Finish-a-Long: 2016 Q1 List

Besides the OMG: One Monthly Goal link-up, I also decided to make a list for the 2016 Finish-a-Long.  For my year-end wrap-up of ALYOF, I started scribbling a list of the things I'd like to focus on this year, but I've added more from my long list of projects.
So here's my UFO list for the Finish-a-Long (ones in bold are my main focus for the first quarter--but since I tend to be circular in how I finish things, meaning I go around and around, I can't say what will come next):

• Paradiso Layers-of-Charm mini (selfish sewing project--backing/binding fabric is shipping)

  

  Paradiso Layers of Charm Mini Quilt Top

  
  

• Pinwheel quilt (quilted--just needs binding) 

  

  Marina's Garden Quilt

  
  

• Orphan Block Mini (bind)

  

  Quilted Orphan Block

• Purple/Yellow/Green Star (mini top done, need to baste/quit/bind) 
  
• Batik Pinwheel quilt (decide whether to turn into lap quilt by adding more blocks) 
  
• SueBeeStar quilt (have the design, need the fabrics)



SueBee Stat Quilt




• T-Shirt Quilt(s)



T-Shirt Quilt(s)




• Charm Quilt "Sister Quilt" (have the top done, just need to hand-tie or quilt)



Charm Quilt "Sister" Quilt




• Tulip Quilt (do something with tulip blocks from eBay) 



Tulip Quilt




• Homespun Plaid quilt (something with all the homespuns I collected)



Homespun and some Batiks




•  Fall Leaf quilt (just needs layered and quilted; have the backing fabric)

Leaf Quilt




• Heart Runner Quilt (finish borders and quilt)

Heart Runner Quilt




• Rainbow Batik quilt (not sure what, but I have a nice collection of batiks now)

More Batiks




• Books-for-Baby quilt for my local library (have started collecting fabrics) 

  

  Possible layout for quilt

Some novelty print for Books-for-Baby Quilt




• Elementary quilt (not sure what, but I have a layer cake of this fabric line that I really want to create something for me with; finally found some backing fabric for this old line) 
  



Elementary Fabrics




• Square-in-Square Quilt (do something with S-i-S blocks from eBay)



Square-in-Square Quilt Project




• Mystery Quilt (have the top done from years ago, just need to quilt)
  

  

  Mystery Quilt

  
  

• Denim Quilt 
  
• Hexies (make into quilt top; more long-term goal because I need to trade more hexies)



Hexie Friends Quilt Project




• Text quilt (something with all the text fabrics I've been collecting) 

  

  Some of my text fabrics

• Daysail Quilt (need to come up with a pattern for the charm pack/fabric I have) 

  

  Daysail Fabrics

• Yellow Brick Road Quilt Kit (bought it long ago, but never assembled) 
  
• Blue/White "All Star" BOM Quilt (blocks down, assemble top and quilt) 
  
• Green/White "My Favorite Things" BOM Quilt (top done, quilt) 
  
• Teal/Green "Mystery" BOM Quilt (quilt top done) 
  
• "Threads from the Heartland" BOM Quilt (some blocks finished) 
  
• "Century Quilt" BOM Quilt (some blocks done) 
  
• "Sunny Days" BOM Quilt (some blocks done) 
  
• Bright Floral BOM Quilt (top finished) 
  
• Pink/Green/Tan BOM Quilt (top finished) 
  
• Blue/Red/Tan BOM Quilt (top finished) 
  
• Breast Cancer/Pink Heart Blocks 
  
• Windmill Quilt (pieces purchased off eBay long ago)
  
• do something with my stash that is scrappy (maybe cut them into pre-cuts--not a FAL goal, but I'm leaving it here for me)
•  and do something with all the charm packs/mini charm packs I've acquired the past two years (ones I bought and ones given to me as swap extras; probably a half dozen projects in there) 

  

  Some of my charm packs

  

Quite a list, I know.  And that's only a small part of the projects swirling around in my head or that I have in my UFO pile.  I'll add more photos as I find them again.

One Monthly Goal: January--Marina's Garden Quilt

I liked the accountability of A Lovely Year of Finishes, even if I didn't always get my blog posts done and linked.  But all things consider, I think I did pretty well last year, so can only go forward from here, right!  Now OMG: One Monthly Goal has taken up the monthly link parties, so I thought why not continue for 2016.

For January, my goal is to finish a mini quilt I started years ago.  It's honestly been so long, I've forgotten exactly when I started it.  But I found a file for it in EQ5 to give you an idea of how old it is.  For some reason I called the file "Marina's Garden Quilt," so that's what I'll keep calling it.  It was originally going to be a doll quilt for my daughter's American-Girl-sized doll.  But she never really got into dolls, and I never finished the quilt.  So now it's a mini quilt!  It's a simple pinwheel design, with solid blocks in between.  And then double straight borders with corner blocks.  I don't usually go for random block layouts, but I did with the pinwheel blocks.  Or as random as I can be.

My old EQ5 layout that I discovered when upgrading my software to EQ7

I started hand-quilting it way back when, but was just never crazy about how that was going.  (I've found I hate stitching-in-the-ditch when hand-quilting.)  Luckily I had only done three lines of quilting.  When I recently rediscovered the quilt sandwich among my UFOs, I decided to rip out the hand-quilting, and come up with a machine-quilting plan.  I pulled thread colors from my stash, but wasn't inspired beyond that.  Then this past week I picked it up again, thinking I would hand-quilt using a different pattern.  Did one block, and ripped it out again.  Then inspiration hit the other day, and I just started quilting on the machine.  (I'll save that for my month-end post.)  Now I just need to cut binding strips and get it bound!  And I guess come up with a label.

