Another month has gone by! I’m doing pretty well on most of my challenges, I’m even starting to think about next years!!

• 1 Etsy store opened; Still no where on this one, I really need to put aside a weekend for this, no sewing, just sorting out what I’m going to do!
• 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 month, I’ve been weeding, tidying up and moving plants around. It’s been fairly dry but pretty cold too, I’ve got my warm socks and gloves out. I’m still waiting for my bare-root roses to arrive but at least I’ve had more time to prepare the areas.
• 4 Quilts;My total remains at three but I’m almost ready for a happy dance with the hummingbird quilt, just got to stitch the binding down. I’ve made my first Spring Wreath block and a few more Splendid Sampler blocks too.  I need to keep a head as I’ve just signed up for Sarah Fielke’s BOM next year!
• 5 Craftsy Classes; I’m now at 4.5 classes, I watched three in October,Craftsy had a free weekend and I found they are great to have on to listen to whilst I’m sewing. The best one was by Sarah Fielke on different types of quilting, I picked up lots of little tips from the different classes.
• 6 New Patterns; I’ve not stitched any new ones in September so it remains at five.
• 7 Kits stitched; Completed I’ve not stitched any more this month so I’m just staying right on target with seven stitched over the year.
• 8 Pages in my Stitch Sampler book ; Completed. I’ve stitched 10 pages for my stitch sampler, I still haven’t made the cover, though I now have in my mind how I’m going to do it, which always helps!
• 9 Pounds Lost!!! Oh dear, our scales are still broken, really must remember to buy a new battery  🙂
• 10 Mini Embroideries; Completed. I’ve not done any more this month, though there is one in progress for my Splendid Sampler quilt. 
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

• 11 Letters to friends; No letter writing this month, so my tally remains at five.
• 12 Boxes or Drawers sorted in sewing room; completed. I’ve done lots of sorting this month as I’ve had a big move round in my sewing room, more of that later! I sorted my dressmaking stash out, gave to charity length people had given me that I really couldn’t see me using, I sorted my wadding box out, anything big enough to do a Splendid Sampler block was kept. I also sorted out my cross-stitch fabric box, I rarely use aida now, so all that has gone to charity, leaving me more room for the various colours of even weave linen. So my tally is now 14, another challenge ticked off!
• 13 New Recipes; We had a bit of a dinner party for Helen’s 21st last month, I tried two new recipes from the Ginger Pig Cookbook. a leg of lamb baked slowly in red wine and a pork joint cooked even more slowly in red wine! For her cake I baked an elderflower and lemon cake again, she wanted a horse themed cake, I looked on the internet and most of the ones I saw were rather young. I then spotted a tall cake with horses running round the edge. I made three cakes and stacked them, covered them with fondant icing and then painted the grass and flowers round the bottom. This was a lot easier than I thought it might be! The trickiest bit proved to be getting the cut out icing horses onto the cake! 21 candles later and she was happy with it! So my tally is now 10 new recipes.
• 14 Less Lengths in my stash! There probably is about ten less lengths in my stash after my sort-out, not sure this equates to less overall in the year though!
• 15 Posts a month; I’ve just done a quick tally and I counted 22 posts!!
• 16 cross-stitch smalls; Completed. I finished August and September and made them up into mini pillows. I’ve just stitched the first of Faby Reilly’s Christmas stitch-a-long too, just got to make it into a decoration. So my tally is now 18.
• 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; Complete. My friends and I walked about ten miles in Nidderdale a couple of weeks ago, so I’ve now done 18 walks over the year!

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