Goals are great to have as long as we can be realistic! Easier said than done as we Quilters love to think that we can just jump right in and finish something within a week or so – heck – maybe with a few days! I have begun to realize that I do not allow for my ‘black cat’ and ‘unforeseen’ requirements’ happenings. I began more applique projects than pieced projects in 2016 and I really need to make a concerted effort to “get with the program” and become serious about finishing them within 2017. I am also very behind on quilting my quilt tops and am going to push myself to catch up.
I started full speed ahead in 2014 by beginning my collection of Reproduction fabrics and switching to only Quiltmania and Australian quilt patterns, but life has a way of taking twists and turns that we never would expect. My step-son Darryl was diagnosed with Cancer in April 2014 and passed in June 2015. It takes time to recoup from an ordeal like this. He is missed by me and especially his Father. He had the quickest wit and would make us laugh when we spent time with him. He touched many lives during his short lifetime. In 2016 I tried to play my usual “Scarlett O’Hara” (as my Mother always called me) and jump right back into life and worry about the grieving tomorrow. This is not how life works in the real world and for the first time it did not work for me. It takes time to heal, just as it takes time to make an Heirloom quilt, or more advanced more technically challenging quilts.
Yesterday I tried to develop a post depicting each project that needed to be quilted, appliqued, embroidered, and those that were begging for my time. I read a Quilty Folk post about Kyle and how she is handling her 2017 list. I quickly realized that I did not need to re-post things from the past and developed my list for 2017. This is a new year and I will do that as I complete or make progress with my projects. So here we go:
I will keep my list close at hand to become more focused and productive in 2017. Clay and I have so much to be thankful for and this is a time of REAL hope for the USA, no matter what Meryl Streep says! I have lost all respect for Entertainers. They need to experience the real world like 99% of the people in this country do and realize that without our supporting their movies they would be dead broke! (oops a little political statement – LOL)
Clay and I will also take a few trips during the year to “get away from it all” staying in hotels rather than having to load and unload the 5th wheel. The trips will be so much more enjoyable in our 2nd stage of retirement. The 2nd stage is the time when one realizes that they no longer want to do all the hard work that we have done all their lives – it is time to enjoy the easy life before we leave this earth.
My One Monthly Goal (OMG) for January is to complete my quilting projects and work on my hand work in the evening. Time will tell if the ‘black cat’ or ‘unforeseen requirements’ will get me again or if our year is quiet and boring in order for me to complete projects started the last 3 years.
What is tempting are all the quilt a longs and new patterns that others discuss on their Blog posts, or friends tell you about! So wish me luck and I will try to continue posting my progress and doing some ‘link ups’ which always help us when we post our quilts in progress or completed.
Looks like we are going back to Spring the next 4 days – then back to some cold weather. Talk about a roller coaster this winter. As bad as I do not want to bring on the 100 degree weather, at least Spring and Summer are more consistant. The changes tend to mess with our bones and bodies for those over 70! DARN!
Have a wonderful week and hopefully ‘unforeseen requirements’ will not hinder your progress in quilting.
Chopin - A Passionate Quilter From Texas 
I get tempted by some of the sew-alongs and BOM’s and even BOW’s! I try to “Just Say NO!” to most of them. Some I do consider and even go so far as to wash my fabric before starting. Then reality sets in and I wonder what am I thinking. So far I the only 2 I’ve started are Pat Sloan’s Solstice Challenge and joining in the RSC challenge. Good luck reaching your goals!
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Tthought I left a reply, but it disappeared. I have enough on my list, but am looking at Pat’s and the RSC project. I just need to decide on colors (on Pat’s) and pattern for the RSC, the Ocean Waves pattern is pretty but I would be swimming in dizziness on that one. LOL.
Have a great day! I quilted my 2 placemats – and tomorrow the other 3 small projects. What a great feeling – it has been a year since I have quilted on my long arm!
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I understand what you are saying. My husband Dx. with Stage 4 cancer and going to radiation daily for nine weeks have me changing my priorities. I am doing long awaiting hand work to finish a quilt. I have taken out all the pictures that we took and will be working on them to get them into a Photo book. I have several totes full that was marked “some day”. I have no will power when going into a Quilt Shop and not buy, buy, buy. Now it is time to take those projects out and start on them. 2017 does look FULL. Nancy
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I am so sorry to hear about hubby – how is he doing? It is such an awful time in our lives at this age and it does have a large impact when things are over because our stress level is in the NEGATIVES. At times I just cannot nor I do not want to handle a problem. I am hoping that this year brings Clay and I peace. Did I tell you we sold our unit? I was so happy, I have been wanting to do that for the last 3 years!
