2020 Quilting Ambitions

As 2019 comes to a close, I've been looking back at my 2019 Planning Party Post to see how I fared on this year's quilty ambitions, I'll summarize those tomorrow.  I've reviewed enough to decide on the quilty focus for 2020.  I'll share these plans at the 2020 Planning Party hosted by Quilting Jetgirl.  

I'm going to keep it really simple this year in hopes of making really good progress on my goals.  

2020 Ambition #1:  Finish 12 quilts in 2020

My record for quilt finishes in a single year is 7 quilts, so 12 is really a stretch goal.  I really want to work down the UFO/WIP list.  There are currently 26 active projects on my list. That's the largest total in the ten years that I've been keeping track.  

I'm going to play along with Quilting Gail's 2020 PhD program in hopes it helps my focus on project completion.  Here's my 2020 list. 

2020 Ambition #2:  Continue to host the 15 Minutes to Stitch Sunday linky party and get in 15 minutes of stitching time six days each week (or 85% of the time) 

In previous two years the goal was to work in 15 minutes/day every day.  That hasn't resulted in more finishes, though I'm sure it has contributed to progress on projects.  But with work and the various life events that happened this year, trying to fit in stitching time seven days a week every week was often stressful. Hopefully walking back the time commitment won't affect my progress much.  The intent with this goal is to just be consistent about getting in sewing room time.  

I'm leaving it at just two goals this year.  I really want 2020 to be the year of UFO busting.  Good luck with your quilty plans for 2020.   

January One Monthly Goal - Strategy and Planning

Happy New Year!  We made it through the count down to midnight in Tulsa and then promptly hit the sack.  My Guy and I spent the evening leading up to the count down talking and doing our annual massive back up of all the computer files (Between the 2 of us we've had 4 catastrophic computer failures in the last 4 years, so backing up all the photo files is something we try to do frequently).  I've spent this New Year's day morning resetting all my tracking spreadsheets and reviewing what I'd like to get done in 2019.  Patty had the January 2019 One Monthly Goal link up ready early this morning.  

So no time like the present to get moving on the quilty plans for the new year. The plan for January is to make the backing for the Inverted Star quilt.

Inverted Star
by Jessica Boschem of Common Threads
available from Craftsy

The backing fabric has been selected and pressed, so it's ready for cutting and assembly.  

I'm also planning to get the quilt prepped and everything packaged for shipment to Trudy for quilting. So the goal is to get this project shipped out for quilting by the end of the month. That should be doable.  

This is my fourth year of participating with the one monthly goal.  I didn't do so well in 2018.  I only made my goal 5 times in the last 12 months, compared to 11 times in 2016 and 10 times in 2017.  Not sure why last year was so different, maybe my goals were too ambitious?  Not sure, hopefully I'll get back on track with my goal setting/achieving this year.  

Linking up with Patty over at Elm Street Quilts.  What's your plan for the first month of 2019. 

Week 49 of 2018: Stitching and De-Stashing

This is the time of year where the to do list really does exceed the hours in a day.  If I could take work off the list, I might actually have a chance to get somewhere.  But as I need the income to support my quilting habits (and keep the Scientist In Training in college), that's probably not happening anytime soon.  Sometimes you have to get creative to work in those 15 minutes of stitching time each day. 

It was not a bad week on the stitching front. 

15 minutes stitching days/week = 6/7 days
15 minutes stitching days/December = 7/8 days
15 minutes stitching days 2018 = 321/342 days
Success rate = 93.86%

We had a holiday party to attend last Friday and I just wasn't able to work in any stitching time for the day.  Still, I'm over 90% for the year and that's the goal.  So still on track.  Though finding time to stitch is going to get more challenging as the month goes on.  You can share how well you are managing to find some stitching time this holiday season at the bottom of the post. 

There was just a bit of fabric out this week as the final borders were added to the Christmas Mystery quilt.

Fabric used this week = 0.69 yards
Fabric used in 2018 = 41.88 yards
More in than out for 2018. 

Stash busting just didn't happen for 2018.  I'm hoping that 2019 will be better.  

Linking up with Quiltpaintcreate for the stash report.  You can link up below to share how well you did at finding time to stitch.  

