2014.....the year of the stash (busting)

I'm feeling pretty excited about the new year. Usually I find January a bit miserable and dreary - all that depriving myself of food on yet another diet, and the dark mornings and evenings. But this year is different. My baby girl turns 1 next week and the amount of joy she has brought to our house is immeasurable. Maybe that's why I'm so hopeful and full of energy. I've had a year (mostly) at home and have been doing quite a bit of thinking. I've done quite a lot of sewing, but really, not a whole pile of blogging. And the one thing that has really, really suffered is my blog reading - and I feel I've slipped away from loads of my quilting friends, slowly but surely, in the past 18 months. I'm pretty sure that's because I'm not in touch with what you are all doing. And I feel my blog has been lacking in energy in that time too. But (if you're still reading!) I miss you guys! I promise I'll try to do better. I really feel the lack of blog reading in my quilty inspiration, as well as the chat and banter. I don't know what's going on out there! And I've realised that being part of the online quilting comunity is such a huge source of inspiration to me - seeing what other people are working on, getting caught up in quiltalongs etc - its such an essential part of my sewing energy.

So - here's what I want to do this year.

1. Be more energetic. In everything, home, work, family, hobbies. Push myself, but not in a bad way. And develop good eating and exercise habits now that Christmas excess is behind us. I was doing really well with this in the Autumn, before I ran into health issues, so I hope I can pick up where I left off.

2. Blog my progress. I realise I've slipped into blogging mainly finishes, with very few progress posts. Maybe that's why the blog is lacking energy. Is a parade of finishes a bit boring? (I think so!) Progress posts are my favourites, in lots of ways - I love getting opinions as the project unfolds, getting advice, posting the realities of the problems I'm encountering. Need to try harder here.

3. Sew more new projects rather than making the same pattern a couple of times. I did too much of this last year, but mainly by request. This year, I want to challenge myself technically, try something different.

4. Sew more small projects. (Especially a new set of cushion covers for our living room, considering all the current ones on the sofa are beyond hideous at this stage.) Small projects always keep me fresh, keep me interested. And they're great for trying something new technically (see point 3).

5. Sew projects from the books/patterns I bought in the last few years instead of buying more new patterns.

6. Really, really, REALLY work on my FMQ skills. Try new designs. I bought Angela Walters book last year, now I need to use it. I'm tired of doing the same FMQ stipple over and over again. Stop worrying about ruining good projects and go for it. And I need to figure out my machine's issues or get it serviced so I can straight line/cross hatch quilt again.

7. Write some more patterns and tutorials. Yes, they are a lot of work, but they are fun and challenging and so so worth it.

8. Lastly, use up my (gigantic) stash.That's it there. Except, today, it is even bigger and much less tidy. Stop buying fabric just because it's pretty and I "need to have it". Stop buying fabric full stop, except where I need background fabrics, or backing etc. And use my scrap bin. Empty it, preferrably. But even if I don't empty it, make a sizeable dent in it. This was my scrap bin last July. It's grown again since then.

 

Is anyone interested in doing this with me? How about a project a month from your scrap bins? Put those scraps to work. Would you join me, we could do it together. I could put a linky up on the last day of the month for people to post their projects. They can be big or small - whatever you want. Let me know if you're interested!