2016 Goals

2015 has not been a productive year for me, in many respects, but especially in sewing and blogging. Readjusting to life with a new baby… there’s just things that take priority. Like sleeping, eating, using the bathroom, showering… and sometimes cleaning. Both my kids have been/are clingons so I don’t have free hands or time very often in the baby stage (and even after). And two is more than one! With one, when he napped or was busy I could get stuff done. Now I basically switch from one to the other and grab a bagel and a pee in between. But the little one is starting to have more independent time and he is starting to get mobile. We are starting to work on the sleeping. And the older one is in school. So, it all comes back to the goals. I am taking stock of where things are and where they need to be and how to get there. It is overwhelming.

1. The UFOs

It may be funny that I put this first, but honestly if I have one overriding goal in 2016 it is to tackle the ever growing pile of quilt tops I am amassing. There are a variety of reasons why I “abandon” a project at this stage, and usually a different reason for each one, but I need to make this a focus and a priority.

2. Learn to longarm

This has been a longtime goal. I have a past teacher/friend who has moved near me and has a longarm and has offered many times for me to come learn. I absolutely intend to take her up on this as things settle down in 2016. This should also help to chip away at item #1, above.

3. Get back to sewing

Well, duh, right? Other than a burst of deadline quiltmaking to get my Michael Miller challenge quilt (#quiltconreject) ready in time, I haven’t done much this year. I’ve more or less kept up with my block of the months (usually in three month marathons). I’ve been slowly making blocks for my cousin’s wedding ring quilt. I’ve managed to make some teacher and birthday gifts. But really, not a lot. I want more time sewing, more stuff getting done.

4. Get back to blogging

I’d been doing a pretty good job blogging and reading and making connections. That’s mostly all fallen apart this year. I need to find the time to sit and type at the computer as much as to sit and sew. And rebuild my online presence.

5. Clean. Declutter. Reorganize. Reduce.

And oh, this one is so big. When I named my blog, little did I know how true those words would be.

When I say it has all gone to hell, I am not kidding. So even when I do have the opportunity to sew, I walk into this and pretty much either start working on cleaning it or walk right out.

This is a theme for my house and my life right now. Other than the kids, the reason I am not sewing is that this is pretty much the state of my whole house. So when I have time, I feel I need to be cleaning, and even more importantly decluttering.

I kept a delicate balance in my home and adding another person, taking away the space that is now his room, taking away the time and ability I had to maintain and keep any order… it has all caused a perfect storm. This is the road to Hoarders, y’all. I am not kidding. I am so worried. One more life event before I get a handle on things, and that could be me so easily. I know it. So, I am working my way though my house. Trying to reduce, remove, declutter, sell, give away… None of this is easy for me but the overwhelming looming feeling I have when I look around is giving me the drive to tackle this. It means a lot for my house in general. It means less time to sew. And in my sewing room, it means I have to get rid of fabric. I need to use it, and I need to sell it. I just have to. I want to hold on to it all, but I can’t even work in there. I just shift piles from one surface to the other, then spend a lot of time looking for things I “just had”. It’s a waste and I have precious little time and energy to waste these days.

6. Storm at Sea

I throw this one out there for a stretch goal. When I started this blog, I wanted to pick one goal pattern to tackle every year that intimidated me. I did my kaleidoscope one year. I meant to do storm at sea last year, I believe. It didn’t even almost happen. So I’m throwing it out there again.

7. Put myself out there

Ok, one more. This is another hard one. I am so isolated. I’m being honest so far, so I can go all out, right? I said I  am a hoarder. I also have social anxiety. Badly. I have a hard time navigating new relationships. I need to. I have no friends. I want to try to bridge that gap with some people. I want to go to guild regularly. And, you know, actually talk to people there. Not just sit in a corner. I want to see if I can get a sewing circle or something to join. See people who can say more than a few word sentences that revolve around something other than bathroom habits. Y’know?

