“Work” Day

Since I’ve had my Quilter’s Planner, I have been a bit better about making small goals and actually DOING them. I have Quilting To-Do Lists and Personal To-Do Lists. I find I REALLY like drawing that line through completed items on my To-Do Lists. 

On the top of my list this week, is to start on my “Butterfly Migration” quilt. (The quilt was inspired by a radar picture of a butterfly migration.) Right now, I’m in the early stages of work—the not so fun stuff. (finishing the pattern drawing, assigning colors, putting Misty Fuse on the back of my HUNDREDS of fabrics, drawing the templates) The exciting part comes when I actually get to put some of the pieces together.

I find that this is the week I have some time to work on this new project. I have NO IDEA if I can actually make this piece (because I’ve never done anything like it before), but I am excited about it. Today, I am working on assigning colors to the sections I want to start with. Hopefully, I’ll have enough colors assigned and enough fabric prepared to actually start fusing some of the segments together tonight.

Here’s what I’m doing now. I’m referencing my color “master pattern” to label each piece of my drawn (black/white) pattern with a color.

Another “Quilting To Do” in my Quilter’s Planner is to publish at least one blog post a week. I guess I get to cross another “to-do” off my list! Woooooohoooooo!!!!!

1st Retreat of 2018—Nashville, IN

I just got back from my first retreat of the year. Friends from several different states meet in Nashville, Indiana, for this retreat. It is so much fun to catch up with everyone. This year, the weather was a little questionable with bad weather right before we were supposed to go and more snow while we were there. 

Most of the quilters at this retreat are very traditional quilters. They are VERY supportive of what I do, though. I appreciate that very much. We have a Show & Tell night, so I have lots of pictures to share.

I showed my “In the Eye of the Hurricane” (which I’m still working on—at this retreat, I cut the foundation fabric from the spikey edges of the quilt), I put together my Train Car quilt blocks, and I finished a quilt top made from HOT Kaffe fabrics. I also made another kennel quilt. (I didn’t take a picture of that.)

Here are some other pics from the retreat.

(Debby’s Urban Abacus, Sue’s Bunny Town block, Bernice’s Falling Stars, and Cathy’s pants for her granddaughter’s doll)

(Sue’s Belle Meade quilt and Barb’s “improv” quilt—her own design)

(Bernice’s TN quilt blocks, Teresa’s wool appliqué, Jean’s charity quilts)

(Sherry’s baby quilt, Susan’s purple baby quilt, Della’s basket quilt and block for a new quilt)

(Teresa’s quilt, Karen’s blocks for a quilt called Sangria (I think.), Mary’s rail fence quilt top, and Mary Tim’s blue and white quilt blocks)

(Mary Tim’s autumn quilt block and tote, Cathy’s African Star quilt and purple modern quilt)

(Annette’s brown quilt, modern log cabin quilt, and Urban Abacus quilt top; Lavana’s autumn-colored quilt)

(Lavana’s small sampler quilt top, Cora’s heart quilt—beautiful batiks, Rebecca’s patriotic block, Barb’s quilt)

(Barb’s sampler quilt, Cathy’s robe for her doll, Karen and Sue with their Bunny Town blocks, and Rebecca with her new quilt top)

I had a wonderful time at this retreat—I loved catching up/visiting friends, doing a bit of shopping, and getting some work done. I can’t wait till the next one!

 

Quilt Planner Update

Well, so far so good with my new Quilt Planner. I think one thing that is helping me focus on using the planner is the Instagram Challenge that is going on right now. Each day of January has a new “challenge.” Using #qpbestyearever2018, we have used Instagram to post pictures addressing the following topics so far:

1. Intro & Selfie
2. What Makes You Sparkle?
3. Top 3 Goals
4. First 2018 Project
5. Plan for Success
6. Motivation
7. Top Tip
8. Weekly Spread
9. Favorite Pattern
10. Quote & Photo
11. Project Planning

There are 20 more topics for the month. Most of the topics delve into ways to use the pages in the planner. By checking out the hashtag, I can (and you can) see how people are using the planner. If you want to check out my posts, you can do that (along with other posts I’ve made) here.

