Bye Bye 2015 Goals Met and Set

Well I've had a lot of posts lately and that is good.  I posted yesterday about my 2016 goals in an overview but not specific.  I have to have it broken down by each month or it seems to overwhelming and I get side tracked too easily.  So how did I do for December - really good actually.

December Goals

1.   Keep Blogging more and more.  Try for 2 times a week - 8 times a month.  Met - I got a lot of posts in.

2.  Continue progress on Bears.  Met - I did I did and I am so happy.  Finally I am making progress on this Woodsy quilt that I am happy with.  

Here's where I started - 

Here's what I got completed!  So yes progress has been made. 

I have completed bear #1 and now am gearing up for bear #2.  :)

3.  Finish Bethlehem wall hanging.  I have the top done and the backing on.  Just need to blanket stitch around the whole thing and put hanging tabs on it.  Met - All done with hanging Tabs and all. 

4.  Finish Chicken Wall hanging for friends Christmas present.  I've been doing the top stitching this week in the evenings and  I have the top done now so just need to quilt and bind.  I need to have it ready by the December Business meeting which is only a week away though.  So gotta get cooking.  

Met - and she loved it. 

Here it is finished. 

5.  Finish Ornaments for friends  - Again need to get them done by next week.  Met - I pulled it off in time. 

This isn't all of them but several.  

6.  Finish Challenge quilt for CRQ quilt show.  It's due by mid month.  I need to finish the hand stitching of center then attach borders, quilt and bind. The center is wool applique.   Met! 

I got it quilted and labeled and turned in on time.  I think if you click it you can see the quilting on it.

7.  Mixer Cover.  I bought my Sister some fabric that I thought was cute - and thankfully she did too.  We raised sheep when we were growing up so for some reason we are drawn to cute lamb or sheep stuff.  I was going to make her a travel bag but she liked it so much she wants it to show and thought of a cover for her Kitchen Aid Mixer. I am waiting on measurements so I at least want to start it.  Bonus points if I can finish it.  Zoom in if you can - Isn't that the cutest?   Met and Bonus points - it's done! 

It is reversible!  

8.  Write fabric requirements for January's SNR Project -the Calendar Cozy pictured above.  Needs to be done by December  meeting in a week.     Done - I actually didn't need it until the January meeting - but it is done. 

Bonus points!

No other Bonus Points were achieved. 

1. Write instructions for Calendar cozy.  Supply list due mid December, instructions due mid January

2.  Make the Armchair Pin Cushion and write supply requirements and instructions

3. Design Spring wool felt wall hanging and write supply requirements and instructions

4. Make lap quilt and write supply requirements and instructions. 

January Goals

On to a new month and new goals

1. Continue to blog more.   If I keep up with December, no problem

2. Mystery Monday is resuming for January so I will say complete whatever that is. 

3. Dolls in a Bag - I originally was making my dolls in a bag for the February quilt show. Well I've sold almost all I made, so I need to replenish them.  I want to have 10-12 dolls ready for the Quilt Show Boutique so I want to have them done by end of this month.  Also I am having trouble getting the same baby dolls so I will need to adjust the clothing a little to accommodate the new dolls.  They have to be done by end of month so this is my big focus for the month.  

4. Quilt 2 of the 5 quilts I have already sandwiched.  I'm thinking these two but reserve teh right ot change my mind on which ones. 

 I have a poinsettia quilt design I want to use on this. 

Not sure what I want to do on this one yet - but with both of them being small I should be able to finish. 

5.  Continue on Woodsy Quilt - Start next Bear.  I will be doing a mirror image of the bear so I went and got my pattern reversed so I can start tracing the fusible.  I will be adjusting the borders and the trees to be able to put the two bears together.  Anyway goal is to get a good start on tracing the 2nd bear onto fusible.  Also - I want to make progress on UFO's each month.  This will be a busy month so this will double as UFO progress. 

6.  In my efforts to not let gifts and holidays gang up on me, I want to work on or finish one gift/holiday item each month.  This month I will finish these Ornament Wall hangings. 