Thanks Yvonne, for giving me the excuse to sit down and write this. Even though it still took me a week to get it done. And I’ll probably think of 100 more goals once I hit post. 🙂

Hello 2014!

Happy new year! I am so glad to see the last of 2013. This has been a trying year for us and much of our family. Through it all, I have managed to stay committed to my sewing goals. I have learned and grown a lot this year, both personally and creatively. 2014 is uncertain at this time; we are still faced with many challenges, but I am hopeful the road ahead is less bumpy than the road we have already travelled.

Goals for the new year:

Sewing –

Finish WIPs

*Ribbon chevron
*citrus bento
*BOM class
*Stack the deck
*Tula pink
*whatever else I can’t think of right now.

Specific projects I’d like to attempt this year

*Chevron
*pixel
*weighted
*kaleidoscope and/or storm at sea (this is my big challenge goal for the year)

Overall sewing goals

I think I’d like to stick with my 12 top goal, but raise my finished quilts to 5? We’ll see where I land.

I would like to try to keep up with BOMs.

Join MQG and participate.

Stop buying fabrics with white backgrounds. I have a ton of these, and then I never know how to use them. And generally use more of what I have and less buying (though that may be a hollow goal. LOL)

Other Life goals –

Cleaning

*I’d like to systematically take a room, maybe monthly, and go through – declutter, deep clean, decide what it needs to function better and get it and install it. This helps to spread the cost and work while accomplishing what I am realizing I desperately need.
*The garage.
*I’d really like to make a playroom.
*garage sale and otherwise get rid of all the clutter I am gathering.
*start a toy rotation for the baby

I need friends.

I’d like to meet my 36 book goal this year

Less tv – more exercise, sewing, cleaning and playing.

Sew regularly. Blog regularly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For this month, specifically:

1. Finish stack the deck

2. start chevron

3. Room to work on: Baby’s bathroom

4. establish toy rotation

5. go through, cull and store clothing

6. read

2013 goal review

1. Lose at least 25 pounds. And I really mean it this year. It is important.

Yeah. This didn’t happen. Which sucks. I haven’t weighed myself in a while, but I think I was down ten pounds or so from the beginning of the year? I forget where I started.

2. Get back on a budget. Get the car paid off. Get things balanced and get our savings back in line. Think about what house repairs need to be tackled this year. Cash flow tuitions (we will hopefully have). Get a part time job. Figure out what to do with kidlet so that working isn’t counterproductive.

Wow. If I only knew then what I know now. We did pay off the car, but the other car is on its last legs. When I said house repairs, I was thinking maybe refinishing the floors or getting nice countertops. Taking care of odds and ends. Instead, we had to repair and repaint our house, exterminate the attic, replace the a/c and thermostats, fix a plumbing leak… am I forgetting anything? Tuition became sticky when my husband was laid off, but we’ve worked around it and he’s still working and in school. Job thing didn’t happen. It’s been a heck of a year.But financially, at least, at this point at this moment, we are not worse off than we were.

3. Make friends and be a better friend to the friends I have. Get out more (which is sososo hard for me. I have gotten more agoraphobic as I have gotten older). Keep working on not being as judgmental or obnoxious.

I made some efforts at this, but became more self absorbed as things were falling apart around here.

4. Find more ways to make our life greener and stick to them. Reinforce and expand the things we have been doing. Start a garden finally. Will this be the year of family cloth?

I guess we maintained status quo here. Didn’t really embark on much new.

5. Clean out the garage. Clean out the basement. Systematically clean out and declutter and organize and get rid of things throughout the house. Have some garage sales.

I don’t know if these things will ever be accomplished. I feel I am constantly doing them and nothing’s getting done. We’ve made a dent in the garage but have a long way to go. But so much is storage… classroom storage, baby storage, furniture storage… I haven’t been in the basement in a couple of years. I can’t imagine the state it is in. I’d love to make it a playroom. I am always working on cleaning and decluttering, but with a 2 year old the house is always a disaster. This will still be a top goal next year and I hope to have a garage sale to get rid of stuff.

