happy new year!

Happy New Year to you! I hope 2015 is off to a great start! I love looking back at the past year and making plans for the new year ahead. It's so nice to have it recorded here on the blog, too! This isn't a normal finish it up Friday post, but please bear with me. I'll give you a chance to link up at the end of the post as usual.

So, 2014 was a big year! I finished 26 quilts. I gave away 11! I released one pattern (only one) but I did revamp several of my older patterns and got them printed. That was huge! I also completed my 101 scrap challenge! I had so much fun with that! As you can see from the photo above, I had a very scrappy year all around. It was a good year!

My goals for 2014 were:

-I would like to make some quilts for family. I have 4 in mind for my in-laws and a quilt for my older brother. One for my dad, too! (That's 6!)

 I made and gave away 2.

-I'd like to make/give more charity quilts. (I'm thinking at least 6.)

I gave 4. I have two set aside to give, but never got around to shipping them. Typical.

-I need to do some serious stash busting (always!). To be specific, it would be great if ALL my quilting fabric could be contained in my cutting table.  (That's a lofty one!) I'll need to do some fast sewing and not much buying!

 I did this! And I did this well! I didn't buy fabric for 5 consecutive months! It took that long to make a dent in my stash and I'm going to attempt to go for one more month to make it an even 6 months. It felt so amazing to be able to accomplish this goal.

 -I'd like to keep working on patterns. Print and PDF. Wholesale. Maybe even distributors this year!

My patterns are now being distributed through United Notions (Moda) and I'm currently working with Checker to get set up as a vendor. I'm so thankful for these big (exciting and scary) steps!

 -And, I'd like to continue to try to work on the family life vs. work life balance. It's always a struggle to balance the two, but it's definitely worth working on!

This will always be a work in progress, but I think I did ok!

Now, for 2015. My goals....

1. This is the year I make a quilt for my dad. He's about to turn 71 and he needs one...even it if will just sit on the back of his sofa.

2. Teach a craftsy class. This one was on my list last year and I didn't "out" myself. I should have and maybe it would have gotten done? To be honest, this terrifies me to no end, but I'm determined to do it anyway.

3. Write-or start writing-another book. Again, I hoped to do this last year, but I didn't publically announce it. This is a TON of work and it's scary, too, but as my husband says, no risk, no reward.

4. This one will be very hard for me, but it's the only way I can accomplish the previous goals, is to blog LESS! And be ok with blogging less. I've been posting an average 3 times a week and I am going to try to cut it down to two. We will see how that goes. I'm going to give it a try in January and then I'll reassess.

Oh, man. I can't believe I'm putting this all out there...but here's to a BIG year ahead! I'd better get stitching! Ha!

Now it's your turn to link up your finishes! Thanks for joining me for finish it up Friday! Happy New Year to you and yours!