Crafty Goals for 2020

I’m joining up again this year with Quilting Jetgirl’s #2020planningparty and setting some goals for my quilty/crafty pursuits in the new year.

My goal-setting method is more of a quarterly process, and identifying specific quilt projects for each season has been working well for me for a few years now. But it’s still helpful to have a few guiding thoughts and projects! So first, a look back at last year’s overarching goals:

• Finish a few big UFOs. I listed 4 big unfinished quilts…and haven’t finished any of them. Oof. I did sew my Rainbow Triangles BOM top together and got it basted, but haven’t quilted it yet. My Gypsy Wife, Barn Quilt BOM, and #100days100blocks are all still tops or blocks.
• The 100 Day Project. Successfully completed, with some lessons learned.
• Create more of my own designs and publish at least 5 new patterns. I successfully created and made several original designs, so big check mark there! I only published one pattern (for myself) though. I did write several others that were published via other channels though.
• Get my websites’ quilting content in order. I got this done, or at least about as well as I can given that I want to maintain this blog and all its content both quilting-related and not. For now, I’ve linked between sarahruiz.com and here where appropriate, and have a few more plans to sync both sites up in terms of appearance.
• GCMQG activities. I definitely embraced this, and will be serving as guild president for 2020!

So! What about 2020? I’ve spent the past several days thinking about it — and ironically, I haven’t done any sewing for the last several days either since my family was in town and we were having so much other fun.

In 2019 I dove into my quilting perhaps more than ever before, if that’s possible. There were several other things that happened in the last year that I couldn’t control, but quilting is something that I could, and so I did. And I got a lot done, and made a lot of things that I’m proud of. But I also ended the year feeling pretty worn out.

Here are 5 thoughts to guide me in 2020:

I want to sleep more. This shouldn’t be related to quilting…except it is. Because I stay up late working on projects when I should be going to bed. If this happened once in a while it’d be one thing, but it’s pretty much constant. This has to stop. I am running myself ragged, I am always exhausted, and I know it’s not good for me.

I want to take my time with my projects. If I make one block or sew one seam and that’s all I can do in a given day, I want to be ok with that. I want to be more mindful of the fact that this is fun! And enjoyable! And not a race! No one is judging my productivity except me…which means it doesn’t need to be judged at all.

I don’t want to feel stressed out by my sewing to-do list. Saying “no” is hard for me, at least where quilting is concerned. I am the type of person who gets tempted by every fun sew-along and popular new pattern that comes along, but this always leads to moments of stress and overwhelm when I look at a to-do list that feels miles long. I want to take a step back. Work on projects I truly care about, instead of getting distracted by what’s shiny on Instagram.

I want to continue tech editing and graphic design. This is a niche that I really enjoy and want to continue. That said, I want to make sure I am managing my workload to keep it at a reasonable level, and balancing this work with my own projects. I want to avoid having multiple clients and projects piled on top of each other, even if that means declining a project here or there.

I want to have a day or two each week when I don’t work on quilting projects. I want to find a better balance between my quilting and the other things I enjoy. Starting this week, I am consciously, mindfully planning 1-2 “no sew” days per week where I spend my evening hours doing something else. Reading. Walking. Watching a show with Jose. The possibilities are there!

Here’s to a happy, healthy, more balanced 2020!

p.s. I’m doing a 31 day blogging challenge.