I think I’m doing reasonably well with my challenges, three quarters of the year now gone (where has this year gone???) and  I’ve completed six challenges with a few more almost there…and a couple just aren’t going to happen!  Here is my report on my achievements with my challenges so far for 2018;

• 1 Etsy store opened; I’ve had a few more thoughts, I’m thinking at the moment of getting a few things on Etsy, in time for the Christmas rush, I can then see how things go and if it looks promising I can invest a little in a website.
• 2 Tutorials; Still nothing written but I have got two ideas!
• 3 Sessions a week in the garden; I’ve been pretty good with this one this year, I’ve been weeding, tidying up and moving plants around. I’ve some roses coming in November so I’ve prepared the areas for them. The old chicken run has turned into a resting bed for plants that needed moving but I haven’t quite got their area ready yet!
• 4 Quilts;My total remains at three but I’ve made good progress on my nieces quilt in the last couple of weeks, I want to get it finished before I start my next BOM and the packet for that arrived yesterday!
• 5 Craftsy Classes; I’m still at 1.5 classes, as I’ve not managed to watch any this month, hopefully now the evenings are dark I’ll be more inclined to sit and watch them.
• 6 New Patterns; I’ve not stitched any new ones in September so it remains at five.
• 7 Kits stitched; I’ve not stitched any more this month so I’m just staying right on target wit seven stitched over the year.
• 8 Pages in my Stitch Sampler book ; I stitched a front and a back pages whilst I was on holiday, so that’s all the pages complete. I’ve stitched them all together, I just need to create a cover and finish it as a textile book! So my tally is now ten pages, exceeding my target!
• 9 Pounds Lost!!! Oh dear, our scales have broken 🙂
• 10 Mini Embroideries; I stitched another two mini embroideries for a group project with my Embroiderers Guild, a Pudsey Bear and a poppy for Remembrance. This means I’ve now reached my target of ten over the year! 

   

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

• 11 Letters to friends; I’ve been much better this month, I found a pile of A5 size cards with my mum’s pencil drawings on – she was a very good botanical artist. The cards are a nice size to write a reasonable length of letter on, so I’ve managed three this month bringing my total up to five.
• 12 Boxes or Drawers sorted in sewing room; My sewing room looks like a bomb site at the moment…so my tally is still eleven!
• 13 New Recipes;I tried a new recipe for lemon and elderflower cake with a swiss meringue frosting for my in laws Diamond Wedding cake so my tally is now 8.
• 14 Less Lengths in my stash!It was Sew Up North last weekend,  a sewers get-together in Leeds, I went determined that I would be good, I even took several lengths to go on the swop table.there was about 120 of us (I think) we met in the John Lewis cafe which is conveniently nextdoor to the fabric department. We spent over an hour chatting away about sewing stuff, feeling the fabric in each others clothes, I did feel sorry for anyone who went up there for a quiet cup of coffee before the usual rush! Anyway, once the socialising was over we all went fabric shopping round Leeds. Now clearly I know all the shops in the centre, but someone mentioned a new shop in Armley which is only about 10 minute drive out, so four of us got in a taxi to visit Fabrics For All. They have some beautiful fabric, I only treated myself to one length, a beautiful length of wool cashmere, it looks a bit like linen but it feels gorgeous. The selvedge is so pretty I want to include that as well! I thought I was pretty good really as this aim of 14 lengths less in my stash just isn’t going to happen!
• 15 Posts a month; I’ve just done a quick tally and I counted 22 posts!! Not bad considering I was actually away for a week!
• 16 cross-stitch smalls; I finished August and I’m well on the way with September, but neither are actually made up into a pillow yet, so I’m not counting them. Even so my tally remains at 16, target achieved!
• 17 items of clothing made. I’m still at eight, so a bit of catching up to do here. I need some new winter clothes too so I must get some made. 
  

  
• 18 Walks; My big walk was in September, my friend and I walked St Cuthberts Way which is about 62 miles from Melrose to Lindisfarne, over a week. It was a wonderful walk, a challenge at times, it took me a week to recover! I’ll try and write a post over the next couple of days to tell you all about it. So my total is now seventeen walks so far. Almost there!
• 

With a quarter of the year still to go I’m pretty happy with my progress, hopefully this month I’ll have a few more ticked off.