If I look at my goals list for January I kind of mixed my mark:

- finish the floor cloths - no quite but they are CLOSE
- work on Summer Sunset - only 2 star sections left to do and then I can move on to the next step
- start a quilt for my SIL - not until the floor cloths and the start quilt top are done
- work on the Club Noir blocks (green) and make a decision about what I'm doing with them - I didn't go to sewing with my quilt club this month so I didn't make any progress. But I did show the quilt idea to my friend and she LOVES it so at least I do now have a plan.
- quilt some veterans quilts - Oh yes! I quilted 8.
​- get back to fusing glass - not until the floor cloths are done

I'm most pleased that I got 8 veterans quilts quilted. The two at the top are the ones that I finished this weekend. If fact, I'm out of quilt tops so I sent out a plea yesterday for the quilters to make more.

Making my January stats look better are these projects that were actually completed in December but couldn't be shared until this month.

Rounding out the month are these three projects: a quilt that I quilted for Mom, some new dog beds for a local shelter and a crochet baby blanket.

Here are my stats for January:
​Starting UFO 8
Finished YTD 1
Started YTD 1
Ending UFO 8
Veterans quilts made -
Veterans quilts quilted - 4
Fabric Postcards -
Pet Beds 4
​​Quilted for others - 1
​Crochet projects -
Doll outfits - 1

My goals for February are:
- finish the floor cloths
- finish piecing the Summer Sunset components
- start quilting the Postage Stamp quilt (in conjunction with Bethanne Nemesch class)
​- start Karen's animal print quilt

I'm not much on annual goals or resolutions. But I'm pretty darned good at monthly goals. I like lists and goals but 12 months at a time is a little much for me. Several years ago, though, I had a big goal of reducing the number of unfinished projects. In 2015 I had 29 UFO projects and I was overwhelmed with it. I've slowly attacked the list and this year I finally got the list down under 10! I have a page for everything that I completed this year but this post is just about December and January.

My goals for December were:
- finish and mail 80 Christmas postcards - done
- finish the floor cloths - didn't work on them at all because I was making coasters instead
- make 3 Christmas gifts - done but can't share until January
- start quilting my oldest UFO, the postage stamp quilt - this will wait until February to align with a feather quilting class that I'm going to take
- return to working on Summer Sunset - made coasters instead

From that summary it looks like I didn't accomplish anything in December but actually it was a really good month. I even knocked out 2 more veterans quilts yesterday to close our the month.

Here are the quilts that I quilted yesterday. Clearly they were made by the same quilter and I think they are very striking. I used the Loose Leaf pantograph with King Tut thread. I picked a light denim blue for the backing. I think it goes well with the cheddar fabric.

In December I also finished about half of the 80 Christmas postcards, quilted a quilt for Mom, made about 7 sets of coasters for gifts and finished a baby quilt. 
I also finished a sample quilt for Paula Nadelstern and finished my best friend's Christmas gifts but all those things will have to be counted in January because I can't share them yet. That's going to make January look fantastic!

Here are my final stats for 2020:
Starting UFO 12(15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 9
Started YTD 5
Ending UFO 8
Veterans quilts made - 15
Veterans quilts quilted - 41
Fabric Postcards - 109
Pet Beds 9
Garment
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 4
​Crochet projects - 14
COVID masks - approximately 180
​Tea towels for WHEAT fundraiser - dozens!
Mosaic pizza oven
Coaster sets - 9

My UFO numbers will go up in January because I'm starting at least 1 new project. Here are my plans/goals for January:

- finish the floor cloths - finally
- work on Summer Sunset
- start a quilt for my SIL
- work on the Club Noir blocks (green) and make a decision about what I'm doing with them
- quilt some veterans quilts
​- get back to fusing glass

I'm pretty sure that ever single month I sit down here at the computer and I think that I haven't accomplished anything in the previous month and then I proceed to surprise myself with my actual accomplishments. I might have a short term memory problem or I'm just always looking to tomorrow for "what's next". Anyway, it's good to spend a few minutes actually reflecting and November was a pretty good month.