1. maggie f 2. Connie 3. Marti

4. Meloney 5. Shasta 6. Julie in GA

7. Christina's Handicrafts 8. Kathleen Mary 9. Aileen

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

2018 Ambitions: Successes and Failures

You had to wonder if Mother Nature decided to play along with April Fool's Day this year.  We had freezing rain most of the way home yesterday.  It wasn't heavy enough to make the roads bad, but it certainly was nerve racking wondering if conditions would get any worse.  We got home without incident and thankfully the Scientist in Training only hit one minor patch on her way back to school last night.  We are under a winter weather watch this morning for more freezing rain.   The calendar may say spring, but winter hasn't left yet. 

Speaking of things that are still hanging around, Vintage Dresses is still up on the design wall. 

 Vintage Dresses by Charise Randell

The third row of dresses is ready to be sewn together.  That leaves two rows of dresses and three more rows of sashing to finish.  The One Monthly Goal for March was to get all the sashing made have all the rows sewn together.  That didn't happen.  This is only the 4th time in the two years I've been playing along with the OMG that I didn't finish a monthly goal.  March was just really busy on both the work and family fronts.  Looking at it that way, I'm just going to be happy that there was good progress in spite of the busy month. That's pretty much it for what's going on in the sewing room for the last week.  I'm linking up with the usual suspects:

Monday Making
Design Wall Monday
Main Crush Monday

The rest of this post is a review.  Back in December, I developed a list of quilting ambitions as part of Quilting Jet Girls 2018 Planning Party.  It helps me remember to celebrate my successes and stay focused on my goals for the year if I review my progress on that list at the end of each quarter.  So here's the status of those ambitions.  

Ambition #1: Shorten the UFO List
                       No Progress

Ambition #2: Participate in select quilt along/mysteries 
                       Progress:  Squared Away quilt along is started

 Squared Away Sampler
designed by Mari (The Academic Quilter)
The 2018 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Project

Ambition #3:  Find 15 minutes to stitch each day
                        Success rate = 91%

Ambition #4:   Stash Management
                         Purchase less than 5 yards per quarter (4 yards in)
                         Organize the stash - a little progress
                         Use only stash fabrics for new projects - yes
  
Ambition #5:  Blog once a week
                        41 blog posts for 13 weeks = 3/week

I'm doing better than I expected on my ambitions for the year.  Finding time to stitch, blog and limit the amount of stash additions is going well.  The biggest disappointment is that the UFO list isn't going down.  There has been progress on several UFOs, they just haven't progressed to the point of being finished. So for second quarter, I need to work a little harder on moving those almost finished UFOs along.  

2018 Quilting Ambitions

As the year winds down, it's just natural to start considering plans for next year.  Yvonne's 2018 Planning Party gives bloggers a great opportunity to share ambitions the upcoming year.  I played along last year.  Here's how this year worked out and what the ambitions are for 2018.  

This past year has been productive on a couple of fronts and less so on others.  The biggest accomplishment was finishing seven quilts this year, that ties my all time best.  Plus there was some progress on each of the twelve quilts on my 2017 quilt plan.  Finding time to sew each day was another area of success.  But, managing the stash didn't go so hot this year.  Considering the success and failures for 2017, should I be doing something different for 2018?  

It's obvious from this last year that getting to the sewing room and setting priorities on what happens when I get there makes a huge difference in what gets done.  So do the 2018 ambitions focus on what worked this year or do I set a higher priority on the areas that didn't go so hot?   

Here's what I finally decided should be the focus for 2018. 

1.  Shorten the UFO list.  I've been holding at 17 UFOs for the last three years. 

It's not the same quilts on the list, a few come off, but others go on. I'd like to have no more than 10 quilts on the UFO list by the end of 2018. 

2.  Participate in select quilt along/mysteries. As much as I want to reduce the UFO list, not starting new projects just takes the joy out of the sewing room.  But I'll limit my participation to just three with the intent that all of them will pull from existing stash (see ambition 4).

• Rainbow Scrap Challenge
• Meadow Mist Plus Sign Sampler Quilt Along
• Bonnie Hunter Mystery

3. Find 15 minutes to stitch each day. I did really well at this in 2017 and it showed in the project progress.  It will be a challenge to do as well with this in 2018.  One change I'm going to try for 2018 is to spend the first 15 minutes (maybe the only 15 minutes)  on that month's priority project.  Hopefully that will help meet ambition number 1.   

4.   Stash Management/Organization.  This is my number one challenge each year.  I like fabric, but I'm really out of storage space, so the incoming needs to slow down for a bit. 

