I don't know about anyone else, but I seem to be compelled to sign up for most any BOM I come across. It doesn't matter if it is paper pieced, traditional piecing, I even signed on to a hand embroidered BOM. Am I crazy? I haven't done hand embroidery since I was 10 and that was way too many years ago for me to remember how to do it, let alone do it so it's pretty. I sign up for mystery BOM's as well as those I know what the finished project will look like.
I've always had a theory that if you work on one block a day each day during the month, you can feasibly complete 30 BOMs. Well it sounds like a good theory. The problem has always been I get 1 or 2 blocks finished (if I ever actually start working on things) and then I stop. I never get any further. It's not that I don't like the patterns or the fabric I've chosen. I just get lazy and stop. Then life happens and I never get back to it.
Well this is a new decade and I figured I try something new. I thought I'd give it a shot as to each of the BOM's I'm signed up for, I'd work on 1 each day. Shouldn't take more than an hour or two at most for most of the blocks to be completed. I surely can get 1 block a day from one of the BOMs. But how was I going to insure that I did this?
Well, it seems like many of the online quilters that have either blogs, sponsor their own BOMs, or are you tubers (or all of the above) seem to be tooting the horn of the quilter's planning calendars or have made their own. Well, I'm a cheapskate--and I know that what I start doing now is likely going to fall to the way side in the not too far future--even as good as my intentions now are to continue with this plight. So I have NOT purchased a specific quilter's planner or organizer. I've listened to you tube videos from some that use bullet journals (tried that last year--lasted 1 1/2 months). I've looked at the different spread sheets and other organizational papers some bloggers have developed and are sharing. And here is what I've gleaned and currently am thinking of doing--well have started doing.
First I've started a list of all my current Projects in Progress (I call it PIP for short). Whoa that's a lot of PIPs!! Holy Cow? How do I add in my PIPs with the BOMs I've signed up for? I don't think there are that many days in each month. I guess I'll have to start doubling up at some point.
Second, I made a list of things I want to do, want to start--or that need to get out of my "dead" pile of things to be finished and get back into the PIP stage at the very least. Hmmmm that list isn't exactly short either. Oh MY! I really need to get some serious mojo going and get some strong motivation and get moving on these things.
Third, I made a list of UFO's. Many of these have been hanging in my closet for at least 2 years. I know this because 2 years ago is when I just totally lost all interest in most everything, stopped sewing and embroidering, stopped quilting, stopped just about everything. So I have a closet full of quilts in various stages of completion. Some (most) need to be sandwiched and quilted and then bound. Others just need to have the quilting finished and then bound. Still others are still in the block stage or at least in rows and I have never been finished putting them together. Well that batch of quilts has to be finished up so I'll have room for the new projects to hang until they are quilted and bound.
People say to make a goal for yourself of finishing 1 or 2 UFO's a month. Can I really do that? It doesn't seem like something that would be a hard goal to accomplish--only looking at 1 UFO at a time instead of all of them at once. Seeing all of them at once seems like to daunting a challenge to ever get any of them completed.
Well maybe if I just do a little bit here and there I'll eventually get the PIPs to a finishable stage. The UFO's (that I haven't even made out the list past #1 (because I can't bear going to look at each one and figure out why I never finished it and I don't want to see just how many are actually there!) should be a manageable thing to take on, however, I just don't have the mojo for that right now--maybe next week.
So this is what I've started out with. I've done the January block from patternsbyJen.blogspot.com. That one was fairly simple to accomplish--a simple pieced block all done in yellows. And all of the blocks in her BOM will be a different color based on birds--how fun. I have the first block finished of the Scientific Adventures BOM from adventurousquilter.yolasite.com. This one took a bit longer as it was paper pieced. But so much fun! And tonight I dove into the process of applique blocks for 2 different BOMs from Angie's Bits and Pieces. I have the house finished for the Fairy's BOM and I have everything transposed from paper to the heat n bond (paper side) ready to press onto fabric and continue for the Kitchen Sayings BOM.
