Work in Progress Round-Up and 2015 Goals

Welcome to the second annual Snippets of Sweetness Work in Progress Round-Up and New Year Goals post! At the start of each year, I like to reflect on my current pile of WIPs, as well as my goals for the coming year. This time last year, I had five WIPs. This year, I have seven. Here they are, for your reading and viewing pleasure:

Low Volume Hexagons

This is my oldest WIP by far, as I started it in October 2012. I only work on it when I am away from my sewing machine for a while, which isn’t often. I now have nine flowers finished and am halfway through the tenth one. It would be nice to at least have a plan for these by the end of the year.

Cuzco Days Quilt (formally known as Cuzco Improv Quilt)

This next WIP, I do have a solid plan for. I ditched the improv idea that I was using in 2013, and in 2014 switched to using the Sunny Days pattern from Creative Quilting magazine instead. I also removed the warm colored fabrics, as I prefer a more limited, cool palette. So far, I have about a quarter of the blocks completed. This quilt is low priority and I only work on it between projects when I’m waiting for inspiration or materials, so I don’t expect to finish it soon.

Christmas Scrap Quilt (formally known as Christmas Improv Quilt)

My Christmas scrap quilt is the WIP that I want to work on the most. Last year, I made three rows and then ran out of long enough strips to continue. All year long, I’ve been throwing red and green scraps in this WIP’s box, hoping that by the end of the year, I would have enough to continue with it. Now that Christmas is over, I just might.

Sashiko Waves

In January 2009, I bought a Sashiko kit in Hawaii, but I didn’t start working on it until 2014. I actually forgot about this one until my husband recently found it tucked under the passenger seat in his car and reminded me of it. Once the embroidery is done, I’m thinking of surrounding it with improv borders to make a quilt top.

2015 Christmas Gift Bags

I still have some yardage, scraps and jelly rolls strips left over from my previous Christmas bags. I’d like to use up what I have to make way for new yardage. I’d also like to have all my Christmas gift bags done earlier this year. (I say that every year.) We’ll see how it goes. I currently have one in progress.

Geese Above Field

This mini quilt touches on several of my goals for 2014 and 2015. It’s small, uses up scraps and stash, and I intend to submit it to a show. When I made my Swoon Baby Quilt the First, I trimmed off triangles that I promptly sewed together into half square triangle blocks. Like my Scrap Migration quilt, I turned those blocks into flying geese and set them against a background of other scraps from the same quilt. I’m in the process of quilting this one.

Aerial Grove Table Runner

This WIP was born when I realized that I wanted something new to hand sew on vacation. Since I had received Carolyn Friedlander’s Savor Each Stitch book and a mini charm pack of Kate Spain’s Horizon fabric for Christmas, I grabbed some linen from my stash and quickly machine basted the tree shapes so that I wouldn’t have to travel with a bunch of pins. I enjoyed working on it while on vacation. Actually, I’ve already completed it, but I’m including it in this list because it was a WIP as of January 1. I’ll post about it soon.

2015 Goals

My 2014 goals have served me well, so I’m going to roll them over into 2015. In addition to Use My Stash, Use My Scraps, and Keep It Small, Silly, my 2015 goals are:

Declutter My Sewing Nook: I am grateful that I have a dedicated sewing space, but it’s a bit of a mess right now. Since my sewing nook is part of our upstairs hallway, this is getting to be a problem. In 2015, my goal is to go through all of my boxes and bags, and donate what I’m never going to use, so that I have sufficient space for what I will actually use.

Submit a Quilt to a Non-Guild Show: As a member of the Seattle Modern Quilt Guild, I have the good fortune to be able to share my work in the exhibitions that the guild puts on periodically. In fact, my Scrap Migration quilt is in the My Modern show going on now at Island Quilter. In 2015, I’d like to submit a quilt to a show outside of the safety of my local guild.

Participate in the Wardrobe Architect 2015 Challenge: The more that I sew my own clothes, the less I like wearing ready-to-wear. Last year, I only bought clothing a handful of times, usually when I realized that I didn’t have what I needed to face the current weather. In 2015, my goal is to use the Wardrobe Architect Challenge to guide my garment sewing so that I have a “me made” wardrobe that meets my needs each season.

What are your goals for 2015?