Welcome back!
I joined this CAL and the Happy Mail CAL year also after being absent for quite some time. Both were so much fun and made me stay active in this wonderful community.
I reached somewhat between 30 and 40 projects.
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My 2026 goals so far:
-
Work on WIPs and finish what I can
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Make dinosaurs for summer reading
Iāll have to go through my WIPs and to-do list and see which projects I still want to make.
~
2026 Projects
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Iām back again! Hopefully with better record keeping abilities for 2026. Iām pretty sure I hit 50 in 2025 but my lists are in shambles.
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Holding my spot for tracking. Actually tracking my crafts and art is one of my goals for 2026.
My to-do list for 2026 thus far (most are roll-overs)
- Cat watercolor
- Chihuahua watercolor
- Surrealist cat acrylic painting
- Lap quilt for my mom
- Dragon stuffie
- Axolotl stuffie
- Squirrel Rave gouache postcard
- Monster jar ATC
- Monster pet ATC
- Cryptids bag
- Swatch reference card for large Watercolor tin and consolidate my Midnight Watercolors pans
- Organize craft room
- Set up art cart
- Make a painting using Duralar
- Use gold leaf on a painting
- Cat Valentines paper doll
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Thatās a wonderful list.
I am so looking forward to seeing the surrealist cat painting! I absolutely adore your art.
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So happy to see so many art pieces!
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@Silky_Bee & @AIMR - thank you! Painting is my go-to craft for sure.
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Huge fan of this post! I know in a nebulous kind of way the sorts of things I want to do, but the ADHD is strong in this one, so lists are always helpful!
2026 Goal List:
- Peacock coat
- Armor coat - at least think about it more
- Crow coat - need to order Thinsulate
- Spring coat - from the green and white
- Summer coat - the green background
- Repair dolls for shipping to Kidnik
- Finish WIP voodoo dolls, plus the third
- try to join a swap
I just have to finish off the last few hangers-on of 2025 before I can get going on the next!
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I am feeling a bit adrift about goals, and I never manage to track projects here, but who knows, perhaps this too can change?
I will absolutely make more than 50 things this year, but aside from more little clay tea pets for a fundraiser I joined, I have very little idea what most of them are going to be yet.
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crow coat??
Welcome, welcome! That sure is a lot of coats and with very interesting names!
@thanate I know it is not for everybody so do what you can or want. I get so distracted that if I donāt record things, I wonāt even begin. I look at my lists here and on the other craftalongs as just a starting point. I donāt do a lot of them when I have a chance to think moreā¦I mean, seriously, a knitted guinea pig? But yeah, I must want one to put it on a list even if I donāt make it! 
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Oh, of courseā I follow along here mostly for the comradery of everyone else talking about their projects. But contributing would probably be good, tooā¦ 
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We appreciate the support and camaraderie of our fellow makers!
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hahaha well it is just in my head at the moment - but I have this thin pleather material (from a fake leather curtain) that I am going to cut feather shapes from, and will then applique them in a bird shape on the hood and back ā¦. not sure how Extra the arms will be, but the idea is to have it look like a crow once finished, on a dark green/black patterned background. But i want winterwear - so Thinsulate (300g for -40 weather), but it gets a little pricey 
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Sounds pretty glorious so far!
I have a feather shawl crochet pattern that I want to try to adapt into a crow sweater. Maybe 2026 is the year for crows!
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The prize packs sometimes start with a single idea that will lead to a name for the prize pack. Once I have a name for the bundle, I try to think of other items that will work for that theme. Other times, like you suggested, one idea leads to another until I have a bundle of ideas and just need to come up with a prize pack name. I also have an ongoing list of potential prize ideas that I look through when coming up with a theme.
The āKeeping it Togetherā prize pack started as an idea that led to a theme that then led to other ideas. And for an upcoming prize pack, I came up with the name āQuilterās Tea-lightā after the ideas had already coalesced.
I hope I wrote all that in a way that makes sense!
I love coming up with and creating the prize packs and Iām thankful that the Quiltalong provides me with that opportunity!!
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I have never done one of these, but it sounds helpful for my ānew meā mindset.
I have tons of crafting supplies from literal decades ago, so my goal is to actually use them instead of just hoard them.
- make a Halloween pillowcase in a Teesha Moore style to use up some older smaller pieces of fabric. does anyone else still love her tiny quilting stuff or is it just me?
- make the junk journal Iāve been trying to actually make for like 5 years but never actually do
- the 12 red work Santa embroidery projects Iāve been avoiding for about a year. Youāll get them this year, mom. Promise!
- work on the fabric dying for my ongoing dream of opening a business.
- make a fairy hat
- actually keep a working journal. Not a JJ. Just actually filling out the one I have at least one a week
- Learn to cook sesame balls.
- earrings- so many earrings
- organize my crafting area in my new, incredibly tiny living space.
- actually make the embroideries from the crabapple hill witches series into hooplas. do people actually do hooplas anymore, or am i just uncool?
- continue working on my obsession with arm warmers
- make the cute purse out of that pattern i bought
- fabric flowers from that pattern i bought
- actually use the zentangle book i got like 7 years ago.
Thatās a start. Iāll figure out the other ones later.
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Great list! Could the Santa embroidery project be one that you keep in a basket in your regular hang out space with a goal of finishing one per month? Maybe it wouldnāt be daunting to think of it as your ādown timeā handiwork?
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I still love TM patches and started remaking some of my favorites that I sent out in swaps. I am probably going to use mine to make at least part of my weighted sewing machine cover. They are now in a box and that makes me sadā¦soā¦
And yeah, we still do hooplas! You should join the stitchalong. It is no pressure! Like @AntBee says, I have mine in a basket that I can move room to room. I like sitting in front of my picture window with a cup of tea and stitch for even a few minutes. Watching a big piece grow little by little is still a joy!
Welcome and have fun! Glad to see you here!
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