• Limit purchases to no more than 5 yards a quarter
• Spend 30 minutes each week organizing the sewing room                and the stash
•  Any new projects have to use stash fabrics only
• Pick blocks for this year's Rainbow Scrap Challenge that use scraps that are already cut to size. 

5.  Blog at least once a week.  My blog activity took a big nose dive after I switched positions back in June.  It doesn't look like things will be any better in 2018, so I'm going to scale back my blogging ambitions until I can figure out how to get in both my sewing and personal computer time when I've often got "homework"  in the evening and on weekends.  

Not the most original set of ambitions, but I really want to get that UFO list whitted down. Well that and I want to use up some stash.  If I can make both of those things happen in 2018, I'll count it an excellent year.  

You can check out all the other 2018 quilty ambitions posted over at Quilting Jetgirl. 

Stash Stuff for Week 39 and 2017 Ambitions Update

October marks the beginning of fourth quarter. The count down to the end of the year begins in earnest now, or at least it seems that way to me.  Back in December of last year, I posted a list of quilting ambitions to Jetgirl's 2017 Planning Party.  With the count down to the end of the year kicking into high gear it's time to check on where I'm at on those ambitions for this year.  Since this is normally just the weekly stash report, I'll start with that so you can stop reading if you've hopped over here from Quiltpaintcreate for the weekly stash report. 

Quilt Ambition #3 Manage the Stash/Organize the Sewing Room

Used last week: 0.94 yards
Used year to date: 48.44 yards
Added year to date: 335 yards
Net added year to date: 287 yards

Stitching time was at a premium during third quarter.  I switched positions at work to one with more responsibility, which means a lot more working from home in the evening.  That's really cut into my stitching time. Add in vacation and getting the Scientist in Training ready for college, it was a really busy quarter.  The goal is to use at least 70 yards for the year.  That means using 21 yards between now and the end of the year.  Probably not happening based on what my fourth quarter typically looks like.  On other end of the stash management plan, I pretty much shattered any possibility of using more than I buy this year.  After two years of very limited buying, I had no will power for another year like that.  A fabric diet is definitely in the cards for fourth quarter.  That's it for the stash report, the rest of the post covers all my other stitching ambitions for 2017.  

The big organization project for this year has been to whip the stash closet into shape.  This is what it looked like back in July:

This is what it looks like now:

I'm almost finished with the second shelf.  All that will be left after that is to tackle that top shelf.  So I've made good progress on that front this year.  

Quilting Ambition #1:  Finish a Few Quilts  

While the stash management hasn't been the greatest, I have done really well on this ambition.  There have been six finishes so far. 

Poinsettias, Bejeweled, Geometry, The First Amendment Quilt, Meadow Mist Mystery Quilt plus Blooms and Butterflies are all finished.  When I was putting this together last year, there were three quilts I had to finish for graduation in May.  That was pretty much my goal, finish those three.  To have six finished is a smash success in my book.  My record is seven in one year.  I should at least tie that this year.  There are three quilts I'd like to finish before Christmas, that would put me at 9 for the year.  Check back in January to see how well that went.  

Quilting Ambition #3:  Participate in Challenges and Quilt Alongs

Quilt alongs and challenges are such fun.  Since I don't belong to a guild (the one here only meets during the week while I'm at work), these projects keep me engaged with the blogging community of quilters.  The Rainbow Scrap Challenge has been a long running favorite.  I've been working on those blocks since January.  

The Magnolia Mystery kicked off last month over at Meadow Mist Designs.  I've kept up, so far anyway.  I'm hoping to finish September's clue before Cheryl posts the next clue on Thursday. 

I've got 50 of the HSTs finished.  Just 22 left and I'll be caught up. 

The other planned quilt along is Bonnie Hunter's annual mystery.  If she's doing one this year, the fabric planning posts should be going up sometime this month.  I need to finish off last year's mystery quilt before then. 

Quilting Ambition #4:  Make Time to Sew

I've been doing really well on that front this year.  I've managed to stitch for 15 minutes 245 out of the the last 273 days.  So 89.7% of the time, I meet my goal.  That's an "A" if you round up.  Definitely the best year I've ever had on finding time to stitch.  Lately it really has been only 15 minutes a day, but that is better than nothing.  

Quilting Ambition #5:  Work on My Blogging Skills

There were several parts to this goal.  The first was to blog at least three times per week.  On average, I managed three posts per week this last quarter.  Most weeks I get in three, but there are few with just two. So I'm doing OK on this goal.  

