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Hard to believe over half of 2026 is already past. The end of the year will come up quickly. So far I've stuck to the main strategy that was posted in January, but the priorities of some of the projects has changed.  That's not so bad.  The plan for second and third quarters was to focus on moving UFOs to finished, or at least closer to finished.  I'm going to stick with that strategy.

1. Guild BOM 2026

The 2026 Guild BOM has to be finished by the November guild meeting.  The first draft of the block ...

Back in January, I drafted a strategic plan (?) for 2026.  Strategic Plan is probably a gross overstatement of what I actually put together, but it was at least a potential road map for my quilting decisions.  Now that we are in 3rd quarter, I should probably take a look at where I'm at and decide on any adjustments.  

2nd Quarter Strategy

1. Guild BOM: Finish May through October blocks.  Finish Flying geese. 

The May, June and July blocks are all finished.  The flying geese for the alternate border are also all finished.  The instructions are written for the August ...

After reviewing my first quarter progress, my second quarter overall strategy won't need to change. But I will need to adjust the project list for the quarter since there is a lot that didn't get finished in first quarter.  

Back in January I posted my quilt making strategies for 2026.  My goal for 2026 is to move projects to finished quilts or as close as I can get to finished for as many projects as possible. I've learned over the years it's a good idea to review where you are at with your goals a few times during the year. It's easy to forget at the end of the year what you decided at the first of the year if you don't.  The end of first quarter seemed like a good time to see if ...

My ambitions for 2025 have been reviewed.  My PHD performance has been rehashed.  To my surprise, there was a lot more progress on projects than expected. Plus,  I finally slayed the dragon that I'd let quilting with a walking foot become. My biggest let down was just not moving projects to finished.  Consequently, my UFO list is bigger than it's ever been.  To address that long list, it seems like a strategy would be more helpful than goals.  

A couple of years ago, I tried to keep my to do lists to no more than 4 items: a ...

Happy New Year!  Ready or not, it's 2026.  I'm definitely not ready. The first step in deciding my ambitions for 2026 is to look at how 2025 went.  Since 2018, I've played along with Quilting Jetgirl's Planning Party.  Yvonne has announced that 2025 is the last year she's going to host the party and the quarterly link ups.  Her quarterly check ups have been really helpful at making me look at my goals each year, which usually means I do something on them.  I'm not sure that worked so well for 2025.  At any ...

It's been hard to wrap my mind around the fact that it's October already.  Wasn't it just June?  The time went fast, probably because I was busy helping Grad Girl with the transition from student to working woman.  She defended her thesis, graduated, moved home, found a job, finished her first quilt top and then moved back Texas. Most of that has happened since June.  I didn't spend as much time in the sewing room over those months.  Consequently, there was this sinking feeling when Yvonne of Quilting JetGirl posted the Q3 CheckIn. 

The end of June is not only mid year, it is the end of the 2nd quarter.  When I was working, mid year progress reviews were required. I don't have a supervisor anymore, but Quilting Jetgirl has a linky party up for the 2025 Quilting Q2 Check In, which is a good reminder to check how it's going with my 2025 quilty ambitions. 

It's so easy to set your goals at the beginning of the year and just forget about them.  I'm guilty of that, but maybe not so much this year.  I know what they ...

The beginning of April is also the end of the first quarter of 2025. The year is already one third over. At the beginning of the year I wrote up my ambitions for the year. It's easy to get caught up in the every day and completely forget what you actually intended to do with your year. So it's definitely time to look back and see if I'm on track and following the plan. To do that I'm linking up with Quilting Jetgirl for her 2025 Quilting Q1 Check In.  

The first few months of 2025 ...

Happy New Year! A new year needs a new stitching plan.  The end of the year is busy, so I've been letting things percolate in my brain a bit before I get serious about writing out my goals for the new year.  The year that was 2024 was one of my better sewing years.  It's a bit daunting to think about how to improve my performance for the new year. But if I don't plan, I don't achieve. It also helps if I look at my goals more than once after I write them. Thankfully, Yvonne ...

