17 for 17: January

My targets for the year:

17 – walks longer than an hour

3 Done (14 to go)

Walks in Wales

1. 2nd. Jan nearly 90 minute walk on Newgale Beach
2. 3rd.Jan coast path from Nine Wells to Trelerw and back.
3. 4th.Jan Newgale in drizzle, back to Number35 for delicious Apple Crumble and cream and a pot of good strong Welsh tea.

16 – handmade greetings cards.

DONE

I’m a bit taken aback by this but I have already reached my target! It took me all year in 2016 to make 15 handmade cards, but I suddenly got the urge to make Valentine’s cards for my grandchildren and churned out a few more at the same time. 18 Never-Ending Cards and one (top left) made with a photo of some Love Rocks printed on A4 card and folded once.

15 – beachy things (split into 3 x 5s – 5 pieces of beach related art, 5 beach cleans on new beaches, 5 beach clean sculptures, assemblages or mandalas)

14 – items for my Etsy shop

13 – drawers, cupboards, shelves or boxes sorted out.

1 shelf (12 to go)

from this 

to this

I found 4 pots of Wood Glue – so that’s where I keep it.

The rest of the cupboard needs doing now

goodness knows what lurks in that repurposed veg rack

12 – WIPs finished

11 – paintings/ art works   Working towards an exhibition in May/June 2018

10 – house and garden tasks (split into 5x 2s – make two quiches, paint two chairs, complete two house projects, complete two garden projects, raise two pumpkin plants)

9 – textile books worked on.

8 – hand written letters to grandchildren

7 – find 7 interesting objects

I have already found masses of objects which interest me on my beach cleans, every item has a human story behind it, but it’s hard to choose ones that I think might be of more general interest ….

Does this qualify?

a rusted aerosol with the outer casing having completely gone, apart from the top. I have taken loads of photos of the colours and textures of this object. There are a couple more in this post on my Beach Clean Art blog.

I might count this as Number One find, haven’t decided yet.

6 – items made for Pippin or improvements to Pippin.

Pippin is the old caravan that sits in the garden. I got her when I was having renovations done on my house and now she is a perfect spot to store lego and be a lovely little haven or playhouse – I do have a fondness for caravans.

Her interior is very drab, I’m hoping to cheer things up a bit with patchwork and crochet cushions and curtains.

5  – random acts of kindness

4 – new National Trust properties visited

3 – make three up-cycled items of clothing 

2 – meet two fellow bloggers

Meeting fellow bloggers is great fun! In 2015/6 I had the very real pleasure of  meeting Mrs Snail, Judy of Edwina’s Episodes, Deb of Country Ways and Cottage Days and Sheila of Sewchet.

Who will it be this year? Exciting!

1 – car boot sale

0 – Buy zero new clothes

 

There are ELEVEN others joining in with the 17 for 2017 list of targets that I know of:

Mrs Snail,  Nanacathy,  Gillyflower,  Murtagh’s Meadow.,  Ouch My Back hurts,  Ruth’s Arc,  Cherie Langlois,  Erin’s Big World,  A LifeLessSimple,  TheWillowWitch, OntoMyNext40Years

Let me know if you are too and I’ll add you to the list. It will be fun to see how everyone gets on.

Cathy of Nanacathy and I tend to give an update each month but is is entirely up to each person to post or not as they wish – the joy of this is that each 17er makes up the rules for themselves as they go – so come on in and join us – it’s never too late!

16 for 2016 update 1

I am so grateful to Cathy  for inspiring this list, it has been surprisingly motivating, and prompted some interesting conversations with family and friends. The original post can be found here.

Time for a progress report:

16 walks 

Zero

I have been on a few walks but none for more than an hour yet. The incessant wind and rain has not helped.

15 handmade cards

Zero

14 items in my Etsy shop

One

My first item: a white wig

I was trying out a new pattern and this one came up a little big for anyone wanting to where it as a Chemo Cap, so I am selling it a bit cheaper than it will be sold when I have the pattern created to perfection.

It would be fine on a head with hair, or on a man who wanted to wear it for fancy dress – the ghost of a Jane Austen character perhaps?!