My goals for November were:
- floor cloths - oh look how clever I was here, notice that I didn't say "finish". I'm about 40% done with them but I did spend a lot of time testing the paints and methods.
- finish Kim's quilt (the binding is started) - It's done, except for the label. I'll finish that and deliver the quilts once the Christmas postcards are done.
- make Christmas cards - They are about half done. I had hoped to have them all done but I had a lot of frustration with bad designs. But they are well underway now and they will be mailed before Christmas Day.
- quilt 10 veterans quilts - If I count the 3 of my own that I quilted, which seems fair, I did quilt 10 of them. There's already a new stack of tops but I'm not planning to quilt any in December.
- bind 2 veterans quilts - Done!
​- make a couple of secret Christmas gifts - ​Not even started but I have a plan.

​Here's the month in snapshots.

The first two photos are my own veterans quilts. The green quilt and the floor cloths are the only two "open" projects that will carry forward. The green quilt is only worked on at sewing club sewing days so that's a long term project. The big quilt is one that I quilted for Mom. She's well underway binding that one.

I also started and finished one other project but I'm not counting it yet. It's the annual sample quilt for Paula Nadelstern. I finished it last week but we can't share them yet. It's pretty cool though and I can't wait until I can blog about it.

All in all, it was a pretty good month! Here are my current stats:

Starting UFO 12(15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 9
Started YTD 5
Ending UFO 8
Veterans quilts made - 15
Veterans quilts quilted - 39
Fabric Postcards - 29
Pet Beds 9
Garment
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 4
​Crochet projects - 13
COVID masks - approximately 180
​Tea towels for WHEAT fundraiser - dozens!
Mosaic pizza oven

​Look at that, only 8 UFO projects! I'll never be a person who can work on one project at a time so I think any number under 10 is awesome. But keeping these lists is really helping me prioritize what projects I work on and has definitely kept me from starting more new ones than I can reasonably do. So that's all good.

My goals for December are:
- finish and mail 80 Christmas postcards
- finish the floor cloths
- make 3 Christmas gifts
- start quilting my oldest UFO, the postage stamp quilt
- return to working on Summer Sunset

Oh my gosh, look at my goals for October. I only finished one of them! 

- finish 2 crochet blankets that I started on vacation (DONE)
- finish Kim's Garden (nope)
- finish the floor cloths (started)
​- start making Christmas postcards (nope)

This doesn't bother me at all. I like having lists. Sometimes the things on the list have to get done but usually the list can be fluid. I just operate best with a list. But it's not like I didn't do anything.

I will not be posting tomorrow. I'm going to be an elections officer for the first time! I have to go in tonight for set up and them we'll have at least a 15 hour day tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the experience and hope to keep doing it for a few years.

This weekend I got the 2 top veterans quilts quilted so that makes 4 for the month. Our quilt club is meeting again this month so I'm on a mission to get all of them done before the meeting on the 17th. March took 4 yesterday and that leaves me 10 more to do. That's completely doable.

I finished 2 crochet projects and started a new one. I've had this yarn for a while and then I saw this blanket that Mary made and I just had to do it too. This yarn is wonderful and soooooo soft! I'll get more of this for sure and I'll do the4is linen stitch again.

I forgot to share earlier in the month that I finished another of my own veterans quilts. In my stack of 10 to be quilted, there are 2 of my own.

I started one new projects this month, a new quilt to work on during our quilt club sewing weekends, and worked on the Spirograph floor cloths.

Here are the stats for October 31:

Starting UFO 13 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 6
Started YTD 4
Ending UFO 11
Veterans quilts made - 12
Veterans quilts quilted - 28
Fabric Postcards - 26
Pet Beds 9
Garment
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 3
​Crochet projects - 13
COVID masks - approximately 180
​Tea towels for WHEAT fundraiser - dozens!
Mosaic pizza oven

My goals for November are:
- floor cloths
- finish Kim's quilt (the binding is started)
- make Christmas cards
- quilt 10 veterans quilts
- bind 2 veterans quilts
​- make a couple of secret Christmas gifts

July continued with a focus on veterans quilts for piecing and quilting the vintage flower quilt. This veterans quilt is that last one that I finished in July.

With these 2 finished earlier in the month, my total for the month is 3 new veterans quilts. I have a huge stack in the living room (from Country School members) to get delivered to our VA hospital contact later this week. This week I'll work on some quilt kits from the stack of patriotic fabrics that I acquired recently. I'll take those kits on our vacation trip.

