Happy New Year’s Eve! Time to take stock of my goals for the year.
2017 Goals
1.Sandy’s (Quilting for the Rest of Us) word this year is “Balance”. I have the opposite problem from many of you, in that I have plenty of time to sew and don’t always take advantage of it. My life has definitely gotten in the way of sewing this year. There are lots of reasons, but a lot of it boils down to distraction and/or laziness. I developed bad habits of sitting around while my knees were recuperating and I need to replace them (the habits! Already replaced the knees!).
I’m making an appointment with myself to sew every day from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M. If I start earlier, fine, especially in warm weather. If I go back to it later, fine. If I tweak the time, fine. I just want a target and to know that I can put the housework, etc., aside and go quilt.
-This was partially successful. The times didn’t always work, but I did get into the studio more. As my walking stamina improves, my schedule continues to evolve, but I am sewing more.
2. This year I want to finish my largest UFO, the Slow Quilt. I have some ideas about cutting it down or otherwise changing it to improve it. Finishing it will free up a lot of physical and mental space, and take some fabric out of the stash.
-No, I didn’t finish this. Because of this goal, I did take it out, do a lot of thinking about it, and made a little progress. So, it will go back on the goal list for 2018.
3. Continue to work on the way I store things in my studio. My personal quilts are hard to reach and take up space I could use for other things. The fabric needs to be refolded and organized. And going through it will make sure I see it all again.
Yes! I revisited and refolded a lot of my stash (although some of it is messed up again). I cleaned out a cabinet, hung up some small quilts, and stored others out of the light in that cabinet that is hard to access behind my ironing board.
4. Work on those art quilts again!
No. Nothing happened here. Maybe it was this crazy year, but I just didn’t feel moved to create anything this way. I made three mystery quilts and many donation blocks where others made all the decisions and all I had to do was sew patches together. It seemed to be what I needed this year. Another one to revisit in 2018.
5. I’m going to take another fifty yards out of my stash this year! (Four hundred yards in the past five years!)
Yes! So that’s a net reduction of 450 yards from my stash since I started tracking. And there’s still so much there! No, I am seeing it turn over and contain more fabrics that are to my current taste. To that end, you’ll see me continue to purchase new fabric as I use the old. This year those last eight donation pillowcases put my over the top.
This week: + 0 yards, – 8 yards
This year: + 109.25 yards, – 165.75 yards
Net destashed added in 2017: 56.50 yards
December Goals:
- Cut scraps for Charlotte Hawke’s mystery quilt, Stars Over Fawn Lake (begins in January). Yes! Waiting happily in their basket.
- Make blocks for Kat’s Nov./Dec. block drive for Covered in Love. Yes! I made a dozen.
- Make donation pillowcases for Case for Smiles. Yes, I made eight.
- Make nautical baby quilt. Yes! Here.
So, a pretty successful year, but room to improve for 2018. I’ll be back soon with my new goals. In the meantime, I’m going to use this quiet day to sew! Hope you can, too!
As best I can tell, this is what I made this year. They’re in no particular order; it was enough just to collage them. Lots of donation blocks, some donation quilts, a few bed quilts for us, some gifts, some things to sell on Etsy. Quite a few projects. Definitely colorful. Some celebrated new babys, a few went to tragic situations.
This week I put together this baby quilt that I designed a few months ago. It has it’s roots in 
I had a signal flag print ready for the backing, but as I was looking for some fabric to piece into it, I found a big piece of this great fish batik, and this nautical stripe that I used for the binding. Love those fish!
Evening in the Garden Quilts 