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Reviewing my Goals for 2011!

For the last few years, I make a list of goals (I refuse to call them resolutions because that just begs for them to be broken! lol) . I only make goals related to stitching as well since they are the only ones I am likely to work at. Periodically I stop and see how I am doing on them but I have really been neglecting that this year so far. So, since the year is half over, a review is well past due! Here goes...

1. This year I am going to continue with teaching crazy quilting that I started last year. I will make as many opportunities for myself as I can to do this. I am also going to build a workshop or class around a specific project that I'll design and submit an application to teach it wherever the opportunity presents itself. This was more of the same as last year - just stretching further with it.

I submitted classes proposals in the spring but none of them got sufficient registration to run – very disappointing! However, I shook myself off and set to re-tooling the classes, adding a few, changing a few and leaning some more towards a Christmas theme. As of now, I have nine accepted in local communities – just have to wait to see how the registration numbers go. I am also working on a project to build a two day workshop around and I’ll get very adventurous on where I submit that one! If anything exciting happens in that regard I’ll keep you posted.

2. I will try to go ahead with the "Homemade Christmas" plan that fell by the wayside last year. I have already told my family that I intend to be on a cruise ship somewhere during the holidays next year (that part might not happen! lol) and that I will be making all the presents I give. If you made two gifts each month, you would have 24 gifts ready next Christmas. Not just that you have made something from the heart, but avoiding a good part of the annual Christmas panic! I am resolving to do this and will post photos of them as I get them done. None of my family reads my blog so no worries there.

I had forgotten all about this goal! Eeeeek! Happily, I have a couple made already, like the wine charms I posted this week, and few more in the planning stages. If my courses run, I will have a frantic October and November so I had better get moving on this now in a big way!

3. This year I will make, or at least make a good start on, an actual crazy quilt - not just single blocks.

Ummmmm..... okay, not yet. And I kick myself too because I feel pretty strongly that the best way to promote crazy quilting is to get them out there where they can be seen and appreciated. So, I definitely need to work on this and enter it wherever I can after that so it gets some exposure. I hate piecing and I know that is what is holding me up so I better plan a piecing marathon. Since I have signed up for the Friday Night Sew-In this week (or was it last week?) maybe I can start piecing a few then.

4. I will finish my crazy quilt Christmas tree skirt in progress in time to enter it in the Calgary Stampede Creative Living competition next summer.

I blew this one too so I guess I will hold it over and get it ready for next year.

5. This year I will enter at least four competitions with my stitching - that`s one every four months so it sounds not too intimidating! I only got halfway this last year on this resolution so I'm going to try again.

Okay, so there is a name tag contest for my guild in Calgary in September I want to enter and a stitched EAC logo contest so that is two. I better start hustling on this one too!

6. This year I will write about crazy quilting and stitching and submit it for publication somewhere. Let`s see.... twice! So at least two separate things will be submitted for publication.... somewhere. Their being accepted and published is not part of this goal but would be a great addition!

If you look in the dictionary under “procrastination”, you will find my picture. That must be obvious to everyone – it is to me! Time to get off the pot and get stitching ...and writing...and designing!

7. I will create and give at least one item a month to charity - this will be my service project for the year. I will post pictures to keep myself honest. Some of the groups I would like to do some work for are the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) continuing with the pledge I have made to them, Grandmothers for Grandmothers (the purse auction), Aids Angels, The Toy Society, and CQI's Making Memories project for Breast Cancer. In addition I'll be doing small things on a local basis like baby quilts and baby sets for the hospital gift shop (profits go to the Ladies Hospital Auxiliary) and knit caps for the newborns at the same hospital as well as placemats for Meals on Wheels. There are actually a lot of things you can do locally if you look around. Even the local library is in need of book bags for the local literacy program.

I am actually on track and even ahead of the game on this one! I have made four or five AAQI quilts so far this year as well as something for the school auction, the library auction, and the gift shop at the hospital. So, all I have to do is keep it up. Having joined the Quilt-a-Month Club at AAQI has really made this an easy goal to attain.

