2016, yeah!

I'm so excited for 2016. I feel refreshed after a long break from blogging. I feel like I took a break from sewing/quilting as well.While I did a lot of longarm quilting, it seems like 90% of my sewing and quilting from last year was all for clients. (I updated my longarm site so you can see all the pretty quilts I worked on.) I made a few small projects here and there but I didn't really get to finish any big projects for myself. Life in general was also busy with school (both mine and the kids), family stuff, an church stuff.

So far this year, yes all 20 days of it, I feel like I have accomplished quite a bit. First I got organized by making a list and project sheet for most of my UFO's. I say "most" because after I was done organizing I started remembering and finding other UFO's! I'll share my organizing methods with you later in the week. I also completed a few steps on some UFO's so that feels super rewarding.

My quilt guild is helping me stay on track with my UFO's by doing a fun challenge. Before our January meeting we were to make a list of 11 UFO's we wanted to work on in 2016. After compiling our list we were to number our projects 1-11. At each monthly meeting a random number will be drawn and that is the UFO that you work on for the month, until our next monthly meeting. How fun is that?! There are prizes involved too!

I decided to break down my UFO list as follows:
1. Piece the 2 side borders for the Blue Waltz quilt
2. Quilt and bind Millenium Star quilt
3. Make 12 blocks for Metro Rings quilt
4. Make 4 large blocks for Blue Waltz quilt
5. Make borders for Mod Flower & piece top together
6. Make 12 blocks for Metro Rings quilt
7. Piece together the Castles in Spain quilt top
8. Make 5 large blocks for Blue Waltz quilt
9. Make 12 blocks for Metro Rings quilt
10. Piece the top & bottom border for Blue Waltz quilt
11. Make 12 blocks for Metro Rings quilt

I basically have 5 projects I decided to work on. Rather than list 11 different projects and feel overwhelmed, I choose 5 large projects and broke them up into manageable sections.
My five projects are:
1. Blue Waltz quilt
2. Milleniumm Star
3. Mod Flower
4. Castles in Spain
5. Metro Rings

The very first thing I had to do was to clear my design wall. My "Castles in Spain" blocks weretaking up the whole design wall. Rather than just stuff the blocks in a box until #7 is drawn at quilt guild, I decided to go ahead and piece them all together into the center section of the quilt top. (I am making a queen size version of this pattern.)

~ Norma
blog.petitdesignco.com