2012: Year of the Craft

2012 was something, wasn't it? I split the blogs into two pages, the original one here reverted back to its intended purpose- quilting and recipes. My new blog became all about wargaming and miniatures hobbying. It's a change I was hesitant to make at first, but certainly was for the best.

If you recall, at the end of 2011 I set some goals for myself for the upcoming year. Let's assess how well I did in meeting them:

• Blogging Consistently: I definitely think I  kept up a good and consistent pace this year. Now to keep it going for 2013.
• Finishing Dwarfs: Well, since I split the blog into two this year, this got covered over there, but no, I did not entirely finish them.
• Finish UFOs: I actually did finish most of my Un-Finished Objects that I had laying around.
• No new projects: Hahahahahaha. That didn't happen.
• More recipes, more photos: I actually had a ton of recipes over the last year and they all had photos to go with them. I even added photos to recipes that lacked them.
• Poor Etsy No More: I started up the shop again, added several new items, and had a few more sales. Over all, a good start but still needs improvement.

I would say I scored a 4 out of 6 goals. I gave myself half credit for the Dwarfs (since 80% of them are painted) and half credit for the Etsy page improvements. All in all, that's not too bad. I really flubbed the dog on not starting new projects until I finished all my old ones. But, honestly, that's to be expected.

With those goals in mind, I came up with some things I'd like to accomplish in the coming year. Aside from just keeping on with that I've been doing, I've added a few things.

2013 Goals:

• I'd like to work on expanding my quilting and sewing posts. My primary purpose in starting this blog was to catalog my sewing adventures, but 2012 was very recipe heavy. I want to post more evenly in the future.
• More for Etsy: I added some new items recently, but I need to work on some more projects to add to my shop.
• Mini Quilts: making a set for the whole year, ones for my personal use and ones to turn into patterns for the Etsy page.
• Keep my UFOs to a minimum: I don't have that many UFOs right now, and I want to try and make sure that I only have a few (5 or less) projects going at one time. Right now I have 3 projects, so I'm doing well.

This seems like a very manageable set of goals. What hurdles are you setting for yourself in the new year?

2011 Mish Mash in Review

I did a lot of things this year. In roughly chronological order, I started my Etsy page, started this blog, moved, got married, got a dog, and got a fancy, new sewing machine. In between those bigger milestones, I also managed quite a bit of quilting, Warhammer, and cooking.

There were never any planned goals with all of this when I started, but after seeing my friend Richard's Year in Review post, I think I should step up my game a little. It'll also serve as a reminder throughout the year that I need to get my butt into gear. I'm not really one for New Year's Resolutions, but I am a fan of setting goals.

2012 Goals:

• Blogging - I will post consistently. I'm trying to get ahead of the curve so I can have a few posts waiting in the wings in case I need a little time off (when I inevitably get sick, for example)
• Dwarfs & Fantasy - Dwarfs will be painted, based, and ready for action. I hope it won't take me all year, but my Daemons took about 18 months to be fully finished, so we'll see.
• Finish projects - I have too many (more than 10) unfinished projects. Only some of them have introduction to the project posts. I will finish them all. Or else...
• No new projects - This one will be hard. Very hard. But, I will not start a new project until all of the ones carrying over from 2011 are done. I have a new machine, so this won't be too difficult, right?
• More recipes, more photos - I haven't been the best about taking photos of my recipe posts, nor have I had too many of my own recipes up. I'm to post a little more about my own creations, and I'm going to make the time to come up with them.
• Poor Etsy No More - Between the wedding and my broken machine, my Etsy page became somewhat ignored. I have some ideas about what I'd like to add, and I am finally going to get off my butt and do them. 

This may be a little too much to kick off with, but once I get into a stride I should be able to tackle some outstanding things while keeping up with my new projects. Plus, now that the apartment is clean, it'll be easier to work on projects!