Originally I was in a challenge group on Facebook to make 100 sewn projects in 2018 but since I wanted to sew 100 items for either personal use or for sale (on Etsy or at craft shows) I decided to leave the group. (The main rule was that it needed to be for personal use only). I work nearly full-time hours, have two kids and a husband to entertain… 100 items is a lot of sewing, especially since most of the items I wanted to make are stuffies/softies/whatever you want to call them, and those can take me a few days for just one.
Then I was thinking how I also have been wanting to bake more, especially breads. Everytime I make bread I ask myself why I don’t make it more often. It’s fairly easy, and fun, and delicious! And so 100 Handmade Projects 2018 was born, ha. #100Handmade2018
Basically the goal is to create 100 finished tangible items by hand and without the use of computers/tablets/smartphones. It can be baking, sewing, knitting, painting… Whatever you like, as long as you can hold the finished project in your hands. (I LOVE photography but so much photography is digital and with processing done on a computer, I want to get off the computer to create. But hey, if you have your own darkroom and can develop and print your own photos that would count).
I’ll be posting my items on Instagram and tagging them #100Handmade2018 if you’d like to follow along and join in I’d be happy to have you! I’ll also post monthly on the blog with a round up of my projects and links to ideas, recipes, and so on that I’ll be trying.
I’ll also be using #SewMyStash2018
So far my 100 handmade project goals include:
- Bake 1-2 loaves of bread every two weeks
- Sew one softie per month
- Make 12 Artist Trading cards using felt and fabric
- Make 1 felt inchie per week (well, it’s actually a twinchie, 1″ square was too small for me!) For this project I’m focusing on trying out different hand embroidery stitches. I won’t count each one as a finished project though, only at the end once I decide what to do with them.
- Make a yoga bag that has a pocket (to hold things like locker keys and hair elastics)
- Make each project in the Fussy Cutter’s Club book
- Finish making each block in Tula Pink’s City Sampler: 100 Modern Quilt Blocks book (these won’t be counted towards the 100 items unless I turn them into a finished quilt or mini quilts, etc)
- Sew myself 2-3 clothing items
- Sew 2-3 clothing items each for both daughters. I especially want to make them some joggers. They look so good on them and seem so comfy. I’ll most like use the Filles a Maman Agathe et Theo pants. I made them a couple years ago to use for pj pants and made them a little long and my oldest still wears hers (although they’re short on her now she still likes them).
These are in addition to my UFO sewing I plan to do as well. The UFO projects I will be linking up to the 2018 Finish-a-Long.
I’m also incorporating Kim Werker’s Year of Making (#yearofmaking2018) challenge into my own. For it you need to challenge yourself to create just a little bit everyday so it’s totally doable if you have a list of 100 things you want to make. I’ll be posting work in progress type shots using this hashtag. And there’s also iHanna’s Project 365 Somethings (#365somethings2018) that I’m doing as well but what I’m planning for it won’t be part of my 100 handmade projects. For 365 Somethings project I’m planning to fill a page in an art journal everyday using paint for the most part. For me that will be more of a process challenge. A time for me to just challenge myself to play with colour and shapes, etc, and not really to have a finished item at the end other than a full art journal.
In order to do these challenges I’ll be cutting back on the amount of time I spend on Facebook, going to bed at a normal hour, waking up a little earlier to get some yoga and exercise done in the morning and trying to eat healthier so I have more energy to get it all done. <<Those will be the hardest changes I need to make.
I’m also not putting a lot of pressure on myself to finish any of these things. I’ve made goals and resolutions in the past and they don’t always stick because I put pressure on myself to do things perfectly. And then I stress because things aren’t going “perfectly” and I stop and nothing gets done. This year though I’m looking at these more as guidelines. If they get done, great! If they don’t get done, great! (It just means that they weren’t the right project for me at that time). Four days in to 2018 and it went, well, crappy… So I’m (trying) to stay positive from now on. I’m focusing on myself, doing what I want (while always keeping my family’s needs in mind of course). If there was one word that I was going to focus on this year, then that word would be declutter. Declutter my house, my fabric and craft stash, my mind, my unhappy and sad thoughts, the extra weight I put on in 2017. I have two daughters that I love more than anything, and as much as I would love more children they are enough.
That’s all that matters.
Much love and happy stitching 🙂