Two crochet projects were finished this month and both are gifts for friends. That brings my total to 10 for the year.

Of course THE big project for the month is the pizza oven mosaic! This was not an easy project but Anne and I had fun doing it and we are both really pleased with the result. It was pretty inexpensive too because most of the tiles were free!

My other big project for July is quilting the vintage flower quilt. It's about 60% done and I took it off for a break to quilt a few veterans quilts. I'll have it back on the frame later this week but I don't know if it will be done by the time we leave for vacation.

I didn't actually meet most of my July goals but I'm not unhappy with all that I did get done:
- quilt the vintage flowers quilt - 60% done
- make more pet beds - will do that this week after I trim the last of the veterans quilts
- finish a couple of veterans quilt tops - done!
- design a new piecing project - an idea is coming together and I'll get fabrics dyed before I leave for vacation.
- start the Spirograph floorcloths - it's too darned hot. This will have to wait until September

My August goals all center around vacation:
- cut some veterans quilt kits to take to Maine
- dye fabric and plan a large quilt also to take to Maine
- make and deliver pet beds before we leave
- continue quilting the flower quilt
- plan some crochet projects for the long car ride

Here are the stats for July:
Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 6
Started YTD 2
Ending UFO 5
Veterans quilts made - 9
Veterans quilts quilted - 24
Fabric Postcards - 26
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 4
​Crochet projects -10
COVID masks - approximately 180
​Tea towels for WHEAT fundraiser - dozens!
Mosaic pizza oven

When I look back on the month of June I see mostly a repeat of May with a focus on veterans quilts. I've been talking for weeks about my lack of inspiration to start a new project. I think that this multi-year focus on winnowing the UFO list has become too much of an obsession. Now I don't want to add to the list! I also don't have any need for a new quilt. I've made quilts for most of my family and friends (the people that want one) so focusing on veterans quilts is a fine focus for now. But I think I'm going to pull out one of my drawers of hand dyed fabrics and pick a block and start making a tonal quilt. The blue drawer is pretty full and there are lots of red/orange/yellow fabrics too. I'm also considering something foundation pieced like one of Karen K Stone's patterns.

But I'll also keep making veterans quilts. There are the 2 I finished in June. I have another top made and 2 more kits cut out.

I also finished one crochet blanket, quilted a quilt for Mom and started 2 more crochet projects! The yellow/gray one will be done tomorrow.

Here are my stats for May:
My May stats are:
​Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 7
Started YTD 2
Ending UFO 5
Veterans quilts made - 6
Veterans quilts quilted - 14
Fabric Postcards - 18
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 3
​Crochet projects - 7
COVID masks - approximately 180
​Tea towels for WHEAT fundraiser - dozens!

Of my goals I did everything excep planning a new quilt project and starting the Sprigraph floorcloths.

Here are the stats for June:
Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 6
Started YTD 2
Ending UFO 5
Veterans quilts made - 6
Veterans quilts quilted - 24
Fabric Postcards - 18
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 4
​Crochet projects -8
COVID masks - approximately 180
​Tea towels for WHEAT fundraiser - dozens!

For July my goals are:
- quilt the vintage flowers quilt
- make more pet beds
- finish a couple of veterans quilt tops
- design a new piecing project
- start the Spirograph floorcloths

May was a really productive month, especially considering that it included a week of vacation. It ended on a high note too with quilting 6 veterans quilts this weekend. The red/white/blue ones were kits that I cut and Peg pieced. She's even doing the binding!

Peg also pieced the purple/green and scrappy Kaffe ones. You may remember me talking about our quilt club getting a huge stash from a quilter who passed away recently. Her name was Pamela and she had a fabulous stash of modern fabrics, including a lot of Kaffe. Members have been making lots of things from her fabrics and that's where these 2 quilts came from. There's tons more fabric that Peg is trying to distribute but that's come to a halt since March.

The last 2 quilts are from Becky and Mom. We're going to have a nice big stack to deliver to the VA Hospital soon and, yes, they are taking them. I expect that they have some sort of procedures to quarantine them for a week or so before gifting them.

May was a big month for me with 2 big projects finished: the mosaic wall and Corona Cats quilt.

