Seasonal Goal Update: Winter 2024

Hello Friends and Happy (almost) Winter!

Though the first of winter doesn't officially arrive until Thursday, last night, a beautiful blanket of fresh snow arrived!

Meara was thrilled to greet it this moring by bounding around the yard, knocking it off the low branches, and rolling about making snow doggies! She has already worn herself out and is ready for a nap.

So with those signs of a new season setting in, I'm excited to look back at all the projects I've worked on throughout the Autumn season and set some new goals for the months to come!

Autumn Goals

Over the past few months, I've worked on several different projects, most have been quilts, some have been garments, and there were some more legislative things. Some are progressing nicely, as well or better than I'd hoped, while others fell a little short. Regardless of what I have and have not completed, I have definately been mking progress, let's check it out!

The biggest goal for Autumn was to get back into my weekly posting scehdule here on the blog. I kept up for the first few weeks, but in October, my partner had surgery and I took some time away to help him recover. Once he was feeling better, I got right back on schedule and continued to post.

Since a surgery isn't something we can predict, and emergencies do happen, I'm calling this one a success!

For my next goal, I wanted to finally aquire stencils to make my own custom quilt labels!

Though I haven't shared any progress on this, I have been working on it a little at a time. However, the goal was to have the stencils in hand and I definately am not there yet. Hopefully I'll have better progress to share about this soon!

Moving away from the technical goals and on to the quilts, my first quilting goal was to finsh my Hexie Harvest quilt top by the end of October. This timeline was based on the designer's quilt along schedule.

As we know, October was a bit of a stress filled month for me, so I struggled to find the focus and motivation to work on Hexie Harvest. And though I continued to work on it in the months since then, I'm still only working on row eight out of eleven. I didn't succeed, but I'm still looking forward to getting this project finished over the next few months!

Hexie Harvest was designed by Jodi Godfrey of Tales of Cloth

Moving on to another quilt along project, I wanted to continue hand quilting my sample of Stars of the City and keep a month ahead on the Stars of the Lily Pond version of the same pattern. And throughout the season, I've succeeded at both of these goals!

Stars of the City isn't finished just yet, but I have been making progress on the quilting and I've completed the blocks through December on Stars of the Lily Pond. I hope to continue working on both of these quilts at this pace in the new year as well!

The last piecing goal I had for Autumn was to make any amount of progress on my Generations Quilt blocks. Since this is a hand pieced project, I think I was hoping to work on it after finishing Hexie Harvest, but that hasn't happened yet and I didn't get around to working on Generations at all.

My final quilt project goal was to continue my quilt as you go experiment with my Meadow Mystery quilt!

This one didn't specify a particular amount of progress, so by quilting, assembling, and attaching one additional row, I was successful in completing this goal!

Meadow Mystery was designed by Cheryl Brickey of Meadow Mist Designs

And quilts weren't the only projects I had hoped to work on in Autumn, I also had several pairs of pajamas to make for family! I've been very successful at this, but they haven't all been gifted yet, so I'll share photos in the new year.

Finally, I wanted to make some progress on the deep frost mage's robe, which is a hybrid quilted garment project! Unfortunately, this also requires a lot of hand work, so with Hexie Harvest still ongoing, I haven't found the time to work on it.

All together, I seem to have succeded in completing half of my goals for Autumn 2023! Of course, I would have liked to completed all of them, but my final overall goal for the season was to be considerate of myself. Sometimes life gets in the way of the things we want to do and despite that, I was able to make progress, practice new skills, and maintain my enthusiastic pusuit of quilt making!

Winter Goals

Moving into a new season, I hope I'm able to continue to be kind to myself in this way! Some goals are easier to accomplish than others but as long as those goals remain important to me, I can always try again tomorrow!

So for my Winter 2024 goals, I do have a few from last season that I hope to continue working on!

First, I hope to continue my weekly posting schedule. I love being able to share my work with all of you here on the Fibre Arts blog and I know a new season will bring all sorts of new experiences!

