HAPPY NEW YEAR!  A look back into 2015, and forward to 2016

Hope I am not too late in wishing you all a very Happy New Year!  I hope you have all had a relaxing and peaceful Christmas.  We had a lovely time celebrating with friends and family, and now I feel rested and looking forward to what 2016 brings!

This is Christmas morning.  Lucy wanted the little plastic drawer set for her cupboard, so we filled it with presents instead of her stocking.  Nicholas had a loft ladder, so that he can get up in his enormous loft, and you can see it under his pile of presents!

Looking back on 2015, my word ADVENTURE served me well, with 3 big adventures!

Holiday in Australia and New Zealand – a holiday of a lifetime and overcoming my nervousness of flying.

Welcoming our new puppy Barney into our lives – putting in the time to train him.

Setting up my Etsy shop selling vintage sewing items – and making some sales!

Looking forward to 2106, I’d like to build on these 3 adventures, and so I have chosen 3 words: GROW, DEVELOP and FLOURISH.

I am in the process of going through some exercises in a  little book on Life Coaching to enable me to get a better understanding of what I want my life to be like, and therefore write some goals for 2016.  I will keep you posted!

Have you chosen a word for 2016?

Some big Adventures and some January finishes!

Oh dear!  I seem to have got right out of the habit of blogging lately.  Not sure what to do about this – perhaps I should just blog intermittently for now.

But here’s some fabulous news!  My one little word for 2015 is ADVENTURE.  In fact, it is a really BIG word, as I have 2 BIG adventures to look forward to this year. 

In just over 3 weeks time, we take off on our holiday of a lifetime!  We are going to tour New Zealand on a motorbike.  It is something we’ve dreamed of for some 10 years or so.  Some old motorbiking friends are coming along too.  We had to wait until we didn’t have our dog anymore, and they had to wait until their youngest child had grown up.  Well, it has all come together now!  We join the tour in Auckland and tour the north and south islands for 18 days.  We are stopping off in Australia on the way out there to visit my cousin in Adelaide and Maurice’s nephew and family near Sydney. Very exciting!  I can’t wait to show you some of the wonderful scenery we are travelling through.

My second ADVENTURE is to get a puppy when we get home!  We are researching breeds and fancy either another flat-coated retriever or a springer spaniel.  I warn you, this blog may become very doggy!

I think as my word is ADVENTURE that I should do my mini-adventures again, and I may well do this in September.  Anyone fancy joining in? 

I intend to continue ADVENTURE into my crafting, and hope to challenge myself and try new things.  I want to continue dressmaking, crochet and scrapbooking.  I’d really like to make some money from my crafting interests, that could become quite an ADVENTURE.

Finally here’s a couple of items I’ve finished this month:

Ripple Baby blanket for niece’s baby boy.  The pattern is by Lucy at Attic24, and I bought the kit.  I made this one small, so I have loads of wool leftover to make another one for myself.  Aren’t the colours lovely? There are 15 different colours of Stylecraft wool, which is very soft and feels lovely.

And here’s a jacket I have finished.  It is Butterick B5958.  I made it in a soft brushed cotton fabric, that has a tweed sort of pattern to it.  It’s lovely and soft, in fact, it might be a bit too soft for the jacket.  But I do love it!  It will be fab to wear in the spring and autumn.  Thanks to Laura at More Sewing for help with the fitting and construction.

 

GOAL!

NO, I am not writing about football – despite the World Cup taking place in Brazil as I write.  To be honest, I am not really bothered about football,  Like most sports, I don’t want to sit through a full game, but like to know who wins (not England this time!).  We’ve had a glut of TV sport in this house, Isle of Man TT motorcycle races, Moto GP, football and now tennis at Wimbledon, then there’s the Commonwealth Games in a week or two! How about you, do you like watching sport on TV?

What I want to write about is my personal goals that I set for myself.  I joined www.simplify101.com a few years ago and regularly join in with the goal setting class each January.  This year, I included the kitchen remodel, and losing weight.  More on the kitchen remodel later, but today I want to tell you about my successful weight loss.

