2015 Crafting Goals

No, I can’t sit without pain, but I am mandated to laying flat on my back for a couple of days, and it turns out that I can type rather well whilst supine.  Also, bed rest is very conducive to pondering and planning.  What better situation is there for drawing up some crafty goals?  Exactly.

1. Oh, this hurts, but I have to do it:  STOP FEEDING THE STASH.


Seriously, I am amazed at how much fabric stash I have.  I’ve always been aware of the volume of my yarn stash, and I’ve been good in past years in curbing my yarn purchases; but with the move to Australia, I had to pack up my house, and now that we’re back I’m unpacking my house–and I don’t know which boxes were packed up right before we left, and which ones were just “stuff that’s been in boxes for a while.”  It’s ridiculous–I’ll open a new box and discover that it’s packed to the brim with fabric that I totally have not seen in over five years.

After this “surprise box of fabric” thing happened a few times, I realized that I needed to organize my fabric in a much better manner than random cardboard boxes, and now that it’s all pretty much visible (I’m still finding a box or two, and some random cuts shoved into weird places) I’m a little astounded as to the amount of fabric I own.  So, no more “because it’s pretty” or “because I really want it” fabric purchases in 2015.  (Sobbing.)

Exceptions:  Backings and bindings, and those random little cuts I might need to finish projects.  Thread.  Oh, and the stuff that’s already been reserved for purchase as they arrive on the market.  No more making reservations, though.
Ugh, to keep me honest, here’s what’s been reserved:
A. Fresh Cut Jelly Roll, February
B. Farm Girl Vintage book, April
C. Winter Wonderland book, May
D. Evergreen Jelly Roll, May
E. Cold Spell Batiks Charm Pack (2), June (These are for my oldest daughter, so they don’t really count as mine, but I’m being 100% transparent here.)
F. Jingle Layer Cake, June
G. Tinsel Fat Quarter Bundle, June

I have a serious Christmas fabric obsession.  There’s another ELEVEN collections due to come out this year that I really, really want to own.  I missed out on the Solstice collection this past year, and I resent that.  Deep breath, be strong…maybe I’ll just put a bunch of fabric on my Amazon wish list and hope big hopes come birthday time…it doesn’t count if someone else buys it for you, right? 😉


2. PEACOCK FEATHERS STOLE
I made significant progress on this in 2014.  It is a long, slow project, but I am determined to finish it this year.  I was hoping for March, but I’ve had a hard time getting the twenty rows in each week that I was able to do in Australia.  I’m kind of tired of this project, so I’m going to shoot for twelve rows a week instead, which will still get it done by July, before the County Fair, where I think it has a serious shot at contending for “Best in Show.”

3.  QUILTING BEE
I’m insane.  I kept seeing all these sign-ups for Quilting Bees, and then finding that they were all filled-up, so I decided to ask Facebook friends if anyone was interested in forming our own Quilting Bee, and I am so excited to announce that there were SEVEN women who wanted to participate!  So this is going to be a very big thing for me this year.

About half of us are rather seasoned quilters, and the other half range from zero experience to just a little bit of experience.  Each month will be an increase in skill and/or difficulty in regards to the construction of the quilt blocks, and I’m hoping that by the end of the year we’ll have a rather proficient group of quilters who would like to sign-up for a Year Two.

In addition to the blocks I’ll make for sending to Bee members, I’m making a goal to make another set of the same blocks in some of my bountiful Christmas fabrics for myself.  I want Christmas quilts, and so I’m just going to jump in and make one.  It shouldn’t be too hard, just an extra block or two a month.  I’m super duper excited about this.
So this is really three quilts in one–the blocks for the other ladies, the blocks for my own Bee Quilt, and the blocks for my Christmas Bee Quilt.  My Bee Quilt will probably be complete by January of next year, and I hope to finish up my Christmas Bee Quilt before Christmas of this year.  I have a spreadsheet, and it all works on the spreadsheet…let’s hope reality is as kind as my spreadsheet.
4.  STAR SPANGLED DIAMONDS QUILT
This is the quilt that never ends.  I’ve sat down with my spreadsheet to figure out how I can keep this going, while still moving ahead on other things I want to work on, too.  I’ve given up on the idea of having this go along with the kids’ bedroom makeover, and now it’s just a quilt I’m making that will be pretty.  That being the case, with its new schedule it won’t be done until next year.  Who knows, maybe my motivation to finish this will come back and I’ll speed through it at some point, but for now, I’m content to take a “slow and steady” approach.
5.  ROCKET AGE QUILT
I’m planning on finishing this during this year.  Most of the hard work is done, and I’m shooting for a completion date of September.
6. SNOWMAN PILLOWS
After sorting all my fabric I realized that I had an obscene amount of some folksy snowman fabric, purchased for a well-meant “Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone on this side of the family had matching Christmas stockings?” project some eight or nine years ago that I just up and abandoned when I came to the conclusion that I honestly did not care enough to continue with my grand plan.
Seeing that all this snowman fabric was seriously clogging up my blue scrap bin, I decided that I should do something with it and get it out of my house.  Enter the Scrappy Snowman Pillows, which are only in need of their backing.  Of course, I didn’t have any pieces of the snowman fabric large enough to make the backings, so I’ve ordered some fabric (backings are an exception, remember?) and plan to finish these up in February.
 
