May has flown by and has been a pretty busy month, I painted Mum’s house, baked cakes for Askwith Show, stitched for three days in Grassington as well as all the usual stuff like gardening, sewing etc. So how have I done with my eighteen challenges;

• 1 Etsy store opened; Still at the thinking stage, but I’ve just applied to have a stall at Crafts in the Pen in Skipton, so that gives me something to aim for!
• 2 Tutorials; Nothing as yet.
• 3 Sessions a week in the garden; I’m still doing well at this, my three sessions are getting longer too in the nice weather, though the weeds are starting to get me down again, planning to buy Pathclear in bulk!
• 4 Quilts; I’ve started quilting my peacock panel, so although my tally remains at 1.5 there is progress! Pat Sloan is starting a new Splendid Sampler soon and I must admit I’m tempted, however this time I am thinking of only using fabrics from my scrap bins, which are overflowing!  I’ve started hand-quilting a mini quilt to practise for my DTRH quilt when I get it back next month. So there’s a few in progress!
• 5 Craftsy Classes; I started watching the Leah Day Free Motion Quilting class last month and I’ve watched a few more classes, I’m adapting things slightly as Leah is demonstrating on a specific quilt which you can make or buy as a panel, I’m using my Peacock panel which isn’t ideal but is a lot prettier! I’ll try and post about it later this week.
• 6 New Patterns; I’ve tried another new pattern, my evening dress, which turned out pretty well, so my tally is now three, so half way there!
• 7 Kits stitched; I started my Blackbird this month at the Stitching in the Dales retreat, I’ve still a bit to do but Bertie is looking splendid! So my tally remains at two with another on the way.
• 8 Pages in my stitch sampler book;I’ve not stitched any more pages but with six completed I’m well ahead on this one.
• 9 Pounds Lost!!! I think I’ve plateaued this month, which is better than last month! I lost the plot a bit with baking etc as I do like licking the bowl out and I need to do the occasional quality control!!
• 10 Mini Embroideries; Total for the year remains at four; I’ve one to do for the travelling sketchbook in the next couple of weeks on the subject of Down the Microscope! I think mine might be more down the flouroscope but I do have an idea…just got to get it to work! This is a mapping system we use at work called Carto, could look pretty in silk with sequins 🙂
• 11 Letters to friends; I wrote another letter to a school friend this month, so two so far. I’ve also found lots of A5 cards my mum had made of her drawings, I thought they would be a nice size to write letters in without being too long!
• 12 Boxes or Drawers sorted in sewing room; My running total here is seven as I’ve been too busy trying to amalgamate my mums stuff to do much with mine. I have reorganised a few drawers on the landing though. We’ve got an old pine chest which used to be my Grandad’s workbench, I’ve emptied three drawers to the bureau downstairs which we’ve just got from my mum’s so I’m thinking of putting my quilting fabric in those drawers. It’s a bit cheeky really as it does mean my stash is creeping out of my sewing room! Hopefully I’ll sort them this month, but for the time being the total stays at seven.
• 13 New Recipes; I’ve done quite well at this in May, I tried two recipes from the Weightwatchers cookbook which went down well, I also baked a lime and elderflower cake for the show as I thought it might sell well after the Royal Wedding, it tasted delicious and got quite a few compliments from customers! My tally is now five, so doing a bit better now!
• 14 Less Lengths in my stash! Two lengths down as my evening dress took a length of taffeta and a length of sequins. I’m just about to cut out another dress too! On the downside I’m off to London for a weekend soon and I might just visit Goldhawk Road on the Friday when I first arrive 🙂
• 15 Posts a month; I actually managed 23 posts in May! The photo challenges help but I would still be ahead without them.
• 16 cross-stitch smalls; I’ve finished four this month after having a couple of evenings concentrating on finishes. I think the poppies is my favourite one. I’ve another one almost finished so there should be at least one more in June! So my running total is now eleven!
  

  

  

  Faby Reilly Poppy Humbug

  
• 17 items of clothing made. With my evening dress I’ve now made three things this year, I’ve just collected my Chanel jacket from having buttonholes made, so hopefully that will be finished this month, but I’ve a bit of catching up to do on this one.
• 18 Walks; WI walking club started again this month with a lovely walk in the sunshine, my friend and I have now also planned in our diraies on or two walks a month until we do St Cuthberts Way, so only two so far but hopefully more to come!