An update on my 12s.

Do you all remember when I posted about how I wanted to do this 12 12's in '12 challenge? Here's an update on that project....

1. 12 bags
2. 12 gifts
3. 12 articles of clothing
4. 12 items sewn
5. 12 items for charity
6. 12 ornaments
7. 12 books read
8. 12 non-fiber crafts
9. 12 snail mail penpal letters sent
10. 12 old stash items (yarn, patterns, anything!) used
11. 12 x 12 hexipuffs
12. 12 patterned hexipuffs

12 bags

1. Little pouch in Spring/Oestara swap
2. Little pouch for TOK swap

12 gifts

1. Spring/Oestara swap
2. Dishcloth swap
3. TOK swap
4. Acorn’s Warm Winter Set*
5. A monster (Angst / Anxiety) for my best friend*

12 articles of clothing

1. Walk in the Woods Cardigan
2. Simple Pearlescent Kerchief
3. Acorn’s Winter Set: Cowl
4. Acorn’s Winter Set: Hat
5. Acorn’s Winter Set: Mittens*
6. Compass Rose Tam

12 items sewn

1. Blue Half-Apron
2. A monster for my best friend*

12 items for charity

12 ornaments

1. Thistle and Acorn’s Christmas Ornament 2012

12 books read

1. Jitterbug Perfume -- Tim Robbins
2. The Hunger Games -- Suzanne Collins
3. Catching Fire -- Suzanne Collins
4. Mockingjay -- Suzanne Collins
5. The Coffin Quilt -- Ann Rinaldi
6. The Secret Life of Bees -- Sue Monk Kidd
7. Cat’s Cradle -- Kurt Vonnegut
8. Story of O -- Pauline Reage
9. Trout Fishing in America -- Richard Brautigan
10. Little Bee -- Chris Cleave
11. World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War -- Max Brooks*

12 Non-fiber crafts

1. River Song Diary
2. Dreamcatcher for TOK swap
3. Embroidered Christmas ornament

12 snail mail penpal letters sent
Sent to J.: 1
Sent to C.: 8
Sent to S.: 1
Sent to A.: 4
Total to date: 14!

12 old stash items (yarn, patterns, anything!) used

1. Purple acrylic used for Spring/Oestara swap
2. Green wool used for Walk in the Woods
3. Old cotton and novelty yarn used for TOK swap
4. Ida’s old white yarn used for Acorn’s Warm Winter Set*
5. Ida’s old blue wool for Compass Rose Tam

12 x 12 hexipuffs

Current count: 50-some? I really must check in storage.

12 patterned hexipuffs

* indicates a WIP piece of the challenge described.

Starting back up! For real.

I have been terrible -- terrible! -- about keeping up on this blog. But I've decided that it's time to start again, if only for myself. So I'm revamping the format (New background! Different clicky-links! New things! Please explore!) and starting up a new system for myself. It will happen and I will find that it keeps me, in its own special way, centered and organized and happy.

At least that's the idea.

See, I was this close to starting up a new blog. This one has left me uninspired! What am I doing! A fresh leaf will make it all better!

But it won't. I've tried that before. And I really need to start over.

See, I've been under a lot of stress recently. I graduated and got my degree (yay!) and we moved out of our small town into the Ether of Uncertainty (boo!), where I'm still wandering around lost. My love has found and started her job, and it's going quite well, but I'm still feeling like I missed last night's reading and forgot my notebook and showed up to class naked.

I know something will click, and soon, but anxiety and panic descend when uncertainty abounds. And so having this to keep me focused on happy, healthy things, and to keep me accountable for doing more than moping about, might just be good for me.

See the pretty new title and format? Isn't it nice to start anew? The blog formerly known as "Queer Cupcake" is now simply "Thistle's Things." It won't really change all that much, except that I'll actually post stuff to it. Speaking of which! Remember how I used to try doing that days of the week things? I'm starting again, but this time with twice-weekly updates instead of something that's going to make me crazy. So, without further ado, I introduce to you...

This all means something, I promise. Tune in this week to see what! ;)

I'll try to post regularly. I'm going to try not to beat myself up over it, but it might also be a good way to collect my patterns and the crafty little things I do. Maybe I'll learn something. Every day will have a theme of some sort, and every day will be its own adventure. Won't you join me in it?

