Q1 FAL Goals

I'm linking up my Q1 Finish-A-Long goals under the gun with a quick post tonight. I'm still looking for my quilting mo-jo but am working on some goal setting for 2016 anyway. I figure it has to return sometime!

I've selected a dozen UFOs from my collection to focus on FINISHING this quarter. Here are the first six:

• Warm 16 Patches
• Memory Garden
• Tonga Treats Table Runner
• Watercolor Wall Hanging from Kit
• Kisses & Hugs
• Bouncing Balls 2

And the last six:

• Strip Stacks in Blue & Brown
• Scrappy Strip Stacks
• Crossroads 3
• Crossroads 2
• Blue Slabs on Yellow
• Crossroads 1

I'm off to link up at A Quilter's Table with less than an hour to spare.

My Mission in March

I have fond memories of watching the TV series Mission: Impossible years ago because of the very dramatic theme song, convoluted plots and dashing characters. The catch phrase "Your mission, Jim, should you choose to accept it..." was delivered with a flourish each episode. I've seen a few of the movies too but the original flavor is my favorite.

image from http://momentscount.com/archives/5368

The clock is ticking on my Q1 Finish Along goals and, beyond that, my UFO Countdown. Winter is quilting season for me and it's time to accept my mission and crank up Mr. Juki. I'm choosing Warm 16 Patches as my Finish for A Lovely Year of Finishes because I'm feeling the need for some warm colors as winter lingers on.

This top has 6 good looking friends that are ready for action in March.

I've got a shortened month ahead with a happy trip east to visit the kids coming up the week before Easter. In February I set a goal to sew an hour a day which worked great for a lot of piecing... but I prefer to work on a top in one quilting session so in March I'm going to designate Tuesdays & Thursdays as quilting days. As in "Finish a Quilt" quilting days!

image from http://mollyfrances.typepad.com/look-what-i-made/2014/01/thoughts-on-focus-a-free-download.html

Beyond that I'd like to get caught up with my yellow RSC blocks from last year and make some yellow bowtie blocks. If I could get the remaining 3 projects on my Q1 Finish Along page to flimsy stage that would be a bonus but I'm not counting on it.
                                                                
Quilting is My Mission in March and I choose to accept it.

What's the Word?

I am one of those people who loves making lists, resolutions and grand plans. However my follow through can leave a lot to be desired and this has been a life long problem for me. I seem to have either the attention span of a gnat or I can spend hours down a rabbit hole on one passion/project/task. The in between balancing act where life really happens is my ongoing struggle.

Image from http://www.bloglovin.com/viewer?blog=3846115&post=2614358967

In 2013 I chose FINISH as my word for the year and I went all in by finishing 65 quilting projects that year - a whopping 57 UFOs and 8 new projects! So it might be understandable that I felt pretty confident heading into 2014 with "only" 43 UFOs.

My word for 2014 was SIMPLIFY and, as I posted HERE yesterday, I did manage a lot of simplifying in 2014. The part that went missing for the most part was the finishing. Achieving 90% or 65% of a goal isn't nearly as satisfying as 100%. My thing is to make great progress early on, then lose focus and move on to the next shiny object. Over and over. And as my regular readers know my quilting went completely dormant while I worked off blog on other things.

Image from http://moneysavingmom.com/2011/11/21-days-to-a-more-disciplined-life-discipline-demands-focus.html

So instead of feeling free to choose a Fun Word for 2015 I've selected another Working Word. One that I hope will motivate me to zero in on the task at hand but also allow me the flexibility of choice that I need. I might be chasing 10 rabbits in total as I work towards my goals but I'm going to do it one step at a time. Thoughtfully and with purpose.

Image from https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/4f/50/bd/4f50bd791392d3e71b85095fb478adcc.jpg

I've learned a lot about myself over the last few years and I think 2015 is the year that it all will come together. Some FINISH, some SIMPLIFY and a LOT of...

Image from http://www.smallfryblog.com/2014/10/03/fryday-jenna-14/?crlt.pid=camp.dH2hJhJyL6tY

FOCUS.

It's 2015!

In an attempt to unravel my tangled thoughts about what did & didn't happen in 2014 from my hopes for 2015 I'm going to jump ahead with the "easy" part today as we are a week into the New Year already. Perhaps some forward thinking will settle my mind for an insightful look back in a few days!

