Crafting goals for 2018 ... just a little late

My friend Les, over at the Christmas craft forum, posted some questions/prompts to get us thinking about 2018's crafting goals.  I thought I would answer them here, as well as over on the forum.  Here they are:

- crafting resolutions for the upcoming year
- sort through your WIPs and join DJ’s challenge
- tidy craft room/area
- create a list of projects for 2018
- share any links for interesting projects/ideas

So now I see that I never did answer these over on the forum. This has been a very busy three months [and just how did the entire first quarter of 2018 pass so quickly?] with lots going on.  So I'll do them now.

Crafting resolutions for the upcoming year:
It might be better for me to set goals rather than make resolutions!  One of the biggest is to clean out and reorganize the craft closet so that I can fit all of the items (other than cross stitch/embroidery supplies, which are stored in a trunk in the living room) into one space.

Another goal will be, if at all possible, to finish my "Snow Angels" cross-stitch UFO of many years' standing.  I've been doing a little bit on it every day.

Probably half of the stitching is done with a blended needle with two colors in it.  I find that challenging.  I decided to just jump into stitching the areas that are done with one color and start with that, then the blended needle ones won't be quite as much of a problem.  Much of the other floss will be used up.  There are a ton of colors in this thing as there is a lot of shading.  [As of this writing, a lot has been accomplished and I am just finishing up the back stitching.]

I should have set a goal not to buy any new craft supplies, but I have already bought some on a Joann's Christmas clearance, so it would have been an unmet goal.

I "finished" a winter embroidery piece a year or two ago; it was actually someone else's UFO, but I liked it and so finished the stitching.  This year I would like to truly finish the project.  I'm thinking I may make it into a pillow.  Now I just need to find where I put it!

I'm sure there are other goals I have, but let's move on to the next question, as UFOs are also dealt with there.

Sort through WIPs [works in progress, in case you didn't know] and join DJ's challenge [this is a challenge DJ, a friend on the Christmas forum, sets up every year]:
Well, obviously, the two UFOs mentioned above.  Then there is a set of fabric alphabet letters to finish, a crocheted throw, a charger holder, a dishcloth pattern that I'm trying out, and probably many more.

Tidy craft room/area: That was a big part of my planning for this year, to declutter and reorganize the craft closet and to revamp the entire computer room/craft room/library.  Let's just say that has not happened yet.  But it's still in the plans, hopefully while my hubby has time off from logging during mud season.

Create a list of projects for 2018:
* Christmas tree skirt from Holly Pond Hill fabric
* Winter/Christmas throw
* Chef's hat for Ari
* New barley bag
* Wash and refill current barley bag
* Crocheted coasters and hot mats
* Mug rugs
* Flannel scrunchies
* Book-page banners in seasonal themes
* Simple cross-stitch and embroidery projects as time allows and the spirit moves

My Holly Pond Hill fabric -- finally decided what to use it for!

And that is about all I can think of right now.  This list is bound to fluctuate throughout the year.

* Share any links for interesting projects/ideas: I will be doing this as I go along, most likely in my Christmas in July posts here in my Christmas Kitchen.

So, there you have it, just a little late: my tentative crafting goals for 2018.

Some exciting news!

 Well, it is exciting to me, anyway.  My brand-new Etsy shop, A New Hampshire Attic, is open for business!

I'm still in the process of stocking and tweaking my shop, but I would love for you to visit and look around.   Don't feel you need to purchase anything; just enjoy the browse and tell others, if you like what you see.

So far I have only a handful of items listed (well, make that a couple of handfuls), so if you don't see anything that catches your eye, bookmark or favorite the shop and return later.  I will be adding items every day or so.  There are literally hundreds more items to list.

Most of what I have listed so far is vintage Christmas items.  I'll also be having vintage stationery, vintage sewing notions, vintage hankies, vintage advertising, and much more.

Hope you'll enjoy your visit to A New Hampshire Attic!

My January Rudolph Day

I was unable to celebrate the day on January 25, just having too many other things going on.  So I opted for the 26th instead, and most of what I did that day involved working in my Christmas notebook.  I did make some Christmasy tea -- if I remember, it was the Christmas Morning from Stash, which is not a flavored tea but just a nice blend of black and green tea -- to sip while I worked in my notebook. 

I got a good start on copying over my 2017 actual Christmas list (as opposed to my list of ideas, which I worked from all year and right up through the Christmas shopping).  I always like to make a nice neat legible copy when all is said and done, and file it in the back of my notebook, so that I will have a clear record of what grandchild received which game, book, toy, etc.  It's easy to be inspired by the same gift again another year, forgetting that a specific child had already received one. 

