Yesterday was another holiday here in the states, which meant my hubby was home and it was a family day. Normally I love family days but this one cost us $600.00 and after Friday (also a family day) cost us another $650, it was a bit of a painful weekend. In case no one ever told you, cars are expensive!

That being said, I need to sew out of my stash now more than ever…so my goal this week is to work on one of my first quarter FAL goals.  I’ve finished 2 of my goals already and I would love to make some progress on my third one.

As this is a short week, I want to simply make a quilt back for the test version of my Riley Blake Challenge quilt which I revealed here.

I already have the backing fabrics pulled, I just need to assemble a very small star for the back. At least the star for the back is small in comparison to the one on the front…

So that’s it. I blew last week’s goal out of the water and completely finished both NICU quilts which I will be revealing as soon as I can get some decent pictures, living in Western Washington, we haven’t had too much snow this year, but we are in the midst of one heck of a rain storm complete with some flooding.

How are your goals coming along?

Wow! We are already in the 6th week of the year (Yes, I am counting the partial week at the very start of they year as a week).  For this week I have 2 simple goals. I need to sew the binding on my Riley Blake Star Quilt. The binding is already sewn to the front but now I need to do the hand sewing part. Normally I do not hand sew my bindings down but I am seriously contemplating entering this one in our local county fair this year so I want to go the extra mile and hand sew it.

I also need to cut some 6″ squares for the first ever quilting class that I am taking!!! Well that statement isn’t entirely true. I have taken several Craftsy classes, but this one will be in person with my guild. I am so EXCITED!  The class is about color value with Sew Katie Did. I am so very excited!  I need to cut 36 squares, all prints and NO solids. This will be quite a challenge for me. I have a hard time making decisions when it comes to fabrics, so I have a feeling I will be bringing about 60 squares and then cutting them down as I learn more from Katie.

What are you all up to this week?

2013 was a big sewing year for me. I tried a lot of new things and I released 4 new quilting patterns. Very exciting! At the end of 2012 I set some sewing goals for myself, you can read about them here. Today I wanted to check on how I did.

2013 Sewing and Quilting Goals

1. 12 months – 12 finishes – Join me in A Lovely Year of Finishes – Update: I aced this one! 12 goals and 12:
   
2. Start My Crazy Quilt – I’ve been collecting fabrics since I was a pre-teen (and many were gifted to me by a wonderful family friend), it is time to do something with them!  Update: I didn’t cut into my crazy quilt fabrics but I did make lots of progress. I started a crazy block and learned a ton of embroidery stitches. I also collected more fabrics while I was in CA for Christmas.
3. Do something with all my Hexies. Update: I finished 2 hexie projects. A Hexie Pillow for Anne and a journal cover with hexies for my mom. I am still making hexies for my ultimate goal of a hexie quilt using Simply Color and Simply Style.
4. Make pajamas for Anne – UPDATE: I am happy to report that not only did I make her one pair of pajamas, but I made her 2 pairs! I also made her a pair of pants (with no pattern!), 3 skirts, 2 dresses (one with a button up back and one with an invisible zipper), and her Halloween Pink Tiger costume. I feel like I made a lot of progress in the area of clothes sewing!
   
5. Learn how to use my Ruffler Foot – UPDATE: I did not do this. Bummer! However, after inheriting my new to me Featherweight, I did purchase a book on sewing with different vintage feet, so I am looking forward to conquering this one in the new year!
6. Sew a dress for myself – UPDATE: I did not sew myself a dress but I did sew myself a beautiful skirt, which I wore on Christmas Eve. That’s like sewing half a dress…right?!?

Sewing & Quilting Goals for 2014

1. 12 more months – 12 more finishes!!!
2. Publish 4 more patterns – 1 per quarter would be my ideal goal, but I’m not going to beat myself up if I don’t do 1 per quarter, so long as it is 4 total.
3. Continue plugging away at my crazy quilt.
4. Work on restoring the Vintage Singer 99K that belonged to my Great Grandmother. First order of business will be taking her in for a cleaning and to check the electrical – which I am by no means qualified to do myself.
5. Continue sewing clothes for Anne – so long as she will let me I want to take advantage of being able to sew for her. It really does bring me a lot of joy to see her wearing things I have made for her.
6. Sew from my stash as much as possible! I started doing this in October and didn’t buy any new fabric in November and December. I would like to continue this trend of not running out and buying the latest (gotta have it) fabrics. I will still buy fabrics and batting to finish projects (like quilt backings) but I would really love to just use what I have.

Have you set any sewing and quilting goals for the new year? What are yours?

Happy New Year!