Monthly Accomplishments - January 2011

Time to list my finishes, half starts and semi-serious attempts at crafting and sewing!

1. Came up with Crafting Goals for 2011
2. Started the Year of the PIGS. By the way, feel free to join in at any time!
3. Signed up for a class at the April International Quilt Festival with Regina and made plans for the rest of the weekend while she is here.
4. Worked on the Bear cross stitch for a good while
5. Finished block 3 and block 4 of the Midget blocks
6. Made 1 mug rug
7. Made a mini quilt top
8. Quilted a poinsettia table runner
9. Listed a ton of Stampin' Up items on Craigslist - part of my Goals for the year
10. Finished the binding on the One Good SIS Deserves Another quilt
11. Quilted and bound the Sibling Reverly Quilt
12. Got to the heel turn on my two at a time socks. No picture though.
    

I think that this year, I am going to pass on keeping track of my hours spent doing the various crafts that I do. The work that I produce is enough of a record of what I am doing and that is all that I am worried about. :)

And finally, the books read in January.... There is one book that I read in 2010, but it was left in my 'To Read' list so I am making a record of having read it.

1. Voyager by Diana Gabaldon - This is the third book in the Outlander series and I thought it was awesome! Towards the end of the book - like the last 200 pages or so - I just could not put it down! The action was captivating and the descriptions Gabaldon gives are wonderful!
2. The Double Cross by Clare O'Donohue - This was a 'manual' read and it was a pretty good read. Once I got into it, I couldn't put it down! I can't wait for the next installment in the series.
3. U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton - It's amazing how I can listen to these books with 2 or 3 years in between and it is just like coming home to an old friend. I love Grafton's writing style and sometimes, I just want to be Kinsey! Judy Kaye is a fantastic narrator and her reading fits Kinsey perfectly!
4. Sweet Love by Sarah Strohmeyer - I have been waiting for Strohmeyer's books to be released in an audio format, but I think that with this type of book, I will read them much faster in regular book format. I am catching up on 3 of her books right now. Fun reads and quite humorous! Light, chick lit that has really helped with the winter blues these fast few weeks! ;)
5. Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon -  Oh, my!!! This was a pretty great addition to the series! I'm excited to see how the next book unfolds, but I am trying to hold back from starting it right away. I need to savor them a little! lol
6. House Rules by Jodi Picoult - This is the one that I don't think that I mentioned before. I really enjoy listening to Picoult's books. This one was a take on a 17 year old autistic boy and how he integrated his fascination into his life and the repercussions of the integration. Very eye opening for someone who doesn't interact with people with autism on a regular basis.

OK, that's it for me for January. I'm hoping that in February I won't have to worry about losing my quilting mojo for a couple of weeks like I did in January. :)

Stampin' Up items for sale!

Since I fell a little short on my 2010 Goal of getting rid of all of my stamping things, I added it to my 2011 list. I finally got to work on this goal tonight!

I listed all of my stamping items on the Cincinnati Craigslist website under Arts and Crafts. It seems like it took forever to update the lists with items that I have already sold and marking down the prices a little more to try and move this all out. There may be a couple more things that I haven't listed yet, but I am not sure if I will list them right away or just wait a while. I think that I will have my hands full enough with the responses to the 10 ads that I listed tonight. I have a lot of stamp sets, PearlEx, Stampin' Spots, wheels, punches, brads, eyelets, etc and I listed them on separate ads.

If you would like to see what I have for sale, let me know and I can send you the links or you can search Craigslist for the Cincinnati area.

And hopefully, I will be able to get back to my sewing and quilting tomorrow! :)

Stash Report Week 2, 2011

Well, the sewing around here has been pretty minimal so far this year. So my report still hasn't changed.

I did pick up the bear cross stitch yesterday and then couldn't put it down. Here it is before..



And here it is after I stitched yesterday.



I'm so ready to be done with this thing! Although, now that I am working on it, I am thinking about the other kits that I have and if I will start another one.... Isn't that awful? lol

I do have plans to sew today. I have a few things to work on. I better get to it!

Fabric added this week: 0.00
Fabric added year-to-date: 0.00

Fabric used this week: 0.00
Fabric used year-to-date: 0.00

Fabric Used: 0.00

Although Maxie thinks that more time cross stitching would be lovely!

2011 Crafting Goals

I believe that I will be looking at last year's Goals in order to come up with this year's Goals.

1. Stash Reports - End the year in the black. I'm not so much concerned about ending at a net of 100 used this year. I will be happy to be in the black!!
2. Use scraps and crumbs - I have a Crumb quilt on my Judy L's UFO Challenge list so this will have to be worked on a little. Plus, with the Midget blocks, I have been using  scraps on that so I will continue along this route.
3. Use 10 new patterns. I thought this was a great goal for last year so why not do it again?
4. Make 12 charity quilts - I didn't quite reach this goal last year, but I think that with the GO, this will be something I can accomplish this year.
5. Finish the Granny Square afghan - I am pretty sure that I should be able to get it done this year.
6. Knit some baby caps - no amount to hit on this, but I should be able to make a few.
7. Finish Bear cross stitch
8. Really get rid of all stamping stuff - This will mean less stuff to organize!
9. Keep up with Judy's UFO Challenge

I think this will be a good list for the year. We shall see how I do!