New Year...New Quilts

With the arrival of the new year it's definitely time to get organized for sewing and quilting in 2014...here are a few ideas to get you started making the quilts and projects you've had on your mind.

First you'll want to do a little organizing...pull out the finished quilt tops that are ready for quilting and piece backings if necessary. Organize (or at least make a list of) your unfinished quilts or works in progress. Make a plan for how many of these projects you'll work on each month or each quarter of the new year. Having a "work in progress" sew day each week or month can really help get these project moving along.

I always like to do some organizing in my sewing room at the beginning of the year. Even if I just organize one or two areas things seem so much better. This year I tackled my thread (I literally had thread in bins from the 1980's when I was sewing a lot of clothes).  I went through every spool and even ended up with a bag of threads to donate.

Give high priority to the new things you want to try this year. Are there quilts you want to make? Make a list! Are there quilting or sewing techniques you'd like to learn? Write them down. How about fabric collections you want to sew with? Write those down too. You can even list the patterns or designs you're thinking about using with each collection. For starters...how about some half-square triangle block designs...Moda designer Camille Roskelley has a link on her blog to the pdf for 25 unique half-square triangle blocks each made using 16 hst's.

Be sure to save room on your list for some "spontaneous" sewing and quilting. Save time to join in a quilt-a-long or sewing challenge--there are many available on-line and through your local quilt shops.

Maybe this is the year you'll perfect the skill of piecing hexagons...

Or maybe you'll make your first Bella solids quilt. Whatever your goals and thoughts for sewing in the new year...take a little time to get organized, and then ready, set, sew!