Heading into the year Yvonne at Quilting JetGirl hosted a linky party for setting 2017 goals. We are over halfway through the year, so it’s time to check in on what I said I was going to do.
Going in, I said that my word(s) for the year were ‘Settle In’, as I had a lot of change in 2016 and really wanted to get into a routine and into a groove. I wanted to find some balance, make time to sew, and get really comfortable and skilled with the things that I’m doing. I think I’ve done pretty well with that – my ‘new’ job is now about a year old, and I’m getting adjusted to my routine. I don’t have as much time to sew as I would like, but I have managed to fit in a lot of projects.
These were my goals –
Long Term Goals:
- Find a good balance between work and life and make sure I keep making time to sew. Getting a bit more physical activity and losing a few pounds wouldn’t be a bad idea either! UPDATE: As I said, I’m doing pretty well finding time to sew. I have NOT done well with the physical activity/losing pounds thing. I’d really like to find a way to get back to doing yoga.
- Continue to try new things with my quilting. Learn new skills, make things that are outside my norm and my comfort zone. UPDATE: I think I’ve done pretty well here too. I’ve worked a bunch with my long arm, and taken a lot of classes – both online with Craftsy and in person with Angela Walters. I finally got out my EQ7 software and have been playing with that. Once I get a bunch of these WIPs done, I want to spend more time on design.
Short Term Goals:
- Long arm, long arm, long arm. I want to get very comfortable and capable with my new big machine! I’m taking an Angela Walters class in March that should help. UPDATE: It’s going well. Some set backs, but mostly I’m feeling pretty happy with it. I loved the class! I’ve also figured out my Pro-sticher, along with doing my own free-motion. I’m starting to get people to ask me if I will quilt their quilts for them, so I went ahead and registered Brown Paws Quilting as an LLC and am working on getting the business set up. Yikes!
- Figure out something to do with all of these quilts! I will be making some donations, but I’m also considering opening an Etsy store. UPDATE: No real progress here, but as I said I set up the LLC, so maybe I can open an Etsy store using that LLC. I will likely be donating a lot of quilts.
- Do less BOMs and quilt alongs this year and do more of my own designing. I joined a monthly design group that should push me to do this. UPDATE: No real progress here. The monthly group wasn’t as helpful with the designing as I hoped it would be. I’ve done a few things, like my plans for my cat quilt, but mostly I’ve been wrapped up with finishing a bunch of older projects.
- Keep up with my Bee group. I’m in a group with some great folks from my New Blogger’s group. I’ve never done a Bee, so it should be fun. UPDATE: This is going really well and I love the group.
New Goal (only one, but it is a big one…)
- Get the Long Arm business set up and running. This is scary, but I’m excited about it. I have a lot of little things I want to do to get this rolling (get cards, stitch up some samples, work on my intake forms, find batting sources, etc…).
Projects on the list:
- Sugar Block Club BOM layout and finish – done! need to take photos and do my post.
- Splendid Sampler layout and finish – on the frame now!
- Death Star quilt – done!
- Blueberry park Drunkard’s Path – no progress
- Hawaiian batik sampler – no progress
- My embroidered Bee quilt – all the embroidered blocks are done, top is pieced, perhaps this one is next on the frame…?
- Other stash projects – I have a large amount of fun bundles I have purchased that I need to get working on (more Blueberry Park, some Alison Glass, Me+You batiks, some Grunge…)
- Long arm practice quilts (rings, funky squares, Circa 1934 Squares, mess-of-a-quilt) – lots of progress – I’ve finished a bunch of quilts this year working on my practicing. I’m really happy with the results.
I should finish the rest of these this year.
So far so good – I’ve made a lot of progress. It’s good to remember when I’m looking down at all of these little stitches, sometimes going a bit wonky, how much I’ve learned. I’ve really loved having my long arm, and am looking forward to more new things during the rest of the year.
I decided a long time ago that I would savor each quilt by not rushing and hand quilting. This helps to keep by spending in check and I don’t have the problem of many quilts without a home.