2022 Quilting Ambitions

There's just one more day left in 2021.  It always amazes me how fast the last couple of months of the year go.  It's already time to make plans for 2022. I'm playing along with Quilting Jet Girl's 2022 Planning Party again this year. 

This year was especially quick as life was more hectic than normal.  This week is the first chance I've had a chance to just sit and reflect on how my quilty life went in 2021. It wasn't a very productive year on that front. No one can know what the year ahead brings, but it always helps me to reflect on what worked and what didn't before I set my goals for the new year.  

2022 Quilty Ambition #1: Reduce the number of UFOs by making progress on existing projects. 

I'll end 2021 with as many UFOs as there were in 2020.  On the bright side the numbers didn't go up compared to last year.  On the down side, the number of UFOs haven't gone down in the last 8 years.  

I'm not focusing on finishes as my goal for 2022, the focus will be on progress.  Work was pretty intense this year, I expect the same for next year. So why punish myself if I don't have the time or energy to engage in my favorite stress reliever?  So my goal is to make as much progress on as many projects as possible with the time I have available.  

I'll play along with American Patchwork and Quilting's 2022 UFO Challenge to track how I'm doing on this goal. Here's my list for this year in the order I plan to tackle them. 

 And though finishes are not the goal, I'll play along with Quilting Gail's 2022 PHD. 

The advantage of Gails PHD program is that it tracks new projects as well.  Limiting starts always helps keep the UFO list under control. 

Quilty Ambition #2: Continue to Host the 15 Minutes to Stitch Linky Party in 2022.

This is my motivation to work in 15 minutes of stitching time every day. For some reason if I have to share my progress on the blog, I tend to do better.  Though it certainly didn't work that way this year. 

Stitching for just 15 minutes may not seem like a lot of time, but it can really add up over the course of a week. I'll certainly end up with good progress for the year if I can manage to stitch at least 75% of the time. If work is as busy in 2022 as 2021 was, I should still be able to manage that.  

That's it for my 2022 plans. I gave up on stash management goals several years ago, they don't work for me. I'm going to keep it simple this year. 

Good luck with your plans for 2022.  Do check out all the ambitions posted at Quilting Jet Girl's 2022 Planning Party. 

Mid-February 2020 PHD Report - Just a A Little Late

I'm a bit late on the mid-month PHD (projects half done) update for February.

I completely missed getting this prepped on the 15th.  The business trip this last week put a bit of a hitch in both my blogging and stitching schedules this month. There's been progress but it's not showing up on the PHD report.

  
No finishes, but no starts either.  So at least I'm not losing ground.  There have been some updates to the UFO/WIP list. 

I picked Twinkle Stars up at the post office this afternoon.  

I've gotten as far as removing it from the box. I like the quilting from the back. I'll show off the front once I get the binding on.  

The other update to the UFO list is that Winter Quilt Along project is quilted.  Trudy just emailed this afternoon to tell me it was finished.  

I'm hoping to have Twinkle Stars bound before the end of the month.  The Winter Quilt Along project will get finished in March.  Fingers crossed I have something to mark on the list for the February wrap up.  

Linking up with Quilting Gail for the mid-February PHD update.  

2019 Quilting Ambitions - Midyear Check In

So the first half of the year is over (wow that was fast).  I just finished performance reviews at work, basically a check in meeting with the supervisor to say what's on track, what's not and how do you get back on track. I don't have a quilty supervisor (thank goodness!), but it does help my accountability to post on the blog how well the quilty year is going.  Back in December 2018, I participated in Quilting Jetgirl's 2019 Planning Party by posting a list of my 2019 Quilting Ambitions.  So what's working and what's not from my ambitions list?     

Quilty Ambition #1:  Use a quilt plan

The last two years I've played along with the American Patchwork and Quilting's UFO Challenge on Facebook. You select 12 UFOs, they pick a number each month and you work on that UFO. I did that in 2018.  And though I made progress on all the projects, I didn't do so well on finishing projects.  So this year the plan was to focus on one project till it was finished, then move on to the next project.  I've used the approach in the years where there's been a lot of sewing to deadlines (graduation quilts) and it seems to result in more finishes.  Here's this year's project list.

Quilts #1, #2 and #3 are all finished.  Quilt #4 just needs two border strips added before it's a finished flimsy.  Looking back at 2018, only one quilt was finished by midyear.  That would suggest that focusing on one quilt from the list till it's done works better, at least for me.  So even though I've not finished six quilts in six months, I'm doing better than last year, so in my book that counts as on track for this ambition. 

Quilty Ambition #2:  Stitch 15 minutes every day

As of June 30th, I'd manage to fit in 15 minutes of stitching 157 out of 180 days for a success rate of 87.22%.  My goal is 90%, so I'm a little off track on that goal.

Quilty Ambition #3:  Sew from the stash

I didn't set any goals for fabric in or out this year.  Out of the 9 years I've been tracking fabric usage there's only been two where I used more than I bought.  The focus here is on using what's in the fabric closet on new projects.  Wild and Goosey is this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge project and it uses up lots of those small cut off triangles. 

Storm at Sea uses a teal that's been in the stash forever. 

  

While Daisy Chain used up left overs from a couple of other projects.

I've added to the stash a bit this year, but not on the scale I have some years.  As of the end of June, there's more in than out, but I'm close to break even there. With six months left in the year, as long as I continue to ignore all those fabric shop emails, there should be more going out than coming in. That would be a success.  

Motivators

These are those blog based quilt programs the can provide some structure and accountability to fulfilling your ambitions if you choose them wisely and play along faithfully.  

I talked about the America Patchwork and Quilting Facebook group that was the inspiration for my quilt plan.  I'm also working on my quilting PhD with Quilting Gail.  

I'm not doing so hot on that front.  I've done a bit on the finishing UFO part, but you also have to finish all the quilts you start in a given year.  I'm pretty sure Daisy Chain and Storm at Sea will get completed, but Wild N Goosey is going to be a longer term project. I'd say getting my quilty PHD in 2019 is probably a long shot. 

Participating in the One Monthly Goal this year has been going well. 

I've been more careful this year to match up my monthly goal with the time I've got available each month. Work has impacted my schedule more this year than last, so I have to be realistic about what is really achievable each month.  Last year was a pretty crappy year on this front (5 out of 12 OMGs met) and it was demotivating.  It feels much better to have met six out of the six goals so far this year.  

The last motivator is the 15 Minutes to Stitch linky party that I host each Sunday.  

For some reason it's always been a big motivator if I have to post progress on the blog.  Knowing that I'll have to report out my progress on Sunday is sometimes the only thing that convinces me I really do need to get in those 15 minutes. There's been 26 posts so far in 2019 and they've all gone up on Sunday.  Sometimes not as early as I would have liked, but they all got up.  There are 9 to 10 bloggers that link up most every week.  It's motivating when someone else is doing well and making progress.  It's also comforting when someone has a not so successful week of finding time to stitch. We all have those weeks where life just gets in the way. It's good to remember for most of us quilting is a hobby and it's OK to have an off week or a week we just want to go do something else.  So thank you to the 15 Minute to Stitch  regulars, you really do make my week.

So the year hasn't been perfect, but it's shaping up to be a better than average year on the stitching front. That works for me.