I'm starting off the year with 43 UFOs that need some serious attention. In a perfect world I would love to have 10-12 quilting projects in various stages of completion. I am not a start-to-finish quilter - instead I need choices and options when I go into my quilting room.

I have 3 main quilting goals for 2015:

1. Make quilting a primary focus again in my life. Plain and simple.

2. End the year with 12 or less UFOs/WIPs. As a person who enjoys having multiple projects to choose from this would be very comfortable for me. It could be 8 UFOs and 4 WIPs or 12 WIPs... the key thing is that I have enough variety to maintain interest but keep the projects moving along.

3. Learn how to FMQ at a basic level and ENJOY it! A meander, some loops & swirls and a few other options that I can use to finish my tops would make me a happy quilter.

Goals 2 and 3 are basically the same from my failed 2014 quilting goals. To reach goal 2 I need to finish at least 33 UFOs in 2015 and keep new projects moving towards the finish line. To accomplish this I am going to resurrect a variation of my UFO Reward System (blogged HERE) that worked so well in 2012-2013. I haven't worked the 2015 version out yet so stay tuned.

I'm also going to try to recapture the magic that being an active participant in A Lovely Year of Finishes and Finish-Along gave me during my UFO Busting Heydays. If you aren't familiar with these challenges click on the buttons for more information.

My January goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes will be (once again) Strip Stacks in Blue & Brown. Blocks assembled, sandwiched, quilted, bound and off to our son in New York - that's it!

I've selected the following UFOs to tackle during Q1 of the Finish-Along. 

1. Charming Snowmen, 2. 10 Path and Stiles Blocks, 3. Blue & Yellow Strings, 4. Scrappy Strip Stacks, 5. Strip Stacks in Blue & Brown, 6. Warm 16 Patches, 7. Picnic In Serenade, 8. Crossroads Blocks = 4 Quilts

8 pictures equals 11 finishes as I have enough Crossroads blocks to make 4 quilts for Project Linus. Yes, I'm going big... but winter traditionally is my prime sewing time (even in 2014!) so I'm feeling pretty confident that I can achieve a jump start towards my goals in the next 3 months.

Tomorrow I will post about the word I have chosen for 2015 and try to fill in the gaps now that I've selected my targets and linked up to the challenges today.

My November Goal

Yes, that is right... goal as in ONE, singular, must get done goal.

I want to finish Strip Stacks in Blue & Brown this month so I get it to my son who is a freshman in college before winter comes in New York state. It will make me feel happy to think of him covered up with it as he has always been an under a quilt, throw or blanket kid.

It's been on my design wall for months. It is time!

Miss Elsa seems to miss our son too... she has started taking her afternoon naps in his desk chair.

I'm linking up to A Lovely Year of Finishes@Sew Bittersweet Designs.

September Goals

I thought long and hard about setting ONE goal for the month:

Just Sew SOMETHING!!!

But I will give it a try with 3 short & simple goals instead.

1.  Do this month's orange blocks for RSC14 and catch up on one prior month.

2.  Start 1 new project.

3.  Finish 1 old project.

My Something New project will be one of these pillows from the book PillowPOP - either Flying Rainbows (above) or Crimson Stones (below). These are the projects chosen for a Sew Along on Threadbias for the month of September. Since I love this book and need some new pillows I had better get on the stick and make one!

My Something Old project will be my Memory Garden UFO so that I can hang it in my entry way this fall. It just needs to be sandwiched, quilted and bound. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm going for small & easy here. This will also be my September project for A Lovely Year of Finishes.

But, most of all, I need to JUST SEW SOMETHING! Pronto. Stat. ASAP.

Month in Review

Hello June! Since May was pretty much a total wash in all things quilt related it will be a quick month to review. <<crickets>>

Fortunately there is more to life than quilting! I showed you these jars back in March when I went back on Weight Watchers online and bought myself a FitBit as an early birthday present.

Each Sunday morning I weigh in 1st thing hoping to be able to transfer some gems from the Pounds to Lose bowl to the Pounds Lost bowl. I'm happy to say that the Pounds to Lose bowl is done to 8 gems and I've decluttered 22 lbs since March 1! These bowls sit in my kitchen window as a constant reminder to make good choices while I'm in this room.

I've been doing lots of walking and am going to be adding in some other types of exercise into the mix in June. Of course I'm busy planting annuals and cleaning out my perennial gardens too. Oh, and I still have a few areas on my list to purge/declutter and organize. But I'm really wanting to get back into my quilting room in June!

