2020 Planning Party!

With a New Year looming, it's time to sit down and think about what I would like it to look and see how I did on my goals for last year.  This is something I usually enjoy, but this year it's been a little harder because of the other stuff going on.  I did set some pretty lofty goals last year, and I did not take into account the mental energy that having two weddings this year would consume so I kind of felt like I didn't do as well as I wanted to.  So this year I am hoping to set some more realistic goals and accomplish them!  I'm linking up with Yvonne at Quilting Jet Girl with a bunch more people so I'm in good company!



My word for 2019 was Reduce.  I didn't do very well at that - but it will still be on ongoing effort to reduce weight, stress, possessions and distractions!  For 2020, I chose Vision.  Yes, it's corny, but if you know me I do embrace my goofiness!  I want to look to the future and all the wonderful things it holds for me and not look behind at the things that drag me down.  I want to see clearly what I need to change and look optimistically at the future, and feel free to dream a little bit about what can happen this year.

What do I envision for 2020?  Continuing on with designing quilts and making them.  And writing the patterns!  I'm a little behind on this and would like to write one new pattern each month this year.  I am looking forward to this as I do enjoy the process.

UFOs.  Time to get busy on these.  I haven't really added any more to my list, but I also haven't completed many of those that have been on my list.  I'll be signing up for my PHD this year and plan to work on this specifically!

I don't plan on doing any teaching this year.  I'll also be letting another person take on the BOM duties at guild after this year is over.  It's been fun, but it's time to pass the torch!  I still want to be active in Guild, but I don't think I'll participate in any long term commitments at this time.

A non sewing goal is to repaint most of the interior of my house.  That's a big job, but it's time after living here for 25 years!  We also need to do some more updating and repair in the bathrooms and kitchen.

Specific goals for 2020:

1.  Continue blogging at least three times a week and doing the same on Instagram, and Facebook.  I've been a little spotty this year, but I hope to do better with a specific goal, and plan to work on a social media calendar for myself.  It's not that I don't have anything to say, it's mostly that I have a hard time making plans on when and where!

2. Finish my Crazy Jane quilt!  My friend Lee and I are both going to work on this, so I am excited to make some progress.  My SMART goal for this project is as follows:

S - Specific:  Crazy Jane to be pieced, quilted and bound by Dec 31.
M - Measurable:  Make two blocks every week.  Add each row as it is complete.
A - Attainable:  Set aside 2 hours every week to work on this - Sunday afternoon will be set aside if I don't have time during the week to work on this.  This works out to just over 15 minutes a day of stitching.  I can do this!
R - Relevant:  This will help me reach my goal of getting those UFO projects finished!
T - Time bound:  Dec 31, 2020 is the goal - If I can I'd love to be able to show this in my guild's show in September, but I'm giving myself the whole year.  I'm planning on participating in 15 Minutes to Stitch 2020 on Life in Pieces to help me be accountable for this project.



3.  Complete writing one pattern each month.  I have a backlog of projects, so I already have enough for half the year - I just need to make the time to work on them.  So the plan is that two evenings a month I will work on pattern writing.

4.  Complete 12 UFO projects.  That means it's time to go sit down with my planner and pick out some projects!  I love this step.  It's making time for them that can be hard, but my schedule of doing paid work has been working super well for me, so I know that I can work on my own projects 3 days every week now.  I'm excited to see some of these quilts get done after sitting for several years!  I can do this!  To help I am going to sign up with Quilting Gail to attain my PHD in 2020!


If you have a lot of projects you would like to see finished you should join too, you know it's always more fun to do these things with friends.

2019 was a busy year, and a happy and fun one!  We had a little rain, but overall the good way outweighed the bad.  I think 2020 will be a little less busy, but hopefully just as happy and filled with great memories.  I wish you a wonderful 2020 as well!

December 2019 Island Batik Ambassador Challenge - 3 D Quilt

Well - I actually got my December challenge finished and on time!  Actually, this was a great project to get my mind off the issue with our roof leak - simple sewing and fun playing with fabric arrangement.  My favorite!  Just so you know, Island Batik provided the fabric for this challenge, and I did love playing with it!  Here is my finished quilt:

Can you see the 3 D effect in this?  It's a little subtle, but I am happy with it!  The fabrics were a strip set in Mermaid Cove.  So pretty! 

