2025 goals!

This time last year our family was dealing with a lot so I didn't take much time to think about setting any personal goals for the year. I had a few ideas that I strove towards, and was successful with them, but I wanted to get my thoughts written down so that next January I can look back and see what I was able to accomplish. I wrote a little bit about goals in a recent IG post and felt like expanding on them here.

2025 goals

No new fabric purchases/use my stash!

This is my most important goal for this year. No new fabric purchases - if I'm working on a project I need to shop my stash first and use what I have. If I'm dead set on a specific colour/pattern/fabric style that I don't have I plan to ask my quilty community (local and IG friends) if they'd be willing to trade for something in my stash. We also frequently shop our local thrift stores, and I'm always heading down the linen/fabric/bedding aisles, so that's another option. And while there aren't a lot of them (that I know of) locally, I do follow a few vintage fabric resellers on IG and feel good shopping from them. In 2023/24 I was gifted quite a lot of fabric, most down the traditional vein, so I've got lots to trade with!

I'll also mention that my oldest daughter just the other night asked me to make her a quilt, using some vintage reproduction fabrics that I know I don't have in my stash - go figure! LOL

The only thing I've given myself permission to spend money on is, maybe, the MQGs Fabric Challenge, as its usually a specific line of solids, and I don't own a lot of solids, so I'd likely need new fabric to partake in the challenge. 

Last year, and so far this year I've made good progress on this goal, and have been using up fabrics in a scrap bag for my latest appliqué blocks. It's been so fun pulling out scraps from fabric I had once hoarded and just using it up unapologetically. 

Improve my Free Motion quilting skills

Have you ever looked at a free-motion quilted piece and thought, "I wish I could do that!"? Well here's the thing... you can! I'm of the mind that you/we/I can literally do anything if I just buckle down, learn how to do it and practice. I've dabbled with FMQ (free-motion quilting) over the years, and feel like I have okay skills, but I want to learn more, and I want to be better than okay at it. I guess I technically started this goal last year, as two of my recent finishes have been FMQ-ed on my domestic machine. My Pantone Challenge quilt was FMQ in a meander pattern, and my soon-to-be shown Folk Bloom No. 3 quilt, which is a collaboration with Banyan Batiks has doodle-inspired FMQ throughout the background (shown below). And should the quilty goddesses be on my side, I've got my heart set on working with a certain long-arm company... hint hint universe! :) 

Finish some WIPs!

I'm sure there are lots of us quilters who finish a quilt top, press it, then fold it up nicely, set it aside and start on another project without doing the actual quilting on it. Well I'm part of that demographic; I've got quite a few quilt tops that need to be quilted. And a few quilt tops that are juuuuuuust about finished, and I need to push through whatever made me set them aside and finish them already. Some I'm super excited about, but I get distracted easily and then start on the next new shiny project. Time to get them DONE! This also pairs well with my "use up my stash" goal above, as there are widebacks and yardage in the stash that can be easily used up with these tops. It's a win-win, I just need to buckle down and do the work. 

I also don't want to bring this quilt top to retreat for a 3rd year in a row! Haha! Seriously... I have backing for it already and a plan on how I want to quilt it! I just need to commit and do the work. 

Work on projects that feel like me

While there's always room for fun, complicated patterns, and the "palette cleansers" like a 16 patch, or an easy cut and sew, I want to focus more on designs that I dream up myself. The only "problem" with that (and it's not really a problem, more a limitation) is that the designs I dream up usually end up being made by hand sewing. The limitation being that they take longer than the average quilt would take. I think if I can balance myself out this year, by having one larger/time consuming hand-work project, and simultaneously have quick-wins to work on in between, I'll feel more productive. This is where my WIP pile will come in handy. 

Put myself out there

I love to share my love of hand-sewing, and I love talking with people who love quilting as much as I do! And recently I've had more people ask about demos and classes. I need to get better at self-promotion and putting myself out there for these opportunities. As of this blog post writing I submitted a few lecture topics to Quilt Canada 2026 (haven't heard back yet) and have a few new class ideas, but nothing solidified or promoted. 

Might as well put this out into the world - if you happen to be reading this and think that any of my lectures or classes would be a good fit for your guild, group, etc. please let me know!