Quilting/Sewing

I have A LOT of quilting/sewing planned for 2016. I’m not sure how I’m going to fit in working 40 hours a week :).

I enjoyed using my copy of  The Quilter’s Planner 2016 for the first time to write down some of my bigger quilting/sewing goals for 2016. They are not written in order of importance. My first priority has to be the monthly blocks I need to make as part of my commitment for signing up for two online quilting bees, The Stash Bee and The Bee Hive.
With The Bee Hive, I am also a swarm leader because our original swarm leader went MIA. I certainly don’t feel like I was the best qualified having only quilted for a little over a year and never having participated in any kind of quilting bee before. But I have over 25 years experience of project management, so I think I can do a decent job. Fingers crossed!

My focus next will be to get ready for QuiltCon. It is seven weeks away! I am signed up for five workshops (see below). Gulp! I’m going to get all the cutting done ahead that I can and spray baste quilting sandwiches for my free-motion quilting workshop. I still need to pull the fat quarters and yardage required for the workshops, but that shouldn’t take too long unless I get totally sidetracked going through my stash. It can be so delightful to revel in the sight and feel of so many beautiful fabrics!

As you can see from the photo of my planner page above, I’m also signed up for a few quilt-alongs and Block-of-the-Month (BOM) clubs with the goal of moving my quilting skills from advanced beginner (love that oxymoron!) to an intermediate skill level.

I have several quilts that I plan to make as well this year. I’m just about ready to start on my simple 5-inch squares quilt using a Carolyn Friedlander Doe layer cake that I will use on my full-size bed.

There will certainly be some secret sewing done this year, probably two to three quilts. One may be the Low Volume Tiles quilt from Elizabeth Hartman’s Inspired Modern Quilts Craftsy class (I love, love, love this class. Since baseball season is in hiatus, I often put it on for background when I quilt.) Another will be a small lap quilt for my brother’s 70th birthday. And most likely something for my most favorite person to sew for–my sister.

Finishing Up 2015 Projects

I have already started working again on my Birthday Gifts Quilt and plan to start back on the Midnight Mystery Quilt-a-long during the upcoming holiday weekend. I’m going to leave my Gratitude Lanterns Mini Quilt alone for now because I’m thinking the lanterns will look much better with some running stitch embellishment, and that will be a great travel project for trips planned in February and June.

After I take Christina Cameli’s Free-Motion Quilting workshop at QuiltCon, I want to practice my free-motion quilting on a quilt that will be made up of blocks received from other quilters who also participated in the Instagram Log Cabin Party swap early to mid 2015.

Charity
This past year my local quilt guild sewed blocks for Girl Scout Diana Jasany’s Scrappy Trips Around the World quilts for foster children aging out of the foster system. In 2016 we are going to sew  Days for Girls Hygiene Kits. I am open to other projects that may present themselves to sew blocks that can be included in quilts for people in need.

Swaps
I obviously don’t have a lot of time to participate in swaps in 2016, but there are two that I will do for sure. I owe Yvonne@ Quilting Jetgirl an improv mini mini, and Sarah@Sarah Goer Quilts and I are planning to swap Patchwork City mini minis. I also really like those Polaroid Greeting Blocks that were so popular in 2015, so I plan to participate in this particular swap if another gets going early in the year. But I am going to try really hard not to get sucked into Instagram Swapland!

Extra Credit
I’m printing up all the patterns for the blocks for the Moda Sampler Block Shuffle. I have set aside a layer cake of Modern Background Paper and Ink Modern Background both by Zen Chic. I don’t know if I will even touch this project this year other than printing up the block patterns.

Blogging

When I joined the 2015 New Quilt Bloggers Group on Facebook in June 2015, I committed to writing at least four posts a month. I’m going to stick with that particular goal though there most likely will be months where I will write more than four blog posts. I do want to improve my quilting photography skills. My sister made a good suggestion to find a place to photograph my blocks that is a little lower than my cutting table so that I can get right over them for a more “squared” look when I take pictures thereby avoiding the vanishing perspective look with the top of the block being skinnier than the bottom (like my planner page above). I also want to take more quilt photos outside.

Linking up to Yvonne@Quilting Jetgirl’s 2016 Planning Linky Party.