Goals for 2019 and OMG for January

Happy New Year 2019

Move over 2018, here's 2019 ready to take over. I always love New Year as it holds so much promise and anything seems possible. It's even possible that this year I might finish my oldest UFO, my millennium sampler.

I stopped making New Year resolutions a few years ago because I never seemed able to keep them for very long. In 2017 during my cancer treatment I realised that I needed to set myself some goals to try and ensure that I got the best out life. However the goals need to be flexible because in life you never know what may happen next. That's what makes life interesting but you have to be prepared to change your plans when needed.  So what are my plans for 2019

1. To eat a healthy diet most of the time.

We have recently been having far too many take away meals and portion control has gone out the window. I want to get back to tasty healthy food in moderation.

2. Exercise more

John and I do quite a lot of walking but we want to do more. In 2018 I walked 1500 miles and this year I'd like to hit 2000 miles or even better. We started the year well with a 5 mile walk this afternoon. I also want to start swimming again and doing yoga. Reminder to self - I need to order a new yoga mat as I gave mine to Katy. 

3 Read more

Over the last couple of years I haven't been reading as much as I used to. Some of that is because I have so many hobbies I like to work on leaving little time for reading. I would like to try and read a book a month. It doesn't sound much but will help me read the pile of books I have by my bed.

4. Quilting

Ah now here's the problem. I have a lot of UFO's that I wish to complete and many new projects I want to start but where to begin?  I have 3 projects I want to finish this year to flimsy stage. These are the bag ladies quilt, the bear quilt I started for Richard and the grandmother's garden English paper piecing hexagon quilt. I have other projects but these are my main three.

5. Embroidery

In order to finish the bag ladies quilt I need to complete the last two embroideries. In addition I really want to finally finish the millennium sampler.

6. Knitting

I will complete John's jumper. The cat got into my knitting bag last year and pulled the stitches off the needle and generally messed the knitting about with his paws. I had been worried that the jumper wasn't going to be big enough so I unpicked it and started again. The re-knit is going well in a bigger size.

As you can see I've kept the goals short so I can add to them as the year goes on. Now I need to consider a goal for this month.

My main goal is to complete Alex's quilt. I took the quilt to show him when I visited before Christmas and we arranged to visit again in January or February. I haven't done any more quilting on this since I got back from my visit but it has to be finished this month.

I also want to do more hand stitching. This month I want to make 6  'flowers' for the grandmothers garden quilt. I can take this project to work with me and should be able to do some stitching at lunch time. I'm planning on taking my proper lunch break and going away from my desk. It gives me indigestion to work and eat. I'm also planning on working on the bottom border of the millennium sampler in the evening. I've moved my daylight lamp to sit by my chair so I will have a bright light and a magnifier should I need it. I'm should be able to do 15 minutes of hand stitching every evening and it will help me to relax prior to bedtime.

I'm linking this post with Elm Street Quilts for One Monthly Goal . I did a little knitting earlier but now I'm off to bed as I had very little sleep last night. We stayed up to let the new year in which was good fun. Our neighbours across the road had a big party and this kept spilling out onto the pavement and road. It was 5 a.m. before it finally went quiet. Still it's only once a year.

I hope the new year has started well for you.

Lyndsey