I also received my new planner cover this week. (I hired a friend of mine to make it for me. She did a great job. Thanks Debbie!) It is a perfect way to protect my planner. 

I think the gray cover will help to keep me from getting the planner too dirty. That is important, because I plan on dragging it around with me all the time. I really like the zipper pocket. Right now, I’m using it to hold some of the ink pens I’m using in the planner. I may discover (as I use the planner more) that it could be better used for something else.

There are lots of things to like about the planner and the planner cover.

(Inside front cover)

(Inside back cover)

The little bottom pocket is the perfect size for business cards. If you’d like to check out the Quilter’s Planner, you can find out more about it here.

Why Do I Like the Quilter’s Planner?

In my last post I told you about my purchase of The Quilter’s Planner and promised I would post what I like about it. Well, here it is. The Quilter’s Planner is 240 pages cram packed with ways for you to organize your quilty life.

First, I like that it is spiral bound. It opens out really flat so you can see two pages. You can also fold it so that only one page is visible, which takes up less table space. It includes a laminated cover and nice tabs separating each section of the planner.

I really like the calendar. There is a full month at a glance with nice, big boxes for each day.

On these full-month calendar pages there is a reminder about the block of the month (included with the planner). There are also places to write out Monthly Goals, list Personal Projects, and list Quilting Projects. Space to write out notes and a bit of graph paper (to do a bit of doodling if you want) are at the bottom of the pages.

Each week is shown in detail. For each week of the month, there is a “Habit Tracker” and spaces for a weekly Personal To-Do List, Quilting To-Do List, Shopping List, and Notes. As you can see, I have a retreat coming up.

You may have noticed the stickers on the full calendar page. There are lots of cool stickers included—4 pages of them by Artist Alison Glass. I LOVE them (although they didn’t include enough “Quilt Retreat” stickers for me, and I could have done without all the “Bill Due” stickers).

There are pages for everything, and these are just a few of them.

Did I mention I love coloring? This planner even has 15 pages to color; of course, I couldn’t wait. These are two pages I’ve done so far (and I’ve started others). I find coloring to be a great stress reliever.

In addition to the pages I pictured, I like the following:

• Reference section
• Graph paper
• Pocket on the inside back cover
• Instagram “challenges”
• Facebook page

I hope I have given you a good idea about what the Quilter’s Planner is all about and why I like it. Maybe you will want to go ahead and get one or check it out next year.

Starting the New Year Right (Hopefully)

I don’t know about you, but I’m not a very organized person. One of the things I would like to do this year is improve on that. I have some things I would like to accomplish. (I hate to call them “goals,” because that puts too much pressure on me. LOL!) Of course, this is NOT a list of ALL the things I’d like to get done, but it is a start.

1. Organize (at least some of) my scraps 
2. Organize my UFOs from “most likely to finish” to “never going to do it”
3. Organize my studio—label, put away, sell, give away, throw away
4. Write and post at least one blog post per week
5. Spend at least one hour a day in my studio
6. Finish a quilt for the 70,273 Project
7. Send some kennel quilts to the TQPM Small Kennel Quilt Team
8. Finish a quilt for my guild’s Comforts for Kids project
9. Finish the three art quilts I have started
10. Finish my big hexagon project

To do this, I didn’t think it would hurt anything to have a little help. This year I purchased a Quilter’s Planner. (I have not been paid by Quilter’s Planner to write this post. I’m just telling you about my experience with it.)

I looked at them last year and decided not to purchase it. I thought it was too pricey. Well, this year it is still pricey, but I bought it. 

You DO get a lot for your money—a nice planner/calendar/organizer, “The Quilter’s Planner Magazine” with 14 patterns, a free pattern for a journal cover, a Facebook group, Instagram group, lots of prizes, and lots of inspiration.

If you would like to join in the fun, it is not too late. You can still get a planner here. If you would like to see some of the things I like about the planner, I’ll post about that in the next couple of days.