2018 Planning Linky Party

Quilting Jet Girl is having a planning linky party.

The idea is to look over 2017 and see how it went and then look ahead to 2018.

Trying to figure out all the things I did in 2017 is interesting.

----1----

I participated in Elm Street Quilt in their One Monthly Goal (OMG)

I finished all that I picked on this one.
I like that I can pick at the beginning of the month, which gives me a better chance of finishing my project.

DONE
January - Quilty Fun
February - HST Quilt
March - Music Quilt
May - Gray Strip and Star quilt (EH)
April - gypsy Wife
June - Blue Star and Strip quilt (AF)
July/August - Simply Woven JMS
September - Western Sunset
October - Spring Jelly Roll
November - Door Christmas Countdown
December - Irish Star Quilt

I imagine I will continue to join in on this one, if she continues it.

----2----
It was my first year doing the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

I talk about it here on my blog.

It was fun to have a new project to work on with a color challenge.

I used a quilt pattern my scrap quilt group was working on.

Only problem, I lost some of the blocks and some that were in progress.

I know I had them on one trip, but could not find them for the second trip.

So, I need to hunt through everything I put away from the first trip.

But, it was fun.

I'm not sure if I'll do this one again, because I don't really need another new project.

----3----

One of my favorite projects in 2016 was the Studio Organization put on by Prairie Moon. 

She had a few things for 2017, but didn't do a full organization again.

I talked about it here.

I find that if I have accountability check in times, I'm more likely to get something done.

I could really use another organization year.

----4----

A new quilt a long for me was the Learning Quilt A Long.

I enjoyed this for the 4 months I've played along.

Again, the accountability helped me out.

September - Organic Quilting

October - T-shirt Terial Magic and other processes
November - Whole cloth quilt
December - Panels

I don't think there is a need for a prize to do these things, but she had one.

I won, and I never win anything, so it was exciting.

Because of lack of participation, I don't think this is happening next year.

I'll just have to do it on my own, which isn't so much fun.

----5----

Motivational Monday is a Facebook group that I've been linking up to.

This allows me to make a list for the week and focus on those things.

Again accountability is important.

I found I checked my list more because I knew I had to report on Monday. :)

It has helped to focus me on things I needed to accomplish one step at a time.

I'll continue on with this one.

----6----

All People Quilt had a UFO challenge.

I did OK with this challenge, but could have done better.

I finished:

January 6. Patriotic Stars
March 12. Cat swap block
April 11. heart ornaments
February 8. Modern Maze
July 1. Purple & Brown Baby Quilt
September 7. heating pads
May 2. Fall Orange Quilt
August 5. Christmas HST

I didn't finish:

June 10. Hawaiian Applique (working this)
Octoer 3. Elvis Quilt 
November 9. Equessence T-shirt quilt 
December 4. Yo Yos (working this)

I sometimes wonder if I try and do too much and join too many things.

I have this UFO listing that is outrageous, but I'm having fun working on them.

As you can see from the list, I finished 8 of the 12 on my list.

I made the list by random number generator telling me what to put on it.

I would not have done most of them if they had not been on the list, so it was a win for me.

The ones I didn't finish were things that I just had no interest in at the time, or was too busy on other things.

I will go for it again.

My 2018 list will be:

1. Dragon Fly Baby Quilt

2. Miscellaneous Panels

3. Patches for Randy's Quilt

4. Pixie Garden

5. Map of Texas

6. Ann's Mystery Star

7. Fall Panels

8. Christmas Squares from Carol

9. Tie Quilt

10. Liberty Blocks

11. Mira Red Hat Purse

12. Fall Miscellaneous Blocks

----7----

I look at the lists of quilts I've done for others, 34 of them.

It sometimes amazes me to think that I've used my long arm that much.

Tammy's Baby quilt
Lana Football quilt
T-shirt Quilt
QOV #10
HST Wedding Quilt
Tammy Purple Quilt
T-shirt quilt
CIL Quilt #1
CIL Quilt #2
QOV #11
QOV #12
Tammy Embroidery Quilt
Tammy orange and teal
CIL #3
CIL #4
CIL #5
QOV #13
QOV #14
CIL #6
Sandy's Halloween Quilt
QOV #15
QOV #16
QOV #17
CIL #7
Tammy Wall hanging
Tammy Wall hanging
Tammy Wall hanging
Tammy Wall hanging
Tammy Wall hanging
CIL #8
Lana RWB
Wendy Memory Quilt
Tracy Fink's quilt
Jan's quilt

I do not have a business, so it is really just for friends and charity.

I'm glad I can use the long arm to help others.

I know I'll quilt for Quilts of Valor and Covered In Love in 2018.

----8----

I've quilted my own quilts too, to the order of 31 of them.

