I've found from my work that both specific and general goals are helpful, so let's start with the general goals:
1. If you've been reading this year, you know that we have had a lot of upheaval for the last year and a half, and we have finally settled into a home with a great sewing room. I've been unpacking 20 years of quilty stuff and fabric that just got thrown into a box when we moved. My goal is to get the sewing room settled and to continue cleaning out and eliminating a lot of sewing clutter. Less is more for me.
2. Expand my use of color, both through studying color theory and playing with different color combinations in fabrics. I'm really happy with the Autumn Jewels quilt from this year, which was a bit of a leap of faith for me, using a curry color for the background. I want to take more chances like this with color.
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| A very helpful book! |
4. Better publicize the blog, especially my upcoming block of the month, Constellations. I'm really torn about this one. I would like to reach more people, but this really is a hobby for me. I work full time and the things required to really expand a blog take a lot of time that I don't really have. Anyone with suggestions, I'm happy to hear them!
Those are pretty big general goals--especially the cleaning up the sewing room one!--so let's look at some specific goals:
1. Constellations, the new BOM I have planned for 2017. Details coming this Saturday! But if you're interested, the tabs at the top of the page still have all the tutorials and instructions for the last two BOMs, Classic Stitches and Intricate Stitches.
2. Finish the quilts I started in 2016, beginning with the Intricate Stitches quilt. (Which is almost done.)
3. Make a temperature quilt for 2017! I like the idea from this post from Live a Colorful Life, found HERE.
4. Make an "About me" page for the blog. Really hard for me!
5. Make a Dresden Plate quilt, probably for RSC17. Or maybe as a medallion for a medallion quilt. Or place mats! ( Maybe I should change this one to "decide what Dresden Plate quilt to make.")
6. Find more ways to use my stash of fat quarters, including the lovely "curated" packs I have. I have way too many!
So those are my goals! What are yours? Suggestions, corrections, and advice all welcome!
Hope you are enjoying the end of the year with family and friends. Here's to a great 2017 for all of us!
Sharing at Let's Bee Social and the 2017 Planning Party.
20 comments:
I found your blog through Patchery Menagerie; I hope you like PA. Your goals are ambitious, good luck!
You have a great list of goals here! Good luck with them! :-)
Great post! When I have a six-pack of coordinating fat quarters, I make one of my Happy Star quilts: http://floridaquiltnetwork.com/gallery/happy_blue.jpg
All you need to add is a yard of dark for sashing, inner border and binding, plus 1 yard for borders.
MJ
My goals are the same for quilting and my real life; finish projects, clean out stuff I don't use, and blog more often. Best of luck to us both! Looking forward to your BOM. I've watched the last one develop and look forward to being there at the beginning of one. Lane
Good Luck with those goals. You seem to have a good plan for 2017. I'll be following you on your journey.
Mari, I think these are wonderful goals. I'm with you on the organize and sewing room cleaning. My space is so small, it's hard to figure out where to put things. I'll be interested to see if you can have a love affair with prints. I myself love prints and am terrified of solids :)
As I read this post, I agree with many of your difficulties. Such as, the blog becoming more work. My blog really needs help, but sometimes I just don't want to do it. Working full time and quilting takes enough of my time. Sometimes I can't even remember to take a photo of a completed project. I don't know how people can write whole tutorials!
Your plotting and planning sounds great! And fun!! And I am with you - some prints just speak to me and others scare me away!
These are fantastic goals, Mari, and I can't wait to follow every one of them. I'm especially intrigued by the temperature quilt and think that one would be fun in my part of the country, too. As a blender girl myself, I can totally relate to your prints dilemma, so I'll pay careful attention to what you do. My main goal this year is to just be able to quilt regularly again. My blog has suffered as has my commenting on other blogs, but I just have to accept that it will be that way awhile longer. If it doesn't stay fun, it's no longer a hobby, and pushing myself would definitely make it too much work. Good luck finding that balance in blog promotion. Your readership will always include me even when it seems I've disappeared. Have a wonderful new year, Mari!
Great goal list! I feel your pain with moving...I have one coming up next August that I'm not looking forward to packing for!
Wonderful goals! I really like your one about 'taking more chances with colour'- I've been so tempted to use red,blue, or yellow for a background, but it's a huge decision!
I just now found your blog via the 2017 Planning Link Party. What pretty quilts you make. I am also always looking for ways to publicize my blog. Mostly posting often seems to help me, and you already do that. I am now following via Bloglovin'. Although there is a lot I don't like about Facebook, it does reach so many people. Are you on there? Very admirable how you work full time and still quilt and blog. Hey, adding a grab button to your blog may also help. I would add it to my blog sidebar for sure. Happy New Year to you.
Oh, looking forward to your Constellations BOM :)
I used your link and went over to "live A Colorful Life" to see what a temperature quilt is. I am in love with the idea! I am a fairly new transplant from the San Francisco bay area to the Pacific (way north) Northwest. I think it would be fun to do a quilt with the temps from both places, one on one side the other on the back (or front). I just have to remember to get the temperatures from each place each day. Although the bay area side might be boring in some places on the quilt. I still think it is a fun way to connect with my old home.
A very thoughtful set of goals. Good luck with all of them in 2017. No advice on how to balance the job with the hobby. Though one thing I have found useful in 2016 is to take photos in my sewing room before I leave it in the evenings. Then when I set down to write blog posts, I've got photos to use.
How do I deal with curated packs of fabric? I don't -- and if I happen to have one gifted or otherwise appear in my studio (not through my own purchase), I open it and move the individual pieces to my own color sorted stash. I find the curated packs to be paralyzing and I rarely love the quilts I make from them. Scrappy makes me happy - overly planned not so much. Your goals are thoughtfully stated -- as far as reaching more people, do what you do and word of mouth will carry the news, particularly if you ask your already regular readers to help spread the word. Otherwise, like you said, it becomes another job and that too often steals the joy.
Hi! Just wanted to say hi and let you know how much I enjoy your blog. I really like the temperature quilt idea. I just might do it! I live in Quebec City, Canada, I'll have to think about the colour scheme...we have the metric system, we go from -30 to 30, hmmm, will have to think about it! Fun!
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your goals, and I hope it helps you as you move through 2017. In terms of publicizing your blog more, you might want to consider signing up for the New Quilt Bloggers blog hop that I will be hosting - signups open on February 1. I found it to be a great way to connect with lots of quilters when I participated in 2014. Happy New Year!
Mari, I've popped by your blog often from SoScrappy and Confessions of a fabric addict. I didn't think you had a follow by email option before but I see it now, so I'm signing up. It's funny, I love prints especially florals, but solids and I don't seem to play well together. I've enjoyed watching your BOMs and I'm going to use your Mrs. Cleveland block from last year to make a quilt for my husband. He collects Mrs. Cleveland memorabilia (along with Presidential campaign memorabilia).
Good luck! You've got some great goals. Looking forward to hearing about Constellations!
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