With a new year comes new quilting goals! My 2020 goals were to finish 12 quilts (which I did!) and to be better about sharing my finished quilts, which is a work in progress. It was a little more difficult than anticipated to finish those 12 quilts - obviously 2020 was a year that was totally unprecedented, and although I stayed home all year, with everything that was going on, it wasn't always easy to get some quilting time in. I think it was a reasonable goal, but I don't want to make it my goal again this year.
This year, some of the quilts I want to make are pretty ambitious, so I am not going to set a goal for a number of quilts to make. Instead, my goals are:
- Make the Nebula and Gravity Quilts
- Make the Patchwork Sampler Quilt
- Finish 6 WIPs
- As always, be better about sharing my progress and finished quilts!
 |
| Gravity and Nebula quilt patterns |
Goal 1 - Nebula and Gravity Quilts: When I first saw the Nebula Quilt BOM announcement by Julie at Jaybird Quilts, of course I was immediately and totally in love! Tula Pink fabric and a Jaybird Quilts pattern? It's almost a no-brainer! But I almost didn't buy the kit because it is so similar to the Gravity Quilt by the same designer from a few years ago. I'm not unhappy that it's similar, it's just that I've had the kit for a few years and it's always been my "someday" quilt, but I've been too nervous to start it. I love it so much and I don't want to mess it up! So I thought, I can't buy the Nebula Quilt kit when I haven't even made the Gravity Quilt kit yet! But as I saw more pictures of Nebula, I knew I couldn't resist, so I promised myself that I wouldn't buy the kit and not make it (I am the queen of buying quilt kits and not making them) - if I was going to buy the kit, then I HAD to make it this year. And then I felt weird because why did I think I could make the Nebula Quilt but I was still afraid to start the Gravity Quilt? So the only logical/crazy thing to do is make both quilts this year. I'm so glad I committed to it because every time I see a picture of the Nebula Quilt I am so happy, and I would have been so mad at myself if I missed the chance to buy the kit! (One thing that helped me is that I've made a few Jaybird Quilt Patterns in the last few years, so I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of how the quilts are constructed and how to use the rulers. Also, the Journey to Nebula projects were super helpful too in maintaining my confidence in my abilities, and also kept me super excited for the BOM to start!) I am just over the moon excited to make these two quilts! I was surprised and excited to get the first installment a few days ago; I have no willpower and have already made the first block! (I have used the word excited too many times in this paragraph but... I'm really, really excited to make this quilt!)
 |
| I couldn't resist making the first block! |
 |
| So I had to make the second part of the first block too! |
 |
| Patchwork Sampler quilt pattern, and all the warm color cards |
Goal 2 - Patchwork Sampler Quilt: The Patchwork Sampler Quilt Pattern by Lori Smith of From My Heart to Your Hands is another pattern I've had for a few years now that I'd really like to make. The quilt pictured on the cover is a different style than the kind of quilts that I like to make, but I think that this pattern can be made with bright and modern fabrics, and I look forward to trying it! I've been really wanting to make a scrappy quilt with warm colors - pinks, purples, yellows, and oranges. I can't decide if I want to include red yet! I pulled out my color chips from the Quilter's Field Guide to Color Workbook by Rachel Hauser of Stitched in Color and separated out all the warm colors to find the hues I wanted to use. When I saw ALL the warm color chips together, I thought, yes! That's how I want the quilt to look! So I am going to use as many different fabrics that I have in these colors, and hope for the best! I am looking forward to cutting into some of the fat quarter bundles I've bought over the last few years, especially the fat quarters that I received as part of my subscription the the Fat Quarter Shop's Sew Colorful club from this last year.
 |
| My work in progress Journey to Nebula projects |
Goal 3 - Finish 6 WIPs: As part of a general "get organized" effort I've been working on during the pandemic, I made a list of all known WIPs that I have. I've been sewing for over 25 years now (off and on) and for most of that time, I've been a serial starter of quilts but not much of a finisher of quilts. Which is not necessarily a bad thing - people should work on what they love and makes them happy! But I would like to actually finish the projects that I start. "A goal is a dream with a deadline" is kind of a corny thing to say but I have found (especially this last year) that setting a goal really does help me accomplish what I'd like to do. That's partially why I set a goal last year of finishing 12 quilts, just knowing that I set that goal helped me finish the quilts instead of starting a new project. And so I only have 2 WIPs from 2020, my Quilter's Field Guide to Color Bear Tracks quilt (which is a long term project anyway) and the Journey to Nebula projects. I really wanted to finish the J2N projects before I started Nebula, but as I mentioned previously, I have no willpower and had to start Nebula once I got the first installment. So I still have to do the J2N projects but they are small and I am confident I can get them done sometime soon. I'm happy that I only have 2 WIPs from 2020, because I counted and I have *26* WIPs from pre-2020! *26 that I know of!* There is a real possibility that there are more buried in a bin in the garage that I've totally forgotten about by now. They are projects abandoned because something shinier came along, or I made a mistake that I didn't feel like dealing with, or they got stalled out after the quilt top was complete because I didn't know how to quilt it. And it's not a quilt until it's quilted! I used to not like the actual quilting part of making a quilt, but ever since I learned the technique of quilting with serpentine stitch/multi-stitch zig zag, quilting got a lot easier for me, and therefore, more doable! It's still not my favorite part of making a quilt, but I don't fear the quilting stage anymore. At least six of the WIPs are quilt tops that just need to be quilted, so I am setting a goal of finishing 6 quilts off of the WIP list by the end of the year.
Goal 4 - Be better about sharing my progress and finished projects: Sometimes I get a little anxious about posting on Instagram or writing a blog post about a quilt. It's silly but I do. I love reading about other people's quilts, and I'd like to share my work too! This is a little more nebulous than a firm goal, but it is something I'm working on so I am listing it here too!
And so these are my 2021 quilting goals! I read quite a few people are not setting goals this year - after the year we've experienced, I totally understand that sentiment. But I've found it really helps me to write down what I want to accomplish. It's not written in stone and I'm not going to be upset with myself if I don't do everything I say I want to. I'm open to priorities changing. But I know I am more likely to do it if I make it a goal and write it down. It was very helpful for me to have goals in 2020, and I think that will continue into 2021.
Happy New Year! I hope that you have a great start to your year, whether you are setting goals/resolutions or just seeing where the year takes you!