7.  New - I really don't need to be starting new things, I have plenty of UFO's that need to be finished.  However as we all know not starting something new doesn't work for quilters either. :)  I have so many patterns and kits that I want to make - so I'm going to try to do my new stuff - but controlled. 

This month I am going to start a quilt for our grandson Caleb.  His Birthday is in March so I want to get it done by then. I have a couple of train patterns  that I want to incorporatate along with some train material and a panel that I'm using on the back. I am also going to do some trains from my friends Accu Go Cutter. I don't need to finish just start. 

8.   Guild Projects and Charity Projects - I need to keep going on guild projects so I am ahead of them.  I have an arm chair pincushion that I want to make for February or March project.  I need to get that started, and the instructions started.  No picture yet - Sorry.  :)

 Bonus Points - 

If I can get what I want to get done above - I will work on more gifts and UFO's. All people quilts is doing their UFO busting again so I will use their random number to pick which UFO I work on.  If I do this long enough maybe I can get some of these off the list.  :) 

I'll keep you posted which UFO is picked and if I get a chance to work on it. 

Hope you have a wonderful New Year's Eve and a Blessed New Year.  

Talk to you Next Year

Blessings, Lynn 

 

2016 the 10,000 Foot View

Welcome 2016

Here's a summary of what I would like to do for the up coming year.  I will write another post to recap my monthly goals for December and what goals I have fFr January specifically, however this is the "10,000 foot view" to capture in general what I want to do this year.  I will also be linking up to "Tuesday Archives" with Val.  Thanks Val for hosting this all year.

I've seen where people have a catch phrase or word for the year - Well this year one came to me and I wasn't even trying - so I guess it's the word for me.  :)

More

It really was strange how it just came to me - but there it is.  So what does that mean for me? 

1.  More - Diligent.  I want to stick to things.  I'm a great planner and starter - but I want to be a better finisher. 

2.  More - Faithful.  That can sound bad, but it's not what you may think.  It kinda builds on number one.  I want to stick to what I start.  I want to be faithful to what I start and see it through. Also, I want to be more faithful to dig into the word of God, be more faithful to consult God and what He wants for my life.  And lastly,  be more faithful to blog about it on my other blog.   

3. More Present.  I am so very guilty of looking forward and planning so much that I don't enjoy what I'm working on now or who I'm with.  I get too wrapped up in what I think needs to be done that I loose sight of what I'm doing right now.  So I want to be present in the moment of whatever I am doing. 

4.  More Finishes.  Well that one is a goal every year - but I'm hoping that with some of the other "Mores" I'm listing this one will just fall into place.  Hey a girl can hope can't she?  And if I'm over 50 can I still call myself a girl?  I guess so - my blog my rules.  :)  

5.  More Creativity.  I want to step out of my box and create more.  I had a pattern published locally this last year and have been told they will accept more I just need to create them.  So I definitely want to create them.  

There are so many things that will fall under each of these 5 categories - and the "plan-a-lotamus" in me doesn't stop - but I'm hoping to reflect on this list and have it help me stay grounded and focused.

Here are a few of the items I'm wanting to start, finish, progress on and work with in the new year.  

Finish

Finish "Daisy Day's" Quilt

Start this. 

Make this. 

Start this.

Make progress on this.

Finish Quilting this. 

Make progress on this. 

Make progress on this Wool Crazy and Ark Crazy.

Quilt this. 

Wool Felt pattern I designed.  Create More Wool Felt patterns.

This top is done just need to quilt. 

Need to quilt. 

Needs to be quilted.

Needs to be quilted.

Want to make progress on this.  "Porch Time" Quilt. 

Want to make progress on this. "Folk Art Gathering" Quilt. 

This was a charity quilt - I want to make 4 this year - 2 for each guild. 

Not pictured - but want to work on Christmas and Birthday gift items a little each month so I'm not so frazzled in November.  :)  

Make serious progress on my "Woodsy Quilt" that I'm making for my Sister and Brother-in-law.  This is one of two bears that will be the center of the quilt.  

This is just a scattering of all I really want to do -  I have embroidery, wool applique, needle turn applique, UFO's and quilting that I want to do for the year.  But I hope it gives you an idea of the range of things I want to accomplish this year. 

