Happy New Year!
I’m looking forward to a good year, after one that had a few “interesting times”.
As usual, I like to set myself a few fun, and hopefully achievable, goals. It feels so much better to exceed my wishes, rather than fall short.
………I typed this in mid December, getting well organised…… and then went on to make an incredibly long, detailed list of what I hope to achieve. If I managed it all it would be a miracle and turn what is supposed to be a fun activity into nearly a full time job.
Let’s start again….. and try to live up to that second paragraph of being fun and achievable…..
STITCHING GOALS
In 2025 I started 26 new projects. Of those, 8 remain ongoing. Add to that, there was a long list of UFOs, with a hope of completing 12. I managed to complete a whole 5. My aim for 2026 is simply to finish the year with less Ongoing/WIPs/UFOs than I start with, unlike 2025. If I manage to achieve that I will be happy.
To that end, I will list 24 UFOs. Let’s hope that at the end of the year there are less than 24 outstanding projects from that list and any new starts.
Last year I announced that I wouldn’t join in with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Well, that didn’t last for long and I was soon back on the bandwagon. It is something I really enjoy. Therefore, I will once again take part this year. I still have to decide on my project/s, but whatever eventuates, it will be fairly simple.
In previous years I have participated in the One Project a Month, until its demise, and One Monthly Goal (OMG). They both worked well for me. In 2024 I joined in on the new Chookshed Challenge. It worked OK, but ended up doubling up with the OMG. Therefore, I decided to drop OMG in 2025 and concentrate on the Chookshed Challenge. Well, I didn’t do so well on the Chookshed Challenge last year. A few life factors came into play, which contributed to my downfall, but in some respects the format doesn’t work all that well for me, as I switched around nearly every project throughout the year.
I have come to the realisation that what works best for me is to set a goal at the start of each month, without any preset parameters. Therefore, I will work on the OMG format, being at the beginning of the month selecting a project, any project, and working towards the nominated goal. I don’t think I will join in on the actual link parties, just use the format for my own fun. It may be patchwork, or stitching, or knitting or crochet. Whatever works best at the time.
Now that I have “Elly May”, my new quilting machine, I do hope to spend more time at the sewing machine than last year, which was pretty woeful. Hopefully, my big “To Be Quilted” pile will be greatly, if not totally, reduced.
I do hope to make and contribute towards some donation projects.
I still want to strive towards working on something crafty for at least 15 minutes a day, once again, not actually checking in with link parties.
The other silly thing I want to do is collect all my empty cotton reels into my big jar and see how many there are at the end of the year. Just a bit of frivolity. Hopefully there will be more than last year.
As always, I look forward to heading off to Baradine for Scrub Stitchin’ and hopefully again in August.
Zoom get togethers are something I really look forward to, so hope they will continue this year.
Last year I joined in making blocks for Betty’s Rainbow Stitchers group, which I will continue to do.
And, finally, I will continue to attend my two stitching days each week.
OTHER GOALS
I didn’t set any last year, but this year I do want to set just a couple:
- Try a new recipe each month.
- Read a book each month.
- Travel - we seem to aim to use our caravan about 6 times each year. We have nothing planned at this stage, but will make things up as we go along, We do have a big trip planned for the end of the year.
- Fun Days Out - this seems to have gone a bit on the back burner. I need to do some planning, so that we can do something fun at least once a month.
And that about sums things up. It will be interesting to look back at the end of the year and see how I went.
