My 2009 Goals!

I'm so excited about this!  Resolutions never seem to work.  They're usually vague, such as "Lose Weight."  But I'm trying to be very specific with each goal, and I'm going to make each one doable.  I can wait to start marking them off.  And of course, I'll keep you posted on my progress.  Here we go....

1.  Make a January stash quilt.

2.  Make a February stash quilt.

3.  Make a March stash quilt.

4.  Lose 5 pounds.

5.  Send my felting book proposal to a publisher.

6.  Make an April stash quilt.

7.  Make a May stash quilt.

8.  Make a June stash quilt.

9.  Lose 5 pounds

10.  Enter a quilt in a major show.

11.  Send a proposal to a magazine for an article.

12.  Lose 5 pounds.

13.  Make a July stash quilt.

14.  Make an August stash quilt.

15.  Enter a quilt in a major show.

16.  Send a proposal to a magazine for an article.

17.  Make a September stash quilt.

18.  Make an October stash quilt.

19.  Lose 5 pounds.

20.  Enter a quilt in a major show.

21.  Make a November stash quilt.

22.  Make a December stash quilt.

23.  Open an Etsy shop.

See a theme here?  I realized that if I wrote, "Make a stash quilt every month," I wouldn't get to mark it off my list until the end of the year.  This way even small accomplishments can be recognized and marked off.  I love marking things off a list.

In summary, I have 12 stash quilts to make, 20 pounds to lose, 3 quilts entered in shows, 2 magazine articles, 1 book proposal, 1 Etsy shop, and a partridge in a pear tree.

Moving on to Blue

You can't imagine how happy I am to have finished the portrait quilt top before the end of the year!  Yesterday I added the paint enhancements to the quilt and set it aside to dry overnight.  Today I'll baste the layers in preparation for quilting.

In the afternoon, I cleaned my studio.  Well, at least I swept the floor and emptied the trash.  I've been dropping snippets of the tiny strips throughout this portrait process so the floor was a wreck.  Then I decide to get an early start on my pledge to make use of my stash by color in 2009.  Note:  I didn't say "using up my stash"!  I'm MAKING USE OF MY STASH!  You may remember that I've designated January as Blue Month.

I store my fabric in a coated wire drawer system purchased at Home Depot years ago.  As you can see in the photo above, the drawers have become a big wrinkled mess over the years.  So I figured that while I'm focusing on one drawer (color) per month, I might as well get more organized in the process.

So I began.  One by one, I started ironing the pieces of fabric.  Then I cut strips from each piece.  (I'm going to do something with strips with the blues.  Another month, I may cut squares, etc., from another color.)  I arbitrarily selected 2 1/2 inches and 1 1/2 inches for the width of the strips.

 
The next step was to neatly fold the remaining fabric, ready to be put back in the drawer.
Hopefully, by the end of January I'll not only have a blue quilt, but also a neat blue drawer.  And by the end of 2009, I'll have at least 12 stash quilts, and all my drawers will be neat and tidy.  How's that for a plan?

Tomorrow I'll post my complete list of 2009 goals.  It's going to be a productive year!  Happy New Year to you...

What I've Learned From Green Quilting

As 2008 ends, I've been reflecting on my green quilting journey.  This started as a means to make use of my stash and save a bit of money since we now have two kids in college.  As with many adventures in life, it has turned out to be so much more.  

Here's what I've learned:

1.  While I thought I would spend the year feeling deprived, it's been quite the opposite so far.  I've come to the realization that I'd built this wonderful stash of fabric collected over ten years, but I almost never looked through it.  You know they say that you wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time.  It was the same way with my stash.  I was constantly bringing new fabric into my studio and using it in my quilts.  The fabric I already owned is just as beautiful and useful, but maybe because I'd seen it for so long, it faded in its ability to excite me.  Now that I'm forced to use what I have, I'm finding renewed excitement in what I already own.

2.  One buying habit of which I was guilty was to buy any gadget, tool, or gizmo that I deemed cool.  Many of these I've never opened.  Now I'm rediscovering these items and learning new techniques.  My next quilt will make use of a wedge ruler I bought years ago and have never once used. 

3.  Being thrifty enhances creativity.  This is one of the most profound and surprising things I've learned.  I remember reading books about life in early America.  The kids didn't have plastic toys or board games, much less computers and video games.  They made their own games and toys with sticks, rocks, whatever they found.  And in doing so, they became more creative.  I've found this to be so true in my journey!  I think my creativity has been jump started in so many ways.  I'm always thinking of new ways to use what I have.  I go to sleep designing quilts in my head.  I wake up each morning anxious to try something new.  Creativity abounds!

4.  One of the most important things I've learned is that we really do live in a small world.  This blog has connected me with quilters all over the world.  I've made new friends, and I've come to realize that we quilters are all so much alike no matter where we live.

I did it!

I finished the quilt top!  And early, at that!  Yay me!

