Planning for 2019

Hello! I hope you had a merry Christmas holiday and are looking forward to beginning a new year.

Last week I came up with my final count of quilting projects and measured my accomplishments / activities in lights of the goals I had set for 2018.  It was a good feeling to realize that I had met or at least nearly met the goals I had set.  Now that is the week between Christmas and New Year's Day I find myself thinking about my plans for the next year.

Doing some freestyle word association, I was thinking in terms of explore, discover and learn, but these words alone did not encompass the spirit of courage and boldness that I wanted. The theme I chose for 2019 is Venture.  Venture brings to mind "adventure" and venturing into the great unknown.

GOAL #1:  Try a new technique (e.g. scallop border, curved piecing, T-shirt quilt)

I also decided to drop the UFO acronym and call my unfinished projects "Works in Process". They are WIPs that I will eventually whip into a finished quilt. Hah!  Currently I have 14 works in process plus 8 flimsies for a total of 22.

GOAL #2:  (continued from 2018) Reduce WIP count in half.

Venture also means project and undertaking and mission.  My impression of the many quilting blogs I read is that most of these talented quilters are much more prolific than me. My count varies between 6 to 10 projects completed in a year. I have 22 WIPs and a long wish list, so if I want to try new things, I need to work more efficiently.

GOAL #3: Use leader-ender technique to sew more projects.

Most of us use the blog forum to share pictures of our quilting projects and share a little of our lives with readers. Yet I want to document my quilts more formally and save more information than what I keep in my blog. Plus I want to keep track of my count. As a pilot I have a logbook to track my flight hours in various airplane types, cross-country time and instruction time.  I'm not planning to track sewing hours, just keep a record of my quilting projects. Maybe I will keep a record of other sewing projects such as clothing, bags and table runners. Maybe.

GOAL #4: Document my quilts.

I am creating a form which will include the quilt title, pattern, pattern designer, who quilted it, size, dates started/completed, batting, gift recipient (if I didn't hoard it myself), and a notes section to explain how I chose the design and fabric, and include at least one picture of the quilt.  And a sequence number <grin>.  Stay tuned this year to find out my final count!


Linking up with JetGirl at #2019PlanningParty.

Off the Wagon

In spite dealing with a nasty respiratory virus, I did get some quilting done this past month.

1) Fat Quarter Shop's Sew Sampler box from May 2018 included a Jolly bar of "Pepper and Flax" and a quilt pattern called Beehive.  I had to add fabric for the background and outer border (a quick purchase from a local quilt shop).  This was a simple pattern, very easy to sew. Voila! Beehive is a flimsy!

2) My daughter's friend is expecting a baby boy in early 2019. She will get the Baby Fox quilt finished earlier this year, plus a double flannel blanket in a cute fox print I whipped up last week.

3) And...my quilt diet has fallen off the wagon. Instead of finishing up more UFOs, I fell in love with Connecting Thread's new line "Arcadian Mist" and decided to make another quilt for my mother. I liked Eleanor Burns' Patty Cake pattern except for the partial blocks along the edge. When I saw Cindy's "Irish Chainish" quilt here, the light bulb went on and I placed my order. After removing the light fabrics from two layer cakes, I needed a few more prints to make this a queen-sized quilt. I added some from CT's "Oh My Darling" line from a couple years ago. Perfect!  This is a very easy pattern with NO triangles. It is coming together very quickly.

If I can finish a few small projects on my UFO list in the next couple of weeks, my overall count for 2018 will be:

Began with 25 UFOs less 2 demoted to the sample blocks bin.
Finished 11 quilts, leaving 12 UFOs of which 3 are flimsies ready to quilt.
***My goal was to finish half of my UFOs, so I'm counting this as a win. Yay!***

During 2018, I began 9 new quilts (oops, make that 10 now) of which 3 were completed.
That leaves 7 added to work-in-process list, of which 5 are flimsies ready to quilt. Open projects include the new Irish Chainish and the green Irish Star Chain flimsy.  Hmmm, do you see a theme here? 

Ending UFO/WIP count is 19, including 8 flimsies ready to quilt. 

Wow, those flimsies are accumulating! Normally I send most of my pieced quilts out to be longarmed, but I'm getting to the point where I want some level of custom quilting and am not happy about paying for it. That means I need better equipment so I can do my own quilting. So I played with a Juki mid-arm at my local quilt shop. I tried doing a small feather and it came out really good for my first try. I definitely like the stitch regulator. But I need your advice before buying a mid-arm. 

PLEASE comment if you have experience using a mid-arm and can recommend certain features or manufacturers.

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On a higher note, my airplane is getting its annual maintenance tune-up. She needs new spark plugs, a replacement tire and other parts, plus some other work so it will not be a low-cost checkup this time. <sigh>  Poor baby, she didn't get much exercise this past year. Airplanes need regular exercise, just like us humans.  I expect to fly much more frequently in 2019 and already several trips in mind. I'm also dusting off the elliptical and free weights <deeper sigh>.