6. Read more.

I started so strong on this. But distractions and non fiction books have slowed me down. I think goodreads has me at 33 of the 36 goal I set. I will probably finish one more.

7. Sewing Goals:

*Complete at least 12 quilt tops
*Complete at least 2 quilts

I made a page of my finishes. I am not sure how to grade this one… I completed 5 quilts. I have 3 more tops completed and one almost completed. And 4 backs which took some work and should count I think. I feel like I am missing something. So I guess I came out ok. Not as much as I hoped, but probably more than I really thought I would do.

*Keep up with my BOM (already signed up for 6 :/)

Oh, this is so sad. And you know I signed up for more in 2014 right? Even the one I actually went to class for, I only have 9 done. Any virtual ones weren’t touched.

*Take some classes

I did! I took my bom class, an fmq class, the stack the deck class… and many Craftsy classes.

*Use what I have

Yeah. No. What I’ve learned is that none of my stuff goes together. Or I don’t have enough. Or I need more fabric that does not have a white background.

*Organize the sewing area so that it doesn’t become a huge mess every time I am working on or starting a project.

It’s come a long way this year. I got rid of the baby gate around my fabric. I got my sewing table. I installed shelves. I got bins. And I still make a mess with every project. Especially when I am working on multiple projects.

*Get my swap up and running

I’ve been very pleased with how this has gone. Please join!

*Create a quiet book or two

I haven’t, and I haven’t found mine either. 😦

*Keep up with my blog

Not as well as I’d hoped, but I am still here!

August review/September goals

So… We are ten days into September, and I am just now getting around to my goals. With a good bit of the month gone already. Where did it go?!? I can’t say I am expecting my August goals to look good. I’ve spent the last month in a whirlwind of adjusting to preschool, my husband’s new job, school and schedule, and the culminating fallout from everything that’s been happening over the last 6 months. I’ve kind of just been waiting-and-see-ing and getting by, honestly. My hope is that now that we are on this side of things we can finally start to deal with the realities instead of the speculation and make adjustments and plans, and ultimately get back on track. Maybe the house and car will stop breaking and start cooperating too. I am also trying to plan ahead and focus in on what really needs to get done, sewing wise, over the next few months as we enter into the holiday season. (Seriously?!?)

September goals

• Work on aunt’s quilt
• Make a plan for auction quilt (Can probably wait til next month)
• Work on Tula quilt (though I am slowing down on this since the swap is running again and I may want some Acacia in it)
• Make a plan for teacher gifts (Can probably wait til next month)
• Figure out how I will quilt the baby’s quilt and do it already. I started this thing a year ago, now.
• Should I find myself with the time: Bloom bloom pow, bento, chevron, prism and anything else I’ve started and not finished.

• Pick a room/closet a week and go through and clean/declutter/get rid of/organize, etc. And I mean seriously.
• Get serious about weight loss again
• Figure out what sort of income we are dealing with and get back on a cash budget to replenish savings and pay off repairs. Get my spending (Looking at you Fabric.com (among others)!) under control again.
• Get my little free library up and running!
• Read read read!

August goals: (Get ready for a lot of NOs!)

Sewing-

1. Finish ribbon chevron top – border. Back? No
2. Start Prism QAL No
3. Start Tula Pink quilt top I have about 80 of 132 blocks made
4. Bento Box back (no ideas on this) No
5. finish bloom bloom pow. (back, quilt and bind) No
6. baste and quilt twisted ispy No
7. Finish cleaning and reorganizing sewing room I did a big clean up, but it is far from done. See previous post.
8. Catch up BOM? I made two during the class last month. Have class again Saturday. May try to do that again.
9. swap items for two different swaps Yes. Done.

