2018 Year in Review

A week into 2019 and as I look back, I am really pleased with 2018. It was a good year for me personally, even if challenging in some places.  I had a very busy year at work, a fun year with family, a fulfilling year with my Girl Scouts, and a balanced year in my crafting. 

Let's start with family (I am going to skip work talk on my blog!) - we enjoyed a nice vacation in Michigan in March when we took our kids to ski the first time. It started out really rough, but by the end of the first day, they had both had a lesson and got pretty comfortable. By the end of day two, they were both loving it. We are all looking forward to skiing again!  In the summer, we returned to Michigan for a short long weekend (3 days) and enjoyed a lovely weekend at Houghton Lake with my friend from college. We always enjoy lots of fellowship, some boating and fishing, great meals, and time just to relax while watching the water. A bonus this year is that her parents were there too and I got to catch up with my "Michigan parents" and they got to meet my kids for the first time. It was really nice. Then in November, I had a long weekend in Baltimore with Beth, my friend and former neighbor - we enjoyed a great weekend of chatting, watching TV, exploring the area, and stitching! 

On the Girl Scout side, I wrapped up my year as Service Unit Manager for our area and started to get more involved with our Council. I am working with a staff member and committee there to build an alum network, something I have a lot of energy for. We are looking forward to a kick-off event soon and I am hoping to connect with more adults who have the shared Girl Scout experience. With my troop, I turned over the reigns to the girls to plan and run our meetings, which has been a good learning experience for them, and has resulted in a lot more engagement from them. They are earning the badges they want to earn and doing the activities they want to do and I am loving guiding them and watching them learn how to lead (this is really what Girl Scouts is all about!).  I was thrilled to take them to Savannah, GA in October so we could explore the home of Juliette Gordon Low, founder of Girl Scouts. I hadn't been there and it was a really, really fun trip! 

Now on to the crafting, the reason most of you are here! I had a great year in my quilting, cross-stitch, and crochet adventures. Let's start with a review of my goals for the year: 

1) Reduce UFOs by continuing in monthly UFO challenges. Get to 12 or less by year end. I did pretty well here - of the 12 UFOs on my list, I worked on 6 of them, and finished 4 completely, including two of my oldest projects (the Carol Doak BOM and the Calla Lily from my first machine quilting class). I got really close to hitting my goal of 12 or less as I finished the year with 13 (maybe really 14 or 15, because I think there may be a few hiding that have never made the list!). 

2) Participate in the rainbow scrap challenge to use up some scraps in 2018. What a fun challenge! Thanks to Kate for showing your monthly photos and inspiring me to join. I don't think I actually reduced the scrap piles at all, but I had a great time making my monthly blocks and look forward to getting them into a finished quilt in '19. 

3) Do more quilting and crochet:

- At least 15 minutes of quilting at least 3 days/week Well, here's one I didn't do so well on. I usually had two weeks per month where I quilted/sewed at least 3 days. I continue to go in fits and spurts, but they seemed not to be as spread out this year than they were last year. I am glad I had the challenge to encourage me to make my quilting time a little more routine. 

- Finish 3 or more crochet projects - Nope - didn't even get close to this one. I finished one crochet project in 2018, a hat for my cousin's daughter. It was one of her Christmas gifts and I think she looks pretty adorable in it! 

Little girl with her Aunt and her new hat (and my mom smiling at her in the background). 

- Quilt 12 projects on my HQ Avante - I did great on this one - I quilted 15 quilts this year! Several for others, some small and some larger, some for me and some for gifts. 

4) Lose and keep off at least 5 pounds. Just like the crochet, I didn't do too well on this one. I lost a solid 2 pounds and would say that I've mostly kept it off, but still have work to do. I am glad for the new YMCA near us that will hopefully keep me motivated to move! 

On the cross-stitch front, I jumped in with both feet to participate in Stitch Maynia, where I started a new project each day for 15 days. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would and found that I do like to have a few projects going so that I can pick and choose what I want to work on based on my mood/energy level/etc. I did great in finishing them too, with 14 of the 15 starts completed by year-end. Overall, I finished 22 stitching projects!! Lots of small ones in that number, and only 1 of them fully finished by year end (whoops). Here's the collage of all my 2018 stitching - do you have a favorite?

On the quilting front, even though I didn't get in as many sewing days as I'd have liked, I had three retreats where I had dedicated sewing time, which helped me finish up 19 projects, including 11 finished quilts, and one wool embroidery. I am only carrying one quilt top that was finished in 2018 into 2019 unfinished. 

In my quilt stash, I ended the year ahead, but by the smallest margin since I started tracking! 

Fabric added this year: 35 1/4 yards (the most since 2014 and I blame three quilt shops that closed and had good sales!)

Fabric used this year: 39 3/8 yards (the lowest in the 9 years I have been tracking, I think due largely to working on UFOs where I had already counted the fabric). 

Net fabric used in 2018: 4 1/8 yards (not much, but moving in the right direction!)

If you're still reading, I want to thank you - and especially to those who have left me comments through the year (special gold stars to Carol and Kate who comment on almost every blog post!). I have a couple of those wallets in the bottom right of my quilting collage and I would like to have a giveaway to share them with a few readers. If you'd like a handy wallet that will also hold your cell phone, leave me a comment and I will select two to receive the remaining wallets (note that I must have your email address to contact you, so if you don't have it in your profile, please leave it in your comment!).  Thanks again for reading, and hope your 2018 was a good one too!