 
A random aside:  I have found EVEN MORE of this snowman fabric.  There are cuts of this in almost every box that I open as I unpack.  I cannot escape it.  Perhaps a throw quilt is in order, yes?  Dear goodness, I am amazed at how much of this fabric that I don’t even care for is in my stash.  I do know a handful of people who really, really like snowmen, so it’s not that big a deal to find someone to make cute things for…but geez, snowman fabric EVERYWHERE.  I’m not a fan of the folksy look, so it’s got to go!  Plus, it’s not quilt shop quality fabric, as evidenced by that see-through white HST, so it just really needs to stop being at my house.  Most people in my family don’t care about seam allowance ghosts, so it works out for them.
7. MODERN ROSES FRIENDSHIP BRAID QUILT
My mother gave me a jelly roll of Modern Roses fabric for my birthday last year, and I started making a quilt with it, but then it was interrupted by the big move down under.  I’d like to finish this up in April.
 

8. FARM GIRL VINTAGE QUILT
I am seriously smitten with this quilt by Lori Holt over at Bee in My Bonnet.  I don’t have time for it, and it’s outside of my realm of usual projects, but I adore it and am eagerly awaiting its release in April.  I’m going to take another slow and steady approach to this, and aim to complete one block a week.  At that rate it won’t be finished until June 2016, but it just looks like so much fun, so I’m giving myself the gift of working on it.

It has a strawberry block, and a sheep block!  And there’s a ridiculously cute cherry block that makes a great quilt on its own!  It’s all so cute!  Exclamation points!!!

I’m going to attempt to make my Farm Girl quilt purely from scraps…we’ll see how that goes.  And upfront, I am designating this as a fun project–it will be OK to slack on this one if I’m crunched for time.

9. WINTER WONDERLAND QUILT
Because I have a lot of Christmas fabric, and I’m going to be receiving more as the year goes along.  Why not?  Another fun quilt that I plan to start working on in May, hopefully to-be-completed in November so we can enjoy it this year.  No stressing allowed on this one either.

10. WHITE SHAWL
I have something coming up next year that I need this for (more on that later!), and I will start working on it after I finish the Peacock Shawl this summer.

11. ASPEN FROST CHEVRON QUILT
There are no plans to work on this, but I’m writing it down in case I find myself with some extra time.  It was an impulse project that I started last year with no real plan, so it’s suffering from the consequences of rash crafting.  As it is, it’s about 32″ square, which makes it somewhat unusable as anything in my house, so I need to add some borders or filler edges or something to make it serviceable.  I’m awaiting inspiration.

12. WINTER ENCHANTMENT FIGGY PUDDING WALL QUILT
Another quilt that is not scheduled for work, but I have everything to make it and am listing it here just in case I find time for it.  I know exactly where it will go in my house at Christmas time; I just need time to make it.  (Note to self: Stop buying Christmas fabric and patterns!  You already have too many Christmas projects in the wings!)

And that’s where this list ends.  Of course, I have two other daughters who would really like quilts of their own, but I guess those can be goals for another year.  Maybe one of them will like my Quilting Bee quilt?  Or maybe I’ll just go ahead and have my Quilting Bee quilt made out of MY FAVORITE colors and love it and squeeze it forever?  My girls have hands of their own that could make quilts instead of playing video games, just sayin’…

And I keep seeing fabric that would be so cute for my nephew, and I keep smacking my hands away from buying it all.  Sigh.

So, in short, the crafting goals for 2015 are, in finishing order:

  1. Quilting Bee blocks (Monthly, ongoing)
  2. Scrappy Snowman Pillows (February)
  3. Modern Roses Friendship Braid Quilt (April)
  4. Peacock Feathers Shawl (July)
  5. Rocket Age Quilt (September)
  6. Winter Wonderland Quilt (November)
  7. Quilting Bee Christmas Quilt (December)
  8. My Quilting Bee Quilt (January 2016)
  9. White Shawl (February 2016)
  10. Star Spangled Diamonds Quilt (May 2016)
  11. Farm Girl Vintage Quilt (June 2016)
Now, let’s see how well I stick to this list.  I reserve the right to amend my goals if weddings and new babies pop up on the radar.  I’m such a sucker for weddings and babies.
AND, in order to keep me motivated, I’m going to post updates on my crafting goals at the end of each month.  Oh yes, these projects are going to happen.

2 thoughts on “2015 Crafting Goals”

  1. Sheri says:
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    Sheri's avatar

    I love the colors and design of your aspen frost chevron quilt. I have an idea you might consider….making snowman and/or tree blocks to go all around and then add a big checkered border. If you alternated the trees and snowmen, you might make swirling vines with a 1/4″ bias tape maker to swirl here and there. Gosh, I like my idea so much, I might have to try it out! ;0)

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