Aren't the colors just so lovely?  I had a hard time photographing them, but you can see here how pretty they are!  I looked at ideas for quite a while on pinterest, and finally found something fun I could use this strip set for.  And that was the biggest challenge of this challenge, all the rest was easy and fun and very gratifying!

The first step was to sort the strips into half lights and half darks.  There were a lot of medium shades, so it was a little tricky, but I used my camera on my phone to look at the black and white images so that helped quite a bit.

After you sew the strips together, you cut squares and then cut them in half diagonally, then you sew the triangles into pairs to make all the blocks.  Then the fun starts with arranging them!  

When I got the center done I added a skinny border using Butter - (such a pretty yellow, and it's a basic so always available!) then an outer border (and binding) in Sherbet swirls.  I could not get the color to show correctly in the picture above - it's really a lovely coral color, not as brown as this looks, the picture below is more accurate.

I decided to quilt it in large swirls.  You can see it quite well here on the back - I used the last of the Butter and Sherbet Swirls to piece my backing, and even had to add the two leftover blocks for those last few inches I needed.  I used a yellow variegated Aurifil thread in 50 wt for the quilting.

Don't you just love all the pretty colors in this line?  Just so fun and happy!  I wish I had been able to capture the lovely colors a little better, sometimes it's so hard to do them justice, and this is one of those times for me.  

If you'd like to try out the tutorial, I found it here:  Oh Sew Tempting.  It is a fun and easy quilt to make, and I'm really happy with the results!

This is our last challenge as 2019 Ambassadors, and it was a great one.  Make sure you take the time to check out the great quilts and other projects that were made this month!

• Carolina Asmussen ~Carolina Asmussen
• Gene Black ~ Gene Black
• Pamela Boatright ~ PamelaQuilts
• Connie K Campbell ~ Freemotion by the RiverAnja Clyke ~ Anja Quilts
• Tina Dillard ~ Quilting Affection Designs
• Becca Fenstermaker ~Pretty Piney
• Jennifer Fulton ~ Inquiring Quilter
• Barbara Gaddy ~ Bejeweled Quilts by Barb
• Dione Gardner-Stephen ~ Clever Chameleon
• Sarah Goer ~ Sarah Goer Quilts
• Vasudha Govindan ~ Storied Quilts
• Lori Haase ~ Dakota City Quilter II
• Joanne Hart ~ Unicornharts
• Mania (Magdalini) Hatziioannidi ~ Mania for Quilts
• Carla Henton ~ Creatin’ in the Sticks
• Stephanie Jacobson ~ Steph Jacobson Designs
• Connie Kauffman ~ Kauffman Designs
• Joan Kawano ~ Moosestash Quilting
• Kim Lapacek ~ Persimon Dreams
• Emily Leachman ~ The Darling Dogwood
• Leanne Parsons ~ Devoted Quilter
• Bea Lee ~ BeaQuilter
• Toby Lischko ~ Gateway Quilts & Stuff
• Bill Locke ~ Studio Bill Locke
• Denise Looney ~ For the Love of Geese
• Leah Malasky ~ Quilted Delights
• Sally Manke ~ Sally Manke
• Maryellen McAuliffe ~ Mary Mack's Blog
• Kathleen McCormick ~ Kathleen McMusing
• Carol Moellers ~ Carol Moellers Designs
• Karen Neary ~ Sew Karen-ly Created
• Lisa Nielsen ~ Lisa Lisa and the Quilt Jam
• Jackie O’Brien ~ If These Threads Could Talk
• Laura Piland ~ Slice of Pi Quilts
• Michelle Roberts ~ Creative Blonde
• Vicki Schlimmer ~ Vicki's Crafts and Quilting
• Gail Sheppard ~ Quilting Gail
• Sherry Shish ~ Powered by Quilting
• Anita Skjellanger ~ Quilt in a not-Shell
• Laticia "Tish" Stemple ~ Tish's Adventures in Wonderland
• Jennifer Strauser ~ Dizzy Quilter
• Jennifer Thomas ~ Curlicue Creations
• Terri Vanden Bosch ~ Lizard Creek Quilts
• Alison Vermilya ~ Little Bunny Quilts
• Sandra Walker ~ mmm! quilts
• Suzy Webster ~ Adventurous Applique and Quilting
• (Debora) Anne Wiens ~ Seams like a Plan
• Geraldine Wilkins ~ Living Water Quilter
• Janet Yamamoto ~ Whispers of Yore

Best of 2019 - My favorite projects!

