2019 APQ UFO Challenge  UPDATE!

Even though I'm posting this a few days late, I am going to give myself an encouraging pat on the back for at least sticking with the January 2019 UFO Challenge.   As I mentioned in my last post, I'm not strictly sticking to quilt projects this year.  I'm also including some Knit and Crochet WIPS that have either stalled or languished.

In January the UFO List # chosen was Number 3.   That was the crocheted cotton throw that I started for Daughter #2 last summer.   It should have been done then, but between a virus and the hot weather, it lost it's project "mojo".  When I picked it back up in January, the status was pretty much complete, only to add the border and to make some crocheted pom poms that I saw on Pinterest.  Most of my time working on it has been trying to make those crocheted spheres/pom poms involving watching tutorials and trying written patterns.  Not sure, if it's just a bad combo of the yarn I want to use and hook size but  I just haven't been able to make any that look the way I want them to, so I think I'm going to go with tassels.  

APQ UFO Challenge - January

 #3 - Crocheted Neutral Blanket

Status Before -  Need to add to length and finish border/edging

Status After - Border finished - need to make tassels & sew in ends.

APQ UFO Challenge - February

#6 - Granny Square Pillow

Status Before:  Squares Complete, Need to Assemble and Crochet Pillow Back

My 2019 Sewing, Quilting and Crocheting UFO List

1. Star Wars PJ bottoms 
2. Very Hungry Caterpillar Pillowcase
3. Crochet Neutral Throw   -January 
4. Pieces of the Heart Quilt
5. Vintage Memories Quilt
6. Crochet Granny Square Pillow
7. Love Letters Quilt
8. "Patchabilities" wallhanging #1
9. "Patchabilities" wallhanging #2
10. Project Bag
11. KimberBell Halloween Quilt
12. Christmas Moose PJ bottoms

APQ UFO CHALLENGE 2019

Back in  December 2016,  A blog I followed posted a  UFO challenge.  I found that list recently and though I was really enthusiastic when I started, I didn't get very far and most of projects on that list are still UFO's.  The  All People Quilt (APQ) website has a 2019 UFO challenge.

Directions are on their website  here  but basically, you print the form, list your unfinished projects and their current status.   On the first of each month APQ draws a  number  and whichever project  on your list corresponds to that number  is what you work on for that month..  At the end of the month, you list the "after" status.   You can  post pictures of your list or completed projects on Instagram APQResolution.

2019 APQ UFO Challenge

I'm joining in again this year.  I sorted through my craft projects that have been languishing. . Not all of them are quilt or even sewing projects but that's OK. I'm giving myself a pass to focus on any project that has stalled for more than a couple of months.

I'm counting on you to hold me accountable, by visiting my blog  and my Instagram posts.  Better yet, join me in this challenge  too.

No. 3 was the number drawn for January -- on my list that's a  neutral striped crochet throw that I started last August.  It's made of  Hobby Lobby's YarnBee Sugarwheel cotton and done in  rows of half-double crochet.  I've been struggling with designing a border and that's all I have left to do.  

YarnBee Cotton SugarWheel

What's creating "buzz" on Instagram and other crafting SM is the "Make Nine in 2019"   If you don't know what that is you can search Instagram or Google but, in a nutshell,  you select nine (9) projects that you want to make in 2019 and post the pictures of those items.  There's no accountability to start or complete them--it's basically a "wish list" 

[BTW I am now on Instagram too.  You can find me at #northerngail]   Thanks for visiting me.  I'm going to try to keep these blog posts as brief as I can and the content concise and relevant going forward!  

F.Y.I.    I did finish the #1 item on that 2016  list THIS past Christmas.  It was the granny square afghan  which I started in 2007!  I finished it in the early hours of December 23rd.  I hang my head in shame for taking so long  but as John Lennon famously said, "Life is what happens, when you're making other plans".  

My 2019 Sewing, Quilting and Crocheting UFO List

1. Star Wars PJ bottoms 
2. Very Hungry Caterpillar Pillowcase
3. Crochet Neutral Throw   -January 
4. Pieces of the Heart Quilt
5. Vintage Memories Quilt
6. Crochet Granny Square Pillow
7. Love Letters Quilt
8. "Patchabilities" wallhanging #1
9. "Patchabilities" wallhanging #2
10. Project Bag
11. KimberBell Halloween Quilt
12. Christmas Moose PJ bottoms

Happy New Year!

I hope you all had a very merry Christmas and are looking forward to a wonderful 2019.   I am hoping that it will be a better year than the last couple were.   I won't go into details, but there was illness and sad news and no love lost on my part for the past year, only optimism that this year will be better for all of us.

I decided to kick off 2019 off by buying a "paper" planner and also by re-reading Sarah Van Breathnach's book "Simple Abundance".

I do hope to do more blogging than I've done in the last few years but this year my blogging will start to take a different direction because I have added knitting and crocheting to my list of hobbies.   That doesn't mean that I won't be talking about gardening and sewing but I don't think I'll be doing many, if any quilting projects.  Quilting has "cooled" off for me for the most part because of the time it takes up and all of the space that quilting paraphernalia (fabric) takes up  [insert cough here].   I have sold some fabric and given some away.  Scraps were the worst--I had so many scraps stored in boxes and bins and bags.   I am glad I found a couple of charity groups that were happy to take them.  After a few years, fabric trends and styles change and it just gets old and dated and I started to feel that way about my stash.

I do still plan on finishing all of the WIP's I have.   In fact, I recently cleaned up and organized my sewing room and found all of the WIP's which had hidden themselves in different nooks and behind closed cupboard doors and they are now out in the open and organized so I can tick them off the list as I finish them.    I bought a new planner this year and it has a monthly section for "Goals".   I'm using it to list WIP's that I want to complete in that month.  I'm probably being too optimistic but I'm hoping to get two done a month and I will post my efforts here to keep myself honest.

Well that's it for now.  Keeping it short and sweet.   I am glad to be back posting.  Going to give myself another goal of posting once a week.

I really do wish you all a healthy, peaceful and contented new year!  

Gail