Starting the New Year Right!

Christmas with my two favorite people!

  So,  I have never really been much of a "resolutions" girl.  Resolutions are made to be broken...there, I said it.  You all know it's true.  How many long-term, tough to keep, resolutions have you kept?  If the answer is more than "none,"  I am impressed!  In lieu of resolutions, I like to think about the year that's gone by, and the year to come, and make a few goals for myself.
  On a personal level, there is the always made (and never followed) goal to lose weight; the obligatory "try to be a better person" type goals; and recently discovered "downsize" urges have led to the goal to take one pair of shoes "out" every time I bring a new pair of shoes "in."  I must admit, this last one has led to me buying a lot fewer new pairs of shoes because I like most of my old ones!  I have found that a specific goal such as, "Smile and make contact with people I don't know at quilt guild" is much more likely to be followed than the general "make new friends at guild"-type goals.
  Following that idea, I found last year that setting specific projects to work on each month led to my most productive year ever, when it comes to quilting anyway.  My Facebook friends had started this idea a few years ago where at the beginning of the year, they labeled 12 projects with numbers 1-12.  Each month, one of the members of the group posts a randomly drawn number, and that is the specific focus for that month.  There are no project police that will come to your house if you don't do it, but just knowing that I made the commitment seems to motivate me.  There is no pressure to even finish the project but just a goal to work on it and make some progress.   We then post pictures of our progress at some point during the month.  It is so much fun!  If you aren't a member of a Facebook quilting group, I highly recommend finding a small one.  The groups that literally have thousands of members really aren't great for this type of thing.  If you don't have a group, you should start one! Invite me!  I would be glad to join you:)
  Happy New Year, and Happy Quilting!