I thought that for my Best of 2019 post I would like to share my favorite projects of this year.  In no particular order here they are:

Making this dress for my oldest daughter's wedding is definitely on my list even though it's not a quilt!  It was fun to test my dress making chops and see if they were still up to snuff!  You can read about the wedding and our trip to Boston here...Welcome Home.

Seashore Splendor was definitely one of my favorites this year as well.  I think it was lots of fun to design and sew this quilt, and I'm really happy with the end result! The patterns will be available for free for just a few more days, then I will make them paid patterns.  You can see the final post here...Assembly Instructions.  This series definitely got a lot of views and comments on my blog, in fact if I based my picks on views, 4 out of 5 would have been from this quilt!

The Stepping Stones Sampler is on my list as well.  This was made as and Island Batik Ambassador challenge in August and was part of the Beat the Heat Blog Hop.  I'm getting ready to start a quilt along for this pattern!  Click the link in the sidebar to sign up - we'll be starting with instructions for choosing fabric for your quilt on the 1st so it's the perfect time to jump in and have fun making this sampler quilt!

Making this Quilt of Valor was also a highlight of my year.  It was very nice of Island Batik to provide the fabric for this project, and I have plans for presenting it soon!  Here is my post from the Blog hop.

This scrappy string quilt was a favorite finish as well!  I love playing in my scraps and plan on doing more of that in 2020 for sure!  This one was also made for a blog hop - you can see my All About Strings post and see more about this fun quilt.

I finished a lot of quilts in 2019, haven't counted them all up yet, but I'm sure I made at least 30 quilts this year, and two of them were king size, so it was a great year for productivity!  I'm planning on at least as many next year so I'll have plenty to blog about!  Thanks for following along on my quilting and sewing adventures.  I have a couple more blog posts to write before the year ends, so we are not done yet, either!

Linking up with Meadow Mist designs for Best of 2019 Linky Party

Day 21 to 26 - Life Happens!

I'm just going to pass on the last 6 days of prompts - Christmas was a lot of fun with family and a trip up North, but it was also a little crazed because we found out that our new roof was leaking as we were about to leave on our trip.  So we have dealt with cleaning up water, part of the ceiling falling in our guest room, and many calls to insurance and roofer.  The roof has been repaired, but we are still waiting on the insurance adjuster so we can started with the interior repairs.  

This wasn't our plan for the holidays, but it is what it is and luckily there wasn't a huge amount of damage done.  Our guest room will have to be redone, and some of my husbands collection of vintage horse racing magazines is damaged, but all in all it could have been much worse.  Imagine if we didn't find out until we came home from our weekend trip!

Things are getting back to normal, so I'll get back with the program tomorrow!  Hope you had a Happy Christmas :)

Day 20 - Proudest Achievement

Today's prompt is proudest achievement - another very opened prompt!  If you are talking about overall, in my entire life - raising 5 daughters who are all wonderful people, love each other and love other people well would have to be at the top of my list!  They are definitely one of the great joys in my life and and I am very happy to see that they are all doing quite well in their adult lives whether they actually realize it or not!

They are the flowers in my garden, I think I would say!

In my quilting life, my proudest achievement would be having an original design of mine published in the Jelly Roll Quilts book!  My design was Candy Hearts and it was really exciting to have it win and be published in a book!

And seeing my Fancy Feathers Quilt in person at the Island Batik Booth (Spring 2018) was a pretty awesome moment as well!

We really try not to be puffed up and arrogant in my household, but at the same time there is merit to celebrating your accomplishments - just don't let it give you a big head, if you know what I mean.  I am happy to be able to do what I love and feel very blessed in my life.  I haven't accomplished any of this on my own, and I am the first to acknowledge that I love doing what I do and cherish every moment - thanks so much for all of your encouragement and affirmations, it is so much appreciated!