I joined Weightwatchers in January, and yesterday reached my goal weight after losing 26lb!  I have dieted on and off for years, going up and down about 1 to 1.5 stones (14-21lbs).  It is a long time since I have been this low weight- possibly before I had the children!  It feels really good!  Hope I can keep it off!

Here’s the before:

And the after:

However, it is not all good news.  I started off in January losing 0.5lb – 1lb per week, then suddenly in March (about the time of my birthday) the weight started to fall off dramatically at 2-3lbs each week!  This coincided with feeling very thirsty and going to the toilet lots, especially at night.  I went to the doctors to get some blood tests done, and have just been diagnosed with diabetes!  I am going to see the diabetic nurse next week to go through everything and get medication if it is necessary.

So that does explain the rapid weight loss. I have to be honest, I can’t tell you that I lost weight by cutting down and not eating certain things (biscuits!).  I have been eating more or less normally.

I feel rather unlucky!  I haven’t been massively overweight, and I eat reasonably healthy, lots of fruit and veg, not lots of sugar, just a few biscuits here and there, and I generally avoid puddings.  And I exercise a lot.  Now we don’t have the dog to walk, I go to the gym 4 times per week.  It’s unfair!  I am guessing that there is a genetic component to Type 2 diabetes, as my Dad had it.  I have been doing some research – there are some nasty complications if the blood sugar levels are not controlled!  I hope I can control my levels well. 

I feel unhappy that I now have a medical condition that will always be there.  I am well and truly ‘in the healthcare system’ for the first time in my life (excluding pregnancies). However, there is a good nurse-led diabetic clinic at my local GP’s surgery.  There are lots of regular check ups eg, feet, blood pressure, cholesterol etc.  So I will be well looked after!  As many people have said it could be worse, so I am grateful for that.

So, the diabetes plus my new kitchen have given me renewed enthusiasm for healthy cooking.  Have you got a favourite website or maybe a Pinterest board where you go for new recipes?  Do let me know!

To end on a positive note,  here’s a happy photo of me in my latest me made dress, standing in front of my new border in the garden.  It’s the Staple Dress from April Rhodes, dead easy to make with only 5 pattern pieces!

Crafty goals for 2014

Gosh, I am so late posting this!  It’s nearly half way through January!  I did write my goals a few days ago, just haven’t had/made the time to report them here.

Dressmaking

I am ever so slightly obsessed with sewing blogs at the moment, and have really enjoyed reading everyone’s hits, misses for 2103 and goals for 2014, which was hosted by http://crafting-a-rainbow.tumblr.com/.  As a relative newcomer to dressmaking, my takeaways from reading these are:

Make items that I will wear, appropriate design, colour, fabric.  So no fitted sheath dresses or party dresses for me!  I will stick to my usual autumn colour palette so that new items coordinate with existing items in my wardrobe.  And, I’ve realised that I find stretchy fabrics the most comfortable, so I will experiment with knits this year!

I’d like to find some sewing blogs that really inspire me to follow throughout the year, and to try to be involved in the sewing blogging community.

Here’s my first dress of 2014:

It’s the Red Velvet dress from Cake patterns, made in Ponte Roma bought at Fabricland.  I had to do a ‘deep bust adjustment’ lengthening the front bodice by 2”.  As a newbie to knits, I found Ponte so easy to sew!  I used a ball point needle and a stretch stitch on my machine.  I had to do a ‘deep bust adjustment’ lengthening the bodice by 2”.  The instructions for construction and fitting adjustments are really clear on the blog.  Other than that the fit is pretty good.   I have worn it already, out with Burnice and Tash to celebrate Burnice’s birthday.  We went to a fabulous restaurant in Brighton.  Check it out here.  We were serenaded by a gorgeous opera singer!

I don’t think I will tackle anything too tricky this year, just try to make lots of different tops, dresses, skirts and maybe some leggings.  I also have a pattern to make pyjamas, for which I have bought some lovely blue polka dot fabric to make some for Lucy.

Scrapbooking

will not take a back seat! I am going to follow challenges on www.ukscrappers.co.uk, and create a Project Life style album for 2014 and scrapbook at least 2 big holidays, USA 2103 and Canada 2004.  I am hoping to go to a scrapbook retreat in the autumn.

