Reflections and Goals: Goodbye 2017, Hello 2018!

Holy cow, y'all! It feels like I blinked and months have passed without a single blog post. I've got several projects to post about, but that's a post for another day. It's that time of the year for reflection and goal setting. Last year at this time, I was still a bit mentally and emotionally frayed from my divorce. I was learning how to be hopeful again and putting the pieces of my life back into order. And what a year it has been! I never imagined a more blessed and wonderful year!

Looking back, I'm more than satisfied with my year. I didn't think I completed a ton of projects, but I think that's because I didn't keep a ton of projects. I blogged about four commission projects (2 baby quilts, 1 king size quilt, and a laptop bag) and have one queen sized quilt I need to blog about still. I gave away or plan to donate four projects (2 baby quilts, a pillow, and a twin sized quilt), and have one baby quilt I need to blog about still. I kept three projects that I blogged about - a mini quilt, a pixie basket, and my Alison Glass 'Quilt With No Name' throw quilt. There were projects I didn't blog about, such as baby bibs and my passport wallet, but overall this was the sum of my finishes!


I've still got some WIP's, but I've really focused on trying to stay on track and finish what I've started. I've done a combination of stash sewing and letting myself buy some new fabric goodies. Even better, I've used a chunk of those new fabric goodies!

I absolutely loved making this Kite Flight quilt! I'm also pleased the recipients loved it as well! :)

My Dad likes this one as much as I do; I catch him snuggled under it with the dogs quite often!

The biggest quilt I've ever made, I'm still proud of finally finishing this king-sized beast!

Outside of my quilting world, several big things happened. I bought a (much) newer car earlier in the year. I went on a dream vacation and cruised with my friends to Grand Cayman Island and Cozumel, marking my first big trip without any parents present! Hahaha! I was promoted at work, earning a sort of leadership position I never imagined being able to fill. The biggest 'big thing' that happened this year happened just after Thanksgiving though. I bought a house! If you follow me on Instagram, you're already privy to the news, but HOLY MOLEY! Y'all, I never dreamed I would actually own my own home. But I've been working hard and saving and things fell into line and, man, God is good. :) My family and I are doing some renovations (another blessing is a Dad that's practically a contractor!) and Elvis and I's little castle will be ready in the spring! Complete with a fenced in yard to play in for him and a sewing room to play in for me! :)

Oh, how I miss those beautiful waters!

Like I need an excuse to share a picture of my best guy. :)

Last year, I simplified my goals to 3 things: Choose Joy, Treat Yo'self, and Take Care of Yourself --- it was a year of focusing on self-care and learning to just be. Overall, I feel like I worked hard on these goals and kept good focus on them throughout the year.


Looking forward, I was having trouble thinking what goals I wanted to write down. I struggle to make quilting specific goals normally because my interests and plans change so much within a year. But I think these are a good overview of what I would like to see done this coming year.


1. Choose Joy - I am writing this one down again because it is such a central sentiment of my life now. Even when things are hairy and stressful, I make it a goal to choose joy. It's easier said than done, but it's amazing how things change with such a simple shift in attitude.


2. Serve Others - Over the past year, I have really been praying and asking God to use me how he wants. And I've really felt called to serve others, I just don't know how. So I'm making it a goal to keep my heart open to helping others. I want to make people feel loved and pass on loving service like it has been done for me. Whether this is baking cookies for a neighbor, hosting a movie night for friends, or tagging along and helping with a service project, I want to make a difference in my community, no matter how small it may be.


3. Continue Learning - I love learning. I never realized that fully until I finished up my college coursework, but I love it. So I hope to pick up more quilting skills, but I also like picking up other skills, whether that be gardening, cooking, foreign languages, or whatever strikes my fancy. If I can swing it, I'm really hoping to learn how to play the ukulele this year!


I think I will leave it at 3 goals again, it worked well for me last year. It's not an overwhelming amount of things to think about, but these goals pack a lot of punch! I'm excited to see what this next year holds and hope to share it all with y'all!


Hope y'all have a Happy New Year! I'm linking up with Yvonne over at Quilting Jetgirl!

A New Year!

It's hard to believe we've made it to the end of another year, y'all! Most of you probably aren't surprised to hear me say I'm ready to kick 2016 out the door and start fresh with 2017. Once again, Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl is hosting a goal setting link up (with prizes!) and I decided to hop in on the fun!


Last year, I had a big list full of quilting goals and I'm proud to say I've reached some of those goals. I learned how to paper piece and really liked it! I also made some quilts to donate, but I still have to actually donate them. I fell off the wagon when it came to staying consistent with my blogging, as well as giving my blog an update. Surprisingly, I had quite a few commissions this year as well! All-in-all, I count my quilting for the year quite successful.