Teal Test Quilt
Test Quilt
Patriotic Star and crumb quilt
Quilty Fun
Jo's Club Blue
FROG Quilt
Cat Swap Blocks
P Music Quilt
S Music Quilt
Scooby baby quilt
Gray stars & strips GS Quilt
Test Quilt
Purple Stars & Strips GS quilt
W Music Quilt
Modern Maze
ABC Building Blocks
Gypsy Wife
Blue Stars and Strips GS quilt
Heart test quiltTammy donation quiltGuitarSimply WovenTest Quilt Squares Chasing Squares
Day Lilly
Western Sunset
Orange Fall Table RunnerOrange square fall table runner
Spring Jelly Roll
Advent Calendar
African large top
Applique Table runner

I love the long arm because it allows me to finish more than on my little machine.

I feel very blessed to continue to work on my own stuff.

I enjoy testing for The Quilt Pattern Magazine.

Many of these are gifts or UFOs.

Seems like I have quilted more for others than myself.

I think in 2018 I need to fix that. :)

----9----

I joined in with Judy at Patchwork Times on her Get It Done to work on UFOs.

the premise was to move a UFO forward.

I didn't count it if I had not finished it, because I focus on the finish.

I finished half on my list.

January 3. Jo's Club - blue

February 9. Heart ornaments

March 12. Applique Turtle Toy

June 7. Simply Woven

August 8. Purse Chicken Strips - coasters, mug rug, microwave bowl cover

September 4. Spring Jelly Roll

I didn't finish half

April 1. Yo Yos
May 11. Jo's Club - red
July  12. Quilters Wall Hanging panel
October  2. Fancy Fox
November  6. Jo's Retreat - teal
December 10. Pixie Garden

Most of the ones I didn't finish are very detailed and came at a time when I had too much other must do things happening.

Some are long term projects that will just keep on being worked on.

I'll probably keep with this one because I like her blog and all the things she does.

She is not doing only quilting things this year, but mine are quilting related.

As long as I don't stress over not finishing everything, I'll be fine.

My 2018 list is: 

1. Ann’s 2009 NYE Mystery
2. Borachio
3. Chicken makings
4. Color guard pillows
5. Copper and teal quilt
6. Embroidery blocks
7. Home in the Middle
8. Jo’s club retreat teal and brown
9. Misc Fall Blocks
10. Tie One On
11. Under the Sea Quilt
12. Winter Solstice

----10----

I keep track of how many blocks I make each month, and it is a fun project.

350 Block Challenge
January................. 111
February................ 450
March...................... 30
April ....................... 20
May ...................... 223
June........................ 34
July......................... 28
August..................... 72
September................ 68
October.................... 57
November ................39

That's 1201 for the year.

Not bad, but in reality many were done before, but counted when the project is complete.

I will probably continue on with this just because it is interesting to see how it changes month to month.

----11----

My 2017 Goals were:
1. I will improve my health

I did this to a degree, but still need to work on it in 2018
2. I will become more organized

I have improved my studio organization and some of my parents stuff.

Mom passing has made me realize I need to go through the things again and determine what I need to take care of this year.

Becoming organized is key to me finishing stuff.

Accountability is important to me, so I link up to Design Wall Monday, Finished or Not Friday, midweek makers,  Stash Report, and others as I find them.

3. I will downsize

I have done this by the tossing numbers

Tossing 2017 items in 2017

January -- 105 

February -- 37

March --51

April --40

May -- 30

June --250

July --350

August --450

September -- 350

October -- 326

November --420

Total of 2409 items out of my house in 2017.

This is for all things, not just quilting things.

I could do the same for next year.

Looks like summer is less productive than other months.
4. I will improve my expertise

I have learned more about digitizing and the learning goals helped me move forward in my quilting.

I can always learn more in the new year.
5. I will decrease my fabric stash

I have a net decrease of about 170 yards of fabric.

I still have plenty of fabric in my stash.

Since I did so many UFOs, 72% of that usage was not on my shelves.

I had most of the UFO fabrics in with their projects, so my shelves are full still.

I've also done more scrappy quilts this year, so my scrap drawers are in better shape, but still full.

----12----

I tried to get some interest in using some of the books we have on our shelf.

Not much interest from my readers, and honestly a book a month got to be too much for me.

This is what I worked on this year.

DONE January: Borders, Bindings & Edges by Sally Collins - USED ON PATRIOTIC QUILT & Quilt Fun

DONE February: Orphan Block Quilts by Tricia Lynn Maloney - USED ON Table Topper from Orphan Quilt Block

March: The Best of Scrap Quilting Made Easy by House of White Birches (I have not finished this one. Using bonus 1.5" HST, so it will be a long process)

DONE April: More Fat Quarter Quilts by M'Liss Rae Hawley. I'll be using my embroidery blocks in animal red work.

May: Great Sets by Sharyn Craig

June: Simple Fabric Folding for Christmas by Liz Aneloski. I will make the wrapped up and under the tree quilt or table runner.

July/August/September/October/November/December: Catch up on the books I have not finished the project in.

----13----

I belong to Stashbusters Yahoo group.

It is a fun group that is very large.

We work on things to help use up our stash and reduce out UFO lists.

As I said, I have a large UFO list - 140 noted projects.

This used to stress me out, but now I am just enjoying the projects that come up to be finished.

When I need a quilt, I look there first and if I don't find anything I pick something new.

If I don't add new things to the list and work like I have this year, I might be in double digits in 2019, instead of triple digits. 

