Set the Mark 2016

Since sewing and quilting is a hobby for me, I've actually approached it as something without boundaries and deadlines... you know, just letting it happen. I'm not exactly an organized mouse... in fact, I fall under the chaotic creative category. One cannot imagine how hard those of us who fall into this category have to work to bring structure and planning into things.... but even with that being said, I recognize the benefits of a plan, which is why I've decided to join the 2016 Finish-A-Long. It made it easier for me to divide things into quarterly goals and then yearly/ongoing goals.

Quarterly Goals:

1. Last year I joined A Quilty Circle of Bees, a new quilting bee with other German speaking members. For this month, Daniella picked blocks for an Amsterdam quilt, inspired by this version. Knowing that if I don't start on a project immediately, I run the risk of procrastinating and missing my deadline all together, I have made it my Bi-Monthly Goal to finish the blocks as soon as they are announced. This one can already be checked off this quarter's check list!

2. If you've been around a while, then you might have seen bits of my mini mini craze... well, I have just one more to make, and it's long overdue. Tracy made these two beautiful mini's for me, and her story behind them is so beautiful and touching. I ran into a few snags while working on hers, but now that that the holidays are over, this is top of the list!

3. My Modern Beauty table runner is one of my "basket projects",  which is meant to fall under the slow stitching category, but I'm in the home stretch of finishing the orange peel appliques, and just need to connect it and quilt it.

 4. With my Farm Girl Vintage quilt, I'm just a sashing and border away from being ready to quilt. I have contemplated waiting to quilt a couple of projects all at once, but I suppose one thing at a time might be a smarter choice.

Yearly/Ongoing Goals:

1. When I started my Facing East quilt, I never considered it realistic to finish in a year. I actually wanted to start small with just a few blocks to test paper piecing to even see if I liked it... well, needless to say, 22 blocks later, I think it is sufficient to say, that I am smitten with the technique. A pieced top, including inner circles, is my end of year goal. This one will probably go to a longarmer.

2. My Alison Glass Butterflies project is another "basket project", which I started with no real plans in mind. It got shifted to the backburner because I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish it, but it's coming back out again this year!

3. This one goes back a bit. I have one side finished, and then I ran into unbelievable design issues with the second side. Needless to say, it's time for a Super Tote finish!

4. A new project that I am calling "Penny's Quilt" is an idea that was inspired by my Scrappy Windmills quilt post. Right now, I have a few sneak peeks on my Instagram feed, but I want to knock out a few other things before I do a full introduction and explanation of my concept.

5. Santa was kind to me this year with the well known and highly praised EQ7 quilt design software. There's a lot to learn, so this is an ongoing learning by doing goal that I hope to have mastered by the end of the year. 

I'm sure that there will be plenty of other things to work their way onto this list, but having this in black and white is a pretty good motivation for me to make things happen.

Have you linked up of a Finish-A-Long before? Did it motivate you to finish those UFO's, or where you distracted to work on other projects? 

Linking up this week to WIP Wednesday, Let's Bee Social, and for the first Time 2016 Finish-A-Long