13 different types of bead

Zero

I am going to swap this with 10 swims as I have now joined a Leisure Club so swims should be easier. And 13 different types of beads was always going to be a bit of a stretch

I have tried one sort of bead as seen on You Tube using plastic bottles, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01x5SKNMPpg

but sadly it didn’t work for me, maybe it would work with thinner plastic – more experimenting needed.

12 garden posts

One

I just squeaked it in yesterday, click here to see it.

11 bags

Zero

I have not made one myself but I am very proud to show you a bag that I helped Miss E to make as a Christmas present. She chose all the fabrics and made all the design decisions. I was her studio assistant, helping with a few techniques. We both learnt a lot. She became very confident on the sewing machine and I am now able to leave her to get on with machine stitching by herself.

 

10 swims  

Five

I am upgrading the Swim total to the 13 slot as now that I have joined Highlands End Leisure Club I know it is going to be very achievable.

The wonderful spin-off is that I can take guests and so these swims have become social events as well.

9 pieces of textile art

Zero

I’m excited and nervous about this. I will be using some precious vintage material given to me many years ago. I have booked into a 3 day textile art workshop in March, hopefully this will give me the inspiration and courage I need.

8 mornings sorting and storing

One

I have decided that a morning is 4 hours – say 9am til 1pm

After a couple of false starts I have managed one morning.

7 paintings

Zero

Elusive Trope suggested I put some dates in the diary for painting – a great idea.

So I have booked myself on a Lino Cut workshop with friend and artist Hugh Dunford Wood in February in Lyme Regis. It’s easier to fix something away from home – so often other things crop up if I try to set aside time here. I know Lino-Cuts are not exactly paintings, but I’m thinking I can stretch my ‘7’ to include any form of picture I make. In my mind I will create a collage which will include painting and lino-cut prints – we’ll see where the inspiration of the workshop takes me.

6 bus rides

Zero

I have downloaded the local bus timetables, and wait for clearer weather.

5 new forms of exercise

Four

I’m most thrilled, excited and proud of this one!

a) I have joined a Belly Dancing class on Thursday evenings HaHaHaHahahaha!!!!!! Hilarious! My grandchildren giggled uncontrollably when I told them and went around the room doing what they thought bellydancing might look like shouting out “A belly dancing Granny????!!!!!!” and then rolling on the floor laughing. 

b) I tried a session of Pilates. I’m sure it did me good coz – oh! the aches next day!

c) One session of Dance a Day. I found this regular group on a Dorset Dance website. I did enjoy the session, but it was more about stretching and moving quite slowly. I want more of a workout.

d) A 5 minute walk away in our village hall, there is a one hour class every Monday that mixes dance, zumba, aerobics and pilates. Perfect way to start my week! Love it! 

So already I have tried 4 out of 5 new forms of exercise. Well done me!

4 new patterns

Zero

A pattern for bobble hats is likely to be the first.

3 massages

Zero

I need one every morning after belly dancing! It really seems to worry my lower back with all that circling and thrusting! I love it though, it is such a laugh.

I’ve booked a massage in February – oh how I am looking forward to it.

2 ways to help refugees

Zero

I have been doing some research and linked in with Bridport Unitarian Chapel, who took a group to Calais for 3 days this January.

I have also been in touch with Lee Godwin who takes blankets to refugees and we are looking at dates to see if I can go with her on one of her trips – I’ll keep you posted.

1 novel

Zero

I have had ‘Meet me under the Ombu Tree’ by Santa Montefiore sitting on my bookshelf for a few years. I’ve read and liked her books before. Just can’t find the right time for reading it though – maybe I will have to wait until I go on holiday. I think my reading time nowadays is spent reading blogs – which I love!

Do you know about http://www.librivox.org.

I heard about it on a BBC Radio4 programme, it is a free app, volunteers read all sorts of books, really there is a massive selection – I might try that.

0 beads bought 

Zero

I drove past a new bead shop in my local town without stopping! Gosh that was hard!

~

Lots of ZEROs, but I feel I have made a good start.

It’s not too late to make a list – What would you have as your number 16?