 Happy New Year you guys! I am here today to talk about some of my resolutions. I just find this to be a good way for me to set goals, hold myself accountable, and like check in every now and again. So, I'm going back. I'm going back to my 2021 resolutions and we can evaluate together how I did. And I'll use this to help inform me on my 2022 resolutions as well. I've done this the last couple of years. It's always really fun to go back a whole year. You know, like who was I even a year ago whenever I thought for sure that, you know, we wouldn't have this pandemic anymore. And I thought for sure, you know, that I was going to be just this superstar. So let's crank this up and find out what my goals and resolutions were for this past year. Happy New Year you guys! It feels so unspecial in a way to say that because I feel like even though 2020 is behind us, a lot of the same issues that came to light last year are still very prevalent. And I think that's weighing heavily on me as I make my resolutions for 2021. Of course, as with every year, I always have my go-tos, you know, be healthy, be a good partner to Dan, be a good friend to all my friends. It's sewing related, you know, work on the works in progress, not add to the works in progress, start taking from my stash more. All of those kinds of things are still in place. But I think that this year what I want to communicate to you guys in regards to my resolutions is that this year is going to be the year where it's just not about me or not about just me. Obviously, I want to do things that fulfill me and that make me feel really good and really happy. And a lot of that has to do with you guys. You guys fill me up. You guys, when I read your comments or I see something that you posted that was inspired by me, that makes me feel good. This is kind of like a pretty selfish job because I get to do what I love to do all day long. And then I also get that reward back from you guys as well. So, you know, it's just a very, very fulfilling role that I do not take for granted in any way. And so I think 2021 is going to be the year where I make it all about you guys. I want to give you the things that not only do you guys ask me for these things, but it's also the things that I know you need and that you're looking for in order to continue your sewing journey. Sewing has been such an amazing escape for so many people being creative and, you know, distracting your mind and all of those things are such powerful, powerful mental health tools. And so if I can keep that going for someone, especially those of you who might have just picked up sewing during the pandemic or at least like re-found, re-found or at least rediscovered your passion for it. You know, I want this to be something that stays within you and helps you for years and years to come. So all of that to say, I have what is it four things? One, two, three, five goals, five projects, five things that I'm going to be working on consistently throughout the year that is obviously going to help you guys because it's more content. It's more of the content that you're always asking me for, more of the content that I know you need to be a successful sewist, but it's also very fulfilling to me to be able to give you guys this content. What I have planned for 2021 is the first thing is quarterly sew-alongs. Okay, and at that point I go on to describe the five projects which were quarterly sew-alongs, which we did. I did four massive sew-alongs last year. That was really good. The next thing that I talked about was Sew Together 21. At this point of filming this video on January 24th, it's whenever I published it, I had just sort of like made up the idea. So I had no idea what was going to come of it and ended up being so much fun. The voting, you guys posting the projects that you made, me actually posting a video to the channel talking about that project. So even if you aren't sewing, even if you didn't sew in the same month, you can always go back and get my sort of opinions, my fabric choices, what I think about fit and fabrication, all of that on that one specific pattern for the end of time. So I think that's really valuable to you guys too. We are continuing with Sew Together. Obviously now it's Sew Together 22. The January pattern is up. The January pattern will always be free and so they voted on free patterns this month over on Instagram and picked the J. Lee Emily pattern. Oversized, boxy, draping knit sweater situation, lightweight sweater knit. So that's good. I've already got the schedule for the entire year. So whereas we don't know what patterns we're voting on, we do know like the types of garments. So you can kind of plan around that for the month. I also talked about conferences, which I did two of last year. I did virtual Sew Expo and then I also was live it in person for the original Sewing and Quilt Expo, which was so much fun. It was in Raleigh, got to meet so many of you, taught some classes. It was really, really great. 2022 for conferences, I will not be participating in Sew Expo. They were doing it virtual again and I just could not. I just, I don't know how to explain it. I don't know how to explain why I don't want to do that again unless you've done it. It's a massive undertaking. Kudos to anybody who's ever done like a big conference like that, virtually. When it does go back to be in person, if I am invited back, I will absolutely jump at the chance to be back in person, but doing them virtually is just, no, I can't. It was beyond just the sewing. It was the technical aspect. It was the preparation, the engagement back and forth. All of it just didn't feel right and that's fair, I think, for me to not want to experience that again and I just hope you guys understand. As for the original Sewing and Quilt Expo, no plans as of yet, but I know we were talking last year about possibly doing some more of them, so we will see how that comes together. And I also, since three of them, I was also talking about, oh, my online course, which I did launch, albeit I launched it the week of Thanksgiving, so it was like right under, right in the 11th hour of 2021. I have a garment sewing basics course. If somehow you missed the announcement about that, I will leave a link in the description box, but it is, I believe, 11 