2015 Goals

goals
Here we are, 2015. I’ve been looking back at 2014 and thinking about what I want to accomplish this year.

Try Something New Every Month
I am really excited about taking part in Try Something New Every Month. I am going to use this as an opportunity to tackle some ideas that have been on my to do list for a long, long time.

Use It or Lose It
Laura from Bugs and Fishes posted about having a hard time decluttering craft supplies and I am the exact same way. It is so hard for me to get rid of craft supplies or things that could potentially be used as craft supplies. I have a jar full of various plastic lids for things that I’m convinced will be great as a toddler/preschool craft or activity so I obviously can’t ever throw them out! Well I’m going to join Laura in the Use It or Lose It challenge.

Complete a Quilt
I’m not too picky on this one. Preferably it will be my hexagon English paper piecing quilt I’ve been working on the last year, but I would also like to do a machine pieced quilt as well.

Finish Some WIPs
I am really, really awful about starting new projects before I finish ones. I need to sit down and make an official list but off the top of my head there’s the 50 States Stitching Club, Quilty Stitches sampler, the astronaut flash card cross stitch, Evie’s blanket… I’m going to shoot for finishing at least one old project a month.

Have A Project Published in a Magazine
In 2014 I had projects in two different magazines and I plan on submitting ideas to more this year!

Really Focus On Blog Content
For awhile this past year I got caught in this cycle of feeling like I HAD to post 5 days a week even if I didn’t have a planned post. So this meant scrambling to write a post at 11:30 and not really having any solid content.
This year is going to be different. I’m not going to post for the sake of posting. I will still show off progress shots of WIP but I’m going to work to have more well thought out content. I want to do more full tutorials and project ideas and I’m working to keep an editorial calendar to keep me from running out of ideas the night before.

Clean Up Blog Tags
This has been a growing concern that I am overwhelmed by the thought of tackling (so if you know an easy way to do it, I’d love to hear!) This blog started out on Tumblr so I was using hyphens in tags and I’ve managed to accumulate a lot of similar but different tags. “Cross stitch” and “cross stitching” and “cross-stitching” for example.
I need to go through and minimize the amount of tags and make sure they are all consistent. This is the thing on my list that I’m dreading the most.

Clean and Use My Sewing Machine More
I always make excuses for why I don’t sew more and one of the big ones is that my sewing machine does this weird bunching up thing and the tension is screwy. I’m 99% sure that a good cleaning will take care of this, I just need to do it. And once I get it cleaned, I need to put it to good use!

And finally
Say No!
I love doing swaps and writing guest posts and doing blog hops. However, there were a lot of times this last year when I overcommitted and found myself completely overwhelmed and stressed out by all the things I had agreed to do. So while I still plan on doing lots of swaps and fun things this year, I’m also going to be realistic and say no when necessary. It’s not worth going crazy to do a swap I just don’t have time for, there will be others!

Last year I put the goal of doing more craft shows on my list. While I do want to try to do a few, I’m not really making it a priority this year. I’m still on the fence about craft shows, they always cause me a lot of stress and anxiety and I don’t know that they’re really my thing. So we’ll see what I decide to do about those this year.

So what about you? Are you a resolution/goal maker? What are you hoping to accomplish in 2015?

Comments

  1. Vanessa says

    A lot of my friends love CoSchedule for blog content curation and planning. It is a paid plug-in though. There are a ton that do similar things like mostly looking at what you’ve planned ahead at a glance.

    I’m going to rejigger my blog content as well. It got stale out of fear and wanting to say the “right” things. I had an epiphany the other day that *I* wouldn’t read my own blog because it’s so…bland. It was more exciting when I was first blogging because I was writing things from my whole heart and not from the voice that says “wait, someone might not like that!”

    I’m going back into the habit of one doodle a day and writing three pages of garbage each morning. I was really into the groove of doing that each day and it made me feel mentally clear and healthy during the summer.

    I also want to read 70 books this year. I got up to 68 last night before I fell asleep.

    Happy new year!

    • says

      Yes! It’s so easy to get caught up in worrying about what you *SHOULD* be posting, especially when there are all these guides to social media and blogging. But if you’re doing all the right things and not having fun or enjoying yourself, it’s not worth it!

      68 is an impressive amount of books! I need to read more but I always find myself watching tv instead because I can stitch at the same time.

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