2021 Quilting Goals

It’s January 1^st, and here at Darcy Quilts that means it’s time for the 2021 Quilting Goals!  While I don’t tend to make New Year’s Resolutions in my personal life, I do like to start each new year with a list of quilty goals.  Setting 2021 quilting goals helps me to focus, to circle back to projects I had previously thought of when I’m likely to get distracted by the shiny new ideas, or new fabric collections that are released throughout the year, or any one of a thousand other distractions.

What do I hope to accomplish in 2021?

1. Clean out the scrap box 

It’s overflowing.  Again.  Like I said above, I get distracted by new ideas (sometimes quilty projects wake me up in the middle of the night!) and it’s always more fun to play with new fabric, than to look for new ways to use up old fabric.  I mentioned in my 2020 goals wrap up that I might set myself a no shopping until I’ve cleaned out the scrap box goal.  I’ve decided that I’m not going to forbid myself from fabric shopping altogether, but I am going to say that I need to create and publish two scrappy quilt tutorials before I can do any shopping.

Here are a couple of previous scrappy quilting tutorials, to whet your appetites for what is to come this year!

2. Make something that isn’t a quilt 

This is going to be an annual goal from here on out.  I love the idea of Me Made May, and I’m going to tackle making something wearable that isn’t a face mask (although I’ll probably make a few new ones of those as well).

3. Learn to Free Motion Quilt

I’ve set a goal the last few years that is still unaccomplished, to take a quilting class to learn to use my little machine to free motion quilt.  I’m going to change up the phrasing of this goal, because who knows if in person classes will be a thing this year or not.  But I can learn from YouTube and other online resources from the comfort of my own home, so this is the year to FINALLY check this goal off as complete.

4. Write 6 Quilt Patterns 

I already have 4½ that are either in-progress, or I’ve started thinking through the math, or I’ve bought fabric for, as well as another handful that are mere ideas rolling around in my brain.  It’s time to get these patterns written and get them out into the world.  The first one coming your way is Sunset Plaid and I hope to have it out by the end of the month!

5. Open a pattern shop on my own website 

Right now www.darcyquilts.com is all the tutorials and blog posts, but no pattern sales.  All sales happen over on Etsy.  This is the year I’m going to create space to sell patterns on my own, which is a whole lot of coding and web design that I’ve been too scared to try so far.  2021, here we come!  No, I’m not intending to close my Etsy shop, it will stay right where it is, this is just a bonus.

6. Double My Pattern Sales

No, I’m not going to get spammy or gimmicky or be annoying here or in my newsletters in any way.  But, I can work on improving my marketing through Etsy and Google (it’s called SEO) to boost my visibility in searches.  Plus, having more patterns available will help with this too!

7. Make a quilt with curves

I’ve worked with curves before, and it’s much easier than it looks, but I’d like to do it again.  Maybe a Drunkard’s Path quilt?  Maybe another New York Beauty quilt?  I don’t know yet.  But something curvy this way comes!   As a side note, this one of my all-time favorite photographs, because I just love the colors in this quilt and Scouty is adding a little bit of love to it before it makes its way out into the world.

8. Make a Two-Block quilt

Whether this is a new pattern for me to design, or a tutorial of how I threw things together to make it work, I don’t know yet, but I love how secondary patterns can be created when two (or even three!) blocks work together.   Blitz is an example of a two-block quilt.

9. Make a quilt with Quarter Square Triangles

I vaguely remember learning about Quarter Square Triangles previously in my quilting journey, but it’s wasn’t fresh enough in my mind to be of any help when one of the Quiltville clues involved quarter square triangles recently.  I’m sure there is a way to make them that doesn’t involve sewing itty bitty triangles on the bias.  So I’m going to find it, learn it and then make a quilt with it, and of course, I’ll write it all up as a tutorial for you too.

10. Work on one project at a time. 

Guys, this one is going to be the hardest.  I’ve often got two or even three quilt projects in varying stages of completion.  Adding in photography and blogging and suddenly it can be upwards of 8-10 “open” projects.  For my mental health, mostly fueled by the level of cleanliness of my little house, this has to stop!  One project at a time. 

That’s 5 quilts in need of binding and/or photographing, two more hanging on the upper left that need to be basted and quilted, one cut into strips but not yet started on top of a pile of fabric for future projects on the ironing board AND fabric draped over a chair that has been washed and dried up but not yet ironed. All at the same time. The madness must stop!

Ten goals seems like a good number, follow along this year to see how well I do at checking them off.

What are your 2021 quilting goals?