2024 Mid-Year Review

We are just past the middle of 2024, which means it's time for me to pause for a few minutes and see how I'm doing with my goals this year.

Before I dive into that, though, I have some exciting life/work news to share 😊 I've been wanting to move out of childcare for a long time, but there aren't a lot of work opportunities in our small town, so I stayed with what I knew (and what gave me summers off!). Early in the spring, though, one of my childcare moms told me they would possibly be moving away over the summer, leaving me with only one little that I could count on for next school year. That wasn't going to be enough income for me, so we made the decision that when school ended, I'd be finished with childcare. Cue the angel chorus! We didn't know what I'd be doing instead, and I kept saying it was entirely possible I'd be checking in people's groceries. However, I've started working part time as a virtual assistant for another pattern designer, doing for her business the same kinds of things I do for my own Devoted Quilter business, like blog posts and creating PDF downloads. I'm only a little more than a week into it, but I'm enjoying it so far and it's a lot quieter than childcare, that's for sure.

Right now it feels like my regular summer break from childcare, but I know it will really hit me when Paul and Nathan go back to school in September and no littles are dropped off here. I'm quite looking forward to soaking in the peace and quiet that first day! I'm also looking forward to putting more time into my own business, since my 'regular job' is now less than half the number of hours each week.

So that's one big life goal achieved, even though I never actually wrote it down anywhere 😊 How am I doing with the goals I did write down?

1. Keep making small quilts

I've finished 3 small quilts so far this year, which I define as a baby quilt or smaller. One hasn't been blogged yet, but I do have pictures, so I should get to that soon. The others are Rippling and Shining Through, which are both baby quilts.

I've also started 4 more small quilts recently (three Merry Minis for the QAL, plus the test version of the next Stash Artists BOM pattern), so I should have plenty of small quilts to celebrate for the second half of the year, too.

2. Sew some clothes

So far this year I've made two shirts, but I don't have pictures of them. I wear a lot of dresses in the summer and want to make a couple of new ones, but I haven't taken the time to do that yet. Maybe soon.

3. Moments with Jesus Easter QAL

I loved this year's QAL! For the past four years, this has been one of my favourite projects of the whole year. Because I love it so much, I've already started planning for next year. Not that I've quilted either of this year's two quilt tops...or any of the ones from the previous years...

4. All things Stash Artists

Stash Artists just passed its first birthday and I love the members! It's wonderful to get to sew with some of them every other month, and I love planning new patterns for them, like Ombre Twirl.  I'm excited to see what the second year brings 😊 If you love stash-friendly patterns and virtual sewing sessions with friends, get on the waitlist so you won't miss it when the membership doors open again.

5. WIPS-B-GONE 2024

This is coming up quickly! I mentioned an abundance of unquilted tops sitting and waiting, didn't I? I need the WIPS-B-GONE challenge as much as anyone else! Sign ups will open in September.

6. Finish my Hexie Rainbow top

I'm making progress! At the start of the year I was working on squaring up the second corner, which is now finished and I'm working on the third. Here's what it looks like today.

Paul and I will be traveling to Jasper National Park next month for our 25th anniversary, so there will be lots of plane time and time in the Airbnb for hand stitching. I think it's entirely possible I could finish the top this year.

7. Regular workouts and 300,000 steps a month

Well, this one is a yes and a no 😅 My goal for workouts is to do 2-3 yoga or strength training workouts from Youtube each week and I've only missed that target two weeks in the first half of the year. I like Yoga with Adriene and Nourish Move Love, if you're needing some recommendations. I can notice an improvement in my strength, which is great motivation to keep going.

The 300,000 steps a month on the other hand...I've only reached that goal once so far, in May. 300,000 a month averages out to be about 10,000 steps a day. In April I averaged about 9,700/day, which is pretty close. In March I averaged about 8,200, which isn't close at all. Altogether, my average for the first half of the year is 9,064/day, and I'm fairly happy about that.

One other thing I noticed was that if I did a workout, there often wasn't time/energy/interest for a walk, so I usually only did one or the other on a given day.

Overall, I'm not stressing about the 300,000 per month, but I'm going to keep trying to get more steps in. I definitely feel better when I move more, whether that's yoga, strength training, or walking.

I'm feeling pretty good about my year so far! Did you set goals for 2024? If you did, how are you doing with them after half the year?