8. I have decided, because I am a terrible procrastinator, that I will stitch a minimum of 15 minutes per day. Once I start I am likely to carry on longer, but starting is the difficult part for me. This was the best goal I set for myself last year - I highly recommend it! Doing that 15 minutes a day keeps the creative blocks at bay and really increases my output. I just can't say enough good things about the 15 minutes a day. It has even extended to other areas of my life - 15 minutes of housework at a time, 15 minutes of organizing, or sorting, or computer work... They all add up!

I still can’t say enough good things about 15 minutes a day of stitching but I have been failing to meet that goal lately. The constant rain and cold and loneliness of working out here at the campground has me falling into depression and it is hard to stitch – or do anything else! – when you are busy dancing on the edge of the abyss. But, the sun is out for the second consecutive day so maybe summer is here at last and I will perk up.
9. I will organize and clean out my sewing room so that I can actually work there! And find things! I'll work on this one hour a day (minimum) until it is accomplished. I have added the library room adjacent to my sewing room to my work space as an annex so it should be easier to find places for everything.

I DID IT!! Not done by any means, but everything in there was taken out of the cardboard boxes and sorted into blue plastic tubs with like items. Now, it was my intention to bring one of those tubs out here to the lake each week this summer and sort it further but that hasn’t happened yet. It is all well and good to have a 20 gallon tub filled with threads but if they aren’t organized any further than that, try to find the specific one you are looking for! However, my work table is set up with the sewing machine and ironing station, the tubs are stacked neatly, fabric all folded and sorted, and the overflow is gone from the library – sucked back into the sewing room where it belonged!

10. I am going to put the time and energy necessary into Leslie's and my Etsy shop and get it going.


It is a new area for me and that is always a bit scary but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Urrrr... I was feeling really good about the last goal and now I read this one. I have totally let the shop stagnate and the listings expire because I was so discouraged with it. Okay, back on the list it goes!
11. The best advice I ever received about UFOs (UnFinished Objects),was from a quilting teacher, Anne Severson: that perhaps the reason you haven't finished something was because you had already learned what it had to teach you and have grown past it. So, bearing this in mind, I will deal with at least one UFO a month - either get rid of it if it no longer holds my interest or to put it back into my stitching schedule if it is still a part of my stitching journey. I might even finish a few in the progress!

Totally forgot this one too – why did I make so many!? Was I high?! I have taken care of a few UFOs and will take this as a reminder to get at it with the rest.

Long post, and not overly interesting but you gotta do what you gotta do and this helps me stay on track – or get back on track in this case! How is anyone else doing on their New Year Goals?

Comments

Sandy said…
I enjoyed your post. I too set goals and not resolutions. I have had some success, but not as much as I'd like. Your 15 minutes theory is one I practice in most things I learned it at Flylady .net. The only resolution I have ever kept was to label EVERYTHING I put in the freezer. It's amazing how much this simple goal has changed my life.
The joy is in the stitching!
Elaine said…
Kerry,
I too enjoyed your post. It's interesting to see what other people aim to achieve.

Despite the fact that you seem to be disappointed with a few of them, I am seriously impressed! So much so that just the thought of all the things you've managed to do makes me want to go and lie down :)

BTW It's a shame you can't come over to the UK and run some classes. I'd be the first to sign up :)
lewmew said…
I loved your post. And I understand about the rain and gloom bringing you down - eventually had to actually move out of the Pac NW because of it!
Cathy said…
Kerry, you know I loved this post because I am doing the yearly goals thanks to you. I did review mine at the first quarter mark and am trying to finish up a couple things in the next week so my half-year evaluation won’t suck (I hate that word but can’t think of another synonym at the moment)... Good on you for evaluating yourself and making mid-course tweaks. You have some lofty goals there, Superwoman! LOL. Hugs, Cathy

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