Days 18 and 19...Getting ahead!

I decided to flip the script as they say and start writing my posts in the morning - so you get two prompts today and hopefully I'll have a bit more leeway in my timing now.  (Picture is my "Stitch in Time" quilt made for a Project Quilting challenge!)

The prompt for the 18th is "If I could Sew With..."  Good one!  You could take this a number of directions, but I immediately thought of my sister, Sandra.  I would love for us to be able to take a week and just have fun sewing and creating together!  She does quilting for hire, and is teaching at a local shop/workshop - we always have fun talking about our projects when we get to see each other! You can check out her facebook page - Sandra Carreon Quilting to see what she is working on.  She has a daughter getting married next year, so we probably won't be able to do that this year, but maybe next year we can make it happen.

Today the prompt is on the design wall.  I'm working on a sloth quilt for my newest son in law!  I just love how cute this face is...don't think I'll make it before Christmas, but it will definitely be one of my next finishes!

 Pretty Christmas quilt picture just for fun!  Today's task is the PJ pant party!  Everything is washed and ready to get started, so I guess I'd better get myself going...

Day 16 and 17...playing catch-up!

I suppose that in the midst of a busy December it was inevitable that I would fall behind on the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge!  "Why I sew" was yesterday's prompt, and that's really an interesting question.  I cannot imagine not sewing, it's such a part of my life.  It challenges me, soothes me, and has helped me feel productive and useful.  I love the creativity it brings to my life.  So many great reasons to bring out the needle and thread, right?

Even if it's just to make a small project like this mug rug that I made with some of my scraps of Island Batik Apine Ice.  I just love those pretty blues! 

Today's prompt is favorite "Sewlebrity"  Yikes!  That's a hard one, but I'll stick with the first one to come to mind, and that would be Alex Anderson.  I had a big collection of recordings of her Simply Quilts show - I learned so much from those VHS tapes.  I always enjoyed her way of interviewing the guests and how she never had a know it all attitude.  I think she'll always be a favorite of mine.

Well, there are more Christmas kinds of things to get done, so I shall go head for bed so I'll be ready for tomorrow. 

Day 15 - Earliest Sewing Memory

It seems like sewing has always been such a natural part of my life that I don't really have a distinct first sewing memory - Mom always made clothes for me and my brother and sister, and I just naturally followed in her footsteps.  I remember sewing clothes for my Barbies and other dolls.  I have a very vivid memory of walking home from grade school thinking about an dress I wanted to make for one of my Dawn dolls. I must have been around 11 or 12 then. I remember making a quilt for my bed in High School.

Mom and I bought an assortment of fabric from Sears.  It was a simple brick pattern, and instead of quilting it, we layered two layers of batting and tied it with either yarn or embroidery floss.  I remember the fabrics were all kinds of colors - some of them were my mom's scraps from dresses and outfits I wore as well as things made for my brother and sister.  I especially remember one blue and red fabric that was one of my favorite dresses.  I wish I still had that quilt!  So many memories.

Always true!

Day 14 - Show Us Your Fabric

This could be an interesting assignment, I have fabric in a lot of places!  I have baskets in my small closet with most of my stash:

This is mostly smaller pieces, half yards or less.  I pull out of these baskets to make blocks for various purposes, but haven't made a quilt out of this closet for a while. 

The big closet is a little more organized at this point.  I've taken down the curtains because they just kept getting in the way.  I have my larger fabric pieces, Island Batik fabric and UFO bins in this area.  I also have some kits up on the high shelf that I would love to get going on this year! 

I have a couple of these storage units with fabric for projects like tote bags and journal covers, finished tops, and fabric sets for future projects that aren't even UFO's yet!  I've also got a bucket of scraps to sort, bins of strips and strings, plus a few drawers with pre-cuts.  I keep trying to cut down the amount I've collected, but every time I try to get rid of some of it I think to myself  "I still love this and I really want to use it someday!"  It's a struggle for sure!  I guess my best bet is just to keep working at sewing it all up.  At least it's a happy struggle :)

Day Thirteen - Least Favorite Color

Today was a fun day, my Bunco group met today and we had a great time eating, playing and laughing together.  It was extra great for me because I didn't have to host in December like I usually do!  I get to host in January instead, so I'll be keeping an eye out for some great gifts during the post Christmas sales. 

