Goals

A lot of people this year are doing a Word of the Year" instead of resolutions.  The word you choose is the basis of all of your goals for the year and what you'd like to see yourself accomlish.  I've seen the words love, us, dare, dream, believe, etc. chosen as people's words.  If I had one word I was choosing for this year, it would be BALANCE.  I want to try and work harder on balancing my life.  I want to find a balance between my wife and mom duties and sewing and doing what I enjoy.  I want to find a balance with projects that are easy and quick finishes and projects that challenge me both mentally and developmentally.  I want to find a balance between making others happy and making myself happy.  I want to balance all that I have on my plate and make it look easy.  Hmmm...

I've made some personal goals about being a better wife and mother, a better friend, daughter, sister...  And those are about what you would expect.  I really want the people I come into contact with to feel better for being around me.  Being more Christ-like is the answer to this.  Easier said than done, but I'm a work in progress that will keep progressing.

As far as quilting and blogging goals, those are a little more concrete and easy to measure.  I'm working to find a balance between challenging myself and making a workable list that I can actually do.  I don't imagine life will get less busy as my children grow...  But that doesn't mean I should never choose projects that are a stretch for me.  I want to grow and become better all of the time.

So, as far as concrete goals for my sewing for 2012:
1.  Finish all WIPs (works in progress) that I have going right now or get rid of them.  My goal for the year is to finish what I start and keep that WIP basket empty (or at least not overflowing...)

2.  Make Oren's bed quilt and make adequate progress on Emma's.  I promised both kids a quilt for their beds (both full-sized) at least a year ago and have even bought fabric and chose a pattern, but got no further than that.  So...Oren's is first and I'm ready to get those 2 covered each night with the love I've sewn into a quilt for them.

3.  Make all of the 4 baby gifts I've got to give this month.  This is a very short-term goal, but I've had 3 friends have babies right around Christmas and one in October that I haven't given anything to yet.  I want to get their gifts made (some will get a quilt, some will get outfits) and given.

4.  Join a more "traditional" virtual bee where fabric is sent out and blocks are made based on what the person asks for.  I love the bees I'm in now where we make blocks from our own scraps and swap them, but I'd love to join one where I could choose the fabrics and design for my blocks coming back to me.  If you know of any good ones coming up or want to start one with me, let me know!

5.  Stock my etsy shop.  I opened my shop months ago and then got bogged down with doubts and life and never put anything into it.  I've got fabric galore, so no more excuses.  I'm going to spend some time making some plans, sewing some stuff and stocking that shop.  I don't expect to get rich, but a little income to pay for my own etsy purchases wouldn't be a bad thing, right?

6.  Have at least 2 finishes a month.  This goes along with my WIP goal (#1).  I want to be making things I'm finishing so that I can share them with others or at least enjoy them myself.  As I said the other day, I want to  do more of grab and go sewing this year.  Everything doesn't have to be a full-sized-bed quilt.  I can make whatever I want from simple skirts to mug rugs, from knitted hats to scrapbook pages, from new pillows for the couch to framed embroidery for the walls.  I want to find what makes me happy this year and do it.  And by do it, I mean get it done!  ;)

7.  Improve my free motion skills by participating in this:

Yep, I pledged to participate and learn.  This will be a stretch for me, as I'm not exactly scared of free motion quilting, but I'm nowhere near good at it, or confident enough to step away from stippling or loops.  This is a year-long challenge with tutorials each month and prizes for participation.  I saw the first tutorial is up, but I haven't even got my supplies ready yet.  I can't wait to see where this takes me.

Okay, that's my very long post on my simple goals for 2012.  I'd love to hear yours.  Let me know what you're working toward in 2012.  Let's encourage each other and work together this year to become better versions of us.  :)