Final Look at 2011 Resolutions

Well, 2011 is quickly drawing to a close.  So, this is my going to be my last accounting to myself as well as to everyone else on how I did in meeting my goals.  So, here it is, the last rehash of them all...
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. More of the same as last year - just stretching further with it.

I actually did this although I had not realized it until I stopped to think about it.  In order to make the cq classes more appealing for the fall session, I put together a cq Christmas stocking and built the class around it.  Spring classes scheduled did not go through as hoped due to lack of registration but I have a little something planned for January to hopefully help fix that problem.  (More on that later!  lol)  The fall classes went ahead for the most part and I really enjoyed them - such great ladies attended.  It was a pleasure to get to know them.  Although this goal was met technically, I still have a ways to go to complete it in the spirit I intended when I originally made it.


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 did manage to make some gifts and I am really pleased with the ones I made.  I won't have long to wait now to see if the recipients feel the same way about them - lol!  I fell short on this by a long shot but I did manage to bring Christmas shopping back under control and that was half of my goal, although unstated. 

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

I am in  an absolute panic to finish projects in the next week but honestly don't know that this will get started, let alone done.  So, I think I have to give this one an "F" on my report card.  I think though that next year will see it done and that scheduling was the main problem I had.  Something always comes up and you just have to make time for these things, even if you don't "have time". 

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.

Another "F"!  Didn't get it done, didn't get progress made on it even.  I think I will have to rework the schedule to figure out when I want this done and how I'll do it next year.  Open-ended projects just don't work for me.  I need deadlines to make it work and even then I will procrastinate until the last moment.  Lesson learned at last!

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.

I am drawing a complete blank here - did I even enter any?  I don't think I did but I might have entered a couple small ones...?

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!

I was getting discouraged going over the last couple goals, but success at last!  This one was a go.  I wrote an article for Embroidery Canada and submitted it (remember they don't have to be published for my goal - just written and submitted, lol)  Also did a write up on the CQI Retreat this year and it appeared in the last issue of Pat Winter's Gatherings.  So, that is two!  Ta-dah!!

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.

Easy-peasy!  This one was very easy to keep track of and accomplish because I have done taken part in the Quilt of the Month Club at AAQI.  I got my required 12 charity projects done in one fell swoop with the AAQI quilts!  Can I hear a Whoop?  In addition, I managed to get some donations in for a couple of silent auctions, donated some stitching books to my favourite library in the summer, and got a couple projects donated to the Hospital gift shop.  There were group projects I was involved in too - Hearts & Hands for Sendai, etc. so it is all good.

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 the last couple years - 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!


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.

This is a maybe yes, maybe no.  I did get it done but it hasn't yet recovered from a summer relapse.  I need to get in there and redo a few areas again so I can find room to work.  But, since it actually got done at one point, I'm giving myself this one! lol

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.

Nope - changed my mind on this and decided to take a different direction.  Watch for my new and improved solo Etsy shop in the new year instead.

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!

Well, how do I judge this one?  I did manage to get rid of a bunch of kits and UFOs etc.  I donated some to various causes and that helped lighten the load.  However, I added at least as many UFOs and kits to the stash so I don't know quite how to assess my progress here.