A Plan for Creativity for 2014

Happy New Year!

I won't be doing a rundown of everything I made in 2013, because - to be honest - I sucked on the documenting part of it. Scrapbooking took a lot of my creative time in 2013, and I produced over 200 12x12 layouts and kept up on Project Life. I am more than happy with that. Quilting took a backseat with only four quilts finished, but I made over 20 blocks for others and worked my way through more projects. All in all, a good creative year.

For the last couple of weeks I have been spending a lot of time thinking about my plans for 2014. I have adopted a 'word' for the year - Simplify. This will take me through work, housekeeping, parenting, crafting, shopping, finances, cooking... all facets of my life.

From a creative point of view, I have mapped out a rough plan for the year. No doubt I'll deviate, but it's good to go in with a plan....

1. I'm on a craft buying ban - no fabric, no scrapbooking supplies. I will USE THE STASH! The only exceptions to this are blades/adhesives/batting/thread/photo processing/backing fabric (as a last resort). I am staying accountable with the Fabriholics Anonymous group.

2. I am continuing Project Life for 2014 but streamlining to make it simpler. I will be printing a month's worth of photos at a time and doing my weekly PL layouts once a month. I will scrapbook one set night a week and organise/scan photos and memorabilia one set night a week. (I am still 'catching up' on all this, but in time I will not need to dedicate as much time to this.)

3. As I shift my focus to quilting, I am aiming to finish more projects. My WIP pile, without going into too much detail, is such that I can set myself the task of finishing piecing one top a month and quilting and binding one quilt a month and I'm not going to run out of things to do any time soon. To keep myself motivated, and accountable, I am joining A Lovely Year of Finishes 2014. I am not saying I won't start anything new, as long as I finish it too...

4. I have reduced my Bee committments to my Wombat Stew paper piecing bee. I have found that participating in lots of bees or BOMs is not for me (no matter how tempting they are) and I have decided to simplify to a single bee with my quilting besties. I love making things for other people, but I like making things for these girls the most.

5. I want to encourage my girls to craft more. I will work with them on their sampler quilts and let them have free reign on my stash.

6. In the interest of slowing down and making progress, I'm going to dig out my Dear Jane - the ultimate WIP! - and do some hand piecing.

7. I will give this blog, and finding my place in the online quilting world, a bigger effort. I also want to work on my own designs.

8. I will not compare my blog, work or productivity to other peoples, even my friends. This is my journey and not a contest.

So to start, my goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes for January is to bind the four (!) quilts I have sitting around that only need binding. And I'm going to decimate my mending pile and sort out the Girl Guide badges too.

- Jane

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