Over the last 3-4 years I’ve added more crafts to my crafty life and I only have so much time for crafts.  Time is a fixed element.  There is only so much time and I love to do all the things. I quilt, knit, cross stitch and now I’m learning to sew and make project bags, and on and on and on.  Over the holiday break I used my gifted Christmas money to get a bobbin lacemaking kit.  I’ve got a ton of half done projects and plans for other projects but not enough time to do everything I want to do.  So rather than have goals each month of making progress on certain things I’ve decided to dedicate time to different crafts.

To summarize my crazy, I knit on my socks for 15 minutes every morning and 1-2 rows on my high priority knitting project every evening Monday thru Friday.  I cross stitch on my projects every evening Monday thru Friday. I quilt on Saturdays and I sew on Sundays.  Obviously if something comes up like an event or party or meeting, I will not be crafting. As a result, I like to avoid attending events and tend to stay home or hang out with like minded crafty people (just kidding – I still go out and see friends and family, I’m not totally crazy…. yet).

So here is a list of projects I will be working on during the craft times:

Quilting: So even though I’ve added new crafts to my life I still consider myself a Quilter with a capital Q.  And over the next year I want to learn to use my new machine (*more on that later when it arrives).  I want to learn how to service my featherweight, I’m taking a year long Judy Niemeyer class, take the monthly workshops offered by my quilt guild, take the embroidery class offered at my local sewing machine shop, do more hand work, and finish more of my WIPs.

My current WIPs:

Staycation

This is not really a WIP because the top is done. I just need to quilt it. I actually have this and possibly two other tops and a multitude of smaller projects ready to be quilted.  Those are top on my list to finish and will be done when my new machine arrives*.

Good Fortune 

I am currently finished with Border #3.  I’m working on the 4th and final border.

Glam Clam

I’ve been doing a row at a time at the various retreats I’ve gone to over the last 2 years and I only have about 3 rows left.

Scrappy Stars – I do not have a good picture of this because this was a mystery quilt from a few years ago and I’m currently on step 4 or something.  I believe that I’m at the point where I start putting the pieces together to make blocks. But right now, there are just a bunch of pieces…

Area One Mystery Quilt – 

This is another project I’ve been working on primarily at retreats.  I actually have two more sets of blocks done and I only have another 2 sets of blocks left before I can start piecing the blocks together. I know that doesn’t make any sense but I’m getting so close to a finish.  Here’s how the center looks which I got done after the above picture was taken.

Craftsy Mystery quilt from a long time ago by Kimberly Einmo.  I cannot remember where I am with this project but I started it at the last retreat I went to.

Area Two  Mystery quilt – I finished all the blocks that I have but apparently I do not have the finishing instructions!  So now I have a bunch of blocks that I have to figure out how to put together.  I will work on this at a retreat because I need a big design space and fellow retreat attendees’ help to decide how to move forward.

Dancing with the Stars by Linda Ballard – I pulled this out and started working on it again at the last retreat I went to and the last time I worked on this was in 2013.

I get a lot of work done at retreats I attend throughout the year. These are formal retreats for my guild, and various retreats offered by shops but I also plan personal retreats with friends and with my family.  I generally work on one project at home and that is currently Good Fortune and when that is done I’ll work through this list in order.

This is a lot for one post so I’m putting my other crafts for other days.

Happy new year!

Melanie