PHD 2020 list

As part of my planning for this year, I committed to Gail's PHD in 2020..

Yes, I'd like to get 12 Projects Half Done finished this year and Yes, I'd like to finish everything I start this year!
Tall orders.
Here is the list of 12 UFOs I would like to finish. Some are old and some are relatively new, all in varying stages of completion.

Without further ado —
Hannah and Harrington - I completed the top in 2013 and this is what I said back then....I'm very much in love with this project and I'm hoping it won't be long until it's quilted and turned into a real quilt!  HAHA!  (Forever the optimist.)
This was a quiltalong by Michelle of The Raspberry Rabbits.

This will be its year (it's actually already basted, ready to quilt) —

The MOML's jelly roll quilt - another one dating back a few years. I finished this top in 2014. It is actually partially quilted but I got stuck with what to do next —

This Mystery Stitchery quilt came back onto my radar recently when it was being used for a spot of hunt making, and I realised that it needed more quilting. It has some very basic ditch quilting and I think it will be more robust if I re-visit it - even if it's only with some more ditch stitching! Oh and it needs a label :-) Originally finished in 2010!

Friday's Garden  - this is another partially quilted one. Once again I stumbled with the quilting.... I'm doing a fill I'm not happy with and I need to decide whether to rip it out or continue on. I know what my heart wants me to do but I have yet to decide if I can be bothered!! I last worked on this quite recently - back in 2018 and I do love this quilt so I must get it finished —

So that's four that I just have to finish the quilting on. 

The Mod Bear's Paw needs an outer border (some piecing involved) then it too will need quilting. This was a sewalong on Lorna's Sew Fresh Quilts blog back in 2016. This is another quilt that I absolutely love —

International Sisters. I put a lot of energy into this last year but regrettably put it away in preparation for my USA trip in November. I'm really keen to get it sashed and finished as I love it so much (haha it seems I love all my projects!). This project started with a block shared by Preeti of Sew Preeti which a few of us have taken off with —

Birds on a Wire is a project which needs a lot more work on it. These are blocks that I made when pattern testing for Juliet of Tartankiwi in 2018. I have a plan of what I'm dong with them... I just need to execute that plan!

One of my goals for the year is to use more of my scraps. Accordingly, my Great Granny squares will be pulled out again. I have 9 blocks made, and had decided to continue on and make another 7 for a 4x4 grid. We'll see. (I used the tutorial from Lori Holt's blog *here*.) 

 And the other scrap quilt I want to finish up is my Scrappy Sprouts. I have a pile of these but I do need to sort through them and decide what colours, etc, I need to use for balance. I think I may be about halfway through this project.

I have a wee pile of Christmas quilts I'd love to make but as I'm partway through this one, I won't let myself start anything new. This is Snowflake Land from Quiltmania#80. I haven't worked on this since 2016. Not a big project and I think I have only two more blocks to do. No excuses really.

Numbers 11 and 12 on my PHD list are a bit wishy-washy. Inspired by Janice's recent post *here*, I aim to take two orphan blocks and finish them off. I don't have many projects that I've mentally abandoned, (I still love them all!) but there is the odd block that can do with attention. 

Below are some possible candidates for this —

So there we have it, my list of 12 projects that I am wanting to completely finish this year. Wow, it's a little daunting but like the elephant, I will break it down into small pieces and work my way through them. 

The next step is to actually pull out all these items (rather than finding previously taken photos on my blog!) and store them in sight. 

Thank you Gail of the Quilting Gail blog for motivating and pushing me to do this thinking and planning. Hopefully what follows is a year of finishing!

'til next time,

happy stitches,

A Word or more and a OMG

I thought I would spend today happily sewing away but in my early morning ponderings I realised I really wanted to put some more thought into my yearly planning instead.
It's been very disappointing to me that I haven't started or finished all the millions of quilts (maybe that's an exaggeration, make it hundreds) that I would have liked to over the last couple of years. My first 2020 planning post highlights how important it is to me to be a little more productive.
I know, I do lead a busy life (as many of us do!)  and I wouldn't miss out on anything else that I do for anything.
Believe it or not, I do actually enjoy doing this —

And wouldn't swap times like this either —

So instead I need to put some thought into how I'm going to achieve as least some of what I want to achieve.

A lot of people have been posting and sharing their word of the year lately;  a word to guide them in this year's sewing. I haven't felt the urge to do one before but I'm feeling like I need one this year.

Haha the silly thing is that I'm having trouble narrowing it down to just one word.

I have three.

They're sort of all related so I'm going to go with them all!

Plan I need to plan my time better, think ahead, prepare better, plan for the interruptions.
Focus Focus on my goals, focus (concentrate) on what I'm doing (already while writing this I've jumped up to stick a photo I just found to the wall. I'm good at getting distracted).
Play To me playing is just enjoying what I'm doing, but of course it's a very important aspect. To keep my creative soul happy I need to have the freedom to play as it suits me. Play keeps the excitement there. It might be my current project, it might be a completely spontaneous sew session, to experiment, learn a new technique or jump on board the bandwagon when I see other friends doing something cool.
If I plan and focus efficiently I'm setting myself up to both meet my goals and play at the same time.
That's the theory anyway.
Next to display these words somewhere so they will guide my year.

👏

(See how I fiddle and lose focus. Now I've just discovered I can insert emojis in my blogpost!)

And now for my One Monthly Goal for January. I'm delighted to see that Patty of Elm Street Quilts is running this for us again in 2020.

There have been a few babies born over the last little while that I haven't made for. And I'd really like to do that.
A good friend of both my daughters had a wee boy in December.

I've had a think about the design and colourway for his quilt. Above is my initial fabric pull from what I have on hand but will top it up with some more childlike fabric at my lqs next time I go in.
My number one aim is for the top to be pieced by the end of the month but I'd really like to think it can be quilted and delivered as well.
With some planning and focusing, I'm sure this can happen. And I think I'll enjoy the process too😃
Patty's link-up is *here* if you'd like to join in too.

'til next time,

Happy stitches,

Our first Friday Night in 2020

After finishing the stitcheries for my Country At Heart quilt, I have been crocheting in the evenings, continuing on with the afghan I started last November.
It's worked corner to corner and last night, during Friday Night with Friends (thank you Cheryll!) I reached the final corner —

Next it has several rounds of border treatment. Apparently I'm supposed to block it before I start the border...not something I do very often but as it is slightly wonky it's probably a very good idea :-)

So I started on a wee stitchery I'd prepared earlier —

 

I'm stitching on some handkerchief linen which is turning out to be lovely to use. I'm very happy to continue on with this over the next few nights.

If you want to see what others got up to on Friday Night go to Cheryll's blog *here* for the linky lineup.

Enjoy your weekend - I have some sewing time planned and I think two small children are coming out for a visit later today ♥

'til next time,

happy stitches,