One Monthly Goal: January

Have you heard of One Monthly Goal? I hadn't before the last week in December when I saw an Instagram post by Yvonne of Quilting Jet Girl. I had been thinking about goals and the new year anyway (because, who hasn't been?), and I had been debating about setting monthly goals instead of annual goals. So when I saw her post, I thought it was a great idea! My life is pretty crazy right now with four little girls at home including twin toddlers (!), so setting smaller monthly goals based on what's happening in the moment seems like a much better idea. Ideally, I want to set one hard goal, one or two very achievable goals (to do list items) and one or two personal goals, even though this doesn't follow the exact guidelines of the One Monthly Goal link up (I do select a single goal for the link up, see below).

So, I haven't been very good about blogging this year (see above: twins), and I hope to use this as motivation to be better about blogging. We'll see!

To kick off the year (and help myself keep track of what I have going on) I thought I'd list out my current projects and their status.

• Argyle Medallion quilt from Scraps Inc. Vol 2 (currently at a longarmer's)
• triangle quilt (currently at a longarmer's)
• Swoon 16 (top finished, HSTs need trimming for back)
• Summer Sampler 2017 (top finished, needs backing prepared and to be taken to longarmer)
• Six-inch sampler (top finished, needs to be basted and free motion quilted, photo above)
• Sunset Tile quilt from Scraps Inc. Vol 1 (cutting started, see photo below)
• taupe shirt (sewing started, need assistance with neckline, photo above)
• Bernina Block Party Sampler (I'm current with the blocks, so I'm just waiting for the next block patterns)

And, here's my list of projects I have fabric for but haven't started.

• Memorial Quilt for my Dad. I have blocks planned to make a sampler with blocks that represent him, but it's a pretty big project and I've been hesitant to start a project like this that is unlike anything I've done before. I have a fat quarter bundle of Adventure fabric by Amy Ellis and a bunch more of my fabric stash pulled out to supplement it.
• Venice Quilt. I have a cut of Grand Canal fabric from Kate Spain and I haven't settled on a quilt pattern that has big enough pieces to show off the fabric that also interests me.
• Rayon dress. I bought some Cotton and Steel rayon and the Cappuccino Dress pattern from Liesl and S. But I'm way intimidated and don't want to mess it up! Fabric is washed and everything. I think I'll sew up a practice dress out of black rayon I used for my girls' Halloween costumes first.
• Loads of clothes for my girls. I sorta binge bought a ton of knit fabric during year end sales events and I have great ambitions to sew them cute clothes that fit them properly! I have 4 girls, and bought enough of each cut of fabric to make a shirt/skirt for each girl, and I bought...wait for it...4 knits, 1 corduroy, and 1 woven (for a dress). Why yes, that adds up to 24 items of clothing! We'll see. 

It's actually really helpful to see it all listed out! As opposed to walking into my sewing room and seeing the scattered projects everywhere...

So, here are my January goals. I'm also going to list out personal goals just because it'll be helpful for me to see it all listed together. 

• Complete the Block Party January block
• Finish my taupe shirt
• Sew one set of girls' clothes
• wake up earlier to dedicate 30 minutes to studying scriptures and praying
• spend less time on my phone. To quantify it: allow for 20 minutes after breakfast, 20 minutes during nap time, and 30 minutes after dinner. I'm honestly really unsure about whether those time limits are a good target or not. But we'll see. And then I'll revise it as necessary.

My ONE MONTHLY GOAL is to finish my shirt. That one is a stretch, and it's something I really hope to accomplish, and to accomplish well. Because if it's not done well, I won't wear it. ;-) I really want to get some girls' clothes sewn up, too, but I'll be more disappointed in myself if I don't finish my shirt, so that's top priority.

So...here's to 2018! And January, specifically ;-)