Happy New Year to each one of you.  Yuri and I hope you are safe and warm and able to sew.

A new quilty year spreads out before us.  I wish I had grand ideas about where I’d like to go this year, but I don’t.  I feel stuck creatively.  Probably the best way to work that out is to just sew fabric together for a while, so that’s what I’ll be doing.

Fortunately, Sandy, at Quilting for the Rest of Us, offers a very specific Quilty Resolution Challenge.  She has instructed us to list three ways in which we will “clean house”  mentally or physically in our quilty lives.  So here are mine.

1.  I will complete the large UFO quilt under my cutting table.  It reminds me constantly that I abandoned it, so it takes up mental space.  It also hogs most of the space under my cutting table, and is visual clutter in the room.  First, I need to spread it out and come up with a better quilting plan than I had before.  Then I need to mark, baste, and trim the batting on the back for faux trapunto.  Then I can quilt it, etc.  No, I did not do this.  I just wasn’t feeling it.  I did get an idea about cutting it down, since I hate how large it turned out.
2. I will give my studio a good cleaning.  It needs dusting, a little scrubbing, and the elimination of lots of extra stuff that has accumulated there.  I also need to donate pillow cases and the baby quilts that haven’t sold.  Yes!  I did all those things.  And hung a picture.
3. I want to try to take another fifty yards out of my stash.  This won’t be easy, because in the past four years I’ve gotten rid of 350 yards.  There’s still some ugly less appealing fabric that I want to use up and partially replace with fresh stuff.  One area that I can reduce is the scraps.  I will continue to use them for quilts and donation blocks.  I’m cutting soon for this year’s Scrapitude quilt, and Alycia and Kat have monthly blog drives for scrap blocks for good causes (Kat is taking January off).  Yes!  I just barely made it, but I did.  And that’s without finishing Scrappy Stars Around the Corner!

The month-by-month goals are much easier for me.

January Goals

1. Make sports baby quilt for shower.  Yes, the navy and white one!
2. Cut scraps for Scrappy Stars Around the Corner (Charlotte’s Scrapitude mystery quilt for this year).  Yes!  Except the background, which I’m cutting as I go.
3. Sew first clue for Scrappy Stars.  Yes!
4. Make a quilt for my Etsy shop.  Yes, the Pink Elephants!
5. Take Project Linus quilts and donation pillowcases to drop off shop.  Yep!

Bonus:  I made a dozen blocks to donate to Quilts of Valor, and am almost finished with an extra quilt for my shop from the Baseball scraps.

February Goals

1. Complete the second clue for Charlotte’s Scrappy Stars Around the Corner.  Yes!
2. Continue Gyleen’s Bricks, Cobblestones, and Pebbles mystery quilt.  Yes!
3. Unpack fabric lockers and get help moving them over a foot.  This will help with locker and floor access and make it easier to vacuum.  Well, no.  I did unload the lockers and attempt to move them, but they’re heavy and on carpet, so I gave up.  Instead, I moved a lamp in the way, and the roll of batting.  I also tidied up my cords, and changed the sewing machine so it wasn’t plugged into the same outlet as my iron (bad for the computer).  And I vacuumed and dusted.
4. Find a new home for the little project bins that live under the cutting table.  Yes!
5. Make donation blocks for Kat’s February Challenge.  Yes!
6. Make a quilt for my Etsy shop.  Yes, I made three!

Bonus:  I made a blue and green twin quilt to keep at home.

March Goals

1. Complete the third clue for Charlotte’s Scrappy Stars Around the Corner.  Yes!  Right here.
2. Make a back and donate it with the top from Gyleen’s Bricks, Cobblestones, and Pebbles mystery quilt.  Well, it’s not mailed yet, but I did make  buy a wide piece of backing to send with it.
3. Clear the area behind the door in my studio.  This is mostly finished.  There is still a large photo to hang and a couple things I haven’t made decisions about yet.
4. Make donation blocks for Kat’s March Drive.  Yes!  Here.
5. Make some summer-themed wall hangings.  Yes!  Here.
6. Participate in Darla’s March-A-Long, where we sew a little every day. Yes!  I’m very proud that I spent at least 15 minutes, usually much more, sewing/designing/cleaning the studio every day though March 27.

Bonus:  I made two jungle-themed baby quilts, inspired by fabric I had bought 0ver Christmas.

