I've been reading around a few blogs that are choosing to pick a word to inspire them for 2011 rather than making a list of resolutions. I thought this might work better for me as well. I'm realizing that I've been a little scattered and my plan is to try and focus on one thing at a time and hopefully accomplish more. Hence my inspirational word for 2011: Focus.
Case in point: my craft projects. I've got 4 or 5 going on at once:
The Mountmellick project I started about a year ago. I figure that if I went all the way to Ireland to learn the technique, I should actually follow through and finish.
Technically, this is my travel project. Something simple I can shove in my purse or Carry-On when the Hubby and I are off on another adventure. But this has been my travel project for quite a while and I think with all the time I've spent on airplanes over the last year I should have made a little more progress.
Yeah, this is a recent project as you can see. But this time of year I feel compelled to knit or crochet something. This will be a scarf and it should be a quick and easy project.
I did take stock of my 2010 resolutions. My first resolution was to finish a quilt and enter a competition. It's possible that I bit off more than I can handle within a 12 month span. I finished one square and just finished the second...today. Yes, my first attempt at focus was completing embroidery on the second square for my Spanish Quilt...a year after I started the first square. Ahem.
This is a big project and I think that in addition to focusing on one thing at a time I need to set realistic goals. It's ok if the entire quilt takes longer to finish than I'd originally planned. I will however focus on completing each square once I start it without distracting myself with three or four other projects at the same time. Keep a look out for Spanish Quilt Block #3!
My other 2010 resolutions to improve my Spanish and to run more, did get some attention in 2010. I made progress on both, although I also slacked on both at the end of the year. I'll be continuing to focus on both of these in 2011 as well, but I'll be keeping my goals realistic: to improve, but not necessarily have to be speaking Spanish like a native or running a marathon by 2012 in order to feel like I'm accomplishing something.
Focus is difficult for me in that I have about 10 ideas running through my head at any one time for new projects. So step one in my quest for focus is writing each of these ideas down so that I can come back to them when the crafting above is all done. I'll keep you posted!