I’m not one for resolutions, or words to live a year by, but I know it works great for others. This year already however, it seems things have kind of organically gone that way for me. My day job is as a Graphic designer – I get paid well for a job I have no educational background in, I’m entirely self taught, and with that comes self-Confidence issues. I’ve decided I need to get some up to date education behind me so I feel I can stand behind my reasoning as to how I do certain things, but also expand my skills so I can be better, especially in the area of illustration. Today I signed up for the first module as part of a Graphic Design certificate at a local college. I get up to five years to complete 8 modules (and I may elect for 9) so I think I can stretch to that in both time and money since I choose when I want to take those modules.

Another area I’m taken a knock of confidence in lately is quilting. It started with Arlecchino (top of the post), and being told that it wasn’t good enough to be made a Quilt of the month as originally planned because of the bumps in the quilting. Yes, I’ve seen other quilters havea similar issue and no, they’re not actual tucks, just texture, but I notice it all the time, and it’s not great on the Sockeye quilt either. It looks like a presser foot pressure issue, but it happens with the free motion foot too unless I quilt very densely.

I’ve decided to deal with this, this year too. I am now using starch on everything, and my next animal quilt will have the larger sections starched. I’m also planning on spray basting as well as pin basting. Lastly I need to stop rushing to finish, so I’m trying to get things ready before I am given deadlines for completion. This year I will make a quilt without those bumps!

Lastly is body confidence. I’m pretty sedentary these days and I’m not at all fit. This means I’ve gained 10kg (22lbs) in two years and I want that to go so I can fit in my clothes again. I bought a FootPod to use with Zwift and trialed it on the treadmill yesterday. If you don’t know what Zwift is, it’s a social cycling app that you can cycle certain courses on using your bike on rollers, so it’s a virtual riding experience. Well, they now accommodate runners and that part is free. The Footpod monitors how fast I’m going which is helpful since the display on the treadmill is broken (I bought it for $20, I’m not complaining).

The beginner course last night was 3.2km long and I managed 1.8km before I had to stop because I took the increase on speed too high and overcooked myself after not preparing nutritionally (read: felt like throwing up for an hour). My target is to do 5km a week and at least an hour, so I should be able to do that in two stints at my current level, and hopefully I will be able to do a 5km in under 45 minutes given some time.

I feel if I can make these little improvements, I’ll feel more confident in areas such as public speaking too, I’ll feel less of a fraud. So my word for 2019 is confidence, but that’s probably my word every year. We all want just a little more confidence!