Swaps –

• get 2.5 square swap
• get trip swap
• get Tula Pink charm swap
• get PBJ I spy swap
• send back writing swap

Cleaning-

1. Closet Is a total disaster again
2. go through baby’s toys Every time I try, I decide he still plays with it all.
3. guest bedroom Mostly the problem here is the clothing storage, and I haven’t really dealt with it.
4. garage No
5. laundry room Ooh. I did a teeny bit in here. But needs a good cleaning.
6. Hang photos Heh. Why is this here every month? I have three family photos from WHEN HE TURNED ONE! that I just haven’t decided where they are going yet. I need to just do it. And, uh, need to get the two year photos done sometime.
7. Consider basement renovations Pfhhhh. I have plans but no time or monies. It’s be great if we could.

• Weight loss Same as it ever was
• get ready for school
• update Baby’s baby book I’ve done a bit but not enough
• I have a lot of dr appts to make. We have (expensive) insurance again. Need to do a dental for the baby. The other things are back on hold for a while, I think. (This includes the stuff I’ve been putting off – like dermatologist and foot x-rays – which I don’t really want to do/am scared of)
• Pay off repairs Hopefully soon. Paid a good chunk. Then the car needed work too. It’s never ending lately.
• Get 2 year pictures done Oh! Ha! See! I had this on the list! And we haven’t done it. I signed him up for school pics, but would still like family ones done.
• Read read read! Didn’t get to do a lot of this either. However, according to Goodreads, I am 9% ahead of my goal for the year. Going to try to remember what I’ve read…

Stash Bash, part 3

So after shopping fun and finishing up my bento, I moved on to the tumbler quilt I am making for my nephew. Now, if you want a project you can do in a few hours, this is the one for you! No lying.  I basically randomly ran tumblers through my machine and it went together very quickly. I just made sure I wasn’t putting two of the same color or theme next to each other, and made pairs, then fours and so on. An hour and a half or so later, and I had run out of tumblers. I hadn’t brought quite enough with me. So I had to stop.

I have actually since finished this top:

 

It is about 45×66.  I am desperately trying to come up with a backing for it so I can get it finished up asap.

My sister had gotten me my walking foot that I wanted for my birthday. So next I went looking for volunteers to teach me how to attach and use it. I don’t know why I was so intimidated by it. It did help a lot to have someone else show me how to attach it, but it isn’t that complicated. Or intimidating. So I made what was meant to be a mug rug, but is more like…. a mini quilt. Oops.

quilting

I have still not bound this one… and I don’t have pictures of the back. But I was rather embarrassed by how easy this was to do. I’ve only ever done straight line quilting with a regular foot. I don’t have too many finishes, see… But I felt confident enough to move on to free motion. I was able to get the foot on without much difficulty, having learned the basics with the walking foot. I was also fortunate enough to be next to Elizabeth of Don’t Call Me Betsy and the Birmingham Crew. Elizabeth answered all my nervous questions and the others were great cheerleaders.  Here is that (much more appropriate sized) mug rug:

FMQ was somewhat invigorating. It was terrifying, hard, fun and exciting all at the same time. You can actually see how I gained more control as I moved across the quilt. I also remembered part way through that I have a needle down on my machine, and that made it immensely easier. I am excited to go again… I’ve just been bogged down by many other things – sewing and non – and haven’t been able to try again. This is what retreats are perfect for, I think, though. I was able to try my first time supervised with others to show me, help me, and answer questions. I think now I will start having more finishes under my belt and less tops folded in my linen closet.

I have bound and completed this mug rug. Here are some action shots (again, forgot to show the back):

I spent Sunday morning doing the cutting for my bloom bloom pow. I didn’t quite finish there, but have since finished cutting and assembling the strips. Apparently, 60 degree triangle rulers are hard to come by in stores (who knew?) and as I am headed out of town in a few days, I am holding off ordering one til I can have it delivered to me there.

Here are some pictures of my progress, both at and after the retreat:

So, that was stash bash! Thanks so much to Chris for dreaming this up and hosting us all. I had a great time and met a lot of great people. I am very excited for next year!