Please take care and keep me posted and I have to delete a lot of on-line notices for sales, etc. Quilt Shops – so glad now that I am an hour or two away from them.
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Nan, we have some similar goals! I have Mrs. Billings and Brinton Hall on my long-term goals list, as well as some Di Ford patterns, and now Circa 2016. I do hope you continue to show us your progress! It encourages me to keep plugging away, too! I know how you feel about the BOMs and BOWs. I want to join nearly every one I see, but that only gets me deeper in trouble with my UFO list.
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I have a great start on Brinton Hall, just need to sew the hexies together around the medallion. I remember I started Di Ford 2014 Mystery quilt but late and could not find all the fabric and now I do not like the fabric I purchased. Circa 2016 was a bomb for me so I made a wall hanging after redoing the medallion 2 times and sent the remainder of the blocks to Carole who emailed me in December and said if I wanted to give the blocks away she would take them. I did just that last week and she is so happy to have them – always makes me feel good to share. Out of my 5 small quilting projects I have 2 down and 3 to go and today I am going to finish them. I have not touched the long arm in almost a year and it feels good to quilt. I think the List will help me work harder on all my projects! Be sure when you do 2016 that you check each strip when putting the quilt together for accuracy. The blocks finish at 2 1/4″ in the center and that is critical.
Have a great day
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Sweet Surrender is not listed on your 2017 list. Did you finish it already?
What is your source for Australian patterns?
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I subscribe to Quiltmania magazine – they are in the US now and you can get 6 magazines for $60.00 a year. I cancelled all others as the quilts did not challenge me anymore and I do not do Modern Quilts. You can find the patterns at Threadbear in Australia. http://www.threadbear.com.au/index.php/online-store/category/view/29
I have ordered from them and have not had any problems. Di Ford and Corliss Searcey, Susan Smith (Stonefields and Rowdy Flats Library) and others are fantastic Designers. They do a tremendous amount of English Paper Piecing and Broderie Perse applique. The quilts take awhile to make and are more like Heirloom reproduction quilts from the 1800’s.
I enjoy Susan Smith’s patterns. They are expensive, but neat to make.
Have a great day and Thx for commenting.
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Sweet Surrender is on my list (see the link above) – it is a “Maybe – Sweet Surrender” not sure yet – if I make it I will do the diamond triangles first…..
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I do enjoy your blog Nanette. You as a quilter have the hopes and dreams as we all do. The stack is always higher than the energy. A old (gone now) quilt friend of mine always said “honey as long as you have a long list of quilts to do you will never be bored or get in trouble.”She was a wise old gal. We all have long lists so I guess we are all good girls and we are certainly never bored. I am also a Quiltmania fan and hope I live long enough to make half of what I think about.
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Thank you my dear friend. I hope that this is my year!!!!! My newQuiltmania books will be here at the end of the month! Yea. More projects
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I like your Texas styled list. Doing whatever you need to do to stay motivated and moving along at your own pace is what it should be all about. It’s good to remember to enjoy the process and to be excited when something is finally finished. You have some extraordinary projects listed. Enjoy your time creating.
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Thx. You were the inspiration!
My list will be close at hand and hopefully I will meet my OMG goal for January.
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I joined that OMG this month as well, and then 1 or 2 finish-your-ufo things / it helped to put the focus on finishing things more than starting new ones ( at least for this month, ha ha! 🙂 I answered on my blog but you asked about the perle cotton and I didn’t know a thing about it until I researched it a bit ….” Nanette it sounds as if you know as much about it as I did! 🙂 There are no separating of the strands. It looks like floss in the stitching but you don’t have to separate any strands like you do with floss. After reading this and that online, I ordered Richard Hemmings Big Eye needles size 4 for the 8 wt perle cotton. I had some embroidery needles here that were a bit smaller but I wanted that big eye for easy threading.”
I will add to the blog answer saying that I notice more wrist fatique than with standard thread and quilting between so I am glad that I decided to just use this method in the squares and any outlining of the block and sashing quilting is going to be with standard thread and little between needle! 🙂
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Well, guess I won’t try that, Carpul tunnel does not like “wrist fatigue” LOL. I remember when I made a quilt using all batiks and hand quilted it – Only to find out that hand quilting batiks will be hard on ones hands, etc. So I do not do that one anymore. Guess it is OK to try something once. I was a newbie quilter then. But I do like the look of what you are doing.
Thx for commenting and the information.
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