Friday, December 16, 2022

2023 Planning Party

I cannot believe it's already been another year! Wow, this year went so fast. I didn't actually remember what I'd put on my 2022 list so I had to go back and look for it. First up, I said I wanted to finish an average of one quilt per month. I exceeded that. Since I finished so many scrappy quilts, my count exceeded more than one quilt a month.

Dunrobin quilt for my mother-in-law
Judy Martin's Snake River log cabin quilt, finally finished
Bonus Unbeweavable lap quilt.
Judy Martin's Paducah's log cabin quilt flimsy.
A bonus Rhododentrail Trail lap quilt, mostly following the original pattern.
My version of the first Sewcialites quilt. I created my own layout.
Aged Elegance quilt
My version of the Rhododendron Trail. I changed the sashing.

I also said it would be nice to learn how to applique and foundation piece. Yeah, I forgot about that one, though I did make a quilt with foundation-pieced blocks. I still have a lot to learn and need more practice, but I think I did decent for my first attempt.

Pieces of My Heart flimsy
I said I'd like to quilt the dozen or so flimsies I had accumulated. I was successful on that one. I do still have a couple of my most advanced projects still waiting for quilting mainly because I don't think I've learned how to use my Prostitcher software well enough to do a good job quilting them. In total, I finished quilting 19 of my own flimsies this past year, including scrappy lap quilts.

One of my goals was to be more disciplined about making pillowcases as soon as I finish the bed-size flimsies.  Yeah, I didn't do so good on that one. Though, in fairness, I really just finished quilting the Snake River this month so it's not too late to get pillowcases done before I start using it on a bed. And I didn't make pillowcases to coordinate with the Rhododendron Trail because I just use yellow pillowcases, which I already had. The other two bed-size quilts were made as gifts and we're gifted accordingly. Yes, it would have been nice if I had included matching pillowcases....

Finally, I said I'd like to engage more with my two local quilt guilds. That was mostly a failure, primarily because of the lingering pandemic. I did go to the last meeting of the Northwest Quilters Guild and I do plan to start regularly attending the general meeting. I also will attend any virtual retreats (those held online) but I'm still not ready to attend in-person quilting retreats.

Now for the part where I start looking ahead to 2023. 

I would like to finish twelve donation quilts, an average of one every month, to donate to Comforting Quilts. Most of the patterns only take me a day to piece the small sizes and then they only take an hour or two to quilt them up. I'm sure I can spare that much time from my own projects. LOL

I would like to spend more time learning to use my ProStitcher computer. I know there is a lot I don't understand so I need to spend several hours every month finding and watching whatever educational videos I can find. I would take an in-person class if I could find one that isn't crazy far. Or I may pay for online classes. I still need to look around to figure out what's available. 

I would like to figure out how to quilt my Deco Elegance quilt for my Aunt. I came up with a quilting plan I really like, but the individual blocks exceed my machine's quilting space. So, I either need to figure out how to put the quilt on my frame on a diagonal, or I need to figure out if I can break the quilting design into more than one piece. Most likely, I will put big triangle muslin pieces on the edges and install the quilt on the diagonal so I can quilt the center portions and then take them off to finish the border. 
I would like to make the Jade Garden quilt and the Diamond Lane quilt (in Farmhouse Chic fabrics) before I lose track of why I bought the fabrics.
Jade Garden quilt
Diamond Lane quilt in Farmhouse chic fabrics
I plan to participate in Bonnie Hunter's Chilhowie Mystery Quilt again and Cheryl's Melodic Mystery quilt. (I've been downloading the clues but I haven't started either.) In January, I'm hoping to start pulling my fabrics for both of them and get caught up!

That is it for my official goals. I have other projects I would like to make, but I think they'll have to be in the extra column. I'd like to make gifts for family members, but I still need to decide on patterns. Perhaps I'll get a couple of those done too.

Thanks to Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl for helping to keep us all on track with her annual planning party linkup.

8 comments:

  1. You've finished some beautiful quilts this year. I really like the quilts planned for 2023, happy stitching!

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    1. Thanks Gretchen. It was tempting to add a lot more goals but I am trying to be realistic about how much time I'm going to spend making more quilts.

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  2. It sounds like you did great with your goals for this year, congratulations! I hope you find the time next year to get more confident with Prostitcher. And don't forget to also load scrap batting on top of the muslin triangles if you load your quilt rotated so that it will advance evenly. I made the mistake of not putting scrap batting in on my longarm once and was sad at the result because as I advanced the quilt the bulk from the center caused the edges to distort and not remain square.

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    1. Thank you for this. I wouldn't have thought of that.

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  3. You completed so many of your goals for this year. Great job! Looking forward to seeing how your 2023 plans work out!!

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  4. Looks like you've had a fantastic year - so many quilts! Best of luck with all your plans for 2023, I'm sure you'll hit it out of the park.

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  5. Sounds to me like you accomplished a lot of things! Good luck with your 2023 goals especially the ProStitcher learning curve. xo

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  6. You got so much accomplished last year. I used to think the pro stitcher was intimidating. Classes definitely helped. I no longer have the Handi Quilter long arm, but personally enjoy free hand quilting more because I like to be in control. Good luck with your 2023 goals.

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