Instead of going ga-ga on goals I'm going to keep it simple. One NewFO and one UFO are going on my list along with June's yellow RSC14 blocks and the Quilty Stitches cross stitch blocks. If I do more that would be great - but most importantly I just want to reintroduce sewing into my weekly routine.

For my NewFO I'm going to jump start my Threadbias PillowPop Sew Along participation by making the easy pillow for June called Photogenic. I've got some great large prints to choose from to make a pillow for our screen porch loveseat.

This will also be my Let's Book It Challenge project this month over at Vroomans Quilts. This is such a great book and I hope to catch up on the cute pillows I've missed later in the year.

And my UFO project for A Lovely Year of Finishes will be to finish Warm 16 Patches.

I will be in Vegas for the last week in June so I think I'd better get off to a fast start. August will be very busy as we help both of our kids move east... daughter to Columbus, OH and son to Rochester, NY. So hopefully I can find my footing in June, get some quilting projects done in July and then be ready to fill my empty nest in the fall with LOTS of sewing! 

February In Review

It's pretty easy to recap February... one finish, lots of organizing and the Olympics. My Valentine's Plus Quilt was my Something New for the month. It is still on my sofa and I'm going to miss it when I finally put it away for next February!

The rest of the month was spent sorting through this...

 to create this!

And turning this...

into this!

Just a taste of my Olympics Organizathon - I touched a whole lot of Something Old!

Looking ahead to March I am having a hard time settling on my goals. Part of me is feeling compelled to work on UFOs all month long. Part of me wants to dig deep into the closets and drawers in the rest of our home. And the rest of me wants to just play and wait for spring to come!

Since I didn't finish Minnesota HotDish for my February A Year of Lovely Finishes goal I'm going to try it again in March. I thought I would get the binding done during the Olympics but once I got into organizing mode I kind of got stuck there.

I completely missed out on sewing with pink for RSC14 so will be sewing with pink and teal/aqua this month to catch up. And I'm so far behind on my Finish-A-Long Q1 goals that it's not worth discussing!

But when I start feeling down I just look into my stash closet or the other spaces I've redone and that makes me feel SO much better. And really, isn't it a good thing to have lots of ideas to choose from with a fresh slate of 31 days filled with possibilities? YES IT IS.

Here is a quick take on goals for March:

1. Finish Minnesota HotDish
2. Finish 3 more UFOs from my Q1 list
3. Catch up on RSC14
4. Make 1 pillow for PillowPop SAL
5. 1 FMQ project
6. The Kitchen (Simplify Room of the Month)

I think that will do for now.

February Goals

It's a short month to begin with and one of my favorite things is starting in just a few days so I've been going back and forth with my goal setting.

I am a total Olympics Junkie and have been since childhood. I love everything about the Olympics - the athletes, the glimpses into life in another country, the opening & closing ceremonies and of course the actual events. And now that you can watch endless hours on multiple TV channels and online that means I might as well list enjoying all things Olympics as my February goal!

With the help of my DVR I'll be able get some sew time in (and skip past those repetitive commercials)... I could also wheel a sewing table out into the family room for more if I choose to. But I've decided to pare down my goals to emphasize the if I choose to instead of feeling like I should.

My goal for A Year of Lovely Finishes is to sew down the binding on Minnesota HotDish which I've been saving for Olympic viewing time.

My 2nd large goal that I've been planning for Olympics watching hours is to sort through my stash, my craft closet and my craft books/magazines. I figure it will be the perfect time to pull out a bin, a stack of fabrics or a magazine holder and sort through it. Most of this is stored in my laundry room which is adjacent to the family room where I'll be perched. Perfect!

I'll take some before and after shots to share as well as my process for scraps and storage ideas. The pic above is old but it looks about the same today. Partly organized... partly chaos. I haven't touched some of these fabrics in years so am looking forward to this actually. I want to put some together some kits matching up fabrics with projects from my Make Someday list, set those aside and reorganize the rest.

I'd also like to finish 2 more UFOs from my FAL (Finish-A-Long) list in February - one this week and one the week after the Olympics is over. These are likely candidates for Something Old.

For Something New I would like to finish my Valentine's Day Plus quilt and the February pillow for the Pillow Pop Sew Along on Threadbias which is a scrappy Chevron. I have some bonus triangles I'm thinking about using.