The quilt sat in the hoop for a long time, waiting for me to get back to it.  If you look closely, you might see the lines of hand-quilting.

I'll have to pull out the doll dress I made with the butterfly fabric, and see if I can round up my daughter's old doll for the finish pics!

I recreated the file in EQ7 before I found the old file.  I picked slightly different fabrics from the library for this one.

New Year, New Focus (revisited)

"New Year, New Focus" was how I titled my first post of 2015.  So I'm revisiting the idea for 2016.  If there was one thing that 2015 taught me, it's that I NEED quilting/sewing in my life again.  I took too long of a break.  It brings me joy.  It brings me happiness.

There was one of those things on Facebook about finding your word for 2016.  I clicked on it, entered my name, and it returned "Happiness."  And honestly, I have to agree with that.  I'm not looking to change myself.  With age comes wisdom, right.  And wisdom is realizing you just aren't going to change/fix yourself, no matter how hard you try.  I am what I am.  But I can bring myself Happiness through the choices I make.  So I choose to quilt/craft more.  I choose to continue with the great purging project I started before the Holidays.  Finally ridding my house of that what I don't need or don't use anymore (and am wise enough to realize I'm not going to use) will free up space for me to create.  And creating makes me happy.  I need to not lose sight of that.

ALYOF: 2015 in Review

2015 has come to a close.  I started the year participating in "A Lovely Year of Finishes" (ALYOF), and I set and met a lot of my monthly goals.  I made my goals for January, February, April, May, June, and July.  I also made my goals for March and August, but never linked up.  Things always fall apart in March (kids' birthdays) and the fall (back-to-school, cross country, softball, marching band, book fair, middle school musical). Don't know why I didn't link up in December.  Probably still recovering from musical and Thanksgiving.

Anyway, here's my 2015 Year in Review...

JANUARY: Learn EPP; make Hexie Friend Flower (goal and finish links)

FEBRUARY: Finish Bright Star Quilt (goal and finish links)

MARCH: Make Open-Wide Pouch (finish link)

APRIL: Finish Rainbow Mini Quilt (goal and finish links)

MAY: Finish Teacher Gift--One Hour Basket (goal and finish links)

JUNE: Work on Selfish Sewing Project (goal and finish links)

JULY: Work on more Hexie Friend Flowers (goal and finish links)

AUGUST: Finish Text Me Mini Quilt (goal link)

SEPTEMBER: When Back-to-School hits, these two become my focus.  And I'm okay with that.  :-)

OCTOBER: Survive Book Fair! (Ok, not a ALYOF Goal, but a goal nonetheless)

NOVEMBER: Finish Middle School Musical Costumes

DECEMBER: Work on Selfish Sewing Project; finish and mail out Hexie Flowers

Looking ahead to 2016, I plan to spend more time on quilting in general.  I still have a lot of the same WIP/UFOs to work on.  While ALYOF won't be happening anymore, I'll still try to post my personal goals and accomplishments.  I started scribbling a list of the things I'd like to focus on: Paradiso mini (selfish sewing project--need backing/binding fabrics), Pinwheel quilt (just needs quilting), Books-for-Baby quilt for my local library, SueBeeStar quilt, Elementary quilt (not sure what, but I have a layer cake of this fabric line that I really want to create something for me with), Rainbow Batik quilt (not sure what, but I have a nice collection of batiks now), Text quilt (something with all the text fabrics I've been collecting), do something with my stash that is scrappy (maybe cut them into pre-cuts), Batik Pinwheel quilt (unpick the black fabric and start over, finish it off), Homespun Plaid quilt (something with all the homespuns I collected), Fall Leaf quilt (just needs layered and quilted), Hexies (make and send more; make into quilt top), and do something with all the charm packs/mini charm packs I've acquired the past two years).  Quite a list, I know.  And that's only a small part of the projects swirling around in my head.

August Goal--Text Me Mini Quilt

The goal for August is pretty simple.  I signed up for the Text Me Mini Quilt Swap months ago, and now it's time to finally work on it.  Basically a mini quilt using at least two different text fabrics.  There was no way I wasn't signing up for this one. 
I've had some fabrics pulled for a few weeks now.  (Had to build up my stash of text fabrics, which was harder than I thought since my local quilt shop didn't have much to pick from.  So I had to order stuff online, which is always dangerous.)  My secret partner is also a fan of Lori Holt, but I didn't want to buy any of her latest fabric line.  Instead I opted to get her latest book (on sale), and use it with the Daysail fabrics (and a few others) that I've been buying this summer.

I still don't know quite what I'm doing.  I've had a few ideas rolling around in my brain.  I have graph paper and pencil.  But it's probably going to be using tiny 6" blocks, because I like tiny blocks.  I feel if I just make a 12" block and put a border on it, that's not really stretching myself creatively, which is what I think swaps should be for me.  Now I just have to get making!  (In my spare time, when I'm not helping with the High School Band, now that my son is an incoming freshman.) 
Whatever I make has to be done by the end of the month, which is why I've always been planning it to be my August goal.  And there's a very good chance that I really will make two of these at once--one for my partner and one for me to keep.  Because, come on--Daysail and text fabric!  I need whatever that becomes.  On my wall.