Another goal was to write four tutorials this year.  I've managed two.  So to meet this goal, I'll have to come up with two for this quarter.  I'll have to put some thought into that.  

Another goal was to improve my photography.  I didn't put any metrics with that goal, so I'm not sure what I was thinking.  I've been trying to pay more attention to the lighting when I take photos. I've been less than happy with some of my finished quilt shots, so that's definitely an area I need to make more improvements in.  

The final part of the fifth ambition was to write a post each quarter summarizing where I was.  First quarter's post is here, second quarter's is here. And this concludes the third quarter post. 

It's been a pretty good year on a lot of fronts.  I know some think it's a bit extreme to have goals for your hobby.  It's so easy for me to get caught up in the "I've worked all day, I'm too tired to go sew."  I usually perk up once I get to my sewing room.  These ambitions have helped me get up those stairs most days. 

Stash Stuff and a 2017 Quilting Ambitions Update

This post is a day later than planned.  Let's just say that July didn't start off as planned and leave it at that for now. 

June was not a nice month.  The washer went out, a job change required quite a bit of overtime the last half of the month.  Both problems are now solved.  I was going to say that stitching didn't go so well, but it really wasn't a bad month on that front, other than my 15 minutes of stitching time went out the window for a week while I dealt with the fall out from the job change.  The end of June also marks the end of second quarter.  So it's a good opportunity to check how I'm doing on my 2017 quilting ambitions that I posted to Quilting Jetgirl's 2017 Planning Party.  

Since this is the stash management report, I'll start with that and if you are not interested in the rest you can stop there.  

Quilt Ambition #3:  Manage the Stash/Organize the Sewing Room

Used last week: 0.41 yards
Used year to date: 38.79 yards
Added year to date: 215.55 yards
Net added year to date: 176.76 yards

The one advantage of being really busy with work is that I've not had much time for fabric shopping, so the incoming numbers stalled this month.  That's a good thing.  Even so it's not likely I'll meet my goal of using more than I buy this year.  Fabric usage is on track.  I've used more than half of the 70 yards that is the goal for this year.  

Organizing the sewing room has seen a few fits and starts. I found a good way to organize the fabric pieces for all the in progress quilts.  I showed that off here. Now that my deadline sewing is done, I've been spending more time working on organizing the rest of the sewing room.  I still haven't done anything with the scraps.  But I have done a bit in the fabric closet.  Here's how it looked last July.  

July 10, 2016

Here's how it looks now:

As of June 18, 2017

Not a lot of progress, but this chore takes a while.  I'll keep chipping away at it. 

Quilting Ambition #1:  Finish a Few Quilts

I've done really well on this goal.  There are four finishes so far this year:  Poinsettias, Bejeweled, Geometry and The First Amendment Quilt.  Three of these were high school graduation gifts.  They were finished in time to gift them the last day of school. 

The graduation quilts:  Geometry, Zombies in Paris and Bejeweled

They were a big hit.  I got hugs from all three girls (and none of them are big on giving hugs). 

There should be at least two more finishes this year.  The 2016 Meadow Mist Mystery  is being bound and Blooms and Butterflies has been shipped off for quilting.  That will make at least 6 finishes for 2017.  Definitely not shabby.

Quilting Ambition #3:  Participate in Challenges and Mystery Quilt Alongs

I've gotten a good start on the blocks for the 2017 Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  Though I still need to finish up the yellow blocks for June. 

The Magnolia Mystery from Meadow Mist Designs starts up in a few days.  That will be the next quilt along for 2017.  There are a couple of other mystery quilt alongs that are very tempting. I'm contemplating if I can start one or both of those two.  I probably won't start either because the UFO list is still pretty huge, but I can dream anyway. 

Quilting Ambition #4:  Make Time to Sew

The goal is to spend at least 15 minutes each day stitching.  The second quarter of 2017 hasn't been as good as the first, but I've found those 15 minutes more days than ever before. 

Days with 15 minutes of stitching:  165 days out of 181 days 
Percentage success:  91%

More fabric out and more finishes this year.  Pretty sure that's tied to this one goal.  

Quilting Ambition #5:  Work on Blogging Skills

My goal was to blog three times a week.  I didn't do so hot on that each week during the second quarter.  Some weeks I managed 5 posts, other weeks just 1.  On average I posted about 3 times per week for the year.  Not sure yet if I consider that success or not. 