This year, I'm approaching things completely different. This past year has worn me down. I like to think of it like a river wearing down stones until they are nice and smooth - it makes everything that has happened feel much more positive that way. :) Rather than make a huge list, I've decided to keep things simple. In fact, I've narrowed it down to 3 things. It made me uncomfortable at first because this list feels selfish (there's a lot of me and I in it), but I've thought on it for a week or so and I think it is what I need this year. 


1.) Choose Joy
This has been a mantra of mine during tough times, though it is definitely easier said than done sometimes. I try to remind myself everyday that there is always something to be thankful for. It may be as small as a dog wagging its tail when it looks at you or an extra chicken nugget in your lunch. I'm determined to fill my mind with all those joyful, happy things this year!


2.) Treat Yo' Self
So many people make it a goal to sew from the stash and spend less. I did so out of necessity for a long time, but things are different now. I no longer have to scrimp every penny to make ends meet. I don't have to take on commissions to keep the bills paid. This year, if I really want some fabric, I'm buying it. If I want to catch a movie or dinner with friends, I'm going to. Not to say I'm going to go crazy with spending (I'm saving up for a house!) but I don't want the anxiety that has engulfed me in the past to keep me from enjoying the fruits of my labor. I want to feel free to have fun!


3.) Take Care of Yourself
Over the last couple of years, I have run myself ragged. At times, I would work myself so hard and spread myself so thin that I would get sick. I have been plagued by aches and pains and unexplained 'yuckiness' and, looking back, it was because I didn't take care of myself. My goal this year is to get back to putting myself first some. I want to get back to working out. I used to be strong and fairly athletic - I want to get back to running, dancing, and yoga. I want to get more sleep. I want to stress less and smile more. I'm already getting a start on some of this (despite being sick for Christmas, I've laughed until I've cried multiple times, which is definitely good for the soul!), but I'm making an effort this year to be mindful of myself and what I need.


I hope y'all had a Merry Christmas! And if you celebrate other winter holidays, I hope those were wonderful as well!

Half Empty or Half Full: A Mid Year Review

Howdy y'all! Hope your weekend is kicking off to a good start! Over the past week, I've been spotting Mid-Year Reviews pop up on my blogger feed, so I decided to join in the fun. I was hesitant at first because I feel like I haven't done much in terms of quilty endeavors. Things have been a bit rough for the first half of the year, but I'm still hopeful for the last half! So let's see how I'm measuring up to those goals from the end of December! 

• Make a quilt to give away. I actually did this! I have one baby quilt ready to be donated and one quilt top in line. I'm really glad I've jumped on this one! It's been so nice to work within my stash and make something for somebody else.

Charity Quilt #1!

Quilt top #2, waiting to be finished up!

• Try new things, with the main one being CURVES. I haven't done this one yet. I've bought a pattern to try out curves and paper piecing, it's just waiting on supplies. 

• I've had a pixel quilt on my mind for as nearly as long as I've had this blog. I did all the planning, all the math, all the quilty crap. And then I did the price math...and now it's an idea sitting in my quilting notebook. Maybe someday, but this one is definitely on hold. However!! I have been making some smaller pixel quilts and feel like I'm continuing to get better matching seams! :)

  

  The 3rd Youtube themed mini I made - if you follow me on Twitter, you've seen this one!

  

  The first Youtube themed mini I made!

• Finish some WIPs! YESSSSSSSSSSSS! 

  

  City Blocks!

  

  Peels of Patience

  

  Miss Kate Quilt Top finished - just waiting for more supplies to finish it completely!

• A quilt for Mr. LBC. Bad wife is bad. Lol. I haven't given much thought to a quilt for Mr. LBC. Nothing is really inspiring me for him, so this one is on the back burner.

• Label, label, label! I've been on the ball with this one! Everything that has left the studio (with the exception of a few mini's on my wall) has had a label!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• More consistency with blogging. I had hoped to keep up posting once or twice per week, but that hasn't happened much. I did good for a while, but life has a way of stalling progress. I'm still posting, but it's closer to once every 10 or so days. 

• I'd like to clean up and update my blog a little bit. Haven't done anything with this one yet, though I do plan to before the end of the year.

Overall, I felt like I hadn't done much this year...but then I got looking! And I've actually been fairly productive. I'm not going to post links of everything (and I'm too tired to wrangle a mosaic together, sorry.) but scrolling back through my posts, I've been a sewing machine! (PUN TOTALLY INTENDED!) It actually brightened my day to see the finishes, the WIPS, and all the fun I've been having in this space. So a huge thanks to Quilting Jetgirl for hosting this Mid Year Review link up! 

Finish-A-Long: Quarter 2 Goals!

Shew, the second quarter of the year has begun! Which means it is time to start brainstorming and goal setting for the next 3 months! My fabric buying skidded to an impromptu stop earlier last quarter, but I still have fabric from my stash to work with so I'm going to keep sewing as much as the stash will let me! :) So here's my list, y'all. I'm placing my 'have to finish this quarter' goals first and the further down the list a goal is, the less pressing it is for it to be completed.