I also finished 2 crochet blankets, quilted a quilt for Mom, made 2 of my own veterans quilts, dyed and printed a boatload of tea towels for a fundraiser and, the big one, I cleaned the basement for the first time in 2 years. It was a great month.

My April Stats were:
My current stats are:
Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 5
Started YTD 1
Ending UFO 7
Veterans quilts made - 4
Veterans quilts quilted - 16
Fabric Postcards - 13
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 2
​Crochet projects - 5
COVID masks - approximately 180

My May stats are:
​Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 7
Started YTD 2
Ending UFO 5
Veterans quilts made - 6
Veterans quilts quilted - 22
Fabric Postcards - 18
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 3
​Crochet projects - 7
COVID masks - approximately 180
​Tea towels for WHEAT fundraiser - dozens!
​
I really didn't feel like I did so much last month but I'm glad I paused a minute to reflect on what I actually did accomplish.

For June I also have another vacation planned to do some hiking in Tennessee but I 3 weeks that I can be productive with. I want to accomplish:
- quilt Mom's second quilt
- load and start quilting my pink/yellow vintage flower quilt
- piece some veterans quilt tops from the 5+ kits that I have cut
- plan a new big quilt project
- start the spirograph kitchen floor cloths

Occasionally I think that I should stop doing this post but then I have a month like April and I'm glad that I sit down and take the time to look back and I'm actually surprised. April, it turns out, was a really good month.

My goals were pretty simple because I knew I'd be doing things like making masks and dyeing tea towels (my COVID contributions). Here's what I set as my goals:
- piece the flower applique top and start quilting it. I did get it pieced and eventually got some batting but needed to hold off on quilting until the mosaic was done because of the mess near the longarm.
- make the symmetry cat quilt top - I need to add 2 borders and then it will be ready to quilt
​- finish the Pleiades II quilt top - I completely changed direction on this and turned it into a veterans quilt kit
- grout the last mosaic wall

I can't take the full view photos until I move the fans out of the way. That will happen this weekend for sure because the basement is about to get a serious deep cleaning. But here's a teaser photo to prove that I did it so I can count it as an April finish. That's the BIG accomplishment of the month and it marks the end of my mosaic hobby. I really enjoyed doing these walls but I just can't do these hobbies that involved a lot of VOC emissions. It's the same reason that I do almost no fabric painting anymore. I just can't handle the fumes. But I'm glad I did all 3 projects and they make me really happy when I'm working/playing in the basement.

But in terms of time investment, April was all about community service. I started making masks in March and continued well into April eventually making over 180. Then I quilted 3 veterans quilts and now I'm in the middle of dyeing and selling dozens of tea towels to raise funds for our local food pantry. I've already sent off $480 in checks to the organization and I have loads more to dye and sell.

I finished 2 veterans quilts of my own this month and finished a new top. After my cutting marathon this week I have a total of 8 veterans quilt kits cut out and ready to piece. I want to spend most of May quilting so I'll probably limit my sewing time to veterans quilts. I don't really have excitement for any particular new project at the moment but hopefully something will gear up in my little brain soon.

Finally, I finished 2 crochet projects. Both of these will be donation blankets as soon as some of the local charities start taking them again. In only have 7 UFO projects! I didn't think I'd ever hit a number that low.

My March stats were:
Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 4
Started YTD 1
Ending UFO 8
Veterans quilts made - 2
Veterans quilts quilted - 13
Fabric Postcards - 8
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 2
​Crochet projects - 3

My current stats are:
Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 5
Started YTD 1
Ending UFO 7
Veterans quilts made - 4
Veterans quilts quilted - 16
Fabric Postcards - 13
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 2
​Crochet projects - 5
COVID masks - approximately 180

My goals for May are:
- dye and sell another 4 - 5 dozen tea towels
- Quilt 2 quilts for Mom
- Quilt 2 of my own veterans quilts
- Start quilting the vintage flowers quilt
- Quilt and finish the cat quilt.

That means a lot of time down in the basement and I'm cool with that because I have some very nest mosaic walls to look at there.

What a crazy month March has been. It's been crazy for everyone so I don't need to rehash any of that here. But I will share one little story from last night (I'm writing this Tuesday evening).

