Countdown

It seems like the holiday seasons start earlier and earlier every year, and I guess I'm not helping much.  I got a head-start on my holiday quilting and have finished up a little advent calendar quilt.

I know that I don't do well with super-precise piecing, so I went for a slightly wonky look.

 The date-counter is supposed to be a candy-cane but I wasn't super careful about matching up the stripes.  It's little, so I might re-do it if I can find some more scraps of that fabric.

The backing has two little sleeves.  I'll need to get a dowel or figure out some kind of way to hang it.  I didn't think that far ahead... but it's got sleeves... so that's a start!!

The trickiest part was the letters... I printed them out, and copied them onto iron-on backing... then ironed that onto the fabrics.  It took one or two before I managed to get them to look right-side-up.  

 

Ironed the backing to the letters, cut them out,  ironed them onto the quilt... and then tried to do some outline stitching.  As I stated above, it was somewhat less than precise.

 

Here's a little close up of the embroidery and trim. 

Honestly, it was a lot of work for such a small quilt... but I love it.  I think it will look festive when it's finally up on the wall.  

2012 Goals

For 2012 I'm going to focus a couple of really important goals. 

1. Start Grad School
I've still got a few more things to complete the application process.  And there are two more pre-requisite classes I'll need to take.  Then I should be set to start in the Fall.  My biggest priority this year will again be taking classes, doing homework, trying to get good grades, and trying my best to pay for it all without going into debt.

2.  Weigh less at the end of 2012 than I do right now.  
I know, it's such a classic resolution... and a classic failed resolution.  But it needs to happen. And I do have a bit of a plan.

I'm already participating in a "Healthy Team - Healthy You" program at work, and this will continue through January and February.  There is also a "Healthy Steps" program at work where you can record your workouts or health education activities to earn points.  Earn a certain number of points and you can earn $200 at the end of the year.  I was signed up for 2011 but stopped recording my activities half way through and didn't accumulate enough points.  So one of my sub-goals for 2012 will be to complete this program and earn the $200. 

The other thing I'm going to focus on is food.  I have really cut back on the amount of soda and fast food I've consumed, and I want to build on that.  I'm going to allow myself either fast-food or soda about once a week for the year... I've given myself 52 cards, and will toss one of those cards each time I eat fast food (for the purposes of this goal, the sushi-go-round near my apartment will not count as fast food, but the cheeseburgers at my work cafeteria will) or drink soda (and for the purposes of this goal, any sugar-added bottled beverage will count as 'soda' - Snapple for example; but brewed tea or coffee that I add sugar to will not, 100% fruit juice does not count either).

I'm also going to try to focus my diet more on fruits and veggies and eat according to this pyramid.  Fewer processed foods, less meat & dairy.  To do this I'm going to spend less time cooking and baking and being a foodie.  It'll be a process. We'll see how it goes.


That's as much as I really need to focus on this year.  Although I do have one other crafty goal. 

3.  12 projects in 2012.
I'll count knitting projects, quilts, embroidery and pretty much any other hand work.  I'm going to focus on finish up my current WIPs.  I'll do a WIP inventory in a future blog post.

So that's it, those are my goals for 2012.  Pretty big goals but I'm hoping that they will lead to some pretty big improvements in my life. 

2011 Report Card

So, how did I do on my resolutions for last year?


1. Take care of my health.  - get a new doctor, get new glasses, get some exercise, quit drinking soda.

Did okay with this one.  I went to the optometrist, got new glasses, got a new doctor, and even went to the dentist.  The dental appointment was fairly traumatic, and I most certainly won't be going back to them.  But after putting it off for a good year and a half, I get points for going.

I did not quit drinking soda entirely, but I think my consumption of soda and fast food is down from it's all time high of daily/ several times a week.  However, most of the time I avoided soda by drinking Snapple or some other calorie loaded sweetened beverage.  Which is kinda like swapping smoking heroin for smoking cigarettes... yeah, it's better but....

Exercise - I'd thought about joining a gym and starting to swim again, but never got around to it.  I did however buy a bike over the summer and that has been a big improvement in my life.  I ride to the store, I rode to class, and occasionally I just ride for fun.

Overall score for this resolution:  B

2. Get in good financial shape. - save some money

I did, in fact, save some money this year.  Not much, but some.  Did not accumulate any debt.