I've written 2 of the 4 tutorials that was in my goals for this year.  On track with that one.  The last goal was to improve my photography skills.  I've been more conscious of staging my photos this last quarter.  Not sure that equates to better photos, but it's something different I'm trying.  

It's been a really good year so far.  I'm happy where I'm at in my ambitions for the year so far.  Now to keep up the momentum over the hot summer months and into the fall.  How are you doing on your stitching goals for 2017?  

Linking up with QuiltPaintCreate for the weekly stash report.   

The Weekly Stash Report - Week 13 (A 2017 Ambition Update Too)

Hard to believe the first quarter of 2017 is already gone.  It's been a busy year at work and at home.  But I think things are going pretty well on the home front. Back in December of 2016, I put together a list of my quilting ambitions for 2017 and then linked up with
Quilting JetGirl's  2017 Planning Party.  Since we are at the end of the first quarter I wanted to see how well (or not well) my sewing room time reflected my ambitions for the year.  I'll start with the stash report so you can stop reading after that if you aren't interested in the rest.  

Quilting Ambition #3:  Manage the Stash/Organize the sewing room

Used this week:  0.93 yards
Used year to date:  21.58 yards
Added year to date:  76.3 yards
Net added: 54.72 yards

My goal this year is to use 70 yards of fabric. That means I need to use at least 17.5 yards per quarter.  So I'm on track there.  There isn't a specific goal on fabric acquisition this year.  The plan is always to use more than comes in.  I'll have to exceed my original goal to make that happen this year.  Even with that, I'm pretty happy about where things stand with the stash management at this point.  

I've not done so well on organizing the sewing room first quarter.  I'll blame that on being so focused on finishing the graduation quilts. I have done some clean up of the stash closet, but not as much as I'd like.  There is still a pile of scraps that needs to be cut to size and sorted.  So that's an area for improvement this quarter.  

That's it for the stash report this week. I'm linking up with Patchwork Times for the Weekly Stash Report.  If you are curious about how the rest of my sewing room ambitions are going read on.    
Quilting Ambition #1:  Finish a Few Quilts

Two finished.  

Poinsettias and Bejeweled were finished in March
Poinsettias by Judy Blok for the December 2013 issue
of American Patchwork and Quilting Magazine
Bejeweled from "All About Strips" by Susan Guzman

I'm on track here.  Other than finishing up the three graduation quilts due by May, there's no requirement to finish a set number this year.  I'll be happy with whatever gets finished. 


Quilting Ambition #2:  Participate in Challenges and Mystery Quilts

The Rainbow Scrap Challenge project for 2017 has been started.  

There are two other mystery quilt alongs on the list that don't start until later in the year.  So I'm on track here. 

Quilting Ambition #4:  Make Time to Sew

The goal is to spend at least 15 minutes each day stitching.  So far for 2017 I've found time every day this year.  That is 91 out of 91 days so far.  That's definitely a record! 

Quilting Ambition #5:  Work on Blogging Skills

I've blogged at least 3 times per week this year.  That was one goal under this heading.  I've written one tutorial so far.  The goal is four for the year.  The last piece of this is to improve my photography skills.  Not sure what I was thinking when I added that goal. That goal needs a bit more thought.  On the other hand it's generic enough that I can make anything fit there.  Even with that, I'm OK with where I'm at here.  

Not a bad start to 2017.  Hopefully once the forced march on the graduation quilts is done, there will be more time to focus on some of the stash organization goals. It may seem strange to have goals around a hobby. It works for me.  I'm not sure why, but I'm just more motivated if there's a plan for the year.  

Stash Report and 2016 Wrap Up

Happy New Year!  Wishing every one the best for the new year that is 2017.  The older I get the faster each year goes.  This year will see one of those major life changes for us, we'll send our only kiddo off to college and be empty nesters by next fall.  We had a taste of that this last week as Drama Teen was in Florida visiting friends.  She got back yesterday to help us celebrate the new year.  Thankfully My Guy and I had a nice week together, so I think we'll make the transition gracefully once it comes time to let our little bird leave the nest.

Judy, who blogs at Patchwork Times, is going to continue the stash report for 2017.  I've been contemplating dropping this weekly post, but finally decided to keep it for now.  Having to post my numbers on the blog does add some accountability for meeting my stash management goals.  Judy is resetting her numbers to zero this week, but I'm going to take the opportunity to review how things went in the sewing room this year.   I track a number of quilting related metrics in spreadsheet (yes I am that geeky, I love spreadsheets).  

