2021 Recap and 2022 Planning

Another year is done!  It's time to take a look back at what I've accomplished and start planning for 2022.  I finished 22 quilts this year and only left 3 hanging (one is a stalled out quilt-along, one is an active quilt-along, and one is at the quilter's right now).  I also exceeded my goodreads reading goal, used my season pass to our local amusement park a dozen times, and my family played all 167 board games we own over 1,000 times (every person didn't play every time).  So it's been a great year for hobbies!

2021 Goal Recap

1. Quarterly Pattern Releases.  I came pretty close on this one!  I released three patterns and wrote three tutorials.

2. Quarterly WIP Goals.  I ended up skipping this one.  Oops.  I decided I liked working more free-style and have no regrets, especially since I did finish a large number of old and new projects.

3. Untouched in 2020.  I had four WIPs that were untouched in 2020 and I wanted to touch each of them this year.  Two of them are now completed quilts and two of them are still untouched.  One of them I would still like to finish, but the other might be a permanent UFO.  Time to make a decision!  In addition, I did touch every single other WIP I have in progress at least once this year.

4. Monthly Recap Posts.  They are all here.  I still love writing these!

Notable Accomplishments

• Three pattern releases!  Chalk Stars was published in Make Modern Magazine (affiliate link) and Bernie's Mittens and Zephyr were self-published.  I'm very proud of all of them!  I don't often repeat patterns, but I made these three quilts seven times.
• My oldest finish was a quilt started in 2016.
• I finished twenty-two quilts this year; seventeen of them were started and finished in 2021.
• I hosted my first quilt-along!

I have 12 projects on my WIP list (down from 14 at the end of 2020):

• One is an active QAL and two are ongoing scrap projects
• Two have not been touched since before 2020
• Two are paper-pieced tops that only have a few elements left
• Two are kid sewing projects; one is a finished top that he has deemed "too small" so it needs some extra borders but is so close to being done!
• One is a mystery QAL that stalled out because appliqué was introduced - ugh!
• One is a 2019 QAL that has 15/20 blocks done.  No reason this one is not done!
• One is currently being quilted - almost done!

Non-quilted things I sewed this year:

• Face masks (38) - my kids keep wearing them out
• Elements for four different guild projects
• Nine origami coasters - one of my favorite tiny projects
• Six cross-stitch projects that were turned into mini quilts when they were finished

Top 5 from the year:

• My most popular post of the year was the Brown Bagging Tutorial I wrote last December.
• My proudest moment of the year was the end of the Bernie's Mittens Quilt-Along.  I love seeing what other people make with my patterns and chatting with all of you as you do it!
• My favorite pattern release was hard to pick, but I'm going to give the edge to Zephyr.  It's so simple and fun to make!
• There was a tie for most popular finish that wasn't my own pattern: Morewood Mystery Quilt (in which I took a chance with changing the color scheme and it turned out amazing!) and Sparrow Party (crazy birds having fun!).  It's probably not a coincidence that both of these are finished quilt-along projects.
• Biggest growth for me was working on my quilt photography.  I still have some misses, but I've really been working on trying to get nice photos and there are some that I am really proud of!  My kids are such troopers and helped me go out on at least five occasions to try and get the best photos of Zephyr!

Thanks for reading this far!  Here's a gallery to see my finishes, listed by date started:

Sudoku Quilt Started April 2016 Finished November 2021	Gypsy Wife Sloth Started August 2017 Finished February 2021	Forgotten Fat Quarter Started December 2019 Finished May 2021
Animal Almanac Started January 2020 Finished February 2021	Plaidish Moths Started June 2020 Finished May 2021	Camelot Started August 2020 Finished February 2021
Morewood Mystery Quilt Started September 2020 Finished March 2021	Wreath Pillow Started November 2020 Finished December 2021	Giraffe Love Started January 2021 Finished January 2021
Bernie's Mittens Started January 2021 Finished February 2021	Minnesota Mountains (2) Started February 2021 Finished February 2021	Cool Mittens Started March 2021 Finished April 2021
Hello, Petal Started March 2021 Finished June 2021	Sparrow Party Started March 2021 Finished July 2021	Scrappy Diamonds Started April 2021 Finished July 2021 (picture/blog coming soon!)
Garden Stars Started May 2021 Finished July 2021	Shades of Summer Started May 2021 Finished May 2021	Summer Scrap 2021 Started June 2021 Finished October 2021
Challenger Quilt Started June 2021 Finished June 2021	Trinket Remix Started June 2021 Finished July 2021	Here Comes the Sun Started July 2021 Finished August 2021
Little Fox Started August 2021 Finished August 2021	Pink Zephyr Started August 2021 Finished October 2021	Rainbow Zephyr Started September 2021 Finished September 2021
Spot On! Started September 2021 Finished October 2021	Sew Happy Started September 2021 Finished October 2021	Flannel Bernie Started October 2021 Finished November 2021

Looking ahead to 2022:

1. Be mindful in the projects that I start.  My loose mantra is "don't start it unless you want to finish it."  I did a good job with this in 2021 and found that "start to finish" quilts can be just as fulfilling as year-long quilt-alongs!
2. Three more pattern releases - this was a manageable number in 2021.
3. Finish the Harry Potter Project of Doom quilt.  I enjoy working on this every time I pull it out, but it always gets pushed back for other things.  I have 7 blocks left to piece and then I want to custom quilt it, so lots and lots of work to go, but I believe that by this time next year it can be hanging in my upstairs hallway.
4. 2022 Personal Project - This is another leaders and enders quilt, but I'm giving myself a year deadline to finish it.  It's also easier than my other leaders and enders project because I can use any color of fabric scrap in it!
5. Monthly recap posts because I enjoy them - I actually start one at the beginning of each month as a plan for the month then update it as the month goes on to show what I actually accomplish.

I'm linking up my top 5 of the year with Cheryl at Meadow Mist Designs and my 2022 goal planning with Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl.