Sewing Goals - April

This month it's going to be a simple list.  Motivation is waning!

• sew something

Sewing Goals - March

Because of February's drudgery, I tried some looser, more exciting goals.  Wish me luck!

• Get started on the FFAII quilt
• Finish Hocuspocusville #4
• Make a couple of zipper pouches
• Experiment with fabric

February Sewing Goals - Recap

I can't believe it's already time to review this month's sewing goals.  View February's list here.  The final list is as follows:

• prepare backing for the 36-patch quilt
• trace Hocuspocusville #4
• piece the Christmas 9-patch quilt top
• plan the grid and finalize block numbers on the wedding quilt

Overall, this felt like a to-do list rather than a list of goals I wanted to accomplish.  These maintenance tasks really killed my motivation, especially since there wasn't a whole lot of actual sewing involved.

So what did I learn?

I learned that I need actual fun sewing in order to be motivated.  A bunch of tiny sewing-related tasks does not sewing make.  They all felt like chores and everyone knows how much I hate obligation sewing.  As a result, my mind wandered to projects and possibilities that weren't even remotely related to my goals for the month.  Never again.

Additionally, I learned that it's easy to kill your momentum on a project by not allowing enough freedom.  I think I did this to myself by focusing on all the same projects from last month.  The only one I remained excited about was Hocuspocusville, but I didn't feel that I could continue to work on it after meeting my goal because the rest of the list was looming over my head.  Then, I came to resent the projects that needed to be worked on, even though I was previously excited about them in January.

Lastly, I learned that it's disheartening to achieve a goal, but not in the way I'd imagined it.  The 36-patch backing is technically prepared, though it's not what I'd envisioned.  I really struggled with meeting my goal versus meeting my vision for the project.  The need to strike that item off the list and get the whole thing to the quilter was pretty great.  However, the dissatisfaction with the whole thing was even greater.  Was it fair to say I had met the goal without having met my vision?  Sadly, these ideas all apply to the Christmas 9-patch, too.  Safe to say that these projects need to rest for a while.

February has been a tough month.  Perhaps the worst part of it all was that I met the letter of my goals without meeting the spirit.  I'm looking forward to what March has to offer.

Sewing Goals - February

Here we go, the second month of my so far extremely productive adventure.  What can I accomplish this month?

• prepare backing for the 36-patch quilt
• trace Hocuspocusville #4
• piece the Christmas 9-patch quilt top
• plan the grid and finalize block numbers on the wedding quilt

You'll notice I skipped a step with the Christmas 9-patch.  I don't need to finish the rest of the blocks, because I already did it!  Okay, all but, like, six.  Easy-peasy.  The rest?  We shall see...

PrOgress

Things are going pretty smoothly with the January sewing goals.  I've accomplished a couple and worked on all of them!

Here's a picture of some of the progress I've made on my Hocuspocusville block; since last night I've stitched that whole area including branch, cat, and part of the trunk.  I'm ready to attack the treehouse tonight! 

There's the final layout of my 36-patch quilt.  Yes, that is my classroom floor.  I brought the blocks to school with me today so that I could finally work on the layout-- it was the only place I knew with a large enough surface to lay out all of those blocks!

*   *   *

Often, when feeling the desire to sew, I'm left with no direction because there are so many projects to work on.  I will stand listlessly in front of the sewing closet, unable to decide what to work on.  Sometimes I will even set up materials and equipment only to put it all back in the closet without even having sewn a stitch.

I thought I would regret setting these goals, but I really don't.  The goals give me direction for what to work on; having set multiple goals ensures that I have plenty of direction, even after having achieved one of my sewing objectives.  The decision of what to sew is already made for me; no more listless pondering required.  Also, having an agenda makes me more likely to sew and more likely to finish a project.  Lastly, the blog posts have created some sense of accountability-- people are checking in on my progress!

I don't know that I will be 100% successful on this month's goals; even so, I've already enjoyed a considerable amount of success!  It feels good to say you're going to do something and then get it done.  I know that I will definitely do goals again in February.

Sewing Goals - January

Happy New Year!  2012 looms ahead of us, and what better way to approach it than with a good old-fashioned list?

My sewing goals for this month are as follows:

• Piece the 36-patch quilt top
• Complete 24 Christmas wonky 9-patch blocks
• Complete Hocuspocusville block #3
• Sew and install drawstrings for my drawstring bag

These goals are simple and straightfoward.  That makes them easy to measure-- either I've met them or I haven't.  The official check-in date for these goals is January 31; at that time I will revisit my list and see what I've accomplished.