Stash Management - The 2016 goal was to use more than I buy.  

Used in 2016:  60.37 yards
Purchased in 2016:  80.27 yards
Added in 2016:  19.90 yards

I didn't meet this goal, but 20 yards to the good isn't so bad.  Most of the incoming fabric was from winning a few give aways this year.  Without that fabric, I'd have been close to break even.  Still I used over 60 yards this year, that's my second best year ever for fabric out.  If you look at my numbers from a few years ago you'll see a marked improvement in stash in versus stash out. 

You should note, that I love the graphing function in Excel too. 

15 Minutes to Stitch - Getting into the sewing room some days is a challenge, quite literally.  So I've tried hard the last several years to find just 15 minutes each day to stitch.  If I can make it to the sewing room it usually ends up being much longer, but I've got to get there first. 

Days with 15 minutes of stitching:  284 out of 366

If I was grading myself on this effort, it'd be a C (77.6%).  But this is the best year ever of finding the time to stitch, so I'm happy with the effort.  

 Follow my 2016 Quilt Plan - Drama Teen asked for 4 graduation quilts for friends and mentors.  After my disastrous attempt at completing the teacher quilts when DT was in 8th grade, I knew that I'd need to get started early.  So I drafted a quilt plan that included both finishes and my planned quilt starts so I had a reminder of what was on my plate.  I was going to complete 8 quilts and start 7.   I didn't do so hot on the finishes, there were just 4 for 2016.  

Vintage Tea Time, Midnight Tulips, Allietare, and Zombies in Paris

On the other hand I managed to start 6 of the 7 quilts on my plan, plus just one other unplanned quilt for a total of 7 new projects.  One of which, Zombies in Paris, is already finished.  

Blooms and Butterflies, Bejeweled, En Provence, Geometry,
Meadow Mist Mystery, and Vintage Dresses

So I ended 2016 with 17 quilts on the UFO list, which is unchanged from where it was at the end of 2015.  

I actually finished 2 UFOs, but two other WIPs became UFOs because they were more than a year old and unfinished.

As usual, the year was a mix of successful and not so successful efforts.  Please note that I find this type of tracking fun and motivating, but I'm not a slave to it.  Quilting is my hobby and a great stress reliever for me.  My spreadsheet is part of the fun for me (as I said before, yes I'm that geeky).  

Wishing you a very happy and succesful 2017.  

Linking up with Patchwork Times for the weekly stash report.  

Ambitions for 2017

As the year winds down, it's just natural to start looking towards plans for the incoming year.  I've taken a bit of time the last few days to assess how my 2016 went and where I'd like to see things go in 2017.  I've had the extra advantage of reading many of the posts over at Jet Girl's 2017 Planning Party. 

Now I'm finally ready to post my ambitions for next year.  Mine are rather plain Jane vanilla, but they focus on where I want to go next year. 

1.  Finish a few quilts.  Participate in the One Monthly Goal and UFO-2017 to help with this effort.  My 2017 quilt plan can be found on the 2017 Quilt Plan tab.  The "have to" finish quilts are Bejeweled, Geometry, and The First Amendment Quilts.

 2.  Participate in challenges and mystery quilt alongs.  These are some of my most favorite quilting and blogging activities.  Yes I have a long UFO list, but saying no new quilts just takes the joy out of the sewing room.  Plus planning which ones I'm going to participate in drives me to finish the quilt along projects from the previous year.  Here's next year's list:

     1.  RSC 2017 - Fan and Log Cabin blocks
     2.  2017 Meadow Mist Mystery
     3.  2017 Bonnie Hunter Mystery

3.  Manage the stash/organize the sewing room.  This is an ongoing battle for me (like most quilters I think).  I have lots of pretty fabrics, but not all of it is where I can see it and use it. 

     1.  Use 70 yards of fabric
     2.  Spend 30 minutes per week on sewing room organization
     3.  Make Wild Goose from Bonnie Hunter's book Addicted to Scraps (I have a ton of scraps that need to get into a quilt and this one looks like a good one to make that happen).  

4.  Make time to sew.  Seems obvious, but with a full time job, a husband and a daughter, there are lots of other things in my life too.  Making a conscious effort to get to the sewing room for 15 minutes will make a big difference in fulfilling my first ambition of getting a few quilts finished.