You'll have to come back and visit each month to see how well I'm doing with all of this.  

Have a Blessed Day - 

Lynn 

Best of 2015

Hello - Cheryl over at Meadow Mist Designs is hosting a link up for your Top 5 Blog posts.

It's hard to pick just 5 that you like - but I finally narrowed it down.  

#1. The most views and most comments that I got on any one blog post was my "Grow your Blog" post. I listed a few things about my self and posted a couple of pictures of the many things I like to do concerning quilting.  My thread painted mug rugs were just one of them.  

#2  "A Big Finish"  -  Is a post about the baby quilt that I made for my 2nd Great Grandson Benji.  He was born on February 14, 2015.  This quilt was so special for so many reason - The obvious that it's for my Great Grandson, but also because I forced myself to free motion quilt the whole thing and use a different design in each block.  It gave me a lot of practice.  

#3.  "Mr. and Mrs."  Is my post about our Son getting married.  And since he did it in Las Vegas it was close enough for us to attend and meet his new in laws as well. 

#4 "Driving Miss Randi"  is the final post of the visit from my Sister Randi and driving her back to the Airport.  We fought a lot as children, but as adults we have become very close.  

#5. "Blessing Abound"  This is a recap of most all of what I have done this last year - so If I didn't get to include it in this post as on of the best - it gets it's little bit of fame in my post Blessings Abound. 

Thanks so much for stopping by to visit - I love comments so leave one if you have a minute - Then I can come visit you too.  

Now go back and visit others and see what their Best of 2015 is, by clicking on the link at the top of this post.  

Have a Blessed day,

Lynn

Whip it up

I wanted to title this "Whip it Good" like the 80's song, but was a little concerned about what kind of traffic my blog would attract.  Lol.

Okay one of my goals of the month was to start the mixer cover for my Sister.  And at one point was not even sure I was going to be able to start it because I needed some additional measurements from my Sis. Then when I was at the point that I was happy I didn't have the measurements, low and behold I get a text - Hey by the way here's my measurements - Dang can't use that as an excuse.  LOL
So I'm back to the - okay I said "Start"  So even if I just cut something out - that's a start.  Like how I work that?  Again, my blog, by rules.  ha ha
So last Tuesday I took it to the Open Sew and boy oh boy I was having trouble - the pattern was confusing and I had to request even more measurements.  You can read about that here.

I knew that by making this reversible I would need to bind the arch on the ends as well at the bottom so I picked out the red I wanted to use to bind it with.

Then I had to decide which side I wanted the red binding to be on and which side would just have the sewn side. 

I quilted the two end pieces together for each end.  And then quilted both pieces of the main body fabric together.  I thought about Free Motion Quilting some kind of design, but the fabric is so busy It wouldn't show. And if you quilted to the design on one side it wouldn't match the other side so I thought straight lines where a safe option. 

Then I had to bend the straight fabric around the ends.  I'm not a huge pin user - but more and more as I'm working on these smaller projects I am finding the use of pinning needed.

Then after I got the ends on it was time to put the binding around the arches of the ends.  This had to be done and the hand stitching done before I could attach the binding around the bottom.  Once the ends were done I attached to the bottom and did the hand stitching on it.  This is the final step.   Whhaaat - Am I almost done with my "I just need to start"  project?   :)  

Why Yes - YES I AM!  

Here is Side One

And here is side two!  

I chose the darker side to have the red binding on it because it had less red than the other side.  That way they both have some red on them.  Her Kitchen is Red, Black and White, so it will match great.

I texted some pictures to my Sis last night and she said she loved it.  Score!

Today we're going to take our walk and then I'm going to work on the bear for the bear quilt.  I have the head done.  

and the body done - 

 I now have the arms, legs and  paws left on this first one.  Then I'll need to start tracing the next bear.  I don't think I want to do the background or the over lapping branches until I get both bears done, that way I'll know what spacing I want and what I'll need to fill in.  That's my plan now - we'll see how it works out.   

Hope you get to work on something you want today - Blessings, Lynn