When I got home in the afternoon I did some decorating around the house, got a bookshelf cleared off and stored away, then finished quilting that teal circle quilt that I was working on yesterday.   I also got the binding on, so cross that one off my list.  I love the way the circles pop up from the background, just the effect I was going for!

So...the prompt for the 31 day Blog writing challenge today is least favorite color.  I had to think about this for a bit, but I guess I'll have to say Brown.  Brown is good in its place, but I much prefer most other colors.  Of course, now that I say that I have to think of all the lovely projects I've made with brown...  I guess I'm not good with least favorites either!

Day 12 - Favorite Color

I can't dodge this favorite, it's very easy for me to say that my favorite color is definitely blue!  I've made a lot of  blue quilts, including this one:

And this one:

And another one!

Another miniature in blue:

And of course, Dear Jane!

I'm enjoying working on the customer quilt I am quilting right now - after all, teal is blue, right?

Hopefully I'll be finished with this one tomorrow!  Almost done with all my "work" for the month, then the rest of the month will be all play and fun - I keep telling myself, anyway.

Time to get the Christmas decorations up, I'm late this month, but that's ok, I'll just leave them up a little extra afterwards.  I even have blue decorations for my front room, including this lovely feathered star quilt that was a round robin.  I love the pretty border I found with the trees and church - so perfect! 

Now, just sing a little bit of  "Blue Christmas" and we'll all be in the mood!  Yes indeed, it's easy to see that my favorite color is blue.

Day 11 - Most Impactful Class

Today was a good day of sewing, made some more of those Santa ornaments, added a binding for a customer, plus basted and started quilting the last customer quilt of the year!  While I was doing some of this I was on hold with the post office, starting a claim for a late delivery on an international package.  51 minutes!  Needless to say, I spent a couple minutes to do the survey at the end and told them, they really need more options on their menu.  It only took a few minutes to get help once I got to the right department.

A word of warning regarding rolling your binding on a long tube like a paper towel.  Can you see how the edge of this binding is rippling?  I ended up re-pressing it and it was fine, but I don't think I would have been happy with it if I hadn't taken that time.

As far as the most impactful class I have taken, I guess I would have to say it was the free motion quilting class I took with Cathy Sandbach.  She really inspired me to try new designs, and to be more confident in my quilting choices.  I do have to say that every class I have taken has inspired me in one way or another.  I've learned great tips, gotten good ideas for working with color, and just had fun working on a project.  I highly encourage everyone to take classes! 

Tomorrow is another good sewing day - I have my list ready and hope to get lots done!

Day 10 - 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge

Wow, has it been 10 days already?  And Christmas is really only 15 days away? Time does fly, doesn't it!  Work was fun today - we got in our first order of Island Batik Stash Builder rolls and I am beyond excited to have them available!  I really wanted to take a few home, but I know that I am too busy to start anything new until after Christmas at least...

The rest of the afternoon was spent making a few Santa Ornaments for an Etsy order.  They are really very fun to make!

Top Five books is the prompt for today, and that's a very difficult one for me since I have a very difficult time choosing favorites!  So here goes:

Quilts!Quilts!!Quilts!!! definitely has a place on my list.  501 Quilt Blocks by Better Homes and Gardens is also a long time favorite with lots of great block ideas.  That Perfect Stitch by Roxanne McElroy was super inspirational for me when I was hand quilting, and Show me How to Machine Quilt by Cathy Sandbach helped me make the leap to free motion quilting.  Art Quilt Workbook is one that I have owned and would love to actually work through someday, it's one of my favorites just to read and look through and think about!  Since that makes 5, my work is done :)

Hope you are keeping up with your holiday sewing and planning.  I'm feeling a little behind, but I just reminded myself that I don't have as busy a schedule this week, so I should be fine!  Tomorrow is a stay at home and sew day, so I should be able to cross some things off my list, I hope. 