5.  Work on my blogging skills. The blog community functions as my quilting guild since the local one only meets while I'm at work. The quilty blogsphere is a wonderful source of friendship, feedback and inspiration.  This year was my worst in terms of posting and content since I started blogging 7 years ago.  So it's time for some refocusing here.

     1.  Post three times a week
     2.  Improve my photography intended for the blog
     3.  Write 4 tutorials this year
     4.  Review progress on these ambitions at the end of each quarter and report the progress or lack thereof on the blog.  

Those are my ambitions for the year.  Putting together the list is a good start, but sometimes the implementation doesn't go so well.  At any rate, good luck on your ambitions for 2017.  We'll know in about 12 months how we all did.  

Linking up with Jet Girl's 2017 Planning Party.  

Sewing Room Successes for 2015

Hard to believe it's already the new year.  I spent the last hours of the old year playing in my sewing room before I was summoned downstairs to participate in the champagne toast and a good luck kiss at midnight.  It was a very good way to end the old year and start the new.  After that, I was ready for bed.

I spent a bit of time yesterday finishing off and archiving my 2015 quilting spreadsheet, then setting up the new one for 2016.  My spreadsheet is my quilting record for the year. I tried to use a journal last year so I would have a non-electronic record, but it only lasted about 4 months before I lost interest in keeping it up.  Paper just doesn't work for me, while I've been really successful in keeping a spreadsheet since 2010.  At any rate here's what my 2015 spreadsheet had recorded for 2015. 

Four finishes.

Flame Test (2014 Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler)
Pattern by Angela Feldbush of Soscrappy
Started January 2014, Finished  May 2015

Grand Illusion
The 2014 Bonnie Hunter Mystery Quilt
Started November 2014, Finished September 2015

  

Experiments in Paisley (Layer Cake Quilt Along)
Pattern by Konda Lukau of  Moose on the Porch Quilts
Started November 2010, Finished November 2015

Lily Pond (Back to Square One)
Pattern by Judy Laquidara of Patchwork Times
Started June 2013, Finished December 2015

Of the four quilts only Lily Pond is destined for a new home.  It's a gift for the family that hosted Drama Teen's writing workshop last summer.  I haven't had a chance to get photos of the finished quilt, so I had to make do with the photo of the finished flimsy for this post. Three of the four were on the UFO list by the time they were finished.  Grand Illusion was a WIP at the time it was finished.  I ended 2015 with 17 UFOs, up one from 2014. 

It was a good year on the stash management front. I managed to stay on my fabric diet for the year and only added about 30 yards to the stash in 2015, while using 45 yards.  So for the first time in the six years of stash tracking, I ended the year in the black.  I'm really happy with that accomplishment for 2015.  

It may seem silly, but I also track the number of days where at least 15 minutes gets spent in the sewing room.  As I said it seems a bit silly, but it reminds me to get off the computer and get up out of the recliner to go sew.  With a full time job, an active teenager, and a spouse that travels a lot it can be hard at the end of the day to convince myself I have enough energy to sew.  My worst year ever was 2014, where I only made it to the sewing room 191 days out of 365.  I managed 213 days this year.  So 2015 wasn't my best effort, but it was better than 2014.  

So 2015 was a pretty good year.  I'm going to have to do better on all fronts if I want to achieve my 2016 quilt plan.  Wish me luck, I'm going to need it!

2016 Quilting Goals

Before writing this post, I looked at last my goals for 2015.  To be honest, I haven't looked at those since I wrote them.  But, I did regularly review and generally stick with my 2015 Quilt Plan.  Stash management was also a focus in 2015, but what I worked toward wasn't really in my goal.  So I'm taking those lessons to heart in writing my 2016 quilting goals. 

1.  Follow my 2016 Quilt Plan.  
            Finish 8 UFOs/WIPs
            Start 7 new projects

2.  Use more fabric than I buy.  

To make both 1 and 2 happen, I need to get into the sewing room more.  Which leads to me goal 3.  

3.  Sew for at least 15 minutes every day.  

Here's my UFO/WIP/New Project List

The quilts listed in red are the ones to be completed next year. My basis for choosing these quilts is that they are the UFOs closest to completion or are currently WIPs.  The seven quilts at the bottom of the list are the ones I plan to start next year.   