With the end of September, also comes the end of the third quarter of 2024.  Just three months left in the year!  It's a good time to look over what the plan was for this year to see if there are any goals that need some attention. Quilting Jetgirl has a 2024 3rd Quarter Goal review linky party to encourage us to do just that.   

The end of June marks the end of the 2nd quarter for 2024.  It's a good time to check in how I'm doing on my quilting ambitions (goals) for the year. My quilting goals are much like my work goals used to be. I'd write up the goals at the beginning of the year and then forget about them. At work, my supervisor would schedule a midyear goal review, I'd look at them just before the meeting and inevitably there would be one or two goals I'd forgotten about completely.  My quilting goals are pretty ...

With the end of March comes the end of the first quarter of 2024.  Hard to believe we've hit that milestone already.  It's a good time to check how well I'm doing at meeting my ambitions for 2024.  Quilting Jetgirl has a first quarter linky party to remind us to do just that.  

Here's where I'm at with my ambitions for 2024. 

1. Make Quilts. My ambition wasn't just to finish quilts, I also wanted to focus on making progress with all the quilts on my quilt plan for this year.  

Here's what ...

Making a plan on what the next year looks like in the sewing room dates back to almost as long as I've been making quilts. When I started, Grad Girl was just 4 and I was working more than full time (lots and lots of overtime), with an hour commute each way. With not a lot of stitching time, it was important to decide what my priorities were each year. Not that I stuck to them, but I at least made the attempt. So why should 2024 be any different.  I'm going to make another list of ambitions ...

The end of September was hectic with vacation preparations, complicated by a three day migraine.  So blogging went out the window for several days.  Vacation preparations got done, but I didn't have the energy to get into the sewing room to get photos for my end of the month post.  Since I've not done anything stitching related for the last couple of weeks, all I have to post is progress on my quilting goals for the year and my PHD progress for September.  I'm linking up with Quilting Jetgirl's 2023 Q3 Check In.  

2023 Ambition #1 ...

Way back in December of last year I posted about my 2023 quilting goals and linked up with Quilting Jetgirls 2023 Planning Party.  We are a little more than halfway through the year, so it's time to take a look at how those plans are going and to link up with the 2023 Q2 Check In.  

2023 Ambition #1: Finish some quilts, make progress on some quilts and start some quilts. 

I've moved a few projects along this year, but no finishes yet. Back in December this year's plan included 4 new projects, but I ended up ...

With just three more days in 2022, it seems like a good time to set my ambitions for the new year.  Plus it's time for Quilting JetGirl's 2023 Planning Party. 

I usually review quilting accomplishments after the year ends, so I'm going to jump right into my ambitions for 2023. 

Ambition #1.  Finish some quilts, make progress on some quilts, and start some quilts.  

The last couple of years I've focused almost 100% on my UFO list. That hasn't produced the best results. The plan for this year is to focus on finishing off the ...

There's just one more day left in 2021.  It always amazes me how fast the last couple of months of the year go.  It's already time to make plans for 2022. I'm playing along with Quilting Jet Girl's 2022 Planning Party again this year. 

As 2020 winds down it's normal to look ahead to what the plan is for 2021.  Yvonne of Quilting Jet Girl is again hosting her yearly planning linky party, so it's time to commit to a written plan for next year. 

2021 Quilty Ambition #1:  Finish 8 Quilts in 2021

I've been aiming to finish 12 quilts in one year pretty much since I've started writing up annual goals.  The most I've ever finished in a given year is 7. 

As 2019 comes to a close, I've been looking back at my 2019 Planning Party Post to see how I fared on this year's quilty ambitions, I'll summarize those tomorrow.  I've reviewed enough to decide on the quilty focus for 2020.  I'll share these plans at the 2020 Planning Party hosted by Quilting Jetgirl.