January Goals Recap!

Hmmm... over a week into the month and I'm finally getting a chance to check-in on how I did with my January goals.... and I promise I have my February goals written up - will post those soon, too!

Main Goal: Do more sewing that is NOT paid orders
I think I did pretty great on this one!  During the month of January I sewed 57 items - and 9 of those items were "just because" / not for paid orders.  Yes, I realize that's only 15.8% - but that is a MUCH higher percentage than I have had in the past.  Included in those 9 items were BOM quilt blocks, some fun "add-ons" to paid orders that were gifts for a friend, and Project Quilting sewing!

A Lovely Year of Finishes (ALYOF) January
Goal was to make a stop sign pillow - and I completed the stop sign pillow on January 13th.  Colby has slept with his head on that pillow every.single.day since! :)

Project Quilting 
I completed challenges 1 and 2 during January - my "Bath Time" wall hanging and a fun construction wall hanging for Colby's room.  A fun bonus: I have won prizes both weeks so far - as one of the random winners!  Score!  Week 1 I won a sewing pattern, and week 2 I won a quilt pattern book.

100 item challenge
Oh gosh - this has been a "fun" one!  Actually - it's been great!  As of January 31 I had made 57 items - not bad for 29 days with a few days completely void of sewing!  As of this post, I have sewn 7 more items, bringing my total to 64.  Oh.... and have I bought fabric?!  NOPE!  I placed ONE order for two half-yards of fabric needed for a custom order - but I found a seller on etsy to buy from - not my usual "big box" online seller that offers free shipping after a certain amount spent (which would have made it REALLY easy to add to my order).  I bought the two fabrics, and that is ALL!  This has been a great challenge for me.  Since I am unable to buy fabric, I have to look at / use the fabric I have on hand.  It's interesting that there are fabrics I still don't tend to work with even when I can't buy a better replacement - - - guess I'll have some fabric to sell soon! :)

Vice Versa BOM
I recruited my mom to do this BOM with me!  I got my blocks sewn up on 1/7 - can you tell I was excited?!  It took me forEVER to decide on the fabrics.... but I'm happy with what I picked!

Wishes Quiltalong
This one was a "maybe" on the list - and I joined in!  I found a FUN quilt pattern that has football blocks - and after I saw that, I thought it would be fun to make a quilt using some of the football blocks as well as all sorts of black / orange / grey / white blocks from a few QALs / BOMs - the hubby and I are Oregon State University alumni and LOVE football - and the team colors are orange & black.  Should be fun and scrappy - and I'll be able to work on it throughout the year and finish it up during football season!

My January block!  These are big blocks - - - 14" plus seam allowance!

Mystery BOM
I decided not to join in on this one.  Didn't feel like my style and I had LOTS of other fun things I was excited about!

Additions
I added one more QAL / BOM - the Aurifil Designer of the Month sewalong.  Each month they're featuring a different designer, who will share a block of their choosing and we'll sew along with them.  January's block was "spools" - so I thought I'd make a block I could eventually make into a wall hanging for my sewing studio. {the fabrics coordinate well with my adorable ironing board cover, and the red face on my beautiful sewing machine.... and all the pink gear I have from my Susan G. Komen 3-day walks!}

For future months, I plan on using fabrics that will create blocks for the black / orange / grey / white / footballs quilt, too.  Oh.... and each month you complete the block you are entered to win a box of Aurifil thread (which I've heard is wonderful.... though I have yet to experience it!)

Phew!  Lots of sewing for January - - - feels good to have gotten so much done (including a bunch of custom orders for my shop, items to stock my Etsy shop (that sold out VERY quickly), and starting on a BIG upcoming project - Zoe's quilt!)

Oh - and one of my non-sewing goals is to find / make more "me" time and.... of course.... eat healthier / exercise more.  A friend of mine started the Bikini Body Mommy 90 day challenge and I saw it as an opportunity to have some measurable, attainable goals - - - Today is day 23 and I have only "missed" one day (and I doubled up my workout the next day to catch back up!) - Wahoo!!!!