Day 9 - 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge

For today, I have a finish to show you!  I've been hard at work to finish this lovely custom order, and I am sooo happy with the results!  This is my Fancy Feathers quilt, supersized up to fit a king size bed.

I think it's pretty spectacular at this size!  These are all the same Island Batik fabrics that I used in my original quilt - thank goodness we had them all at the shop!  

I love the hook swirl quilting on this, and it came out perfectly.  Not one pucker on the back side!

It's big enough for a lovely pillow tuck, too!  It's like a bedspread on my queen size bed, but I think it will be perfect on the king.  It's going to make someone a lovely Christmas present.  Well worth all the work I put into it!  Next on my list are few smaller projects, then getting to work on the Island Batik Ambassador 3D challenge.  Plus the queen size quilt I promise a friend to quilt by Christmas!  

Today's prompt for the 31 day blogging challenge was favorite tip.  Right now that would be that accurate cutting and accurate sewing will give you accurate results.  Take your time, and get the small details right, and the rest will fall into place!

Day 8 - Skills I wish I had

This is an interesting topic to think about...I think most of the skills I wish I had are in areas other than sewing and quilting.  I wish I could paint pretty pictures with watercolors and I wish I had more athletic skills.  The thing is that I know I could probably develop these skills if I wanted to work at it more, but I'm more interested in doing what I already am doing...quilting!

I would never have thought I would have the skill to do this type of quilting when I first started free motion quilting.  But after lots of practice it comes pretty naturally!  That's the great thing about working at learning something new.  It takes some dedication, but eventually you will most likely be able to become somewhat skilled at it.  But wishing won't get you to that point!  So maybe I need to work a bit at those other skills I would like to have instead of just thinking about it.

Kind of like this 31 day Blog Writing Challenge...it's great practice at writing! 

Day 7 - My Dream Project

Hey, it's day 7 already!  I am enjoying participating in the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge as well as reading what everyone else is writing about so far.  I thought this challenge was going to be a difficult one, but then I realized that the next project I have in mind is always my dream project!  So for right now for me it's the quilt I want to make with this Paris Panel:

I purchased 7 of them to use in a One Block Wonder quilt.  I've been on the lookout for the perfect panel for about a year now and was excited to find this one my Wilmington Prints.  It's called Painting Paris and I love the soft colors and pretty flowers in this one.  Perfect!  I'm looking forward to getting started on this soon, I think it's going to be really a fun one.

I don't think I'll ever run out of dream projects - so many things I want to create!

Day 6 - 31 day Blog writing Challenge

Todays prompt is Oldest UFO.  I am pretty sure that my oldest UFO is my Crazy Jane quilt.  I haven't worked on this in over a year but my friend, Lee and I have decided that 2020 is a year.  We are going to check in with each other every week to encourage each other and start making progress on finishing them.  Mine is blue and white, she's doing the civil war repro fabrics.

I started sewing my rows together to encourage me, and it really helped.  I just got them out again and admired them...so pretty!  I really do love how it looks, so I just need to get those last blocks finished along with the triangles.  I think I started working on this somewhere around 2004 - before I even started this blog! 

Looks like I only have four rows, and then the triangle borders to finish, so I'm not that far from a finish.  Be prepared to see lot's of this quilt next year! 

Day 5 - 31 Day Blog Writing Challinge

Today's prompt for the 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge is First project.  I wrote this post several years ago about the first quilt that I made and hand quilted. 

I still love it, and it was a great learning process.  But as far as my first project I have to think way back to my childhood.  I grew up watching my mom sew and make stuff, so I just naturally followed in her footsteps.  The first project that I can remember making was a barbie outfit.  A spiffy jumpsuit, which used fabric from one of my mom's white bedsheets.  I always tell people at that point she decided I needed to have access to fabric of my own, but she might have given me that sheet to use.  I think this is the pattern that I used, it really looks familiar to me!

I sewed it all by hand, I remember.  I had very fashionable barbie dolls and I think this started my love of mini quilts as well.  Fun times!  My own daughters didn't seem to catch the sewing bug from me, but both my sister and I definitely caught it from our mom, and we both still enjoy sewing all kinds of things, but especially quilting.  I enjoyed this stroll down memory lane!  Till tomorrow...