hello 2014

Happy New Year to you and yours! I hope you had a wonderful holiday. My kids are in school today and I'm ready to get back to sewing 9 hours a day. (Ha!) Last evening was probably my favorite part of our entire Christmas break. It was a chilly -2 degrees, but my family and I went out for a walk on the lake anyway. We had a nice time winding down, just being together. I sure love them!

A bonus from the walk was this snapshot that my son took of me and my husband. (We have very few photos of us together.) He's a good man and I love him so much!

 

Looking back at 2013....

My goals were:

-I would like to get better at giving my quilts away.
                I didn't keep track, but I can recall giving away at least 7 quilts. Not bad, but I'd like to continue to work on this.


-I would like to keep writing patterns and work up the nerve to sell them wholesale.
                 I released 5 new patterns last year and filled a few wholesale orders. (To be honest, I really didn't think the wholesale one would happen, so that's a nice surprise!) I also hired a designer to revamp my pattern design, which was a great decision.


-I plan to host a quilt along (or two). It's been too long and I miss it!
                I did not do this. Although I kind of tried with my mini nines?


-I have a fun idea for a blog series I'd like to start.
                I don't recall what this was going to be, but I started my 101 scrap project series, so we will call it done!


 -I hope to get my act together and teach an online quilting class.
              No, this did not happen. I totally forgot about it. doh!


 And, not so much a goal...but I really, really hope we sell our house. Soon.
              We sold our home in May and moved back to Minnesota. So thankful that the move is behind us! It only took 7 months after the move for me to feel normal again. :)




So, we moved, I finished a total of 25 quilts (including my scrap vortex!!!) and I ended the year with less than 10 WIPs. (The WIP part-that's fairly amazing!) I even worked up the nerve to list a few quilts for sale. I had the opportunity to teach in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa and Colorado. (I love that I get to do that!) Oh, and I joined the Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild, too. (Pretty excited about that!) All in all, a good year.

Looking ahead to 2014.....

I've recently heard that the more specific the goals, the better. I guess that makes sense, so I'm trying that this year.

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

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

-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!

Here's to a wonderful New Year!
See you tomorrow for finish it up Friday!