April Goals:

1. Complete Clue 4 for Charlotte’s Scrappy Blocks Around the Corner.  Yes!  Here.
2. Make blocks for Kat’s April Block Drive.  I did not.
3. Watch my Craftsy Classes.  Yes, I watched parts of “Cut to It” (Caffrey) and “Creative Quilting with Your Walking Foot” (Gerhing).  Of course, I bought three more classes, so I’m not caught up…
4. Catch up, more or less, on quilty podcasts.  I am no where near caught up, but I did listen to several.

(These are modest to accommodate my recovery from having my left knee partially replaced.)

Bonus:  I finished the Coral and Aqua Baby Quilt.

May Goals:

1. Make blocks for Kat’s May block drive.  Yes!  I think I sent eight blocks.
2. Make Birds in the Air blocks for the Twilters! swap.  Yes!  I sent forty blocks.
3. Finish cleaning behind the door in my studio.  Almost.  It’s a lot better, but I need to hang a picture and rearrange some things.
4. Make a baby quilt for my shop.  I’m saying Yes, because the Black and White Stars baby quilt is all finished but the binding, and I’ll do that on the machine tomorrow.

June Goals:

1. Recover settee cushion for our deck.  Yes!  I procrastinated, but got it made, and two bonus pillow covers.
2. Order fabric to finish Scrappy Stars Around the Corner.  I’ll say “Yes”.  I can’t decide how large to finish this quilt, because I might change my mind about what to do with it.  Instead, I bought fabric for backs for three other quilts.
3. Hang photo in Studio, etc.  No, I didn’t.
4. Work on a new coastal themed art quilt.  Nope.
5. Make blocks for Kat’s June block drive.  Yes!

Other things I made:

• I finished the Black and White Baby Quilt.
• Sandwiched and started quilting the Impressionist Quilt.
• Made thirty blocks toward a quilt for Orlando.
• Sewed a little zipper pouch to carry my stuff to the Y.
• Made a commissioned Star Wars baby quilt.

July Goals:

1. Make the quilt for Orlando.  Yes!  Ready to mail off.
2. Finish the Impressionist Quilt .  Yes!  I sent it to victims of the WV floods.
3. Hang photo in Studio, etc.  No, again. Sigh.

Bonus: I made commissioned Elephant baby quilt.

August Goals:

1. Hang the darned picture already!  Yes!  Done!
2. Coastal-themed art quilt.  Nope.
3. Piece top to Birds in the Air quilt.  Yes, and quilted and bound!  Here.
4. Make autumn themed wall hangings / table runners. Yes, three.
5. Make blocks for Kat’s August drive.  Yes, eight.

Bonus:  Assembled Blue and Brown Leaders and Enders top and made a lot of quilting progress.

September Goals:

1. Take my machine to the spa.  Yes.
2. Watch Craftsy classes.  Yes, one so far.  (Cut to It)
3. Catch up on podcasts.  Not yet.  Soon!  Or at least get current.
4. Heal from my right knee replacement!  Yes. Ice, cats, and physical therapy.  Ouch!

Bonus: I finished that blue and brown quilt.  I bought fabric on line, then designed this Christmas quilt to make with it.

October Goals

1. Make string blocks for Kat’s October block drive.  Yes.  And I finally mailed them.
2. Start the Christmas quilt.  Sort of.  I revised the design, and began the cutting.

Bonus:  I made the lavender baby quilt.

That’s all.  I don’t have my machine back yet, and I’m not yet climbing stairs, so I won’t be too ambitious.

November Goals

1. Finish Christmas quilt.  Yes!  Here’s a photo, and I’ll do a post soon.
2. Revamp fireplace screen cover.  No, but I’m going to do it soon.
3. Work on Scrappy Stars Around the Corner.  No.  Maybe for Boxing Day Sew In?
4. Make blocks for Kat’s November block drive.  Yes, I mailed those off to her.  

December Goals

1. Revamp fireplace screen cover.  Yes!  Not including a picture because it looks much the same, but it is much improved, fits better, has much more quilting.
2. Work on Scrappy Stars Around the Corner.  No.  I did not get to this.
3. Make donation pillow cases.  Yes!  I made twelve.
4. Make December blocks for Kat (?)  Yes!  Well, no, I didn’t need to make any, because it turned out that it was a Nov./Dec. challenge, and I had sent mine in November.
5. Pull scraps for Charlotte’s new mystery quilt.  No, but I decided on my background color, a raspberry solid.

Bonus:  I made two Maple Leaf quilts for donation.

That should do it!  Good luck typing your goals if you have this kind of help…