Linking too…

April Goals

Sewing-

1. Finish ribbon chevron top – border. Back?
2. Complete Ispy tops and backs for nephews.
3. Bento Box top
4. Pick fabrics and follow along for bloom bloom pow.
5. Finish and hang the fabric hoops for the kidlet’s room.
6. Finish cleaning and reorganizing sewing room
7. Plot and sew rainbow twister quilt. And start twisting, if I get that far
8. Finish last 3×6 block, April mystery border, send all.
9. Go to Stash Bash!!
10. Make any things that need to be made for stash bash. (I am seriously lacking in information)
11. Pick off a few things for the city craft pinterest challenge

Swaps –

• waiting on abc blocks
• waiting on tula pink rounds 3,4,5
• Send back polka dots
• send back Lizzy House jewels
• send back ocean i spy
• send back jar i spy
• open April f8 swap

Cleaning-

1. Finish office bookshelves
2. Work on garage on weekends with hubs
3. Get the baby’s swingset installed!!! (why did I list this under cleaning?)
4. Closet
5. Hang photos

• Weight loss
• smoothie diet
• I have a lot of dr appts to make.
• Read read read!
• Green focus on the bathroom
• Cleaning focus on guest bedroom

Linking up with….

You should add yours too!

Shop Hop, part 3

I sat in the car a few minutes trying to decide how to tackle the rest of the shops. Should I bail and go home? Should I start at the furthest or the closest? The three remaining shops were all in the same city, so I hoped that meant they were all relatively close together, cutting down on travel time. I made a choice and told Siri where to go, and she provided me with a route I didn’t know about. I thought I was going to have to drive east all the way back to the highway then head nw from there, but the shop was pretty much due north of the shop I was at, and an easy about 25 minutes on a couple streets straight there. I found it easily with minimal traffic.

Their theme was batty/halloween

This was a nice sized shop too. Lots of batik and reproduction. Mostly arranged by color. Not a lot of yellow. 😦 My yellow search continues… but that’s a story for another post.

Shop quilt

This time I found something I was looking for:

They teach classes AND rent time. They lady spoke with me for some time about it and I took a flyer. I am SO super excited. I am really interested in learning to long arm and want to do my own quilts. Classes are one on one and there is always someone available to help/oversee when working. They are all non-computerized machines. She did scare me a little about how long it takes to do, and how steep the learning curve is. But this year is all about facing my fears head on, right? And, of course, you book ahead of time, not based on time used, so you may over or under book and it all adds up, so I am not sure it is any cheaper than sending out. But it’s mine. This can all get so expensive. Anyway, as soon as I have a small quilt and some free time, I am totally going to schedule a class.

I picked up a few fat quarters for my jar swap because the price was good, but ended up putting them back. So I had now been in and out of 8 stores without buying anything! Unheard of. Their gift bag had candy, thread, a nail file, coupon and pattern.

They had printed directions to the next shop, which was maybe ten minutes away. YAY!

Shop quilt

This was another smallish shop. They had a room with contemporary, novelty and sale. The front room had blender and repro. Their baggie had the pattern, candy, coupon, some english paper piecing precuts (people say these are addicting, but it so doesn’t appeal to me at all) and a fat quarter. I did pick some things up here. I actually didn’t hit the minimum dollar amount to get my strips, and had to go back and pick out a few more things. I wish I had gotten one of those charms though. I thought those were darling.

They had one bolt of Tula Pink on the sale shelf. It was the main reason I bought here. I almost didn’t, but wanted the pattern too and was scared I would regret it if I didn’t. It was 40% off the marked down price, so I kinda wish I had gotten more. The pattern is for a notions bag with a vinyl window. One of the ladies in my BOTM class made one and I have been wanting to, too. I am using a wetbag right now, but am always worried my sharp tools with punch holes in the PUL. Several of the fat quarters are for my I spy swap. The tomatoes, candy, bugs and buttons are for the jar swap. And there are the fabric strips I got for my purchase.

