Half way there

Kimberly from As reasonable as can be expected posted a comment on my New Year's goal post that got me thinking.

Kimberly said...

In case you have been wondering, I'm the one going through all your old post. It's half way through the year. How are you doing with your list? I may make a half year goal list.

Now that the year is officially half over I guess I should check up on my goals to see what I have done and have not done.

1. Sew more for Eric. This is a must! I have to get over my fears of men's tailoring and just do it. I have resigned myself that the first dress shirt I make will not be perfect but none of them will be perfect if I don't ever start with the first!  This I am happy to say I have been doing and will continue to do. So far he has gotten 2 dress shirts, a vest and 2 pairs of pj pants.  Although I don't think the pj pants really count.  

2. Sew 50% of my stash. After re-tallying my stash I have much more than I kept track of throughout the year. I was gifted several dozens of yards of fabric as well as I had a bolt of muslin that I added in. My current total yards is 348. So I need to use 174 yards. This calls for a new ticker and better methods of keeping track. New ticker: check. Better methods: WIP.  Umm...I am so not even close to this goal.  I have been buying so much more fabric than I have been using.  So far this year I have only used 29 yds and I need to use at least 198 now.  I don't even think I can hit the original 174 yds.  I need to do a lot more sewing and a lot less shopping.

3.Get some friends to be models and post items in my Etsy shop! I want to have these posted by the end of February!  I haven't done this either.  I haven't really made costumes for my Etsy shop The Five Petals.  However, I did open a completely different Etsy shop Mae's Garden.  I have even had a handful of sales so far.  So I guess I will count this as a half completed goal.

4. Finish the quilt! I feel awful that I have not done this yet. Winter is the best time to do it as it requires the quilt to be laying on me and we do not have air conditioning to do it comfortably in the summertime.  Not yet,  I am on my last row of rings though.  It is starting to get warm here again so we will see how much more I get done before fall.  After that I need to attach the binding.  I am having a debate with myself of how I want to do that.  Do I save time and machine stitch it on or do I hand stitch it to keep with the hand quilting? 

5. Learn a new knitting technique and put it to use. I am going to keep knitting scarves and possibly, POSSIBLY, a blanket. Though I doubt I will get to the blanket this year.  I have put my knitting aside so far this year to work on the quilt.  But I will be picking it back up since the weather is getting a bit to warm to have the quilt laying on me.  I have, however, taught myself to knit fingerless gloves, which are for sale in my Etsy shop.  I also have the instructions for knitting hats but I haven't tried it yet.  When I set this goal I was thinking more along the lines of learning to cable knit or some lace stitch techniques.  I am still planning on trying my hand at cable knitting here soon.

6. Be well prepared for both the Ren Fest and West Fest. By this I mean, break the cycle of sewing until the sun is rising the day we are supposed to leave.  This is not going to happen.  I haven't even started sewing a thing for the Old West Fest.  I think we may not go in costume again.  The Renaissance Festival may be a different story.  My pirate costume that I didn't get to wear last year is still a good fit.  Eric's pirate costume is most of the way done.  I just need to sew the buttons on the jacket, but the shirt is finished.  I still have to make the pants and vest though.  But those should not be to hard to whip up pretty quick.  My friends have not requested any costumes yet, so I cannot say for sure that I will not be sewing the morning of.  Although, this will be the 10th year we go so it could be fun to wear the costume I originally made.  But now that I rethink that, that was before I had a serger or pinking shears so non of my seams were finished and it was not very period.

7. Complete at least 5 of my UFO's. I will have a list of them coming up soon and what needs to be done for each.  I have done this.  I spent the first few months this year in a sewing rut and all I seemed to sew where UFO's.  The five I have completed are Eric's pirate shirt, the muslin of Eric's dress shirt, a chemise for The Five Petals, my plaid skirt and my plaid vest.  I still have 11 other UFO's on my list though.  Hopefully I can knock out a few more of those.  The quilt being one of them.

I think that I have made some good progress so far.  I am in a much better spot with my goals half way through this year than how I finished last year. I think I want to revise my goals just a little. 

 1. Sew More for Eric.  While I have already completed this I will continue with this goal.  I have a more casual shirt cut out for him that is ready to be sewn up this weekend.  I also want to make him a couple more vests and dress shirts this year.
 
2. Sew 50% of my stash.I am sticking with the using 50% of my stash even though I don't think I will make it.  It at least gives me something to work towards. Plus, every time I go to the fabric store I do actually think about this goal and how much I have bought versus used this year. 

7.  I want to complete another 5 UFO's this year. More specifically. those UFO's will include the quilt, Eric's pirate coat, a white pinstripe skirt, a blue plaid skirt and a blue dress.  That blue dress has been sitting unfinished for 2 years!!! Can you believe it.  I think it has gone that long because I need to take off the cowl neck as it does not look good on me and refit the rest of the dress.  Ughhh...alterations!


I guess we will see what happens at the end of the year.  How is everyone else doing with there 2011 sewing goals?  If you haven't made any goals, why not start some now and what are they?