Friday, November 9, 2012

3 in 30 - November Goals and Update #1

For November, I have set the following three goals as part of the 3 in 30 challenge:

1. Do at least 10 Thanksgiving-theme activities. Last month we enjoyed doing the 13-day Countdown to Halloween. I went through my Thanksgiving file at home as well as images I found on Pinterest that look like fun activities to do, recipes to make, or traditions to begin. 

November Journal Quilt
Embroidered Journal Quilt that 
I made in November 2010.

I selected items from my file as well as looked up each of the pins I marked on Pinterest. After printing them out, I arranged them in order that I would like to do them. There is a nice variety of recipes, crafts, and other activities that will make this month a fun and memorable one.

2. Clean four small areas in the home. There are several areas that I haven't yet worked on during the year-long de-cluttering and organization project I've been doing. During November, I would like to clean the linen/medicine cabinet; finish cleaning the kitchen (under the sink, the remaining cupboards, and drawers); the corner in the mudroom; and my desk.

I have not cleaned and organized any of these areas yet this month. 

3. Get up to date with projects that I fell behind on while working on my Dad's 808-page book that I completed in October. During October I focused my energy on completing the book that I had been working on since my father's death in January. Since it was a time-consuming project, I didn't have a chance to work on other projects (e.g., Take a Stitch Tuesday, Embroidery Journal Project, African Library Project). By the end of the month, I would like to be back on track with each of the year-long projects I've been doing.

I found three patterns for hand-embroidered toys that I want to make and give away through The Toy Society. One is for October (which I haven't done yet); and the other two are for November and December. I cut out the pattern pieces and am now ready to trace them onto felt, cut the felt pieces, and hand-embroider them.

For the Take a Stitch Tuesday project, I realized - as I look at the four stitches that were presented as ones to learn during the past four weeks - that none of them would be ones that I would do again (e.g., too labor-intensive for a small stitch/area covered, the stitch sits awkwardly off the fabric). 

So, I found four other embroidery stitches that I would do in the future. I also picked out the fabric for the samplers. This weekend I hope to complete all four samplers (they are small, so it shouldn't take a huge block of time). 

For the Embroidery Journal Project, I have the design elements for the embroidered quilt square that I want to do to represent October. This weekend I would like to transfer the designs to the fabric and begin stitching.

*~*~*~*~*~*

Also, if you missed reading how I did on Weeks #3 and #4 for October, I combined them into one post.  There are pictures and links to recipes that I made during the month on the 13 theme days.

I felt very happy with the progress I made last month (even though I didn't fully complete all of the goals); and definitely replaced some of the more difficult memories that happened a year ago at this time with positive ones. 

6 comments:

Jeanine Byers said...

Wow, you are doing great with your goals! Congrats!!

Laura said...

Great goals!

Unknown said...

You've done great so far. Love the turkey quilt!! So cute.

Tammy_Skipper said...

I can so relate to the cleaning 'small' areas and the catching up on year long projects. I was doing crafty gifts each month with the intention of having them ready for gift giving by Christmas and that goal has completely fallen apart. I'm working on about four small areas per day since we found out we're moving across the country at the end of the month.

Nikki said...

Good job with your goals this week! If you can figure out how to get excited about cleaning and decluttering, please let me know!

You sound like such a fun mom with your Thanksgiving-theme activities.

Unknown said...

What fun! I would love to see your embroidery projects - that is something I used to enjoy :)