Quilting.

I have at least 1 baby quilt to make this year!  There’s a new baby in the family - due any minute!  I have fabric to make 2 or 3 other quilts.  Maybe I will pledge to complete at least 2 this year.

Other crafts

I want to carry on trying new things and will be on the look out for local courses.

 

So there’s my crafting goals for 2014.  I have goals for other areas of my life, such as lose some weight (seeing those pictures of me above is a bit of a shock as I have put on quite a lot of weight recently) and carry on with my exercise class.  I would like to get a part time job now we don’t have a dog, and am currently updating my CV.  We also have plans for a new kitchen, and some exciting travel plans! 

Come back soon to see how I am getting on!

Looking back on 2013

I have had a fabulous year!  Here’s some of my successes:

Exercise.  I have kept up with 4x per week exercise all year!  I love going to my exercise classes in the little gym, which is just down the road.  The classes are small, only 6-10 in the group, but we all get on very well and always have a laugh!  Sadly, I have not lost any weight, in fact, put too much on!

Travel.  Our fabulous holiday to California and Oregon! 

Home projects.  A small project to update the porch turned into a massive job when we decided to decorate the hall stairs and landing and have a new front door!  We still have the wires to sort out!

Garden.  Towards the end of the year we did a huge amount of clearing, all these large shrubs are now gone, and the border will be ready to replant.  That is, once the rain has stopped and it is less waterlogged out there!

Crafting!  last but not least I have had a fabulous year of crafting, including completing several quilts, trying new things such as the glass fusion workshop, knitting, and rediscovering dressmaking.  I definately made the most of my new sewing machine!  Although scrapbooking took a bit of a back seat, I did complete a major reorganisation of my albums and completed several page challenges.

So I wonder what is in store for 2014?

Happy New Year!

Here’s to a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2014!

Finish Off January and SAD February

I finished my Christmas 2012 journal!  I had already done a page for each day using inks, paints and stamps, so decided to use the opposite page for a photo or two and some pretty paper.  I was really pleased to use up some older Christmas stash!  Here’s a few of the double page spreads:

 

I used old Christmas cards and other bits and pieces on some pages where I didn’t have a photo

And I will admit there are 1 or 2 pages that are not completed, but I am OK with that.  I have written everything I want to about Christmas 2012!

That wraps up my January craft goal, to finish off my 2012 album and JYC.  So what am I going to do in February?

I want to quilt my Little Town quilt and Tuscan Village scene, so I am going to try and sew everyday!  Remember LOAD (Layout a Day)?  Well, this is SAD, Sew a Day!  I know it should be Sew Every Day, but I prefer SAD to SED!

New Year’s Resolutions and Goals

Some of you who have read my blog for a while will know that I love making new year’s resolutions and setting goals for myself.  A few years ago I did an online class: How to achieve your goals and live the life you love with Aby Garvey at www.simplify101.com.  I still chat on the forum daily with the same dozen or so participants, who have become firm friends.   We set ourselves annual goals, but then break them down month by month. 

This year I started with my ‘One Little Word’ (an idea from www.aliedwards.com), which is CREATE.   I have set goals for a creating a healthy lifestyle, creating a comfortable and welcoming home and we are in the process of planning some very exciting travel later in the year.  I would dearly like to do more craft this year, and schedule crafting time into my life on a weekly basis.

Aby has written 2 inspiring blog posts here and here about setting 13 goals in 2013.  This got me thinking, what 13 goals could I set myself for 2013? Bearing in mind my crafting goal, I have decided to use this idea to set myself crafting goals for each month of the year.  I have lots of ideas (far more than 13 actually!) and will set one per month.

To kick it all off, I am making January a ‘finish-off’ month and will finish my 2012 album, and my Christmas album (JYC).  Here are my December pages in my 2012 album, Project Life style:

Hope you like them!  I am going to make 2013 album a bit simpler and make more 12 x 12 LOs for my other albums.  In fact, I still have to organise my albums despite Shimelle’s class being several months ago (last May in fact!)  So there’s a job I need to do.  I am confused between Stacey Julian’s Library of Memories and annual albums.  More about this later!