If I am, great, if not, then the following year will see double digits.

No stress here.

I'm blessed to have so much.

Stashbusters has a UFO challenge where you need to complete one UFO a quarter or pay a penalty or become the Queen.

Becoming the Queen is not a good thing. :)

It costs FQs to join and each quarter you have the opportunity to win some FQs.

Of course, we are all trying for less stash and this would be counterproductive. LOL

They have a monthly number draw where you have a low number and a high number.

I go to my listing and figure out what project corresponds to that number and work on it during the month.

Sometimes I finish them 

Jan #11 Baxter's T-shirt Quilt

Jan #83 Jo's Club Blue

Feb #3 Animal Applique

Feb #69 FROG quilt

Mar #7 Turtle Toy

Apr #12 Basic Building Blocks

May #46 Day Lily

Aug #35 Christmas Sweatshirt/T-shirt

and sometimes not

March

#21 Car organizer

April

#47 Double Wedding Ring

May

#4 Ann's 2009 Mystery

June

#2 APocketful of Mysteries BOM

July

#5 Ann's Mystery Star

#40 Copper & Teal

August

#56 Fall Panel 1

September

#10 Baby clothing - Boy (I'm working on this one)

#48 Dragon Fly baby quilt

October

#6 Pixie Garden

November

#2 Ashley embroidered art block

#70 Future heirlooms test block

December

#8 Ashley's FQs

#17 Bread and Butter Flag <I am working on this one now>

I will continue with this challenge, and I can work to do better in 2018.

Of course, none of the ones I did finish would have been worked on if not for this challenge.

I'll be going through my UFO cabinet, yes, I said cabinet.

I have all my UFOs stored under the window seat in my studio.

This helps me to keep them in one place.

----14----

Pat Sloan has interesting things happening all the time.
I have the Winter Solstice ready to quilt. It might be quilted this year still.

I join in when I can.

----15----

I did a What's in the Box (WITB) challenge.

It started out to be quilting items to move things forward and know what you had in your space.

But, I took it to working on my home.

I went through boxes of papers and piles of stuff.

It has been a wonderful challenge for me.

I have been able to go through things a box at a time.

i would only do one box many weeks, and that is amazing what happens to your space/house.
It helped with the stress of dealing with my folks papers.

I will continue this for 2018.

---16---

I like to keep track of my UFOs and how I'm doing on completing them.

My main problem is I keep finding more when I go into a different cabinet or box.

2017 UFO completions

January

(01) Teal Test Quilt

(02) Patriotic Star & crumb Quilt

February

(03) Quilty Fun 

(04) Baxter T-shirt Quilt

(05) Jo's Club Blue Pillow

(06) HST Wedding Quilt 

(07) HST Table Topper/Pillow 

March

(08) Headphone pouch 

(09) Embroidery - Postcard 

(10) Animal Applique Pillow

(11) Applique turtles toy 

(12) Heart Ornament

(13) Frog & flowers baby quilt 

(14) Cat Swap Blocks 

April

(15) Mr P Quilt 

(16) 2017 Band T-shirt Quilt 

May

(17) Embroidered Baby Quilt 

(18) Band pillows - 3 

(19) Esther's Stars & Stripes Gray (#125) 

(20) Mackenzie's Stars & Stripes Purple(#125) 

(21) Modern Maze

(22) ABC Building Blocks

June

(23) Ashley's's Stars & Stripes Purple(#125) 

(24) GS star pillows (#125) 

(25) Bonus hst block for quiltie fun

July

(26) Apron (not part of the UFO Challenge) 

August

(27) Purple & Brown pillow

(28) Simply Woven

September

(29) heating pad 

(30) simply woven organic mug rug

(31) Day Lily

(32) 10 minute table runner from orange fall UFO

(33) Western Sunset

(34) Orange Fall Table runner

October

(35) Christmas Sweatshirt/T-shirt

(36) Christmas HST -- candle mats/mug rugs - 4 Green, 5 red

(37) Chicken purse

(38) Chicken microwave bowl cover, Chicken coasters and mug rug

November

(39) Spring Jelly Roll

(40) Christmas Alphabet squares - advent calendar

it feels good to have made this much progress.

It is repeating some of the things from above, but in a different format.

----17----

Tammy has a BOM that we work on during the year.

I normally test for her.

I have the Happiness is Quilting top ready to be quilted.

I will be helping out in 2018 too.

---------------------------------------------------------

My word of the year for 2017 was CHANGE.

I'm thinking I would like my 2018 word to IMPROVEMENT

2018 Plans and Goals

I'll be doing much of the same things I did in 2017 

Elm Street OMG

Motivational Monday

All People Quilt UFO

Quilt for Quilts of Valor

Quilt for Covered in Love

Test for TQPM

Get It Done UFO Challenge

Stashbusters
Help Tammy with her BOM

Link up to accountability sites: Design Wall Monday, Finished or Not Friday, Midweek Makers, Stash Report, Scrap Attack and anything new that catches my interest for accountability.

My goals will be to:

Improve my health

Reduce my Stash

Use more of my scraps

Downsize my possessions

Organize the things that are kept