2020 Goal Recap: January
I'm shaking things up a little bit for 2020 and trying a new-to-me style of posts. One of my favorite blog posts to read is the monthly report posted by In Color Order. Since my 2020 quilt goals rely on me staying on top of them all year I thought I'd do something similar for this year and see how I like it. This January was far more productive than a normal month for me - I quilted and bound three whole quilts! If I can get one in February I'll be happy.
Goal #1: Get my WIP List Under 10
WIP List at beginning of month: 17
WIP List at end of month: 16
Untouched in 2020: 10
Active QAL Projects: 3 (all are up-to-date!)
Kid Projects: 2
Get Real Moment: I looked through my stack of Splendid Sampler blocks (started February 2016, untouched since 2016) and admitted to myself that I will not be making them into a quilt ever. These blocks will be donated or repurposed as part of other projects; as such, they are demoted to the UFO category and free up a WIP space.
I'm also tracking untouched WIPs - if I go a full year without working on a project it may face the same fate.
Active QALs are kind of a pass - since the QAL is still in progress I'm not able to finish them. It gives me a little better feeling about the number of unfinished projects! Notice I don't mention how many of the WIPs are QALs that are over (it's 5, 6 if you count the one I finished this month) - I'm a QAL sucker.
Kid projects are included in the overall WIP count, but like the Active QAL category I give myself a little bit of grace on those since I'm at the mercy of the kids wanting to work on them (aka they are much slower than normal projects).
Quilts Finished
Garden Quilt (started November 2018)
Secret Sewing Quilt (started January 2020) - Reveal late February
Scrappy Trip Quilt (started January 2019) - Post added after this blog post - here's a picture of the flimsy the day I finished it.
Quilts Started
Adventure Quilt - My quilt guild is doing a year-long quilt along with a different member designing each month's block. It's truly an adventure because the blocks are being designed as we sew so no one knows what the final quilt will be (I'm designing the May block!). I made January's blocks in blue - I'm going for mostly the same but with minor differences so I can use up small scraps in them. Each month will have a different color story.
Sunshine Block Swap - I'm working on making 20 scrappy blocks. This is easier than it sounds because they are all being swapped with different people. That means I can grab a chunk of yellow and white, make as many elements as possible, and then just mix them up. It's a great stash-busting exercise since I'm using up whole pieces of fabric! All of my centers and the four outer corners are the same in all 20 blocks (and finished!). I'm just starting the final assembly stage - here's the first complete block.
Quilt Progress (4 WIPs touched)
All of Eli's blocks are framed!
Row 3 (or 12) of the Forgotten Fat Quarter quilt is done! It's hard to do a long skinny picture, so just imagine this section repeating until it's 70" long. And the background color is navy, not black. I darkened it a little bit so the pattern on the gray fabric would be visible in the picture.
Blocks made for both my memory scrap quilt and leaders and enders quilt.
Miscellaneous Accomplishments
I finished two small projects: my Nordic Christmas cross-stitch ornament and my frog micro mini. I tried a new technique to finish the Nordic ornament and it was mostly a failure so I'm not sharing a picture. I did, however, throw it into the Christmas ornament box so it will probably make it onto the tree next year! The frog was an orphan block that's been taped to my wall forever. All I did was brown bag it, then topstitch around the edge and the frog. My 7-year-old had fun styling the picture for me - he's played with the plastic frog and the buttons together almost his entire life so he insisted we use both!
Goal #2: Give Away 5 Quilts
This month: 2
Year-to-date: 2
My Paper Round quilt was labeled and mailed off to my brother and his girlfriend in another state. They are the previous recipients of my Range quilt, and I've been told that there are fights over who gets to use that one so they obviously needed a second quilt. Both of them are both graphic designers so the big, bold quilts just seem to call their names. They were shocked and happy when this showed up in the mail!
My Garden Quilt was quilted, bound, and labled, then sent off to my aunt in a another (different) state. She had no idea I was making this for her and was very surprised when it showed up on her doorstep!