The color of the month for RSC14 is pink. Since pink isn't a part of my ROYGBIV chevron project I'll just be sewing Angela's sampler blocks.

I'm going to make March all about FMQ (and March Madness!). By then I'll be totally sick of winter and ready to sew, sew and sew some more!

Goals!

Now that 2013 seems to be wrapped up as far as I can tell I am excited to look ahead and set some goals for 2014!

http://justhappyquotes.com/tag/smart-goal-examples/page/2/

I have 2 main quilting goals for 2014:

1. End the year with less than 15 UFOs/WIPs. As a person who enjoys having multiple projects to choose from this would be very comfortable for me.  It could be 12 UFOs and 2 WIPs or 14 WIPs... the key thing is that I have enough variety to maintain interest but keep the projects moving along.
2. Learn how to FMQ at a basic level and ENJOY it! A meander, some loops & swirls and a few other options that I can use to finish my tops would make me a happy quilter.

I've had a fair amount of internal debate about my UFO Countdown over the last month. I've gone from thinking I'd keep it going as is (counting down from 101) to thinking I'd get rid of it completely to a middle ground of starting it over as of 1/1/2014. I find it very motivating to track them on the blog and working that number down. But, I also don't want to live under the "cloud" of all of the old UFOs - they are DONE!

So, starting today my 2014 UFO Countdown is set to 43. I ended 2103 with 28 UFOs, found 2 more and carried over 13 WIPs. Obviously I am going to have to work that number down pretty aggressively AND finish most of the projects I start in 2014 to achieve goal #1.

To achieve goal #2 I am going to be using this book and some Craftsy classes as guides.  Last winter when I tried to learn FMQ I kept getting stuck at the moving from practice to project stage.  I really like the approach this book uses which is to start on small projects and work your way up. I have a drawer filled with Happy Blocks from years of online swapping that will be used to make up some practice quilts too.

And I might have to throw in this button now and again as a reminder... it's a learning process after all!

Since winter in Northern Minnesota is my prime quilting time I'm going to set my Q1 goals to average one UFO finish per week. I'm carrying over 4 UFOs from my 2013 Q4 list, 2 that recently were professionally quilted, 3 2013 WIPs and 4 "new" UFOs from my Collection. I'm happy with the mix of stages and techniques I'll be using on these projects.

These 13 UFOs will be on my list of goals for the Q1 Finish A Long Challenge:

1. Four Patch & Friends, 2. Minnesota Hot Dish, 3. Christmas Strings, 4. Blue & Yellow Strings, 5. Warm 16 Patches, 6. Charmed Pinwheels, 7. Autumn Log Cabin, 8. TB Path & Stiles, 9. Strip Stacks in Blue & Brown, 10. Scrappy Strip Stacks, 11. Picnic In Serenade, 12. Bouncing Balls II, 13. Hugs & Kisses

My January goal for A Year of Lovely Finishes will be to bind and label Four Patch & Friends which is in the middle of my mosaic.

I posted last month HERE about my NewFO plans for 2014 including my Sewing for the Seasons theme so I'm not going to repeat them again. So as far as January Goals go this is what I'm thinking:

1. Finish UFO#1 - Four Patch & Friends
2. Finish UFO#2 - Minnesota Hot Dish
3. Finish UFO#3 - Christmas Strings
4. Finish UFO#4 - Blue & Yellow Strings
5. Finish UFO#5 - Charmed Pinwheels
6. RSC14 Blocks 
7. Winter NewFO
8. Valentine's Day NewFO
9. Threadbias Pillow PoP SAL
10. FMQ Project

That seems like enough to keep me busy and warm in my quilting room! Also - I am having lots of formatting issues with Blogger today so please ignore the odd indents and extra lines.

November in Review

November was another productive month of quilting and I'm going to lead with my most recent, most challenging and my favorite finish of the month - my wall hanging from Kristy@Quiet Play's wonderful "And Sew On" BoM. It transformed from 6 blocks to this over the course of the month and I'm thrilled with the results!

I also moved one UFO to flimsy stage and these are the 3 blocks I finished for "And Sew On" during November.

1. Primary D9P, 2. "A Stitch in Time" Block, 3. "Cut it Out" Block, 4. "I Like Big Stash" Block

It feels funny to put my UFOs last but I also finished 6 UFOs this month. I had fun experimenting with wavy walking foot quilting on the Batik Noodle series and the last 3 are some of my favorite UFO finishes of the year. It was a great month of quilting!

