2nd Quarter 2013 - Review of 2013 Goals and Progress

back in january i set some goals for myself for 2013 in a number of different categories, one of which was sewing/quilting.

here's a recap of those goals:

quilting and sewing:
1.  learn to use my serger
2.  work on improving my FMQ skills
3.  complete more of my WIPs (when cleaning out, i found more pre-2012 WIPs that weren't on last year's list!)
4.  finish at least one quilt per month
5.  make at least 4 string quilts for charity
5.  make japanese plus/minus quilt
6.  make at least 3 quilts from patterns/designs i have pinned on pinterest
7.  use the fabric i have instead of purchasing more!

so, let's assess how i've done now that 2013 is half of the way over.

1.  serger gifted to me by jacey from her grandmother is still in the box she brought it over in.  oops.

2.  i have done a good bit of work on improving my FMQ skills.  lots of practicing, both on paper with a pencil and also on a variety of quilts, and trying new patterns. by the end of the first quarter, i felt pretty comfortable with both a loopy meander and a regular meander.  now i'm comfortable with a few more as well, including back and forth lines that curve around at the ends.  other patterns still need more practice, and i'm not sure i'll ever be able to do feathers!

3.  I made good headway on the WIP list during the first quarter, but then slowed down.  i've checked off quite a few items so far, and made progress on others, but i need to pick up the pace again.

4.  i've definitely got this goal under control!  i've already finished FOURTEEN quilts this year, and that's not counting minis or pillows or anything like that.

5.  so far i've made two string charity quilts, and it hasn't hardly made a dent in my bags of strings!  i've been using bits, though, for other scrap projects, like my dishtowels from Patchwork, Please!  and i've made numerous other charity quilts, so i don't feel too bad about not making more string quilts!

5.  whoops!  looks like i had two items numbered 5 on my list!  i finished the top of my japanese x & + (good thing i got the name wrong back in january!), at the end of the first quarter and am planning to send this one out for quilting. i've contacted a quilter i'd like to use, but haven't had a response yet.

6.  so far i've made ashley from film in the fridge's equilateral string triangle quilt, as well as a plus block quilt i'd pinned.  there's another, different plus quilt that i'd like to make out of my joel dewberry heirloom FQs next.

7.  i've done pretty well at not buying fabric.  i've bought several pieces of yardage for garments, but have made the garments fairly quickly following the purchases. as for quilting cottons, i've bought 5 FQs, two half-yard cuts, one 1 yd cut, and a 3/8 yd cut.  so less than four yards this quarter!  i've also been able to swap out some unwanted FQs for ones i wanted. fabric.com also had a great sale on linen, so i bought 4 yds of wide kaufman essex linen in natural, as i was down to less than one yard of linen.


not too shabby for the first half of the year.  hopefully by the time the end of the third quarter rolls around i'll have more things crossed off my WIP list and maybe i'll even have pulled out the serger!