A Quilty 2011

As my Christmas sewing finally winds down, I'm turning my attention to the new year. And Elizabeth at Don't Call Me Betsy is hosting a listy linky for 2011 quilting goals. Fun! So without further ado, here's what's on the agenda for me:1. Surprise: More quilts! My mom has "commissioned" me to make a king-size version of Jennifer's Intersection(s) pattern, using the fabric above. I'm also doing the girly companion for my boyish Modern Meadow baby quilt, I want to make bed quilts for Miss E. and my little niece, I still have my Urban Lattice quilt to do, and I'm thinking about joining the Bloggers' Block-A-Palooza quilt-along. And those are just my immediate plans—I guarantee a few more will get added to the list as we go along.2. Bees. I'm starting with four bees beginning in January:• Do. Good Stitches, a charity bee that I'm thrilled to be taking part in.• {Sew} Beautiful, a modern bee with some of my bestest blogging friends. My month is November.• String Me Along, a 16-month scrap-focused bee. My month is July.• The 3 x 6 Mini Bee.3. Swaps. I've only done one swap so far, but I would definitely like to do a few more. I would love a mini-quilt or two to decorate the blank wall behind my sewing machine—I spend a lot of time staring at that wall. It'd be nice to have something inspirational up there! So I'm hoping to join the next Doll Quilt Swap. I'm also interested in the Pillow Talk Swap and Modern Swappers. Both look like a lot of fun.4. A quilt-along. I would like to try running my own quilt-along sometime in 2011, based on my Hope Valley quilt above. I'm thinking of starting it in February or March (although of course you will be able to join it at any time). I may modify the design a little (possibly to make it charm-square friendly) or I may do it just as it is, above. I'm undecided—if you think you might participate, feel free to weigh in!5. Quilting for charity. In addition to my involvement in Do. Good Stitches, I'm making a quilt for the Wrapped In Hope project by Margaret's Hope Chest. I'm also planning to make at least one quilt next year for Quilt Hope In, which benefits women and children in Haiti.6. Holiday stuff for 2011. A tree skirt, stockings for the whole family, and a Christmas quilt. These are all things I wanted to get to this year, but didn't. 2011 will be the year for them. No, seriously.7. Learn to free-motion quilt. I need to get over my fear of FMQ and give it another shot. I'm not sure I'll ever love it—quilting on my machine always feels like a wrestling match to me, trying to get that bulky quilt through such a small amount of space. That just doesn't strike me as much fun. But it's a skill I should have, even if I don't use it frequently.8. Rent the long-arm quilting machine at my LQS again. I rented a long-arm twice in 2010. My first time on the long-arm was a wonderful experience (I quilted the quilt shown above, for my 1-year-old). The second time was more stressful, because I had to load the quilt onto the frame by myself, and the machine got a little cranky with me (not my fault, I swear!). But it's pretty awesome to take an unbasted, unsandwiched top and back into the store, and come out 3 hours later with a gorgeous quilt! So I would like to rent the long-arm again, and naturally, when I do, I plan to document the whole thing right here. : )9. More finishes. For all the sewing I did in 2010, I only have five completed quilts to show for it. Two of those were sent out to a professional long-arm quilter. Outsourcing the quilting is convenient and quick, but it's certainly not cheap. And there's just something about doing a quilt entirely yourself, from start to finish, that makes the completed project that much more special. So this year, I want to finish more quilts: My goal is 12 quilts in 2011. That's one per month, on top of my bee blocks, swap commitments, and other projects! And I want to finish more of those quilts myself. I won't say all of them, but definitely more of them.Um, is 2011 expected to be like 14 months long instead of the usual 12? Because if it's not, I don't know how I'm going to accomplish all of this. Oh well, nothing wrong with a little ambition, right? If I check off even three-quarters of the projects listed above, I'll be a happy girl.And with that, I'm signing off until after Christmas. With Miss E. on break from school, cookies to make, presents to wrap, and a few gift projects yet to finish, I need to take the week off from blogging and concentrate on reigning in the holiday chaos. So there will be no WIP Wednesday this week. But we will return to our regularly-scheduled programming on Wednesday, Dec. 29.Now hop over to Elizabeth's blog to see what everybody else is planning in the new year. Happy holidays to you all, and happy sewing in 2011!