different classes within one big course. So you purchase the course, you get 11 classes that you can watch and rewatch as many times as you want. The platform that I chose to use has search function, so like if you are sewing and you come across a sewing term that you're not familiar with or that you want to refer back to that lesson, you just type it in. So like, if you say, if you're about to sew darts and you're like, I want to remember how Lindsay told me to do darts, you type in darts into the program and it pulls up every single mention. Every single time I mention the word darts, it'll pull that up so you can easily find that lesson. It's also fully transcribed. So if you don't want to listen or have auditory issues or whatever it is and you need to read the lesson, that's easier for you. You can either watch the screen in its closed captioned or like a blog. They have the whole thing transcribed underneath the video so you can like skim through it if you don't want to watch at the speed in which I speak. Also comes in multiple languages. So if English isn't your first language and you prefer, I think I have it in Spanish and French right now, but it certainly can add other languages. If you guys need that, just let me know and I'll have to just let them know. So a lot, a lot of great functionality within the platform that I chose. I have the garment sewing basics class there now. Check the description box if you want to check that out. That was a major, major, major undertaking last year. So proud of getting that done. And then the last thing was sort of all these ideas and goals that I had for my Patreon, which I did not do any of them. The patrons that have stuck with me through last year, you guys are the real champions because I know that you are just there to support me, even if I can give you nothing in return. And that's really what happened last year. So I kind of, I need to, I love having the Patreon because if you guys do want to support me on an ongoing basis, you can. There is the ability for you to, but I also want to give you guys something in return. I just can't think of something that logistically makes sense, plus also something that you guys want, you know, and that matters to you. So that's where I am with Patreon. Love that I have it. Love the patrons that are there so much. I just need to figure out my way with it. So all in all, I think my little intro to last year's resolutions was speaking to what my word for 2021 was, which was connection. So I was focused really hard on connecting, building relationships, building deeper connections in every area of my life, not only with my partner, but with my friends, with you guys. And it's a little hard to assess that kind of global idea right now because I have, I am just coming off of a six week MIA. So I do feel like not connected, but I'm trying to remember back, you know, to like all the rest of the months when I, you know, I did feel closer to you guys. Obviously the channel has grown. All my social media has grown. Some other things that I did in 2021 that are not mentioned here is I started a TikTok, which I thought I was going to just like be under the radar on TikTok and maybe have a couple hundred followers, but what like my sixth TikTok ever went viral. And so I already have 8,000 followers on TikTok. So that has been a little bit of like, oh, okay, well, this has got to be like a thing because I'm not just posting and only a couple people are watching. There's like thousands of people. So incorporating that into my plans for 2022 for sure. I also launched a slew of kind of digital and physical products. So you have the ultimate garment sewing guide of guides, totally free. Link in the description box. Put that together. I launched my Fast Fit Workbook available for sale on my website. I also just recently, and I haven't talked about this much because I don't have the physical copies to show you guys. And I know that's what you want to see. But I also launched sewing planners. There's two of them. I put the Fast Fit Workbook. Well, it's like a Fast Fit Worksheet. And then I put it into a workbook so you can purchase physical bound hundred. There's a hundred Fast Fit Worksheets in the one workbook. So if you don't want to keep printing them out, you don't have to do that anymore. And then also launched a like project planner. So I have like a planner that has the calendar, like the months and all that kind of stuff. It's very annually focused. And then I have one that's just like universal. You can use it anytime, any month. There's no dates. And you just, it helps you organize your projects. And as soon as I have those in hand, I will be able to walk you through and show you all of them. They are shipping. People are buying them and they're showing me on Instagram or that they are arriving. So you guys are getting yours sooner than I am. I think because I'm the author that goes through a different process for an author copy. I don't know. But I'll link those in the description box as well if you want to check them out. And I just want to keep doing a lot more of that offering you guys things that are going to help you so better, faster, more efficiently, more accurately, all of that. And I think that I did a really bang up job of doing that last year. So that's how things shaped up in 2021. If you want to know what my 2022 resolutions will be, as well as my word for 2022, got to come back. I'm going to do a separate video on that just so that when 2023 comes around, I just have that one video where I can look back and see how I did. So all in all, I'm proud of myself. And I hope you guys are too. I'm proud of yourselves. Well, I mean, you can be proud of me if you want, but be proud of yourselves too. Whatever your goals or resolutions or words or focus or whatever it was for last year, I hope that despite everything that the world went through, you can still look back and be proud of yourself because here we are, you know, we're all still here and we're all still trying. Even if trying for you means just turn it on this video today. Just rolling over in bed, looking at yourself and giving yourself a smile, whatever it is, we're all doing it. We're all doing it. So yay. Cheers to 2022. Goodbye, 2021. I will see you all very soon. Bye.