Since I have basically just started this idea of trying to do something on one of the BOMs each day--I'd say I haven't done too badly in the last 3 days. I will have to return later to add photos of the different pieces I've completed--as my computer is acting really stupid tonight and is not letting me access any of my files--not to mention it is moving at the speed of a sloth tonight.
So how are you handling all the projects you have going?
I've always had a theory that if you work on one block a day each day during the month, you can feasibly complete 30 BOMs. Well it sounds like a good theory. The problem has always been I get 1 or 2 blocks finished (if I ever actually start working on things) and then I stop. I never get any further. It's not that I don't like the patterns or the fabric I've chosen. I just get lazy and stop. Then life happens and I never get back to it.
Well this is a new decade and I figured I try something new. I thought I'd give it a shot as to each of the BOM's I'm signed up for, I'd work on 1 each day. Shouldn't take more than an hour or two at most for most of the blocks to be completed. I surely can get 1 block a day from one of the BOMs. But how was I going to insure that I did this?
Well, it seems like many of the online quilters that have either blogs, sponsor their own BOMs, or are you tubers (or all of the above) seem to be tooting the horn of the quilter's planning calendars or have made their own. Well, I'm a cheapskate--and I know that what I start doing now is likely going to fall to the way side in the not too far future--even as good as my intentions now are to continue with this plight. So I have NOT purchased a specific quilter's planner or organizer. I've listened to you tube videos from some that use bullet journals (tried that last year--lasted 1 1/2 months). I've looked at the different spread sheets and other organizational papers some bloggers have developed and are sharing. And here is what I've gleaned and currently am thinking of doing--well have started doing.
First I've started a list of all my current Projects in Progress (I call it PIP for short). Whoa that's a lot of PIPs!! Holy Cow? How do I add in my PIPs with the BOMs I've signed up for? I don't think there are that many days in each month. I guess I'll have to start doubling up at some point.
Second, I made a list of things I want to do, want to start--or that need to get out of my "dead" pile of things to be finished and get back into the PIP stage at the very least. Hmmmm that list isn't exactly short either. Oh MY! I really need to get some serious mojo going and get some strong motivation and get moving on these things.
Third, I made a list of UFO's. Many of these have been hanging in my closet for at least 2 years. I know this because 2 years ago is when I just totally lost all interest in most everything, stopped sewing and embroidering, stopped quilting, stopped just about everything. So I have a closet full of quilts in various stages of completion. Some (most) need to be sandwiched and quilted and then bound. Others just need to have the quilting finished and then bound. Still others are still in the block stage or at least in rows and I have never been finished putting them together. Well that batch of quilts has to be finished up so I'll have room for the new projects to hang until they are quilted and bound.
People say to make a goal for yourself of finishing 1 or 2 UFO's a month. Can I really do that? It doesn't seem like something that would be a hard goal to accomplish--only looking at 1 UFO at a time instead of all of them at once. Seeing all of them at once seems like to daunting a challenge to ever get any of them completed.
Well maybe if I just do a little bit here and there I'll eventually get the PIPs to a finishable stage. The UFO's (that I haven't even made out the list past #1 (because I can't bear going to look at each one and figure out why I never finished it and I don't want to see just how many are actually there!) should be a manageable thing to take on, however, I just don't have the mojo for that right now--maybe next week.
So this is what I've started out with. I've done the January block from patternsbyJen.blogspot.com. That one was fairly simple to accomplish--a simple pieced block all done in yellows. And all of the blocks in her BOM will be a different color based on birds--how fun. I have the first block finished of the Scientific Adventures BOM from adventurousquilter.yolasite.com. This one took a bit longer as it was paper pieced. But so much fun! And tonight I dove into the process of applique blocks for 2 different BOMs from Angie's Bits and Pieces. I have the house finished for the Fairy's BOM and I have everything transposed from paper to the heat n bond (paper side) ready to press onto fabric and continue for the Kitchen Sayings BOM.
Since I have basically just started this idea of trying to do something on one of the BOMs each day--I'd say I haven't done too badly in the last 3 days. I will have to return later to add photos of the different pieces I've completed--as my computer is acting really stupid tonight and is not letting me access any of my files--not to mention it is moving at the speed of a sloth tonight.
So how are you handling all the projects you have going?
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