Thursday, January 03, 2013

Blogging and Quilting in 2013

Another year ahead...we all hopefully receive 365 days to fill with whatever we value and desire.
This is what I am planning to fill my time with:

*handwork - I want to do more hand quilting and beading, and signed up for the Bead Journal Project 2013!  
I participated in the 2007 BJP and really enjoyed it, but that year I made my monthly goal too ambitious and my project size too large (8" x 11"). I did manage to finish many of the pieces, which I will make a post about sometime soon. I learned my lesson and this is my plan for my 2013 project:
1) start each month with a word, a verb, which I will bead and/or stitch,
2) fill in the rest of the space in an intuitive way, as I originally learned from Robin. She calls it improvisational, I call it intuitive ("Using or based on what one feels to be true even without conscious reasoning; instinctive"), and
3) stitch the 12 projects together at the end of 2013 as a mosaic memory of my year.
                           
*simplicity... buy less and use up what I already have. 
So I will participate again in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.                                            
I have been participating in Angela's scrappy challenge for two years and have enjoyed all the projects I have worked on. Sometimes I have worked on projects that were UFO's in the colour of the month, sometimes I have started new projects just for fun, and I have regularly tried to use up the scraps I have accumulated over years of quilting. It has been a very rewarding experience to participate in this challenge, and I have planned to finish some ongoing projects, and start some new ones, which I'll write more about on Saturday.


*less deadlines - I try so hard to meet them and stress myself out too much at times, so I plan to commit to fewer projects with deadlines and hope I can keep to that. I am only planning to sign up for 1 new project which is a quilt I really like and for which I already found fabric in my stash.
Blogger Girls BOM    
    
Having said that, I did sign up for one approaching deadline because I couldn't resist!! LOL I am participating in the "In Yours Words" blog hop, so look for my Word quilt (next week Wednesday I think... hope to finish the quilting over the weekend...
yikes, more pressure, which is what I said I didn't want!!)                                                                     

*finish more UFO'sJudy has changed the format of the UFO challenge for the coming year and is calling it a "Get It Done" challenge. 
But since I liked the old format, I'm going to stick with that for another year and see how it goes. My new UFO wish list (as in "I sure wish it was done"!)  for 2013 will appear on the right sidebar of my blog when I whittle it down to 12 projects! I just plan to work away at a project each month, and hope to finish it, or at least move it closer to becoming a completed quilt!

And that's my list for 2013! Seems manageable and doable, if I actually stick to my plan! 

12 comments:

Ellen said...

Sounds like you have made a great plan that should be very do-able. I really like participating in the RSC as well. It makes feel very virtuous when I use my scraps!

Missy Shay said...

Sounds like a good and realistic plan to me!

Janet O. said...

I like the "less deadlines" goal. Even when I don't plan to set myself up with deadlines, it just seems to happen. : )
Looking forward to seeing the beading.

Karen said...

Did you know that Heather over at peachypages.blogspot.com is continuing the UFO Challenge with Judy's blessings? I've signed up because I really like that format. Thought you might like to sign up too.

Marei said...

*simplicity...buy less and use what I have. I'm definitely with you on that.....but first I just NEED to make a quick trip to the LQS. LOL!

scraphappy said...

Glad you are in for another year of the rainbow scrap challenge. New Years are such a nice opportunity for all of us to start fresh again. I hope your quilting continues to nourish your soul in the new year.

Teresa in Music City said...

Great planning Kathy! You've got a good variety here - cleaning up some UFO's, cleaning out some scraps while doing a fun project, honing your skills in a different creative outlet like beading & embellishing. I'm doing some planning too so I can try to stay focused - my real challenge is to stay within the plan as the year goes on. My major change has also been to reduce deadlines and the pressure they bring. I managed to resist In Your Words, but Dare to Dresden got me, since I've wanted to do a Dresden project for quite a while now. Very much looking forward to 2013!

Donna said...

I'm ingtrigued by your 36Patch quilt shown on Jan. 1. Do you have a tutorial? Your quilt looks lovely in soft colors. I want to make one too.

Lesley said...

I like your plans! I have never done beading but a friend uses beads with her wool applique and makes some stunning projects. Are all those quilts really yours and waiting to be quilted? Wow...

Carrie P. said...

great way to start the year.
the beading journal sounds very interesting. I am going to share that with my daughter who has a ton of beads.

Kate said...

Sounds like you've learned what works for you and what doesn't. Glad that you are doing the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year, you have such cool ideas for scrap projects. Good luck with all your goals this year!

cajunquilter said...

I posted my list of want to do's yesterday. I think I will join in the RSC this year too. Just need to decide on a block or group of blocks.