sewingitalltogether

Well, yes. I did make my list of goals for 2019. I am not crossing off things very fast this year. My CFS has really kicked in this year. Dr. just started me on a new medicine so I have hope. I do relate to all of what has been said. The pins on the floor, messy sewing room. I just cleaned and vacuumed my room. Sucked up a lot of pins, dust, beads, sequins (I don't know where they came from) and a ton of threads and bits of fabric. My cleaner sewing room is inviting. It's more usable and streamlined. So maybe I will make progress in the rest of the year. If not, I will roll my goals over into 2020 and update my direction.

juliasb

Oh yeah! I feel like I am running a marathon right now and am afraid I will not get done what I have on my plate right now. My quilt as you go quilt that I am doing right now is #1. Then I have 3 others. With canning season in full swing I am slowed down for now. I figure another week on the first one and then slowly work on the others. I can see one of them already ending up in the UFO for next year if I don't get busy and work my brain around the frog stitching that will be necessary to finish this one. (Double Irish Chain).

lindaschipper

Haven't made a quilt for my self in a while...mostly concentrate on charity quilts for children in need. Been buying a good amount of fabric for these projects lately. But it has come to me that I should somewhat organize it all. I plan on getting 5 small totes, one pattern and fabric to complete it in one tote, until all 5 are used up. When I empty and complete a quilt I'll reuse that tote and put it in the back of the line. #2 is now #1 etc. I may have enough children's fabric to make 50 or more quilts!!

grann of 6

Each year at the beginning I set some sort of goal for myself, one year was to make a quilt a week, 52 quilts, and I reached that goal in 51 weeks. Last year was to challenge myself with projects I hadn't done before, and I achieved that goal. This year was to work on clearing my stash and limiting my purchases. I have done quite well with that. I have made 40 quilts so far this year, many of them bably quilts with stash fabric. I've been working on using up my stash of precuts, have done well with that, and have only purchased a few that I couldn't resist. Next year I think my goal will be to work on a Civil War quilt or two that I have been collecting fabric for. I will continue on with the intention of using up my stash.

WMUTeach

I shoot for 12 a year. This year I will have finished more than 12, but I also wish to make some serious dents in my stash. As the years pass, I do not want to leave bins and bins of fabric for my children to deal with when I can no longer quilt or I have passed. I am part of the UFO group and finish about one a month. That is what is moving my yearly total closer to 20. I find a monthly goal easier to reach than a yearly goal!

LynnBBQ

I would love to set some 2020 quilt goals. A couple of you mentioned spreadsheets with your UFO's. Does anyone have a link to a good free spreadsheet? The ones that come up when I Google.... they seem to be links to expensive Quilt Planner binders or they are just simple "to do" lists. Thank you in advance!

Iceblossom

I haven't been updating my spreadsheet for awhile, but I also have one. Last time I updated it I had less than 20 tops, I try to keep it under that. I don't think there is a one-size fits all for record keeping.

My Minions zip drive is not where it should be so I can't offer mine, but I will look for it today. I use Open Office, the files will open into Excel or other spreadsheet programs.

I have the name of project, size, and several boxes for comments like Binding Made? Back Made? Quilting Designs Selected?

When I started my list, mostly I had tops and needed various things. Now pretty much all projects are put in the "to be quilted" box(es) with a back, with the binding, and hopefully with an idea of how to put together. The binding I wrap around a largish piece of cardboard.

rryder

I like the idea of goals, otherwise I get too scattered and spend more time in the studio trying to decide which of my ongoing pieces to work on than actually getting any work done.

In the past I've tried to finish at least 12 UFOs each year in addition to quilts that are current WIP. I joined the UFO thread several years ago and it was really helpful at keeping me on track. However, as of the end of 2018 I had finished up all the relatively easy UFOs- the ones that only required a little more piecing, or just needed to be quilted.
The ones that were left (20+) are ones that for whatever reason seem a lot more daunting to me. So for 2019 I decided not to start any new pieces, but to only finish UFOs and WIPs. I thought surely I'd be able to complete one UFO as well as the WIPs that were scattered all over my quilting studio. BUuuut.....

So far, this year, I've been in a bit of a creative drought and have only finished 5 UFOs. I did start and finish one new project (a thread painted and quilted panel that I did as part of a Joyce Hughes workshop). I also started a piece in a Danny Amazonas workshop and will consider that one of my ongoing WIPs. Oh, and I also started a slow stitch kit which isn't really quilting, but there it is, another new project. Other than those, I have not started any new projects this year as I really wanted to get through more of my UFOs. I have one WIP left to complete and I think I'll get one UFO finished this month since it's now sandwiched and ready to be quilted (my favorite part of the process). I'm good with that as I've felt a need to slow down a bit.

For next year, I'm going to again concentrate on my pile of UFOs- I keep a list of them in my studio notebook and will try to choose one each month to complete. I also have 3 WIPs that I want to finish up: the Danny Amazonas workshop piece and the slow stitch piece mentioned previously and a whole cloth doodle quilt that I've been painting which needs more painting, some additional stitching and some embellishments.

Does anyone think it would be a good idea to create some sort of reward for accomplishing those goals? I think for me, I will reward myself for finishing one UFO and my DA workshop piece by signing up for a garment sewing class at my LQS- I've had my eye on one that they offer regularly and almost signed up for the fall offering, but decided to stick to my original goal of finishing each workshop project before starting another. So maybe setting that as my reward will help me get motivated

Rob

jamsbuying

Goals??? Scary thought! I pretty much finish a flimsy..... I am really great at putting off sandwiching a quilt and quilting as I am not so good at quilting. Hate the thought of gathering up my “projects” and counting them....Scary!

Iceblossom

Rob, what several friends of mine are doing are "reward jars" where for each day/time they do something they are supposed to do they pay themselves a set amount. You can do something like that and use it to fund your class you want. Each day you don't start a new project should be worth a dollar. Each time you work on something, another dollar.

Make a fancy jar and the price list for rewards and place it in a conspicuous place, whether that is in your sewing room or next to your coffee pot or whatever! The thing is to have a concrete reminder of what we are doing and why.