13 more

I was counting the quilts I have finished this year and I see that I have completed 87 quilts so far. I only have 13 more to go to make 100 quilts for the year. I have 15 of them sitting waiting for bindings. I think that will be my goal, to get the binding on 13 of those guys so I can say I quilted 100 quilts this year. That's pretty good I think! I never would have set my goal that high as a beginning quilter and I am so happy that I was able to get so many quilts done and into the hands of kids who need them.

I wonder if I should set a goal for next year? How many of you set goals for the New Year?

I am trying to pick a project for New Year's Day. Last year it was the Sudoku Quilts. Those were really fun, but I still have a couple that haven't gotten quilted yet. They turned out bigger than I am comfortable quilting. I did have to move the quilting machine into the garage to make room for the Christmas tree, so I may just give a bigger quilt a try now that I have lots more room to move around the machine. But, it is so cold in the garage. I know, all of you people who have snow are laughing at me saying 60 degrees is cold, but I like hot weather, thank you very much :)

I am cleaning and organizing the sewing room and coming across some old projects. I sewed together a top that has been pinned for at least 9 months and it took me all of 10 minutes to finish it up. Now it is sitting in the 'to be quilted' pile, probably waiting another 9 months to be finished, but at least it has moved on and I have my pins back. I am also working on some crumb blocks and sorting through some strips and scraps and deciding what to keep and what is just too small to bother with.

I am hoping by the end of my vacation, I will have the sewing room cleaned out so I can work in there again and not have to use the kitchen table to cut fabric on anymore. I bought some bed risers and put them under the table legs on the cutting table in the sewing room and now the table is at a much better height for cutting fabric. Why didn't I do that long ago? It will save my back, that's for sure! I'm 5'11" and normal table height just doesn't work for me so having the table 6 inches higher helps a lot. Now to keep the table cleared off so I can use it is the next step.

My problem with cleaning the sewing room is I work for 10 minutes and then discover a project or pattern that I have been looking for and have to stop to study it or work on it and get distracted. Like I said, I hope to finish cleaning the room in the 2 weeks of vacation I have. If not, it will be an ongoing project for 2009.