The Plaid Pladd

All things considered, I did pretty well on my goals this year. I didn’t get 100% but I’m not going to beat myself up about it. Some of them were kind of a reach anyway, and I tried my best. In the end, I got to 90% complete. Not as good as last year (96%) but still better than 2014 (68%).

1. Write a New Beginner’s Guide Once A Month: 92%

December was too busy for me to do tackle a new project, but it’s the only month I failed at this one. Here’s what I did the rest of the year, with updates:

January: Weaving
This was my favorite thing I tried in 2017, probably because I did it at the John C. Campbell Folk School, which is magical. I won’t be using it ever again, but it was fun to learn.

February: Calligraphy
Probably the most useful thing I learned all year was the cheater calligraphy I learned for this post!

March: Cross Stitch
I finally finished the cross stitch I started this month, but I have yet to frame it. I’ll probably be doing some cross stitch again sometime.

April: Gardening
Yeah, they all died. I’m probably not going to be trying to tackle this again.

May: Make up
I already knew when I wrote this post that make up is not for me. Sorry, friends, you’re stuck with my face as is.

June: Bullet Journaling
Probably the one I will be using the most from here on! I kept it up for the rest of the year, although I definitely changed the format some to suit me better.

July: Candy Making
I mean, I’ll definitely make fudge again. But anything with a candy thermometer? Nah

August: Free Motion Quilting
I bet I’ll be doing this again, but even after learning all about it for this post, it kind of intimidates me.

September: Pole Dancing
This one was both the hardest and most fun thing I tried this year! I won’t be doing it again because I don’t got those skills, but it was fun to try!

October: Cake Decorating
Omg no, I lied before, making my cupcakes look like they were made by a competent adult was the most useful thing I learned this year.

November: Soap Making
This one was pretty boring and messy, tbh

2. Sew Something New Once a Month: 83%
Another goal I didn’t get to in December, plus I already missed one in May, so there you go. In October I sewed my Halloween costume, Captain Crunch:

And in November I sewed this quilt top. It’s made of lots of different fabrics I had around, and I’m hoping to get to the quilting part soon:

3. Write in my Journal once a week: 100%!

Bullet journaling really helped out with this one.

4. Make one new recipe every week: 87%
I wish I’d been better at documenting this one, but alas. Here is the only one I bothered taking pictures of in the past three months:

These were the favorite of all the Christmas cookies I made. You add hot chocolate mix to the dough.

5. Keep my nails painted for 30 days: 100%
It was a struggle.

6. Finish a coloring book: 100%

I finished this goal so long ago, I’ve already forgotten about it.

7. Be active every day: 56%

I know, pathetic. To be fair, I didn’t count all my walks with Olivia unless they were particularly strenuous for some reason. But that’s still more than half, which is okay by me.

8. Read all of The Dictionary of Imaginary Places: 100%!

I’m really proud of this one, because it definitely seems like the one I would slack off and fail at. Remember when I tried to read all of Brewer’s? But I crushed this. And in the process learned that there have been so many books about societies that live inside the earth. Most of them are racist as shit.

Total: 90%

Previously: 2017 Almost There
Next: 2018 Goals!!!

Now that we’re 75% done with 2017, it’s time to see if I’m 75% done with my goals for the year.

1. Write a Beginners’ Guide Once A Month: 75%
Right on schedule:

July: Candy Making
August: Free Motion Quilting
September: Pole Dancing

I’m not sure when (if ever) I’ll do any of these again. All three were way hard and require a lot of practice to get competent at. But I’m glad I tried all of them!

2. Sew Something Once a Month: 67%

In July I made this quilted journal cover in my quilting class:

In August I made this Halloween wall hanging:

In September I made this ugly quilt for an ugly quilt contest:

3. Write in my journal once a week: 75%

I’ve been writing every day since I got into bullet journaling!

4. Make one new recipe every week: 63%

I am doing way better at this goal than I thought I would be, even though I have missed out some weeks.

5. Keep my nails painted for 30 days: 100%

You already know about this.

6. Finish a coloring book: 100%

Ah yes, my life’s greatest accomplishment

7. Be active every day: 42%
In September I started going back to my aerobics class, so that should give me a little bump in this statistic. Also I only counted that pole dancing class as one day, even though it felt like a week.

Total: 74.5%

I CAN DO IT

Previously: 2017 Halfway

The year is half over! But am I halfway done with my goals? Surprisingly, yes

1. Write a Beginners’ Guide Once a Month: 50%

At least there’s that

April: Gardening
May: Make Up
June: Bullet Journaling

Of these, my favorite was definitely bullet journaling, probably because it aligned the most with my interests. Also, I’m sad to report that the basil plant in April’s entry has since died. RIP

2. Sew Something Once a Month: 42%
You caught me, I didn’t sew anything in May. In April I made this bitchin Tuxedo Mask cape for Steven’s birthday:

And in June I made this whale mail holder:

3. Write in my journal once a week: 54%

The bullet journaling goal really made this one easy!

4. Make one new recipe every week: 42%

I skipped 4 different weeks for various reasons, be they travel, being too busy, or sickness. But I have made some awesome recipes despite that, including this amazing bread:

And this Smores ice box cake:

5. Keep my nails painted for 30 days: 100%

I peaked early this year

6. Finish a coloring book: 100%

THAT’S RIGHT. It’ll probably be the only one I ever finish. I would take a picture for you but I threw it in recycling. I was done coloring it, what do you want

7. Read The Dictionary of Imaginary Places: 52%

Why did I think this was a good idea. Somehow I am on page 377 of 731

8. Be active every day: 30%

lol okay

Total: 59%

See you in September

Previously: Quarter Quell

25% done with 2017!!! But am I 25% done with my goals? WE SHALL SEE

1. Write a Beginner’s Guide Once a Month: 25%
Nailed it! So far.

January: Weaving
February: Calligraphy
March: Cross stitch

Probably the most fun of these was Weaving since I took an actual class (at the John C Campbell Folk School omg). The one that I will probably continue to do is cross stitch.

2. Sew something once a month: 25%

In January I turned a dress into a skirt by cutting off the top and sewing in a new waistband.

In February I tried to make a fabric bin out of my random extra fabric. It worked out okay, I guess. Here’s a picture before the cardboard went in to stiffen the sides:

I needed five more of those, so in March I made more. A variety of subpar binding methods were attempted:

3. Write in my journal once a week: 25%
The key to this one has been to just leave my journal out in conspicuous places so I remember to write in it more. I also tape in stuff I want to save:

4. Make one new recipe every week: 23%
I have missed two weeks of this: January 15 when we were out of town for the whole week, and March 5 when I was way too sick to consider cooking anything. Probably the single best recipe I’ve tried in the three months is Sally’s Baking Addiction’s strawberry frosting. Holy shit is it good. Here’s the only recipe I’ve made for this project that I’ve bothered to take a picture of, I guess:

5. Keep my nails painted for 30 days: 100%!
That’s right, I already finished a whole goal.

6. Finish a coloring book: 60%
I have been working on this one a lot! The coloring book I chose is Alice in Wonderland themed.

7. Read the Dictionary of Imaginary Places: 30%
I’m currently in F, and I’m learning a lot. For instance, there are a ton of books set in the center of the Earth, particularly from the 18th and 19th centuries. People thought there was all kinds of crap down there.

8. Be active every day: 16%
I was never going to get 100% on this one, but I’m doing even worse than projected. March really brought my average down. First I was sick for a full week, and then I managed to hurt my back. I’m slowly getting into my routine again now.

Total: 38%

Looks like finishing up the nail polish goal is really saving me here!

Previously: 2017 Goals: To the Max!