Bye-Bye 2015, Hello 2016!

Every year I do an evaluation of my quilting life for the last year. Last year I listed six projects I wanted to get finished in 2015, plus another few things I'd like to tackle if I had time.

How did I do? Well, I only got four of the six specific projects done, the other two I haven't worked on at all. No excuses here, I did what I could.

On the other hand, of the projects that were really weighing me down, which were finishing other people's last projects, I finished four quilts that other people were working on when they passed away, and the last one I have is a quilt top now. On that goal, I feel really good about my progress.

I did a Pay it Forward thing for 2015, where I had to make things for five people, and I did get those projects finished.

One thing I got done last year that was not on my goals, but has been a huge weight off my mind, is getting all my scraps cut down to the Scrap User System. It took me six or eight weeks, I can't remember which, but it was well worth the time it took, to have the scraps dealt with and usable, and not all wrinkled in tubs throughout the house. Those scraps represented years of sewing!

Here are my empty spools from 2015. They don't look like much, but they represent 16,041 yards of thread, or 9.1 miles if you prefer. Towards the end of this year, I went on a bobbin busting spree, trying to empty as many bobbins as I could to free them up for other projects. I emptied almost 70 bobbins, and I have no idea how much thread that was, but suffice it to say, it was a lot. All that thread from bobbins is not included in the 9 miles.

I didn't keep good records of how much fabric I used this year, but I think 150 yards would be a minimum. I used over half that just on Christmas presents. 

I finished a total of 10 quilts this year, which is a little disappointing. I did get several other quilts to quilt top stage, which is good.

Let's see, goals for 2016? I have a few deadline quilts. I know of two boy babies coming, I need two girl twin sized quilts, and one wedding quilt for a niece getting married in the fall. I'd like to make DS the Younger an Army quilt for his graduation from AIT (Advanced Individual Training), and I need to finish the rag quilt for DD#3. DD#1 wants another quilt for her birthday this year, but she chose one of my UFO's, so the top is done, and I just have to quilt it. That already puts me at 8 quilts for 2016, and you never know when another wedding or baby quilt will be added to the mix. With 8 deadline quilts, I don't think I need to add to that list. I'll just get done what I can, sewing when I can, and trying not to stress about it. Quilting should be fun!

I stuck pretty well to no-buy on fabric in 2015. I did buy a few things starting on October, since I started no-buy October 2014. Almost everything I did buy was used immediately. I am not planning on no-buy in 2016, but I'm not planning on buying a bunch either. Let's just call it low-buy. Since I wasn't buying fabric in 2015, it gave me a chance to stock up on my most used threads, as well as a few other quilting necessities. Overall, it was a fairly inexpensive quilting year compared to others. This year I also plan on keeping my costs low.

Oh, I got the fat quarters I received for Christmas put onto small mini-bolts.

These are from Connecting Threads Quilter's Candy line. I also dealt with all the fabric my MIL brought me, and all of it is put away now too.

After all the Christmas sewing, and working on two mystery quilts, the sewing room was looking like a tornado hit, so some cleaning up was in order. Now that the reveal for the mystery quilts is out, I can cut the last fabrics I need, and get the rest put away. Just getting some things put away will help the sewing room quite a bit. If I manage to get some projects finished in the next month or two, that will help even more.

I hope you all have a great 2016!