January in Review

As I sat down to finish up this post I realized that I need to revise my point of view relating to progress on projects. After spending 15 months being all about finishing UFOs I guess it's only natural to have a hard time adapting to the "NEW World".  As in it is perfectly OK to start new projects and also OK to miss the single minded adrenaline rush from finishing lots of old ones!

With that in mind I've scrapped my original post and am going with Lynne's approach as I review the month because they are BOTH important to me this year. I think a little voice in the corner of my head is still stuck on finish, Finish, FINISH! Click on the button above to learn more about how Lynne who blogs at Never Too Hot to Stitch is looking to balance both sides of quilting.

Something Old:

1. Road to Oklahoma, 2. Charmed Pinwheels, 3. Four Patch & Friends, 4. 10 Path and Stiles Blocks

2 UFOs made it to the Finish Line this month - Charmed Pinwheels and Four Patch & Friends. I also dug out 2 projects in the piecing stage and made good progress on both. Half of the star blocks for Road to Oklahoma are completed and Path and Stiles is also at the halfway point with 10 14" blocks done. I was very much in a piecing mood for most of January.

Something New:

I am excited to be a full participant in Barbara's NewFO Challenge - last year I put my own restrictions in place but I don't foresee missing any months in 2014!

1. Charming Snowmen, 2. RSC14 January, 3. Valentine's Day Table Topper, 4. Blitzen Table Topper

I am thoroughly enjoying my Sewing for the Seasons theme. Charming Snowmen is ready for borders and I have 2 new table toppers to enjoy. The Valentine's Day one is already prettying up my table.

The color of the month for RSC14 was blue and I have settled on making a chevron stripe for a ROYGBIV quilt each month and Angela's sampler blocks. I had thought I might do more but realistically I have plenty of projects on my plate. Next year...

My Something New technique this month was using several specialty rulers for the 1st time. The Easy Angle, Companion Angle and Tri Recs rulers were used in my RSC Sampler blocks and I also used the Easy Angle in my Road to Oklahoma blocks. They are wonderful!

My January goals ended up looking like this:

1-UFO#1 Four Patch & Friends-DONE!
2-UFO#2 Minnesota Hot Dish*
3-UFO#3 Christmas Strings*
4-UFO#4 Warm 16 Patches*
5-UFO#5 Charmed Pinwheels-DONE!
6-RSC14-DONE!
7-Winter NewFO-DONE!
8-Valentine's NewFO-DONE!
9- Pillow Pop SAL
10-FMQ Project
*In Progress

I need to figure out how to work in the Pillow Pop SAL and my FMQ goal next month. I tend to chose the familiar projects when I walk into my quilting room. I'm going to think this over and will post my February goals in a day or two. I need to change things up with my goal setting too.

I'm also linking up to Sharon's Let's Book It Challenge which you can read about HERE.  3 of my NewFO projects came from books: Charmed Snowmen from a Leisure Arts book called "Quick & Scrappy Quilts" and my table toppers are from the book "Charmed and Dangerous" by Anka's Treasures. It feels good to make use of those book purchases so thank you Sharon for the inspiration!

I think that does it for January... here's to warmer weather and more daylight hours to sew by in February! Tomorrow I will be linking up to Fresh Sewing Day@Lily's Quilts.