A year of accomplishments

Even though these weeks have been and continue to be about Christmas sewing, as we approach the end of the year my thoughts turn to new beginnings. And naturally… to possible new projects. But I’m thinking before I start planning new things I need to take stock again of the goals I set for myself this year.

I had the best of intentions. But no… I did not complete all my UFOs, as I had planned earlier in the year. However, most of these have been waiting patiently to be finished for years anyway. So even though I did not finish them all, I do feel happy that I did complete quite a few. Here are my before and after pics of them:

Two UFOs I gave away, as I realized I really was not interested in them any longer. So I still have around 10 UFOs to complete.  And if I have learned anything this year, it is not to beat myself about it. I know having a better machine on which to do free motion quilting helps, which I think had been one of the things holding me back in the past. So I will continue to work on these as time allows, and remember that the main motivation has to always be the learning involved and the pleasure that brings me.

Moving on…

Although I complain enough about not having enough time to sew as much as I’d like (I know, I know… it’s a common complaint!), there were a few other accomplishments this year:

Although not pictured here, there were several projects I was able to free motion quilt for my friends this year, which was really good practice for me! And then, those little sewing projects…

 … and knitting and crochet projects…

… plus a few new techniques learned…

Obviously, there are (Christmas) projects I have been working on lately that I cannot show here yet. Still, it doesn’t seem like I got as much accomplished sewing/quilting/knitting/crochet-wise this year, as compared to 2010. That might seem somewhat sad, but I need to remind myself that what is not reflect here is what I have accomplished in terms of designs and new patterns, which is probably worth a whole chapter in and of itself.

More importantly, if I were given only one thing to value and be grateful for over the year, it would definitely have to be my family. As any other family, we have been through sad and challenging times. Which makes the good times so much sweeter. And this has definitely been one of those times. So if 2010 was a very good year, I’d have to say so far 2011 has been A GREAT YEAR! 🙂