2021 Goals and Quilting Progress

I set some quilting goals for myself back at New Year’s, and here we are, 365 days later, and it’s time to see how much I actually did this year. 

Spoiler alert – not much!

1. Clean out the scrap box 

Not as much as I should have.  I made this Grassy Creek Quiltville mystery quilt, and I am now working on the current Quiltville Mystery Quilt.  While both use lots (and lots!) of different fabrics, they don’t tend to make a dent in my over flowing scrap box.

I used up all of my black and cream scraps, and had to buy some additional black on black fabrics to make this Friendship Star quilt.  I wrote up a tutorial for how to make Friendship Star Quilt Blocks, as well as how to put them together with sashing to make this quilt.

I also sorted my scraps by color in order to make a Scrappy Rainbow Quilt with Star Sashing.  Making another one of these is definitely on my radar as a way to use up some of the scraps that are STILL overflowing the edges of the scrap box.

I think I was *maybe* not supposed to be buying any fabric until I had cleaned out the scrap box?  I failed at that too. 

But, look how pretty this rainbow of fabric is!  Plus, it was less than $6 per yard, so I feel no guilt.

2. Make something that isn’t a quilt 

Not at all.  There just aren’t enough minutes in the day!

3. Learn to Free Motion Quilt

Nope.  I’ve focused in on Straight Line quilting, and spent this year writing up several quilting tutorials.  Some follow the seam lines of the quilt, some don’t, and I even got some cool iron-soluble pens so that I can draw lines in any pattern I want before quilting.

4. Write 6 Quilt Patterns 

Almost!  I released five quilt patterns this year, and I’m really proud of all of them!

Sunset Plaid

Farmhouse Plaid Small

Farmhouse Plaid Large

Garden Beds

Temperature Quilt

5. Open a pattern shop on my own website 

Not yet!

6. Double My Pattern Sales

Nope.  I’m headed the right direction, but not anywhere near double.  I think I’ll finish the year at about 8-10% growth.  Clearly there is still room for improvement.

7. Make a quilt with curves

Yep!  I’m working on a quilt with curves, a sort of modern Drunkard’s Path, and I’m also writing up a tutorial.  My mom finally got to see this quilt when she came to visit over Christmas (it was a birthday gift nearly two months ago) but now that she has seen it, I can finally share it! The tutorial will be out by the end of January.

I’m quite proud of myself for setting up the timer on the camera to snap this photo on a snowy day this last week!  But also, I’m 100% holding that quilt upside down.  You win some, you lose some…

8. Make a Two-Block quilt

Not exactly, but I did make this Star Sashing.  The stars don’t appear in the blocks until the sashing rows are sewn together, so it definitely has that two-block feel, but this goal should probably stay on my to do list for next year.

9. Make a quilt with Quarter Square Triangles

Still in the works for 2022

10. Work on one project at a time. 

Oh dear.  Not even a little bit.  I always had multiple projects in process

Well, that’s a bit of a downer.  I accomplished almost NONE of my goals!  I did so much though!  I created.  I quilted.  I took photos of quilts in amazing locations.  I had so much fun, I just didn’t do the things on my to do list.  Whoops.  Well, at least tomorrow is New Year’s Day again, and I can make a whole new list!

And, I did manage some amazing quilt photography, which has been a goal in the past, so the year wasn’t a total waste!