June Goal Update

We're half way through 2018. I'm still sticking to my 18 in 2018 goals. It is, however, a bit of a slog right now. It's becoming clear that I won't complete all of my goals. That doesn't mean I'm giving up, though. This is the progress I made in June:


Goal 4: Stitch and finish/frame Letter Snow

I have a great start on this. I'll have the stitching done in one more day. I haven't decided how I'll do the finishing, though. I originally thought I was going to frame it. But this week I bought some nice bellpull hardware from a gal in town. So I might finish it like a banner.

Goal 8: Learn to use my new sewing machine

I've learned the basics and have used it to sew one project. There's so much more to learn, because there's an entire embroidery attachment to figure out, and I haven't begun to do that yet. But I can do just about as much with this machine as I did with my old machine, so I'm going to call this goal done. It's a constant learning process and I'm good with learning what I need to learn as each situation arises.

Goal 10: Make a pattern from my favorite t-shirt and use it to make some shirts.

Well, I've made and altered the pattern twice. I've made three shirts from it. The last one come out beautifully, but because of the fabric I used, it didn't fit me as well as I hoped. So I'm giving that shirt to my daughter Jeanne after I try a dyeing technique on it. I'll alter the pattern one more time and make another shirt for myself. It's a process. But I'm calling this goal complete, too.

Goal 11: New shelf paper in the kitchen

Technically, I finished this goal in May. But in June I also put the new shelf paper in the pantry (which is in an adjoining room).

Goal 12: The Artist's Way and It's Never Too Late to Begin Again, both by Julia Cameron

After six (or seven?) weeks, I finally finished "Week Nine" of The Artist's Way. There was a big stumbling block there that I had to work through. I'm on to "Week Ten" now, I've done the reading and started in on the exercises.

It's clear to me that I won't get to the second book this year, so I've moved It's Never Too Late onto my 2019 goal list. Overall score sheet:

• Goals completed: Seven
• Goals in progress: Seven
• Goals not started yet: Four

And ... that's it. Some of these goals just take weeks or months to go from start to finish. I find that if I can do a "boot camp" to get a good running start on one single goal, the finishing goes better. Right now, the boot camp is with Letter Snow. When I get done with that, I have a birthday card to make for my mother-in-law. Then I hope to plow back into The Artist's Way again.

But you know how it is. Life sure does get in the way of goals - and I don't want to miss out on Life.