My husband occasionally gets vertigo. He has some meds that work great but twice now it's gotten severe and he can't keep the meds down and can't stop throwing up. That means that we get a trip to the ER. I'm only telling you about it to tell you how things have changed at the ER. NO ONE other than the patient is allowed past the front door. They have a table there to greet the patient and send the rest of us back out the door. My waiting room was my car in the parking lot. Honestly, I was pleased by that. I didn't really want to go in there anyway. I had my crochet and an audiobook so I was good. I was able to call in to get updates but otherwise I just waited outside. There wasn't a lot of activity at the ER either. In 3+ hours of waiting I saw less than 10 people come in and half of those arrived in police cars or ambulance. Chris said that they had stringent protocols in the ER so he felt very "safe". But I still made him Purel his hands in the car and shower when he got home. I would not be surprised if this isn't the new protocol forever. In general, I was impressed and all the nurses were very friendly.

Now back to March. With all this time on my hands it was a really productive month!

I finished:
Penguins on Ice
Quilted a baby quilt for a friend
A crochet baby blanket
2 sets of coasters
over 40 masks 
7 postcards

Then I finished one more set of coasters yesterday and I've made great progress on the next baby blanket. These coasters are made with the scraps from the Groovy quilts. I didn't have enough fabric to make a bowl so these will just be a loose set of 4. The baby blanket should be done this week.

I also accomplished some major cleaning out of the sewing room.

Here are my current stats:

​Starting UFO 12 (15 in 2018)
Finished YTD 4
Started YTD 1
Ending UFO 8
Veterans quilts made - 2
Veterans quilts quilted - 13
Fabric Postcards - 8
Pet Beds 5
Garment 
​Placemats - 12
​​Quilted for others - 2
​Crochet projects - 3

I can't believe I'm down to 7 UFO projects! If I get the last mosaic wall grouted this month I'll be down to 7. That's wild.

My goals for April are:
- piece the flower applique top and start quilting it. The postage stamp quilt will be postponed a little longer
- make the symmetry cat quilt top
​- finish the Pleiades II quilt top
- grout the last mosaic wall!

And then I want to start a new quilt and maybe make some cheery postcards to send in April.

February didn't have quite the productivity of January but it was still a great month. I'm most pleased that I got these 2 Hunter's Star veterans quilts made.

My goals for February were:
- finish the UFO flower block placemats (DONE)
- 4 - 6 more veterans quilts (DONE)
- start quilting one of my larger and more intense quilts (NOT DONE - have to find black batting)
- start a quilt using my shibori blocks  (STARTED)
- start a symmetry cat quilt for my SIL (not started but planned) 
- while working on the cat quilt resume piecing the Pleiades II (not started)
- quilt and bind the autumnal veterans Hunter Star quilt (DONE plus the gray one)

I've decided to wait until the shibori penguins are done before I start the symmetry quilts

I quilted one more veterans quilt than my goal, and for the moment, I'm all caught up. As soon as I can find a black king size batting I'll get the postage stamp quilt loaded and started.

I finally finished the 12 placemats that are made from UFO applique blocks and my new/old hobby, crochet, is getting a lot of attention. Mom and I made a comfort quilt for a friend's mother and I chopped up the leftover batting from the veterans quilts and made 4 more dog beds.

Going through the quilter's estate this month inspired me to take a long look around my own spaces so I'm in major purge mode. I've started with purging fiber art supplies that I will no longer use. A couple of my friends are in a fiber art group so I'm going to see if they want any of the stuff.

Right now I'm working on taking 5 - 10 yard samples of all of my yarns. that's all I'll need for using in postcards and the other art quilters can get lengths of each for their own collections.

Then my friend, Estelle, mentioned that she was going to make some more fabric-wrapped cord bowls and coasters and now I'm tackling this pile of fabric strips.

So here we go on a set of coasters for a gift for someone moving into a new apartment.

Plus there's another baby blanket underway!

My goals for March are:

- finish the Penguin quilt top
- piece the flower applique top
- plan the quilting for the postage stamp quilt
- finish cleaning out the sewing room
- make another baby blanket
- start the symmetry cat quilt
​- work on Pleiades II 

I don't expect any finishes in March but I'm sure I can make some good progress.