Overall score for this resolution: A


 

3. Creative aspirations. - Show a quilt at Sisters Outdoor Quilt show.

I have to say, completing this resolution made me extremely happy.  It was far more gratifying than I would have thought.

Score for this resolution: A





4. Philanthropy. - give money to charity

I signed up for an automatic contribution to the Oregon Food Bank, and I made a small donation to the Red Cross.  I gave, but I didn't give much.  And I didn't do any volunteering this year.


Score for this resolution: B

5. Take the next few steps on my career path. - gear up for Grad School

This is where the bulk of my focus has been this year.  I have been working my tush off in my Spanish classes to fulfill the pre-requisite for the graduate program.  I took Summer term off to save my sanity, otherwise I'd be done with Spanish by now.  So that part is still in-progress, although on track to finish up before the graduate program starts in the fall.  Spanish is NOT easy for me, but I put in the hours, wrote up the flash cards, and studied as much as I could, and have As in each Spanish class as my reward.  I still don't feel like I can actually speak Spanish... but at least my transcript looks good.

In November, I went to an information session at Portland State University for the Applied Linguistics department - Masters in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, and I have begun the application process.  I still have to request one more letter of recommendation and revise my essay.  The application is due on Feb. 1, and I'm on track for that.

Overall score for this resolution: A+ 


Extra Credit:

Not so much resolution oriented, but I did a few cool things this year.
- Flew down to Las Vegas to celebrate a friend's wedding.  Although this doesn't really fall under any my resolutions, I think staying in touch with friends from far & near is important.  It was also super fun!

- Visited Costa Rica with an educational tour group.  This one falls under my overall life goal of traveling as much as possible.  This was my first visit to Central America and I got to do a lot of cool things like river rafting and staying with a local family - communicating exclusively in Spanish. 

- I got a really good review at work.  My job is obviously not my dream career, but it was good to know that despite the fact that my focus was on my Spanish classes & pursuing my future career, I was doing well where I was.

- I joined a "Healthy Team, Healthy You" program at work.  It's mostly a way to get a discounted rates on my insurance next year... but am actually going to the meetings and tracking my pedometer readings etc.  I don't have a ton of confidence in the ability of this program to improve my health... but it can't hurt.

Factoring these extra credit points, I give myself an A for the year.  Most aspects of my life are right on track!


There's always room for improvement of course... so that's what I'll focus on in this new year. =)

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!  I will be spending time with friends over the weekend, and then traveling to Tennessee after the New Year to visit my family. 

I've had a very busy fall.  Spanish 202 was the most challenging course I've taken yet.  I've spent a great many hours studying, and haven't done much crafting.  I've also begun the process of applying for graduate school.  So it doesn't look like my life will be slowing down any time soon!

Halloween Lanterns

I've been hanging out on Craftster again and got a great idea for a Halloween craft.

I went to SCRAP to pick up some orange tissue paper & a few sheets of black construction paper.  Have I mentioned how much I love SCRAP?  I got a bunch of things while I was there (including a book about Japanese inspired quilts for $1), but the paper products cost less than 50 cents.  Not too shabby.  I grabbed a few old glass jars from the cupboard and got to work.

It's pretty self-explanatory, I ripped up the tissue paper and layered it on with the collage glue.  I actually mixed a bit of glitter in with the glue, although I'm not sure how noticeable it is.

Then while the glued dried, I cut out the face pieces.  Then I glued them on as well, and covered the whole thing with another layer of glue.

Stick a little tea-light in the jar and they're good to go!

 (I need to get a taper for the taller skinny bottle... none of the candles I have at home worked)

Now, when I went to work today and was bragging about my newest little craft project, my coworker listened polite and responded "Yeah, I think we did those in kindergarten."  Oh well, it's not the first time that I've displayed the artistic ability of a 5 year old. =P

Spooky

Here's a scary thought.... I'm planning to make my own Halloween costume this year!

It's even more frightening to think about how much all of this cost!  Even with everything on sale, my debit card let out an eerie shriek when I paid for it.  However the most terrifying aspect of all is how many Halloween costumes are just excuses for women to dress like a frat boy's fantasy.

Although being a foot shorter and about 50lbs heavier than the models in these pictures will probably help me look more like I'm bringing baked goods to Grandma and less like I'm out flirting with wolves.