I’m joining up again this year with Quilting Jetgirl’s #2019planningparty to do some “thinking out loud” about what I want to focus on in my crafty/quilty pursuits in the new year.
2018 was the first full year I spent straddling the line between quilting as a hobby and quilting as a side business. I feel like that should be enough time to nail down where I want to settle myself…but it wasn’t, at least not entirely. I’m starting to realize that maybe it’s ok if I don’t have a strict definition, and instead just continue to follow what piques my interests.
Things to say YES to:
Finish a few big UFOs. I have several fairly large projects that I want to finish this year.
- My Rainbow Triangles BOM that I’ve been working on throughout 2018. I didn’t get to the December installment, which was final assembly, so I need to do that and then quilt it. I’m thinking this one is a good candidate for some longarm quilting practice in the next month or two when I can get some machine rental time.
- My Gypsy Wife, which has been a finished top for a whole year now! And I LOVE it, so not having finished it is really a shame. I’ve been procrastinating because I can’t decide how to quilt it…I need ideas!! I’m currently thinking about some sort of overall swirly space-inspired design, done on the longarm.
- My Barn Quilt BOM, which is also a finished top. I plan to straight line quilt this so it should be relatively quick to finish off once I get going.
- My #100days100blocks, which is ready for top assembly. That’s no small task with 100 blocks to work with, and I’m planning to put sashing between every block (a traditional grid layout) which means I need to cut all those strips first. This one is the biggest of the four UFOs (queen size), and I will probably longarm quilt it due to its size.
The 100 Day Project. I definitely intend to do this again, for the third year in a row. I enjoy the challenge of doing something every day, and 100 days is long enough to be significant but short enough to be manageable. I don’t know what it will be yet, but I have a couple months to figure it out. It may be quilting-related, or I may choose a different creative pursuit.
Create more of my own designs. I’d like to dedicate a bit more time in 2019 to building my own self-designed pattern library. My split between making other people’s designs vs. my own is currently about 50/50. (That’s my guess anyway; I haven’t added it up.) And while I really enjoy making all kinds of patterns and putting my spin on others’ designs, I want to make sure I’m pushing my own creativity too.
Publish at least 5 new patterns. This goes hand-in-hand with creating my own designs. I’ve written more patterns for Craftsy that I have for myself at this point, and I’d like to even that balance.
Get my websites’ quilting content in order. I’ve had this blog for two decades, and a year or so ago I created sarahruiz.com to highlight some of my more “professional” stuff like patterns and editing/design work. I’ve given a good deal of thought to how to link/consolidate/reconcile the two websites, but still haven’t come to a conclusion.
I want to keep the aspects of this blog that AREN’T sewing-related, and I also don’t want to move all my quilting content to a separate site. So I suppose I will stick with my current mish-mash until I have a better idea!
In the near future, I do need to figure out a shop plan; while my Craftsy store stayed open with all of my patterns through their recent site change, I want to have a backup option.
GCMQG activities. A chapter of the MQG started up in my area in 2018 and I wasted no time jumping in wholeheartedly! (In fact, I just got elected as Vice President.) Guild activates is definitely something I will have as a priority in 2019.
Things to say NO to:
Every tech editing/writing project that comes my way. I took on several projects this year and pretty much said “yes” to everyone who asked for my services. This worked out fine in most but not all cases. Since this is something I do on a very part-time basis, I want to be very purposeful about the projects I take on.
Swaps. I’m participating in the MQG Mini swap again this year because it was so fun to swap at QuiltCon last year, but after that I’m not letting myself sign up for any swaps, not matter how tempting! (I’ve already had to enforce this on myself and it’s not even 2019 yet.)
FOMO and comparing my work to others. Hopefully this one is self-explanatory! More focusing on my own stuff; less wishing I could be as good/cool/popular as ______.
So! There we have it! I’m feeling pretty good about this list. It feels more attainable than my huuuge list from last year, but also leaves room for me to do a little exploring.
p.s. I’m doing a 31 day blog writing challenge!
Learning to say “no” is one of the hardest things to do, and I’m personally really great about learning the lesson in one aspect of life and then ignoring it in all others. I hope that you have a great 2019 and I look forward to seeing your work continue to grow. Thank you for linking up with the Planning Party!
For me, it’s just a lesson I have to learn over and over and over again!
Your saying yes vs. no to new opportunities really resonated with me! Saying no sometimes is so important, and yet sooo hard!
You forgot, “Attend Houston Festival with Jen” again! 🙂 I just made my list for 2019. I made a list of all the quilts on my to do queue and thought of our Jacqueline de Jonge quilts. I think I will count it as a win if I start it this year!
I love your FOMO concept. I try to learn and do better but it is hard not to compare when mine does not come out as well. I am sure you will achieve your goals.
Thanks Kris! I think we all have a bit of a FOMO tendency, and it’s certainly exacerbated by all the social media options out there today that flood us with lovely images of what others are doing. I definitely want to try to focus more on making myself happy before worrying about what anyone else will think of it!