In my notebook, I also wrote a few notes to myself concerning next year.  I had picked up some Christmas cards at Walmart after Christmas, so I noted just where they are stored.  I ordered Christmas stamps and international stamps from USPS.com, and noted, again, just where I put them.

(Incidentally, this is a good idea for most anyone in the US, to order Christmas stamps ahead of time.  These seem to be mostly the "Forever" stamps now, so they will still be good in the future without needing to add additional postage.  I invariably forget to buy them until it's time to mail cards, and the selection may be depleted.  Ordering ahead assured I got just what I wanted.)

I've also made and purchased a few Shutterfly gifts for next Christmas -- so I also noted what they are, who they are for, and where they are stashed.

Can't remember what else I did that day, but if I worked at all at the house I've been clearing out,  I was sorting through stored Christmas cards and wrappings.  See that mailbox-themed card above?  That was one of my finds.  My regular readers know how much I love Christmas cards with a mailbox theme.  In my clearing out, I've found a bunch more of them, all different.   It makes a difficult task much more enjoyable!

A lovely poem from a Christmas card

I have seen this on several of the vintage cards I've recently found, but it's a really nice poem I hadn't seen before.  It says,

Whatever else is lost

among the years

Let us keep Christmas ...

its meaning never ends.

Whatever doubts 

assail us

or what fears

Let us hold close 

this day

Remembering friends.

I wish I knew who the author was.  Our world is so upside down, a lot of people are trying to find their way.  As Christians, we need to "keep Christmas" so that the world will understand the precious gift we are celebrating. 

A finished ornament

At long last, I have finished my cardinal cross-stitch ornament.  Excuse the shadow at the ornament's lower right.  I took five pictures and every one of them had a shadow.  This was the best of the five. 

This is actually just a little larger than I like in a tree ornament, so it may end up hanging elsewhere, like on a kitchen cabinet or baker's rack.  I'm not really thrilled with how my finish came out, but am happy to declare it finished!  One UFO off the list!

A winter memory jar

I just posted a couple of photos of this project on Instagram, so thought I would quickly describe how it's put together.  This huge glass jar is actually the jar from a churn that belonged to my grandmother.  It had a hole in the cover for use as a churn, but my grandmother, once her butter-making days were over, used a Mendet

Found this on Google images! I thought it was spelled "Mend-it".

 to seal the hole.  She then used the jar as her doughnut jar.  When she taught me to make doughnuts, she gave me the jar.  It's been used for doughnuts and also for cookies in the past, but probably 20 years ago I put a string of white lights in it and have never looked back.  Sometimes it's just the lights, but at Christmas I usually put in some faux greenery and berries, and silk leaves in fall.

Last year I saw several ideas for this type of jar and tried to make one.  I put some snowflakes and a pinecone or two  in the jar along with this photo, which is just an enlargement of a vintage snapshot, printed out on card stock.  The branch of glittery leaves is in there too but it's behind the photo.  It all looked okay but wasn't exactly the look I had hoped for.

This year I decided to try again.   I arranged the photo and snowflakes in a slightly different way to their best advantage, and tucked the green leaves in on the side where they are more visible.  I decided some red berries were necessary, so added a spray of those.  It all made a difference.

I'm much more pleased with this jar.  It's a memory jar in more than one way.  Not only does it contain a memory of my cousin, brother and me and a wintry snow fort, but the container itself -- my grandmother's churn -- is also a memory.  Best of all, we can enjoy its light on our kitchen counter all through February!

A new page in my Christmas notebook

I really can't believe I never thought of doing this before, but it occurred to me this week to make a new page for my My Christmas notebook, Part 1.  This time of year, just after Christmas, I have loads of work to do in the notebook, making a final note of gifts we gave,  doing an after-Christmas debriefing,  and jotting down ideas for the coming year.

After-Christmas debriefing from Organized Home

 Still, I think this is going to be a very helpful addition to my notebook.  The new page is called "After-Christmas deals" and on it, I've been listing down things I pick up at the after-Christmas clearance sales.

I write down the name of the store, what I found for deals, and what the intended use of the items may be next year.  For example, these mugs

will be great to give along with mix and marshmallows for Hot Chocolate Mug Cake.

And these napkins

will be a great addition to a gift basket.

I'm not going to take time to share all of my after-Christmas finds, but so far there are some really great ones that will fit right in with our gift-giving next year.  I love the idea that I already have a plan for these items and that it's written down where I can't fail to find it!  If you have a Christmas notebook, you might consider a page like this too.