1.) Commission Baby Quilt

(Sorry, no picture yet!)

After finishing the Isabella Quilt, my Mom either took a picture or took the actual quilt to work and showed it off to her friends before popping it in the mail. Suddenly, everybody wants LBCQ to make them something! This order is for a quilt like the Isabella quilt with a different color palette. My client picked out the fabrics and after cutting them and laying them out, I didn't have a good feeling about it. My Mom came over and looked and agreed: it just wasn't working. So the fabric was sent back to my client to let her see and have the final say. If she likes it, I'll press forward. If not, some things will be swapped out before progress is made.

2.) Baby Tag Toy

So soft and fuzzy!

This is actually for the same person that wants the quilt I believe. They saw a cute little tag toy on Etsy and asked if I could make something similar. "Sure" was barely out of my mouth before most of the supplies showed up at my doorstep. I'm actually really looking forward to making this one, I think drafting a little pattern and trying something new will be fun!

3.) Charity Baby Quilt

You've seen a few peeks of this one lately. The top is all done and I'm hoping to possibly get started on piecing the backing today!

4.) Scrap Vortex Quilt

These blocks just keep coming back all the time, time to get them finished up!

I started these scrap vortex blocks a while back, back when Crazy Mom Quilts did a Quilt Along last year! I knew I wasn't going to make a whole quilt of these blocks, but I have a plan for how I want to do these. I think the Kona Coal is really going to make those scrappy blocks pop!

5.) Hexie Quilt

It's hard to tell that this fabric is white on white, but I think those hexies will look great against it. :)

These hexies are the product of a hurt back in February. I may have to make quite a few more before I can fiddle with the design in my head, but I have all the supplies (background and plenty of scraps for hexies!) to make this top come into existence. :)


6.) Alison Glass

I just want to hug this fabric all the time. The rainbow goodness is just fantastic!

You may remember that I got a fat quarter bundle of Alison Glass fabric for Christmas from my parents and I was absolutely over the moon about it! It sits proudly on my fabric shelf just waiting to be turned into a beauty. I actually have two pattern ideas in mind (and may be able to squeeze both of them out of this bundle!) but I haven't been able to get the Essex Linen I want for the first pattern. I'm still deciding on a background fabric for the second pattern, but until those fabrics magically find their way to my sewing room, this goal is a long loooooong shot. 

7.) Notched Baby Quilt

Seriously, check out that Notched tutoiral, the block is awesome!

I was a lucky blogger last year. I think I won 3 or 4 giveaways in all! One win was this bundle of solids that you may remember from a huge free block blog hop last summer. I have planned to make Yvonne of Quilting Jetgirl's Notched Block using her free tutorial. I'm thinking I'll need more white fabric, but again, unless the fabric fairy pays me a visit, I may just get this one partially started.

Man, that seems like an overwhelming amount of goals, but I love having a game plan in place. And since there's no penalty for not meeting all the goals I set by the end of the quarter, there's no reason I can't shoot for the stars! :) I'm linking up with SloStudio for this quarter. Head on over and join the goal setting fun, there's plenty of chances to win some cool prizes and see some awesome projects! 

February Goal: 4x7 Challenge

Howdy y'all! It's nearly impossible to believe that it's already February, but here we are on the first! I don't have many plans for this month as I'm still playing things by ear with my back. One thing I for sure want to take part in is Berry Barn Designs 4x7 challenge. There are only 2 guidelines to this challenge: Sew daily and sew some for yourself. I have plans for other things, but I want to make it a goal to work on my EPP hexies a little every day. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them all, but my brain needs needle and thread now more than ever.

The jar is almost full now, I'm just too tired to take a picture. :P

I'm hoping to get back to my machine this week to work on a present for Mr. LBC's birthday, but we'll wait and see. What about you guys? Any goals for this coming month?

Throwback and Looking Forward

Howdy y'all, I've got a double post for you today! First up, I have an oldie but goodie to share for Throwback Thursday over at A Quarter Inch From the Edge. This is a continuation of 'quilts I made the kiddos for Christmas'. This one is the third I will have shared, called the Garrett quilt for my little cousin that received it. He is quite the pirate, so I knew right away that it had to involve pirates and all things ocean.

This one is quite busy also (this was before I learned about using neutrals and blenders to keep things calmed down), but it's just so fun! And I remember I loved doing this FMQ. I was shooting for ocean waves and I feel like this simple and quick design was spot on.

And I love this backing fabric! I randomly find bits of it in my scrap bins and it always makes me smile. :)

I've been a scrappy binder since the beginning! Those bits of red really pop!