With the little progress made throuhgout the Autumn, I feel that much closer to finishing my label templates! I'm hoping to finish the digital side of my label making by the end of December, allowing me to reach out to a manufacturer in the new year. Having the ability to finally create custom labels that I'm actuall yhappy with should clear a big mental block I've been fighting when it comes to finishing my quilts!

Another digital goal I have for December is to finish typing my Stars of the City pattern instructions! I didn't put it in writing last season, but I was hoping to have these instructions finished by the end of the year so I can shift my drafting focus to working on next year's BoM project. The past few years, I've really enjoyed sharing a quilt along project with all of you and I'm looking forward to continuing the tradition!

Speaking of Stars of the City, I'd like to continue hand quilting my sample quilt! I'm just hoping to have it quilted by the time the quilt along ends, which won't be until Spring 2024, so as long as I continue to make progress, I'll be happy!

And following the same pattern, I'd like to keep a month ahead on Stars of the Lily Pond. Of course, this is so I'll have a few samples of each block to show off when instructions are released. Changing colours and prints can have a big impact on the effect of a finished block, so I like being able to share a few variations!

Another goal carrying forward this season is to make progress on the quilting of Meadow Mystery! I've been so happy with the progress made so far and I'm really looking forward to making more soon!

Finally, I have a few goals to amend from last season before bringing them into Winter.

For my Generations Quilt blocks, I would like to return to my previous schedule of finishing one block every month. Leaving progress open ended didn't give me the incentive I needed to get to work on these blocks and I'm already so close to finishing them, so I hope this will push me to do that!

And for Hexie Harvest, I'd like to have the quilt top pieced by the end of December. It's not just that I'd like to have the quilt top finished by the end of this year, but also that I'm interested in participating in the next Tales of Cloth quilt along, which starts in January!

Speaking of, next year's quilt along follows the Ice Cream Soda pattern! This quilt along will run from January to July 2024. It's a little different from Hexie Harvest because it uses only one repeating block patter and the blocks themselves are bigger, which I believe is the reason the quilt along is so much shorter. I would like to be able to follow this quilt along as scheduled, but I will not allow myself to start it until my Hexie Harvest quilt top is finished.

Ice Cream Soda was designed by Jodi Godfrey of Tales of Cloth

And that's not my only new quilt along project! I've already started working on this year's Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, Indigo Way!

As with most quilt alongs, my goal for this project is to keep up with the release schedule. So far, four clues have been released and I've completed the steps from each before the release of the next. Based on past years, this quilt along is likely to wrap up the second or third week of January, so I should be finished with it by the time Ice Cream Soda gets started!

Indigo Way was designed by Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville

Finally, there is just one more quilt along I'd like to work on this Winter, Oatmeal Raisin!

I introduced this pattern a few weeks ago when I chose fabric for it, but that's where I've chosen to stop progress for now. I already have a lot of different projects in progress, so I won't begin piecing Oatmeal Raisin until I've finished Indigo Way and Hexie Harvest. The instructions released for this pattern so far haven't been terribly complicated, so once I've started it, I should have lots of time to get caught up!

Oatmeal Raisin was designed by Kathryn Wilson Tucker of Quiltnasium

All together, that's three digital projects and eight quilt projects I'm planning to work on throughout the coming months. Some I hope to finish, and some are simply focussed on progression, but all will bring exciting new expiriences my way!

With all that I've got planned, it looks as though December will be a busy month! Even with the quick pace, I'm looking forward to each and every one of my projects continuing into the coming months!

If any of the projects I've mentioned have caught your attention, I'd encourage you to check out the designer's websites, join the quilt alongs, and look up the many different versions of each pattern that other creators have shared on social media!

And if you happen to be working on any of them yourselves, please share your progress with me in the comments below or by tagging me on Instagram @v.a.firbe.arts!

As we creep closer to the end of the year, I have a lot of work to get up to, so I'll be taking a break next week to get caught up on as much of it as I can! But I'll be back here on the Fibre Arts blog in 2024, I hope to see you then!

Until Next Time Friends, Keep Creating!

~VA