1. Batik Noodle Recipe 1, 2. Batik Noodle Recipe 2, 3. Batik Noodle Recipe 3, 4. Cool Sparkles, 5. Arkansas Crossroads, 6. Scrappy Chevrons

My always challenging monthly goals for November ended up looking like this:

1-UFO#1 Batik Noodle 1-DONE!
2-UFO#2 Batik Noodle 2-DONE!
3-UFO#3 Batik Noodle 3-DONE!
4-UFO#4 Cool Sparkles-DONE!
5-UFO#5 Arkansas Crossing-DONE!
6-UFO#6 Scrappy Chevrons-DONE!
7-UFO#7
8-UFO#8
9- Finish And Sew On-DONE!
10-RSC13 Blocks-DONE!
11-Finish 2 WIPs* (finished 1)
12-NewFO Project
*In Progress

I do like to push myself on my goals - I look at them as "In a Perfect World" goals. I have fun trying to reach them and don't beat myself up when I don't. I definitely get more done when I aim big.

With this in mind... I'm going to keep pushing the UFO Finishes through the first 3 weeks of the December. I have 3 Christmas UFOs on my list and 1 Christmas WIP that are high priority finishes. I know it's the busiest month of the year - but it's my last month in my Year of Finish and I'm not going to change what has been working all year (making an ambitious list!). 

1-Finish Christmas Fantasy

2-Finish Christmas Rail Fence

3-Finish Christmas Strings

4-Finish Christmas WIP

5-Finish 4 more UFOs

6-RSC13 blocks

7-NewFO Project

I'm choosing my 2 UFOs for 1 lap quilt Christmas Fantasy (I'm using a UFO for backing) as my December Finish for A Year of Lovely Finishes. It arrived beautiful quilted by Cindy at Tops To Treasures on Friday and I'm looking forward to getting the binding sewn down during football games this month.

I'm linking up to Fresh Sewing Day@Lily's Quilts and December AYoLF Goal Party@Sew Bittersweet Designs.

October In Review

The first day of the month is so exciting... filled with endless possibilities. And it's extra fun to turn the page when the previous month was a productive one. I love that my UFO tab on the blog keeps shrinking and that my year end goal is within reach (less than 25 UFOs in my Collection).

In October I finished 6 UFOs which makes me VERY happy! My favorite October Finish is Thimbleberries Jacob's Ladder because not too long ago I would not have had the confidence to quilt it myself.

1. Mod Art, 2. Scrappy Snowball, 3. Pandora's Box in Teal, 4. Patriotic 9 Patch, 5. Bright Hopes, 6. Thimbleberries Jacob's Ladder

I also finished 1 WIP and worked on my blocks for RSC13.

1. Kitchen Sink Feed Sacks, 2. Birds in the Air Blocks, 3. Crossroads Blocks

My October Goal List ended up looking like this:

1-UFO#1 TB Jacobs Ladder-DONE!
2-UFO#2 Pandora's Box in Teal-DONE!
3-UFO#3 Mod Art-DONE!
4-UFO#4 Bright Hopes-DONE!
5-UFO#5 QOV 9 Patch-DONE!
6-UFO#6 Scrappy Snowball-DONE!
7-And Sew On Blocks*
8-RSC13 Blocks-DONE!
9-Finish 1 WIP-DONE!
10-NewFO Project-DONE!
*In Progress

Not too shabby at all! Mr. Juki and I had a good time doing lots of quilting and I'm hoping for more of the same this month. Getting UFOs/WIPs to the Finish Line will continue to be my mantra through year end. In my thinking 2013 WIPs become UFOs on January 1st... so it's time to push on those too. November weather tends to be dreary so it's a perfect month to aim big.

• Finish 8 UFOs
• Finish 2 WIPs
• RSC13 Blocks
• Finish "And Sew On" BoM
• NewFO Project

My goal for A Year of Lovely Finishes will be to make the remaining 3 paper pieced blocks for "And Sew On", put them together into a finished wall quilt AND hang it up. I tend to procrastinate on the hanging part which is so silly! Here is a new picture of the 6 completed blocks.

I'm linking up to Fresh Sewing Day@Lily's Quilts, Nothing But UFOs in 2014@A Passion for Applique, The Year of the Finished Project@Never too Hot to Stitch and A Year of Lovely Finishes@Sew Bittersweet Designs.