Sewing is a seasonal activity I enjoy that is motivated by gift giving. The urge to continue always fades when I get back to my job in January.

This year, I was persuaded to continue it, however, thanks to a call put out by @brooklyn_haberdashery, on Instagram, to join a year-long challenge to make one project a week, collectively called #our52weekproject. I decided to sew coasters with little birds on them and call my project #52littlebirds.

Almost instantly, I went from contented crafter to stressed out stitcher. Hurriedly working to complete my first week’s coaster while my son was still home from college, my little bird morphed into a walrus or a weird sea lion before my very eyes. I added tiny little bird legs but that only made it worse.

“Take the legs off and let it be a walrus,” Chris said.

“But my project isn’t about walruses!” I fretted.

With the smallest of setbacks, I got stuck in a spin cycle of doubt and stopped sewing altogether for about three days. Rip it out and start over? Skip week one? Scrap the whole project?

Commitment is always tough for me, especially as I start something new, yet I know the payoff can be great. In keeping this blog for one year, for instance, I proved I could write more than I thought I could and built a habit of pushing past my ho-hum, what's-the-point inclinations. Each time, I was surprised I could pull it off.

For many years, I’ve watched Chris work his way through similar challenges, such as painting one image a day in his journal or making maps. I have seen how fruitful it can be and how it has led him in interesting directions in his work. (The map making, for example, led to this very fun video project in Seattle.

The space between idea and action is perilous terrain, subject to my many questions, my mood, my anxieties and my perfectionism. Too often I quit before I start.

Like any New Year’s resolution, the first two days are filled with hope and firm resolve, but by day three hope fades as fast as a snapchat photo.

This time, in the interest of keeping on, I, too, say, "Let it be a walrus."

And, as you may have noticed, I think I'll hang onto the blog, too.

P.S. 52-week projects I like: #52weeksofwoodworking and #52weeksofmountains