Small goals

I was thinking about goals today,and how many I make- or more so, how many I keep!
We're all goal setters in our own ways. I've also grown older and wiser- knowing that those sweeping goals, the big unattainable ones are no longer in my realm of goal making. Thank goodness for that!
It's January- for years I've set the "lose weight" goal. "Join the gym" goal. "Organize the house" goal. It never worked for long. But for some reason (the wisdom that starts sticking with you with advancing age?) goals are starting to stick around here. Why?? What's different?? I've gone from making those broad, sweeping master goals to setting small attainable ones for myself. No more "I'm going to lose 50 pounds". Now I work in 10 pound increments- all the more attainable. It's working. No more "I'm going to join a gym". I know I don't have the time right now. Honesty. Reality. Good things to keep in mind. "I'm going to organize the house" has gone to "I'll work on (fill in the blank) today". Little goals. I'm not kicking myself in the pants all that much anymore.
All this is now being carried over into my stitching life as well. Small goals! Now I know I announced that I set a goal of making a little quilt each month- but that I think I can do. Maybe I need to realistically qualify my goal as a "top" each month instead of a "quilt". Quilt implies just that- I've taken needle to the top and stitched 3 layers together and then attached a binding. Done. "Quilt". I'm all for pushing myself just a bit further than I wanted to- so we'll see what comes of it. I could have quilted my little 12 Days of Christmas this weekend. Yup, could have....but I chose instead to revisit a project that has called my name for years. I talked my self in and out of the Civil War Bride Quilt for two years before giving in to buying the pattern. Then when taking care of my mom I began the stitching and quickly discovered that I wasn't happy with how things were looking. I fixed all that yesterday, curled on the couch in the mist of the family (read that as husband and dog) who were both very pleased with my presence for the afternoon. Block #1 was fine. Block #2 needed to have flowers replaced and that is done. Both are pressed and looking very pretty now. They are sitting next to the open (opened to the original quilt top) book I purchased at the Red and White exhibit in NYC last year. Today, I stated working on my third block- the bride herself. She is looking a bit hastily dressed, but I can fix that easily- I'm pleased with her face, neck, hands...the pieces are small, but I did not veer from my needle turn. It is giving me great pleasure- and very sore fingers. I need to start forcing myself to wear a thimble.
I think I will work on her a bit more tomorrow. My mini goal for the week is to finish block #3. This mini goal thing could just work! That reminds me of another goal to add to the list. Photography! Start taking some photos to share when I go on about things I'm doing. Now how hard can that be??