Wish me luck, I've never completed more than 7 quilts in one year and the 2016 plan calls for 8.  I used more fabric than I bought in 2015, that the first year that's happened in the 6 years I've been tracking stash in and outs.  Can I repeat next year?  I'm going to have to keep deleting those fabric shop emails to make that goal again this year. 

I'm linking up with Val's Tuesday Archives, as she's bending the rules a bit this week to showcase future efforts rather than past achievements.  

Stash Report - Week 5 of 2015

It's the first day of February and I find myself contemplating how well I'm doing on all those goals I set back on January 1st for 2015.  One goal was to do more housework, laundry and sewing during the week rather than spending the entire evening in the recliner.  That one has been mostly successful.  I've been sewing more during the week and the laundry isn't piling up as badly.  So I just need to maintain that one.  

The stash busting goal is also on track.  No fabric in for the month of January.  The last time I went a month with no fabric purchases was mid 2013.  So though my outgoing isn't anything to crow about, I'm at least in the black with more out than in so far for 2015. 

Used last week:  0.37 yards
Used in January:  2.61 yards

The get healthier goal has been a bit rocky.  I've done a good job of taking low calorie snacks to work each day and staying away from the donuts everyone seems to bring in regularly (well at least 75% of the time), but I've not been doing as well on getting in more exercise.  There are a few factors there like the cold and Drama Teen's twice weekly physical therapy that have made it harder to do well there, but both of those should be going away soon.  

The one goal I'm most remorseful about is not finishing up a UFO in January. All the blocks of the 2014 Rainbow Scrap Sampler quilt have been sashed together, but I decided to replace my normal strip borders with a pieced border and that's taking a lot longer.  Finishing a quilt a month is really unrealistic for me, as how much sewing time I can get in is really unpredictable, family and work both have prior claims.  But for some reason, the failure to meet a January deadline is really bothering me.  The plan was to use A Lovely Year of Finishes to help motivate me to work on the UFOs, but the requirement of that quilt along is that you finish the project. Not always a realistic goal for my projects.  So rather than be frustrated because of that quilt along, I'm just going to accept that UFOs will be completed on whatever pace I can manage and just focus on making progress on that list. 

Maybe my motivation ought to be reducing the height of the "in use stash" pile.  

This is just the yardage that's called for in my UFOs and WIPs, not the scraps and fat quarters that have been set aside.  

I wonder how much yardage is in that 18"?  

Linking up with Judy over at Patchwork Times.  Then I hope to start working on shortening that stack some.  

2015: Wishful Thinking Again

Happy New Year!  My Guy and I toasted each other with a glass of champagne followed by a kiss.  Hope your New Year's celebration was full of good cheer.  

Have you made plans for 2015?  I've spent the last few days contemplating what my focus should be in the sewing room for the next 12 months. 

Quilt Goals
1.  Finish 9 quilts in 2015, 5 UFOs and 4 2014 WIPs.  
          The quilts on the "to be finished" list have been added to the
          tab above labeled "2015 Quilt Plan". My plan is to link up
          with a Lovely Year of Finishes each month in hopes that will
          keep me motivated.

2.  Start 5 new quilts this year.
            A new scrap challenge quilt - Twinkle Stars
            The Bonnie Hunter Mystery when it comes out
            Three quilts to be given to DT's friends at graduation in
                  spring 2017.  If I start now, I might just finish all 6 by
                  graduation.

3.  Use stash fabrics in any new quilts, minimize buying new
                 fabrics
     Use 50 yards of fabric during the year

4.  Spend at least 15 minutes a week working on hand stitching
           projects.  

That's it for the stitching related goals. The sewing room needs some clean up.  I need to put up all the Christmas wrapping stuff that's under the sewing table and deal with a few piles of scraps that are hard to see in the photo.    

Plus the stash closet needs a bit of work as well.

The shelf on the left is nicely organized, but the shelf at the back still needs some work.  All the fabric in the floor needs to be washed and/or pressed.   No specific goals in these areas, but I'm hoping to make some progress in both areas over the course of the year.  

I do have plans to work on my photography skills this year as well.  So you'll see a few more photography related posts in 2015.  The last and least favorite improvement area is to take better care of myself, which means making some big changes to my exercise habits and diet.  Those are by far the hardest goals to adhere to as the year goes on, but it's past time I made some changes.  

For today, the plan is to work on the Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt this afternoon since she did the big reveal at midnight last night. Wishing you and yours a very happy 2015.