Last week we had a double rainbow here in our small town. It was gorgeous, and lifted my poor downtrodden finals-soaked soul.

And this is the card and yarn I received in a swap. Plus tiny bunny!

More to follow soon, friends. I promise. <3

a swap package and a spoiled bunny's easter salad.

...will fill in details later...

Birthday Resolutions!

So, every year of my adult life, I've made a resolution on my birthday. I think of it as a form of self-improvement which can help me to give back. So today is my birthday, once again, and I'm making my resolutions. The neat thing which has come of this is that when the year is over, I've noticed not only change and growth in the most recent resolution, but all of them. They're somewhat cumulative!

I'll give you a walk through the years, as well....

2008: Before I turn 19, I will learn to be conversant in sign language.

2009: Before I turn 20, I will grow spiritually, and foster my acceptance of others. I will view myself as a spiritual being.

2010: Before I turn 21, I will eliminate hateful language from my vocabulary, and advocate for change and for peace, in myself and in others.

2011: Before I turn 22, I will seek beauty, peace, and wonder in everything I do, and in every place I go.

And, finally, 2012: Before I turn 23, I will cultivate a routine of simplicity.

I also have a new creative project I'm beginning! The idea is to foster creativity through goals, so I make 12 goals to do 12 things in 2012. I'm tweaking that slightly to mean from birthday to birthday, but the idea remains. I like it! Here are my goals:

1. 12 bags

2. 12 gifts

3. 12 articles of clothing

4. 12 items sewn

5. 12 items for charity

6. 12 ornaments

7. 12 books read

8. 12 hours of crafting/working out per week

9. 12 snail mail penpal letters sent

10. 12 old stash items (yarn, patterns, anything!) used

11. 12 x 12 hexipuffs for my Beekeeper's Quilt

12. 12 patterned hexipuffs

An odd hiatus....

Well, this has been less than successful. The holidays, my long travels, and the start of my final semester had me swamped, and I guess my blogging was what had to give. I'm way behind on my puffs and I'm feeling totally uninspired by the stricter formatting I set up for myself. And so here's the new plan: post a minimum of once a week, and maintain that. Post about life in general, and post puff counts as they come. This may just save my sanity, and my blog. Let's try. To reformatting, new beginnings, and taking control of realistic ideas! Woohoo!

Day 27.

Mondays mean plants, gardening, agriculture, and homesteading. First one of the new year! Let's go.

Well, obviously, January is not the best time of year to be thinking about gardens. Except that they do need to be planned out!

See, my girl and I have always kept a front-porch garden, with plants in pots outside. We have a big tub full of vermicompost (which, by the way, is completely full, and is thus resting for the winter!), a small birdfeeder, everything we could need for a little urban garden. This shot is from our spring 2011 garden. Last summer I grew basil, lettuces, cilantro, rosemary, tomatoes, and such. I had some mums this fall, and I got some flower seeds to plant with my girlfriend on our anniversary in August -- if they're perennials (I don't remember anymore!), I'm hoping that they'll pop back up come spring. The only plant which stayed inside all winter was Earth, my little Yule tree. You saw her before, on Yule. I've kept that little tree alive for quite a while! And this Christmas, my Mum bought me a Chia planter for cat grass, for the bun! It's actually oat and wheat grasses combined, but I think the baby bun will quite enjoy her little snack-maker. It came with a cute little Sylvester and Tweety ceramic planter.

At any rate, our upcoming graduation from our college -- and subsequent move -- will make my garden planning more complicated. How do I move a live garden? The compost? Should I limit my pots for the move? Should I plant less? Will moving be too stressful, or will the local flora have a large effect on my garden? I know I can research all of this, but it's just something to consider when I'm planning my garden for this spring.

I do know that I want lots and lots of basil this year -- I want to be able to have a fairly constant harvest. And I need cilantro and maybe rosemary, too. I've talked about growing chives or onions of some sort, and I'd be interested in having a vegetable garden when we get settled in our new home for the summer. I also have plans to plant a bunny garden! Lettuces and herbs and sprouts, maybe some dandelion and clover, in their own pots, and other tasty foods for my bunny baby. I'm looking to grow organic, of course, and most of my plants will, again, be porch plants.

Well, maybe next Monday I'll be more organized about what I'm actually planting and where. Let's hope....!