Goals for 2016

It's the last day of 2015.  Wow - how did that happen?

As I have been mentioning - this coming year is the year to get this mess that I have created under control.   I doubt all the UFOs will ever get completed in my lifetime - who am I kidding?  Of course - they will never all get done, but there are projects that have been sitting here that have been promised to PEOPLE and the projects are still waiting (years later in some cases). That is just not acceptable and those deadlines have been hanging over my head long enough.

Imagine the freedom to enter the studio and say "hmmmm - I can start something new - guilt free and it's for me!"  That would be like winning the lottery!  Just imagine!

Before I get into my goals for this year - here's a recap of my progress on the weekly goal list.  By the way - I'm loving that list - the key is to not overload it!!!   It's about prioritizing, and scheduling according to TIME I have available  (not what I want to get done).

Weekly goal list

Remember this tote bag that I made for QUILTSocial this past summer???  Yes - I made it while I was on vacation in PEI for the month of June.  Obviously my inspiration came from the beach where I went for daily walks with the girls  (my two doggies). If you want to make your own bag - check out the tutorial here.

Beach tote

Well - I remade the bag this week.  Have a look - isn't it gorgeous.

Tote - what happened to the color????

 AHA - so you know how I hate technology - well this is one of those occasions where I love technology.  You see by making this tote in grey, it can be photographed and then I can choose ANY fabric that I want to "remake" the bag!!!!!     OK - so it isn't me who will be doing that - mapping software is a bit tricky.  I'm leaving that for one of our graphic designers at work (yes - I work for Northcott - so any fabric will be NORTHCOTT fabric).  The plan is to take that tutorial and rewrite it as a pattern and it will be available as a free download sometime soon.

Anyway - it was a pleasure to CHECK off that grey tote bag from my weekly goal list!!!!


Next up was to get a customer quilt done.  It is now trimmed and ready for pickup. CHECK!!!!!!

Customer quilt done!

 Next up was designing a couple of quilts.  Both of these are bit tricky - not just the normal - throw some sashing between the blocks.  For one of them - I actually cut circles out of paper and put on the design wall. That is scrap paper that you see - don't go reading a whole lot into that pink quilt!

I'm not sure that this is my final design, but at least the ball got rolling with the design.  According to my list - the design must be solidified by the end of this week so I can start sewing next week.

Design of a quilt - in real - not on the computer

I have a second quilt for a customer that needs to be designed this week.  This is fabric from a long dress.  It is wool and very scratchy so it isn't going to make a nice quilt, but I'll put flannel on the back so it will be nice on that side.   I have the design somewhat laid out in EQ7, but needed to get a visual on what material I have to work with.  I took close-up pix of the fabric and will slice and dice and make a virtual quilt out of this one before I start to cut the real fabric.

Three pieces of a long dress to make a quilt

So you see that I'm making progress with my new system - OK - so it's only the first week, but you have to think positive.

Here is my plan.

I have made six different lists.
1. Charity quilts (these usually are for guilds, but there are some that our Monday group was working on).  These only need to be quilted and I can bind them (by machine or get someone to do it by hand)
2. Complete quilts to be made (from scratch) for customers
3. Quilts that need to be done for others (as gifts)
4. Customer quilts to be quilted
5. My quilts that I want to finish this year
6. Quilts/items to be made for work


I have decided that I am going to put these in a book. I found a nice little notebook and a Sharpie pen (ball point pens just don't work for me).   My vision is that a few items will be added to each of the categories over the coming year.  Not many, but a few - probably Number 6 will get the most added to it.

I'm going to have fun with my book -   I also found a duplicate book of POSITIVE sayings and I'm going to add sayings on the pages to keep me focused. Yep - I'm going to cut up that book and glue those sayings in!!!!!

My notebook and my inspiration for 2016!

I also dug out this book which I used in 2012 and 2014 to list projects that I completed!!!!    Seems like it gets used every second year!  But what fun to go back and see what has been accomplished in a year.  Very inspiring!!!!   I guess technically, I could put everything in one book and then have ONE book for the entire year.  I will have to see about that as I need 52 pages for each set of weekly goals.  I'll count the pages and see how many I have. Don't forget I need my 6 lists in that book as well.

Book of finished projects

The plan is that on Saturday evening  (I have a recurring appointment with myself set up in my phone), I will review the six lists (which MUST be kept current or the entire system falls apart).  I will select the priorities based on my schedule, timing of the quilt, etc and based on that - I will make up my GOAL list for the week.  I will keep that goal list in the SAME little book as the lists.  The goals for the week will no doubt be less than 10.  This has to have some very serious thought - no way can I make or do 50 things in a week.  It make take a bit of give and take to get this organized!  If it doesn't get done that week - I guess it will get carried over to the next week and if too many things are carried over - I am scheduling too many things or too big of things to get done.

When I'm looking for something to do - I will check the goal list for that week.  In theory this should work.  It is just a question of PRIORITIZING.

I have to say that I feel great.  I feel like a HUGE weight has been taken off my shoulders by having this plan. Yes - there are going to be people who try to throw me off - I don't have a problem taking on new work.  It will get added to the bottom of the appropriate list  - don't worry - the quilting customer quilts is currently the SHORTEST list and since that is a profitable venture - that list and the quilts being made from scratch - they get FIRST PRIORITY!!!!   Well maybe quilts for work as well.

I am contemplating making one more list and that is items that need borders/backings or bindings.  I think I will as I have a huge pile of quilts that just need one or the other or all three things and seriously - how long would that take to do????  A couple of years ago (2012) - I did one a week from January to August (and then I didn't write them down or I didn't do any more)  and I bet none of them are quilted!!!!


Notice - there is nothing about cleaning/sorting/organizing.   There is no time for that and it will just get messy anyway.  I have to get things DONE so that is where I am going to put my focus.  Now - I will continue to put things away as most things have a home in my studio.  That is an ongoing thing so doesn't need to be the focus of daily goals.


How about you??????   What do you have planned for 2016?????   I'm going to be participating in a LINKY with others that are writing their goals for 2016 and I have several friends on Facebook who are in the same boat as me.  Quilting is their career and so we are going to help each other to meet and shall I say exceed those goals?????  


Wish me luck - it's going to be a fun fun year and I can't wait to get started!!!!   I'm already itching to write my goal list for next week, but NO - I'm not going to start in the event that something else more urgent requires my attention between now and Saturday.   I can't wait to make that happen.


Have an awesome day!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Ciao!!!!!!!!!!!!