Happy New Year

Another year has come and gone and it's time to start thinking about what I am going to do this year as my goals.  I think that is going to be a post in a couple of days once I figure out what I am going to do.

I know that I didn't accomplish all my goals from last year but that is OK because I accomplished other things instead.

Goals I accomplished
1. Complete 180 items, I actually completed 268 items in 2011.
2. Make three things for myself, this I accomplished and actually made 5 things for myself.
3. Design my name tag for retreat, I completed this and wore it at Retreat in April.

Things I didn't accomplish
1. Design a needle case to go with my name tag from 2010
2. Compete at Markham Fair
3. Get my stash under control (under 300 pounds)

Other things I accomplished
1. Started drawing again after way too long and am loving it.
2. Learned to take time for myself, still not great at this but it's a start.
3. Figured out what makes me happy and decided to concentrate on that instead of trying to please everyone else instead of pleasing myself.

Now to figure out my goals for 2012.  I know a couple of them already but will wait until I have them all figured out before I post any.

Well off to take some time for myself as it is January 1st and that would be a good way to start the year.

Time to focus on things

I think now is the time I need to actually focus on the things that need to get done before the end of the year instead of working on all the things that can wait.  I realized last night that I have a couple of things that need to be finished and instead of working on them I am working on charity items that I don't need until the new year.

One of the reasons I keep working on the charity items is they are mindless things to me so I can work on them while watching a hockey game or another program that I have taped.  I know that if I would focus on the things that need to get done I can get them done quickly and then I can get back to my mindless things.

I think a lot of people are like me and enjoy doing the simple things when they are relaxing and then will work on the more difficult things when their mind is clear.  I guess that means I need to work on the difficult things soon so that over the holidays I can relax more.

Now the challenge is to actually focus on the more difficult things while also relaxing a bit.  This time of year is always a crazy time so maybe next year I will not try to do as many things that need my attention at the end of the year.

Time will tell.

A good feeling

This week I haven't had a lot of time to craft but still feeling pretty good about what I do for charity. 

I think I mentioned that I was working on baby hats and blankets for a hospital and thanks to a friend the items were delivered.  What was really nice and surprised me, was on Friday I received a hand-written Thank You note from the hospital for all of the items.

I know that when you do a lot of charity crafting you don't hear thanks very often.  What makes this so nice is that in the last week I have received thanks from two different charities for the items that I have given to them.  Just knowing that the items are appreciated makes a big difference.  I am currently busy with so many other things but I am still finding a few minutes each day to work on something for one of these two charities. 

It's important that sometimes we hear the works "Thanks" because then we know what we do really does make a difference in someone's life.

Another project start

Those of you that know me, understand that I always have lots of projects on the go and now is no different.

Yesterday I decided to start yet another project which I am happy because it is going to be mine when it's finished.  I started "Country Cottage" by Mystic Stitch and it is going to be 10inx13in (253x325 stitches) when it's completed.  Yes it is a rather large piece but I decided (with Kathrin's help) to petit point this pattern instead of cross-stitching it.  The pattern is 15 pages so it is going to take me quite a while to complete it, but that's ok and I am going to work on one page at a time.

I didn't take a picture of what I accomplished yesterday because I didn't even get a 10stitchx10stitch block completed but I only worked on it for a little while.  Now I just need to set some time as "me time" and work on this project.

So besides starting this project, I am trying to finish up a few projects before the end of the year so am going to be busy trying to accomplish everything. At least, I have completed all the charity items that I wanted to get done this year and most of them have been delivered to the various charities.  Any items that I make between now and the end of the year will be put into what gets delivered next year.

Now besides working and crafting, I am studying to write my CAPM (Certified Associate Project Management) exam in January so will be very busy.  If I don't post much in the next little while you will know why because there isn't much to talk about while studying. 

Life got in the way

So yes I have gone missing again and this time it was due to having too many things on my plate that needed to be done.  The biggest thing that I started was an online course on Technical Writing and Editing which I thought I was going to enjoy.  The course started on October 31st and by November 3rd I was frustrated and no happy at all with the course content or the instructors.

I understand that with me having a Certificate in Instructing Adults I sometimes get a little frustrated with seminar instructors but I didn't think I would get that upset with a university online instructor but I did..  The course material was missing exercises and we only had 6 six weeks to complete everything, the weekly chat didn't work probably and assignments took way too long to get marked and getting replies to emails took 4-5 days.   I have taken other online courses from colleges and never had so many problems within a week and a half.  After feeling extremely rotten on Wednesday I knew I had to do something about this course and on Thursday I did.  I phoned the university, explained my feelings about the course and requested a full refund as I wanted out of the course.  The good news is on Friday morning I logged into the university site and saw that I had NO courses showing.  Yes, I am getting my refund and now I am getting my life back in some order.

So that is the main reason why I haven't been writing or crafting in the last couple of weeks.  I lost my passion for doing anything during the time of trying to figure out this course but this weekend I picked up my needles again and started to smile.  Yes making the decision to walk away from the course was a little difficult but boy am I happy I did it.

Now life can get back to normal, or at least as normal as it is for me.

Time is flying

Creativ Festival picture

Well as you can see I haven't posted for a while and that is because I have been busy with the rest of my life so crafting has been put on hold for the last little while.

I took classes at the Creativ Festival in October and ended up exhausted after that so it has taken me some time to get back to being organized.  I finally started to get organized and wanted to start crafting and then I started an online course so that is going to be taking up some of my time for the next six weeks.

When I have had the chance to craft I have been working on small granny squares so that I can make another Sudoku lapghan when I have some time.  I figure using up part balls of yarn is great as well so that I don't have them laying around and escaping the bag I keep them in. 

Tonight I hope to sit and craft for a bit but then I have an online chat for my course tonight so that is going to take up some of this evening as well.

The picture is of Karen, myself and Jennifer Aikman-Smith (Dragon Dreams).  Yes Jennifer is that tall so it makes both Karen and myself look extremely short.  This was taken on the Sunday of the Festival so that is why we are all looking a little tired.

Now off to work on my course so I can get my first exercise and assignment completed.

Time is flying

It's hard to believe that it's the 11th of October already.  I am still trying to get a few things completed for the charity that I work with and then it's time to start thinking about working on a Christmas gift.  My goal is to have the gift finished by the beginning of December this year instead of what I normally do which is finish it right before I wrap it the day before Christmas.

This month is the Creativ Festival so will be taking some classes there which should be a lot of fun.  I am taking some knitting and some cross-stitch classes.  Now that it starts next week I need to get all of my stuff organized so that I can figure out if I need to pick up anything for the classes.

September was a very productive month for me as I completed 52 items.  I do have to admit that a lot of them were very small so that is why the number is so high.

• Scarves              2
• Cowl                  1
• Shawl                 2
• Child hat            5
• Baby blanket      1
• Preemie hats      36
• Baby hats           5

 Yes the preemie hats don't take a lot of time to make so that is why I accomplished so much in September.  So far in October the number looks like it will be lower but we will see what it is by the end of the month.

One of my goals this year was to complete 180 items and yes I have already accomplished that.  As of the end of September I had completed 207 items so will see how many I actual complete by the end of the year.