One stop left! Again, not too far to go, and by now I was onto them. I knew to ask for directions.

How cute is this one? Definitely something to make for the baby.

Shop quilt (I think)

I made it! With a little time to spare. I spent some time here, since I was finally able to relax a little. I turned in my passport and got a big coupon to all the stores as the prize. The bag for this shop included the pattern, coupon, a fabric label, and another nail file (seriously – is there some use for these in sewing I don’t know about?!? It was certainly a popular gift bag choice). This was a nice sized shop. The main room had batiks and various designer fabrics and a notion section. There was a large room with novelty and flannel. I saw lots of cute stuff.

I knew I was going to get the shop fabric here, so I started picking out some other things to get. They had some nice moda that I hadn’t seen before that would work great with my citrus theme. I took it to the cutting table to be cut and asked for the shop hop theme fabric. I asked for two yards, which should have been plenty to get me to the minimum purchase for the strips, but they only had less than a yard and a half. I took what they had and got a 15% end of bolt discount! LOL. I was way under what I needed to get the strips. So I decided to look around for some more fabric. I picked out a few more for the jar swap, the two at the top of the last column (not sure the second one will go with my citrus theme, but we will see) and the cute crabbies that were just calling to me. Plenty of orange and lime, but no lemon still.

So, I headed home and got stuck for some time in even more construction traffic. I can only imagine if I had done this during the week….

Reflections….

I am glad I did it. At first I wasn’t going to at all, then I was just going to check out a few, and then I had to catch them all. I found lots of shops I didn’t know about. However, there are a couple I do that weren’t a part of it.  I wonder how it is determined who joins. But there are certainly some I will be going back to again, which I would never have known about otherwise. I will Definitely be learning long arm this year! I will also be going back to the first shop I visited yesterday that was huge and had all the designer stuff. Some of the ones over on my side of town, while still far, are good to know about if I get a day out and need to find something. Over all, I still think the shop I go to is the best in the bunch… well, except maybe for the huge shop… maybe it is loyalty or familiarity or maybe it is that they are more my style (though I did like the fabrics in this last shop too). All in all, a worthwhile and fun thing to do.

Natural cleaning adventure: The kitchen (part 1?)

So, contrary to the evidence outside, spring is on its way. I mean, we are in March already! The blooms and smells and itchy eyes should be coming soon. And I am inspired to do some real spring cleaning. Keeping my house in any kind of order is a never ending losing battle which has only gotten worse since having the kidlet, who takes pride in going behind me and dumping everything I have put away back onto the floor.

I am also working hard to use natural, non-toxic cleaning alternatives. My focus for the last month or so is the kitchen. The kitchen is a big and constantly dirty room, and I am continuing to focus there this month. I have been using two different “all-purpose” cleaning solutions in my everyday cleaning in the kitchen. One uses vinegar and water, which apparently people don’t like because of the smell. The smell doesn’t bother me, and dissipates rather quickly, but does leave my kitchen smelling like potato chips. Which isn’t exactly a “clean” smell in my mind. I do wipe down with water afterward. The other uses castile soap, and I actually find that smell a little more disturbing for some reason.

Do they work as well? Well….  I believe they clean. They do take a lot more scrubbing. I have tried using microfiber, sponges, and Magic Eraser (which gets a B on EWG [with very little information, though]. Which is good. I need these things). My preference depends on the specific mess. The problem comes down to my crappy easily stained laminate countertops that I hate. The commercial cleaners fight the stains better. I don’t know why but they do. My countertops, while clean, have sort of a yellow cast to them now and there are rings and stuff left from things. I have tried baking soda and magic eraser, but still not entirely satisfied. I need new countertops. Maybe someday we will scrape together the money for a kitchen update. Until then I have to tolerate these counters.