Tomorrow I'm getting out the Paintstix and fabric paints and work on the dog a bit.  He's missing some white highlights around his eyes, nose, and mouth, and I'm hoping these additions will make me happier with him.

I woke up feeling so much better today, at long last.  I'm still coughing, but that will soon pass.

I'm the Guilty Party

I found my missing memory card and scandisk!  I woke up VERY early this morning, and lay in bed retracing steps from last week.  I was in such a sick fog when cleaning the house, it's a wonder I could get my mind to go back in time.  But I suddenly had a thought of where it might be.  I got up and went straight to it!  And, yes, I'm the one who put it there in the first place.

Today's goals were to do the shoe (upper left), the water (lower left) and the bathing suit.  Mission accomplished.  I mainly have just one arm, two legs, and hair left.  And four more days.  It would be fabulous if I could finish this early, move on to the quilting, and actually finish this early.  Wouldn't that be SOMETHING!

I'm trying to decide how to handle the rope that loop through the inner tube.  I've left blank space where it goes, but now I'm wishing I'd filled the areas in.  Hmmm...

I've thought about couching a real rope onto the quilt.  Hmmm...

Any ideas?

I'm still not really thrilled with the dog, but I may try to enhance the colors with some Paintstix to get the look I'm going for.  It feels so good to be quilting again!  I'm still not 100 percent well, but at least I'm up and around.

I'm Back!

I actually made it upstairs to my studio today!!!  Yay me!  I got back to work on THE Quilt.  My goal for today was to finish the dog.  Mission accomplished.  I tried to take a picture - wouldn't you know, the memory card is missing.  I know exactly where it is; it's in the scandisk thingy that I use to upload the photos to the computer.  Now if I could only find said scandisk thingy!  Before our family members came over on Christmas Eve, my dear hubby did a wonderful job picking up lots of miscellaneous stuff cluttering our den and kitchen.  He doesn't remember what he did with the scandisk thingy.  I'm sure it will turn up in the next few days, so you'll have to use your imagination until then.

We had a hectic, family filled Christmas Eve, and then we had a wonderfully relaxing Christmas Day.  We slept late, the girls opened their gifts, and then my dear hubby, who does not normally cook, treated us to his one and only specialty - Baked French Toast with Pecan Praline Topping.  He makes this every year on Christmas Day.  YUMMY!

That afternoon, the four of us went to see the new movie, "Marley and Me."  I'm not usually a movie cryer, but this was a definite tear jerker, especially if you're a dog lover.  It was a great movie.

Things are getting back to normal in the health department around here.  Emily is so much better.  I'm feeling better, but not quite up to full speed.  I'll probably be coughing for another week, but I'm not complaining.  We're doing so much better than last week at this time!

I spent some time this morning working on my list of goals for 2009.  I'm so excited about this.  They say if you write something down, you're more likely to accomplish it.  Plus I'll be accountable on my blog for these accomplishments, too, which may be added incentive.  I'll post the final list here on January 1, so stay tuned.  You may be surprised by some of them.

Today being the 26th, it's my four month anniversary for this blog and my green quilting journey.  I could have asked for fabric for Christmas, but I realized there wasn't any fabric I really needed.  My quilty Christmas gifts were magazine subscriptions (renewals) to Quilting Arts and Quiltmania, and a screenprinting kit.  I can't wait to learn to screenprint!  Hope you had a wonderful Christmas.  Hopefully I be taking photos again tomorrow.

On the Mend...

Thanks for all the good wishes!  Emily is doing much better.  Her incision is still sore, and it hurts for her to turn her head.  But overall, the worst is over.

I, on the other hand, got worse before I got better.  I have been bed ridden or sofa-ridden for days.  Hubby has been taking up the slack.  He took me to the doctor today.  I've never been so happy to get a shot in the rear!!!

It took the injection an hour or so to start working.  I'm finally feeling a bit human again.  We're supposed to be hosting our family on Christmas Eve afternoon.  I think they're all afraid they'll get sick, but I don't think I'm contagious.  And I'm thinking two days from now, I'll really be a lot better.  Then on the 26th, maybe I can work on THE Quilt again, because I haven't felt like walking up the stairs to the studio for days, much less standing and fusing bit of fabric.

I got the nicest e-mail from a friend, Patty B., this afternoon with well wishes.  She sent me the follow "green" tip that I want to share with you:

"I wanted to tell you about my "green" Christmas.  Ray's family had their family Christmas get together Saturday night.  I had several small children to buy presents for.  When I looked at paper Christmas bags, they are anywhere from $2-5 and just get thrown away.  I had read somewhere that a good idea was to buy a market bag instead.  Winn Dixie had green market bags for 99c so I bought them for all the kids.  It turned out to be my great nephew's favorite present.  He put all his toys in the bag and carried it around all night saying, 'ho ho ho.'  He's four.  It was so cute.  So 'going green' was a big success this year.  Last year I made bags out of extra fabric, but the time just wasn't there this year so this was a great alternative, and cheaper than buying a 'throw away, bag."

What a great idea!