Okay. This is a long post.  That’s my warning.  If you’ve followed my blog for any bit of time, you can see I talk about the same three projects from week to week to week.  Basically, every month, I hit the same three projects.  In case you’re new, they are:

1. BOM – Tell It To the Stars by Judy Laquidara at Patchwork Times
2. BOM – Moon Glow
3. BOM – Hampton Ridge

Every once in awhile, during months where I had more quilting time, I worked on a second list of projects… I lovingly call this my wish list.  That wish list changes during the year but right now, this is it:

1. Quilt Flowers and Baskets
2. Hand applique Raining Cats and Dogs
3. cutting for Scrapitude 2015
4. Celtic Solstice

That’s pretty much all I have time to get to each month.  I very rarely reach Celtic Solstice because by then, the month usually resets and I’m back to Tell It To The Stars.  So… the BOMs are ending pretty soon.  Tell It To The Stars is ending November or December.  I’m on the final block for Moon Glow and will be starting the finishing instructions next month.  I’m on the final set of blocks for Hampton Ridge and will be starting the finishing instructions soon also.  As they get done and off the list, it makes room for Bonnie’s mystery quilt, Grand Illusion! from December – January and then off the priority list and down to the wish list.  Then Scrapitude 2015 will be on the top 3 list from January until May.  And then what happens?  I’ve got a ton of things just waiting to jump onto the wish list and then the priority list.  I do not want to start anything new and I do not want to buy fabric without a project in mind.  But I have no room for new projects and I have no room for new fabric so… I have to get them on the list to get them finished.

Here’s what I’m thinking, every year NewFO Challenge happens.  I wanted to do it this year but I can’t imaging how insane I’ll be if I started something new each month.

So I’m tweaking it for myself for next year.  Instead of working on something new each month.  I will work on a new UFO each month.  It won’t take the place of my priority projects but will be in the second category (where Celtic Solstice is now).  That way all my UFOs that are floating around waiting for space in my top three projects can still feel the love (at least for a month).

Here’s my list of projects I want to hit up next year in no particular order:

1. A Rainbow Garden (which will one day take the place of Raining Cats and Dogs)
2. My Hawaiian Quilt (started at PIQF 2013 and will be the next hand project after A Rainbow Garden)
3. BOM from LQS 2012/13 Asian Color Way
4. BOM from LQS 2012/13 Provence Color Way
5. Thimbleberries #2
6. Grandma’s Flower Garden
7. Craftsy BOM 2012
8. Corduroy Quilt
9. Dancing with the Stars (started at PIQF 2013)
10. Kimberly Einmo’s mystery quilt from Craftsy in 2013 (or 2012?)
11. Missing Ivy
12. Sylvia’s Bridal Quilt in Red and White
13. Lucky Star BOM

I know I’ve listed 13 and there are only 12 months out of the year.  But I’m thinking of frogging Craftsy BOM 2012.  I only did the first two months and I did not pick out fabrics for the year and I’m not toatlly in love with the quilt.  So… it’s on there for now but may come off when I solidify my list.

All of these projects are stored away in my sewing studio, shelves, drawers, with the intent that they will move into the top 3 spots as the BOMs and other projects move off.  But they haven’t made it to the top of the list for one reason or another.  I still have a bunch of KITS that are not opened, but hidden away outside of my sewing studio.  Not to mention the ever growing list of quilts I WANT to make.

1. Dear Jane
2. Swoon
3. the patterns I have but didn’t buy fabric for
4. etc. etc. etc.

Okay, now I’m getting carried away and I’m driving myself crazy… I will let it go at this point… but this is what is in my head and sometime before the new year, I’ll be putting rhyme to reason… the projects will be put in some sort of order and assigned months for me to work on them.  I’ll probably work on my monthly lists too so that they are in line.

I used to link to Judy’s “Get It Done” monthly list at PatchworkTimes.com but she stopped doing those this year.  I’ve been looking for a good replacement.  I try to post at “A Lovely Year of Finishes” at Fiber of All Sorts and “Finish Along” at The Littlest Thistle.  But it hasn’t worked as well for me.  I think it is because they concentrate on finishes while I do not finish things that fast.  If you know of a good blog where I can just post my goals for the month and share with others, please let me know.