.
What about you? Do you review your goals every month or even more often? Now I am off to exercise, so January won't be a complete loss.
Linking to:
Works-in-progress On Wednesday at Esther's Quilt Blog
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
This month has just flown by and I don't feel that I've accomplished much. Our home-in-progress has barely changed, although Hubby did get a bathroom somewhat usable, and the washing machine is now in it's permanent spot. Yay, I can wash with warm water again! He wanted a bathroom for two reasons. One, for the guys who came here for Amateur Radio Winter Field Day, and two, for the hvac and sheetrock guys when they spend all day here. Since we had the porta-potty picked up, workers have to drive to town if they are here very long. So far, we have had very few workers here for more than a couple of hours. But putting up sheetrock will take a day or two, so we really needed a bathroom for them. Although I have no idea when that will happen. Apparently, brick is next on our to-spend list. I've given up calling it a to-do list.
We started building last year around this time, and the weather was very pleasant. This year, January has been very windy. There have been only a few days where it was enjoyable outside. We have had a burn pile growing outside for months and haven't had the perfect conditions to burn it yet. Either it is too windy, or we are under a burn ban, or both. Ideally, we need a calm, drizzly day. Those days are rare. Last year, February wasn't bad either. There were a few windy days that kept the builders from putting up siding, but nothing like we have had so far this year. I hope this February will bring some nicer weather. We need to tear out a dam blocking the flow of water into a creek. It is causing spring rain to flood our lower pasture. We also need to do a lot of tree trimming before the poison ivy starts growing again so we can run the mower through there.
That sounds like goal setting. I've been thinking of my 2018 goals lately, and the statistics that show most people don't keep up their New Year's resolutions past January. I wonder if that is because they make their goals at the end of December and forget what they've written by the end of January. So I've decided to review my goals at the end of each month and see what progress I've made, if any, and what to concentrate on in the next month.
1. Organize my sewing space. Since I don't have a real sewing space, this one has been tough. Our new home is going to be half the space of our last house, and I really didn't have a dedicated sewing room there either. What I've decided to do here for the first few years is have my sewing desk and cutting table in the living room, and put my stash and accessories in a closet in the attic. Not ideal, but that's the space I have. To that end, I am rebuilding a cabinet and will put glass doors on it to keep out dust. So I can report success here.
2. Find and list my UFOs. I have found quite a few, but not all. We still have one storage unit in town, and it's possible that some are in boxes there. I can't go through those boxes like I can the boxes in the attic here, so if it isn't here, it will just have to wait. Semi-success here. In reviewing my list, I see that I left out an actual goal to work on UFOs. I talked about it on the same post and listed the UFOs I want to finish this year, but I need to make that an official goal when I revise this list. For now I'll call it goal #2b.
2b. Participate in monthly challenges on blogs and facebook to finish these UFOs. My 12 UFOs for both are 1. Cars, 2. Trailer Quilt, 3. Second Saturday Sampler, 4. Christmas Among Friends, 5. Antique Tile, 6. Gairden Walk, 7. Depression Blocks, 8. Baby Bow Tie, 9. Double Irish Chain, 10. Raggedy Hearts, 11. Sweet Sixteen, 12. Summer Crossroads. So far this is a success even though I did the January quilt in my order rather than the one called for by American Patchwork & Quilting.
3. Pull out fabrics bought to make specific quilts and put them in boxes with the patterns, thread, and everything needed to complete the quilt. Again hard to do. I've found a lot of the fabrics I know I bought for a special quilt, but I have no idea where the patterns are. With the above UFOs most likely. So far, this is a fail.
4. Organize scraps by color and participate in scraphappy's Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Luckily, I found my blue scraps and that was the January color. If she picks red or yellow for the February color, I'm in luck. I can't figure out where I could have put the rest of my scraps. Semi-success here
5. Participate in 2018 Monthly Color Challenge at Patterns by Jen. Well. That didn't work out for me at all. Her color this month was red, so that was good, but I had fits making the block. She gave directions for a twelve inch block and a six inch block, and I wanted to make the six inch. But the measurements didn't work for me. I don't need the aggravation right now, so that goal is out. Kaput. Fail!
6. Start the cross-stitch quilt block project that first made me want to learn to quilt. Luckily, I didn't say this had to start in January. I don't need to start any projects right now. So far, another fail.
7. Take up Kate's Life in Pieces now official 15 Minute Challenge. This one has been a success and is helping me stay on track.
8. Limit my current projects to four. Success here too. So far, I only have three projects going.
9. Start Christmas projects in June. This is neither a success or fail yet as it isn't June yet. No use getting a head start, right?
10. Go to guild meetings. Now this one is kind of odd. I printed the membership form and thought of going to the January meeting even though it wasn't something I was particularly interested in. But then I noticed the fine print that said membership was half price after January. I guess their year starts in August. So that is something I'll do next month.
11. I want to find a Sweet Sixteen sit down quilting machine. This probably isn't going to happen until we finish building, and I don't really think that's going to happen this year. So fail here.
12. Take a Craftsy fitting class. I may have to call this one Kaput too. Without a real sewing space, sewing clothing is on the back burner. I'll wait until next month to call this a fail though.
13. Make a clothing project once a month. This one I am calling a fail and kaput. No way is this going to be possible every month. Removing it from my list. Maybe next year.
14. Build something for the house every week until the cabinets and organizers are done. I may have been over-zealous when I wrote that one. I have been building every week, but can't complete anything until we have sheetrock and final dimensions. So a fail here.
15. Take a scroll saw class. I haven't done this, so is is also a fail so far.
16. Exercise 15-30 minutes a day. Now how hard can this be? And yet, I haven't done it. A definite FAIL.
17. Cut out sugar and find 15 good autoimmune recipes by the end of January. Didn't get that done, so it's a fail but I'm not going to abandon this goal, just changing it to the end of February.
18. Stick to an autoimmune diet in February and then re-evaluate for March. Since #17 was a bust, obviously, this is a fail also. I'm changing this to read March and April.
19. On days that are over 50 degrees, work on landscaping 15-30 minutes. I'm changing this one to read "wind chill over 50 degrees" as I am a total wimp and 50 degrees with the wind blowing is just miserable. I'm not calling this a fail just yet.
20. Join a book club. Well, finally. An out and out success. I have joined a book club and so far enjoying it.
My results this month were 7 successes, 10 fails, and 4 pending out of 21 goals. 2 of those failed goals will be removed from my list, which will help next month.
Recently, there was a segment on the local news that said people who write down their goals for the next day before going to bed tend to sleep better and longer than those who don't. I'm sure it is the peace of mind that comes from identifying a problem and planning the solution. That's one of the reasons I wanted to review my goals and hope I remember to do it again next month.
What about you? Do you review your goals every month or even more often? Now I am off to exercise, so January won't be a complete loss.
Linking to:
Works-in-progress On Wednesday at Esther's Quilt Blog
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