After looking back, it only seems fitting to look forward now! I'm sure many of you are getting sick of reading everybody's goals and resolutions for the coming year, but I'm here to add another! (I'm actually one of those people who loves reading those posts, anybody else like that?) One thing I wanted to do this year was be more active with goal setting, so here's what I have planned for the next 3 months thanks to the Finish-A-Long link up, which you can see here!

My biggest goal is to get City Blocks completely finished - quilted, bound, and labeled! I've already started quilting it, so this one is on its way to being completed.

Next up is my Orange Peels! I just ordered some fabric for a backing thanks to a gift certificate I won on a linky party. I also snagged some Aurifil thread to try out, which excites me to no end! My plans for the Orange Peels is the same as City Blocks - completely finish her up!

My final goal was a bit harder because I wasn't totally sure where I wanted to go after these 2 WIP's, but I think I know what I want to do. I've got my Scrap Vortex blocks back up on the design wall and I want to do something fun with them. I don't want to make an entire quilt out of just scrappy blocks (not yet at least!), but I do want to make a quilt top out of the ones I have. So my goal is to get them pieced into a top, then finished up like all the rest!

I've made more since this picture was taken, but forgot to take a picture!

Three quilts in three months is quite ambitious for me, but I'm shooting for the moon since there isn't a penalty for not completing all my goals in the time limit. After all, if there is something left to do, there's always next quarter to wrap things up! :)

Goals: A Very Wordy Post

Howdy y'all! It's hard to believe it's nearly Christmas, where has the time gone?! I was going to save this post until after Christmas, but my work schedule is crazy (I work the 22nd through the 31st without a day off). I've been in reflection mode for a while, especially about my quilting and this blog, and I finally compiled a list of things I want to remember throughout the coming year. Even better, Yvonne over at Quilting Jetgirl made an end of the year linky party to share your resolutions on! There's also the chance to win some awesome prizes, so check it out!

I'm sure I'll think of some more things that I want to do, but these are at the top of my list this year!

• Make a quilt to give away. Now that I'm becoming more confident in my quiltmaking, I want to use it to give back. I have a stack of solids that I won a little while back and I plan to use them. If you follow Quilting Jetgirl, you probably saw her sampler quilts that she made using the same solids! I'm planning on using her free block tutorial as a basis for mine.  
• Try new things, with the main one being CURVES. I've been meaning to tackle curves for a while, but I keep putting it off for one reason or another. I've got a pattern in mind by SLOstudio that is supposed to be good for introducing yourself to sewing curves, so I'm determined to tackle them and at least see if they're something I want to keep trying.  I'd also like to attempt some paper piecing as well.
• I've had a pixel quilt on my mind for as nearly as long as I've had this blog. Candy Coated Quilts is actually the blog that really brought it to mind because I saw it from planning through finish. Again, I kept putting it off because it intimidated me, but after finishing the Legend of Zelda baby quilt for my boss, I feel like it's within my reach now. I've been doing some of the mathy/planning stuff, so I'm nearly ready to get that show on the road! 
• Finish some WIPs! City Blocks is still folded neatly on my fabric shelf with the fabric for backing close by. I've been wrestling with quilting ideas for months and I think it's time to just jump in and get it done. I also have my Orange Peels! I'm really close to having enough peels for a top I think, so I'll hopefully get that one pieced soon. I want to get those guys done so I can snuggle under them!  
• A quilt for Mr. LBC. He hasn't asked for one or hinted at wanting one; typically, he'll just steal whichever one I'm not using! :) I would really like to make him something special though. I've been tossing ideas around, mainly featuring A LOT of applique, but I'm not sold on anything yet. 
• Label, label, label! I've started this the past few months, so I've got a bit of a head start! I plan to label anything that comes out of my sewing room, whether it be a quilt, pouch, mini, etc. I really like labeling now that I started it, so this is something I'll be happy to continue. :)
• More consistency with blogging. When I first started blogging, I tried to post something 2-3 times per week and, honestly, it drove me crazy! I work 40+ hours a week and had other responsibilities that made it where I couldn't generate enough content for that many posts for very long and it made me feel like a failure. Although I don't want to get back to that sort of expectation, I would like to get more of a schedule or rhythm so that I don't go from posting 3 times in one week to being silent for nearly 3 weeks. My hope is to post at least 1 time per week, with a over achiever goal of posting twice per week. 
• Along with consistency with blogging, I'd like to clean up and update my blog a little bit. I am far from a computer whiz, but I plan to learn some and attempt to personalize my blog a bit, as well and make it easier to find things in my archives. 

I have other plans and goals as well, such as being more active and being more organized with my time, but these are my main focus in the sewing side of my life. What about you guys? What do you have planned to try/accomplish in the coming year? I'd love to hear!

I'm sure I'll be back before then, but just in case I'm not, have a very Merry Christmas, my quilty friends! :)