I'll get a post written up about February's goals ASAP..... because there are only 20 days left in the month and 9 of those days we're on vacation!  Hahahaha.

Don't say BOM on a plane....

.... but you'll definitely hear it a ton around our home! :)

I came across another BOM that I think I'm going to participate in... or at least keep an eye on and make blocks if I like them! It's hosted by Aurifil - and each month one of their designers will share a block of their choice.  An added bonus?  Each month you complete the block and share it in their flickr group you are entered to win Aurifil thread!  I have heard amazing things about this thread - so I'd LOVE the chance to give it a try!

I think the concept is to make a scrappy quilt from all the Designer of the Month blocks.... but when I saw the first block I thought it would be perfect for my sewing room.

January's block is "Chez Claire" by Brigitte Heitland of Zen Chic.  I have LOVED the Zen Chic patterns I have seen.... and her block this month is made to look like thread spools. {see why I thought it would be perfect in my sewing studio!?}

So I jumped in!  I joined the flickr group - and Sunday night I pulled fabrics and got to work.

I wanted my block to coordinate with the super sweet ironing board cover I bought at the end of the year from City Chic Country Mouse on Etsy.  It is made from a Riley Blake fabric that uses tans / greys / pinks / reds / with little hints of green and aqua.  Scarlett, my sewing machine {yes, she has a name!}, has a red face plate - perfect!

I pulled Riley Blake's Verona Gray Flowers for the background, along with Michael Miller's red / white pindot, and green mini geometric print from Jo-Ann.  Then of course I had to use some of my light pink ribbon fabric - after walking two Susan G. Komen 3-day walks (60 miles each in San Francisco and Seattle) last year - as I have a part of my sewing space decorated with all my gear!  I loved that the Daisy Grid from Kari Beyer's Dream a Little Dream for In the Beginning fabrics pulled all the colors together and echoed some of the patterns in my ironing board cover - yay!

Here's my block pieced together - it's really 4 small blocks in one.  You can see my ironing board behind it!

I couldn't decide which layout I liked better.  I would usually default to the greens being diagonal from one another, and the red / pink being on the other diagonal (the layout above) - but because the red / darker green fabrics stood out more than the light pink ribbon fabric / light green fabric.... I decided to swap them around and see what I thought.

 I liked that now the light / dark squares were more equally spaced - it didn't feel as "lopsided" to me.

So I sewed up those final seams... and here is my January block:

As I said.... I think I will make it into a wall hanging for my sewing room.  Maybe a border around the outside.... other little blocks?  I'm not sure!  But for now, it's a 12.5" block!  

ALYOF January 2014 - finished!

As it was my first month of A Lovely Year of Finishes, I made my January goal fairly small / simple - making a stop sign pillow for little man #1's new "big boy bed".

Can you tell he likes it?  I went to take pictures and he said "Are you going to take the picture of the pillow with me??"  Umm.... how could I resist?!

The pillow is about 15.5" across.  I used applique for the letters.. and after consulting some pictures (and a quick chat with the hubby) determined the white band around the outside was necessary.  That took a little more time / effort - but I think it was worth it!

I didn't have enough stuffing (since I've been making some adorable plushies recently!) - but I did have an older throw pillow that we no longer use.... so I cut that sucker open and used the filling from it.  I didn't have *quite* as much as I wanted.... but it works!  

I purchased the red blender fabric from Marcia's Crafty Sewing and Quilting (it's not solid red... though it looks that way in the photos!).  The white is actually muslin (yuck, so thin... but it's what I hand and I'm not allowed to buy fabric until I make 62 more items.... so I made do).  I used two layers of the muslin (to help it be a *little* less see-through) for both the applique and the border.  

So excited to have sewn something for one of my little dudes - I'm thinking next month's goal will be something for Little Man #2 :)

This month's ALYOF is closed (goals have to be posted / linked up by the 7th) - but you can join in next month!