2016!

With the start of a new year, I like to take a little bit of time to reflect. It went in spurts, but overall, 2015 was a pretty darn productive year for me:

Seeing it all in a collage is always so cool. I feel like I've accomplished a lot! And that's not even all of it-- that's just the stuff I managed to take pictures of! There are a few more 2015 clothing and quilt finishes I hope to share on the blog as well. Soon!

How'd I do on my goals?

2015 Goals:

• Use more fabric than I buy.
• Fabric In: 127.070 yards
• Fabric Used: 120.791
Close. But not quite. But you know what? I'm not feeling bad about this one. I purchased with mindfulness and purpose on nearly everything-- I just didn't get to sewing it all up. I'm going to turn this around next year for sure.
• Finish at least 2 UFOs, including my Bargello Reflections quilt.-- I did finish a couple of UFOs: my reversible embroidered quilt from 2008 (still not blogged) and Sunrise Coins. But Bargello Reflections remains in its unfinished state.
• Finish the recent WIPs pile.-- This includes:
  
  • A little kit quilt that is basted and ready for quilting;-- DONE! (not blogged yet)✔
  • An Edyta Sitar wallhanging that is basted and ready for quilting;-- DONE! (not blogged yet)✔
  • My Fall 2013 mystery quilt that is ready for basting;-- DONE! (not blogged yet)✔
  • My nine-patch quilt that is also ready and waiting for basting.-- Nope. It's just so dang big. I am feeling intimidated.
  So-- 3 out of 4. I say, yay!
  
• Complete the 26 Books in 2015 Challenge.-- I read 51 books this year, across a broad spectrum of genres and subjects, both fiction and non-fiction. So I feel like I was definitely in the spirit of this. In addition, I took this to my book group and we each chose books based on the list. So the list was indeed used. Just not in the conventional way. I'm calling this one a win.
• Get back on the self-care/fitness train.-- This year I joined a local Fit-4-Mom group and started taking Body Back classes. I have been going twice a week since March and it has been amazing. I feel so lucky to have found an awesome group of women to work-out with twice a week. I have managed to lose 18 pounds over the course of the year. Now if I could just get running again...

Overall-- lots of good things goal-wise.

Here's what I'm feeling for 2016:

• Fitness!-- Keep going with fitness and work on reaching a goal weight of 150. I'm already signed up for the next session of Body Back as well as for a 10K in the spring to help motivate me to get running again.
• Use more fabric than I buy.-- All that apparel fabric I bought last year? I want to use it. I have a number of things I know I want to sew, including some activewear pieces, two dresses, and a skirt. Maybe some me-made activewear might help motivate me with my first goal too!
• Finish my Bargello Reflections Quilt-- Since this one has apparently been such a struggle for me, I'm making it a goal of its own. I'm going to do it. For reals this year.
• Scrapbook/Blog-- This last year I really dropped the ball not only on blogging, but also on my family scrapbook. And I found myself really sad and frustrated at the end of the year that we didn't have anything to look back on and reminisce about during the holidays. So I've spent much of the last week focused on scrapbooking-- finishing 2014 and getting started on 2015. Going forward, I want to work on maintaining it, as opposed to frantically doing it a year later. My goal is to a.) catch-up by doing one month a week for the month of January; and, going forward, take at least 2-4 hours each month to work on the family scrapbook. As an incentive, I got a new scrapbooking software program, My Memories 7. I'm excited to explore the possibilities with this software! The program I've been using (StoryBook Creator Plus) is many years old, runs very slow, and the company is defunct-- so it is definitely a good time to change. In conjunction with that is I want to be better at taking the time to blog my projects as I finish them. This blog is my crafting journal and I need to get back on track. Definitely a post a week.

Four goals. I'm looking forward to attaining all of them in 2016!

Happy New Year!!!