I also scrubbed down my cabinet doors with the vinegar and magic eraser. That went well overall, except for one part by the stovetop where there is some caked on stuff that I still haven’t gotten off. It’s not bad, just a little splatter, but as long as I am getting things clean, I want it clean.

Yesterday, I ventured into the oven. Confession time: I have never actually cleaned an oven. Now, to be entirely fair, we really don’t use the oven much. My husband does most of his cooking on the stovetop, and (as discussed in previous posts) I do most of mine in the microwave. But, we have been using it more since my husband has been working from his diet recipes, and we have lived here over 6 years. It was time. OK. Past time.

I forgot, in my enthusiasm, to take a before picture. It is probably just as well. You can use your imagination. I used a recipe of baking soda and hot water and a microfiber cloth and a sponge with a scrapy side. I got the information from a free kindle book on Amazon. First, I wiped out the burned food drips on the bottom. Then I slathered the baking soda paste in the oven and left it.

Wiped down with baking soda paste.

My cleaning tools.

 

Then later, I went back with my scrubby sponge and hot water and scrubbed and scrubbed. I didn’t get it all up; it will need another round, but I feel it was a marked improvement. Especially on the window. Then I wiped it out real well several times with clean water and mf cloth.

All clean! (mostly)

 

I still need to do the racks. Next up this week: the fridge (cringe), finding a safe and non-toxic way to clean my floors, and switching out our dishes.

March goals

I am afraid several of these are going to look familiar…

Sewing-

1. Finish ribbon chevron top – border. Back?
2. Work on I spy quilts for nephews.
3. Plot and sew rainbow twister quilt. And start twisting, if I get that far
4. Bento Box
5. Finish and hang the fabric hoops for the kidlet’s room.
6. Finish and send 3×6 blocks.
7. Finish cleaning and reorganizing sewing room
8. Put my sewing table together – Want this done!

Cleaning-

1. Finish office bookshelves
2. Work on garage on weekends with hubs
3. Get the baby’s swingset installed! Want this done for spring
4. Closet
5. Hang photos

• Weight loss
• I have a lot of dr appts to make.
• Read read read!
• Green focus on the kitchen again this month – there are still a couple things I need to tackle.
• Reach out to a couple friends – must do

Linking up to…

Feb goal review

Let’s see how I did….

(Can you change text color on this thing?)

 

Sewing-

1. Finish ribbon chevron top  Hmmm… I have it done except for the border.
2. Make the back for the twisted i spy top (and sandwich?)   Made;not sandwiched.
3. Plot and sew rainbow twister quilt. And start twisting, if I get that far  Started plotting, took it down, haven’t gotten back to it.
4. Finish and hang the fabric hoops for the kidlet’s room.   I hung the ones that were done, but didn’t make the rest.
5. OMG catch up on all my BOTM obligations.  Yeah… No.
6. Next project?
7. Finish cleaning and reorganizing sewing room      Still not done.
8. Put my sewing table together     No. 😦

Cleaning-

1. Get the house back under control in general.  heh.
2. Clean up office (which has somehow become the junk room the last few months) Ok. It is in pretty good shape. I want to go through the books and pull some for sale/donation, but other than that, it is in good shape.
3. Work on garage on weekends with hubs  We worked on it one day for a couple hours.
4. Get the baby’s swingset installed? Weather and helper permitting   Everyone’s been sick, and it has been raining a lot.
5. Closet  No.

• I’d also love to start my juice fast this month, but we are on a budget crackdown and juicers aren’t cheap.  Did Smoothie fast instead. It was hard. I lost 6.5 pounds and am still somewhere around 4-4.5 down. I am rethinking the whole juice fast thing.
• Read read read!  I’ve read two or three books.
• Start detoxing – I think this month I will tackle the kitchen I’ll have to do a separate post, but I have been using the natural cleaning supplies. That’s about as far as I got.
• Reach out to a couple friends  I think about doing this every day, and haven’t. 😦