Goal #3: Publish 3 Patterns
Patterns published this month: 0.5
Year-to-date: 0.5
I did not publish any patterns, but I did purchase the EQ8 migration kit using the code Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs provided so I have design software on my laptop now. I used it to draft my Adventure Quilt block. I'm giving myself a little bit of credit because some progress was made!
My OMG goal this month falls within the scope of this list - get those two quilts gifted and finish the Scrappy Trip top. All three of those things are done so I'm linking this list up with Elm Street Quilts!
Goal #1: Get my WIP List Under 10
WIP List at beginning of month: 17
WIP List at end of month: 16
Untouched in 2020: 10
Active QAL Projects: 3 (all are up-to-date!)
Kid Projects: 2
Get Real Moment: I looked through my stack of Splendid Sampler blocks (started February 2016, untouched since 2016) and admitted to myself that I will not be making them into a quilt ever. These blocks will be donated or repurposed as part of other projects; as such, they are demoted to the UFO category and free up a WIP space.
I'm also tracking untouched WIPs - if I go a full year without working on a project it may face the same fate.
Active QALs are kind of a pass - since the QAL is still in progress I'm not able to finish them. It gives me a little better feeling about the number of unfinished projects! Notice I don't mention how many of the WIPs are QALs that are over (it's 5, 6 if you count the one I finished this month) - I'm a QAL sucker.
Kid projects are included in the overall WIP count, but like the Active QAL category I give myself a little bit of grace on those since I'm at the mercy of the kids wanting to work on them (aka they are much slower than normal projects).
Quilts Finished
Garden Quilt (started November 2018)
Secret Sewing Quilt (started January 2020) - Reveal late February
Scrappy Trip Quilt (started January 2019) - Post added after this blog post - here's a picture of the flimsy the day I finished it.
Quilts Started
Adventure Quilt - My quilt guild is doing a year-long quilt along with a different member designing each month's block. It's truly an adventure because the blocks are being designed as we sew so no one knows what the final quilt will be (I'm designing the May block!). I made January's blocks in blue - I'm going for mostly the same but with minor differences so I can use up small scraps in them. Each month will have a different color story.
Sunshine Block Swap - I'm working on making 20 scrappy blocks. This is easier than it sounds because they are all being swapped with different people. That means I can grab a chunk of yellow and white, make as many elements as possible, and then just mix them up. It's a great stash-busting exercise since I'm using up whole pieces of fabric! All of my centers and the four outer corners are the same in all 20 blocks (and finished!). I'm just starting the final assembly stage - here's the first complete block.
Quilt Progress (4 WIPs touched)
All of Eli's blocks are framed!
Miscellaneous Accomplishments
I finished two small projects: my Nordic Christmas cross-stitch ornament and my frog micro mini. I tried a new technique to finish the Nordic ornament and it was mostly a failure so I'm not sharing a picture. I did, however, throw it into the Christmas ornament box so it will probably make it onto the tree next year! The frog was an orphan block that's been taped to my wall forever. All I did was brown bag it, then topstitch around the edge and the frog. My 7-year-old had fun styling the picture for me - he's played with the plastic frog and the buttons together almost his entire life so he insisted we use both!
Goal #2: Give Away 5 Quilts
This month: 2
Year-to-date: 2
My Paper Round quilt was labeled and mailed off to my brother and his girlfriend in another state. They are the previous recipients of my Range quilt, and I've been told that there are fights over who gets to use that one so they obviously needed a second quilt. Both of them are both graphic designers so the big, bold quilts just seem to call their names. They were shocked and happy when this showed up in the mail!
My Garden Quilt was quilted, bound, and labled, then sent off to my aunt in a another (different) state. She had no idea I was making this for her and was very surprised when it showed up on her doorstep!
Goal #3: Publish 3 Patterns
Patterns published this month: 0.5
Year-to-date: 0.5
I did not publish any patterns, but I did purchase the EQ8 migration kit using the code Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs provided so I have design software on my laptop now. I used it to draft my Adventure Quilt block. I'm giving myself a little bit of credit because some progress was made!
My OMG goal this month falls within the scope of this list - get those two quilts gifted and finish the Scrappy Trip top. All three of those things are done so I'm linking this list up with Elm Street Quilts!
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Kathryn Quilts.