I've been thinking about 2007...

What do I want to accomplish and where do I want to be at the end of 2007?

Those are the questions that have been roaming around in my head the past week. In 2006 I finished a few crazy quilt blocks and projects and started a few more. I took SharonB's (if the link doesn't work, she is having problems with her blog) encrusted Crazy Quilting class in the spring, had fun with the "100 Details in 100 Days" that she held later in the year and then took her "Personal Library of Stitches" class this fall. I learned alot but have decided that I need a better plan of attack for 2007.

Back in November, I sort of had a plan:

1. Organize the workroom so it is easy to use.
2. Create each morning before leaving for work.
3. Continue thinking about my project during the day.
4. Utilize a visual journal (again!)
5. Take classes and join a guild to push the envelope.

Well, the workroom is almost done... it has been a long slog, going through many boxes and bags of artsy craftsy stuff, organizing most of it and tossing some of it. I think creating each morning before work will get to be an enjoyable habit after a few weeks and I already think about projects during the day. I've started using my visual journal again and plan on attending the January meeting of a local art quilt guild. So... I'm on my way as far as these goals are concerned; however, I need to decide exactly what I want to create in the realization of these goals.

In other words... what will I be creating during those morning sessions and what will I be thinking about during the day? First of all, I have joined SharonB's "Take a Stitch Tuesdays" Challenge (link to be added later). Each Tuesday in 2007, Sharon Boggon will present a special embroidery stitch and show a few different ways of addressing it. Then each of us will take that stitch and spend some time during the week to put our own spin on it... different threads, different sizes, some with beads and some without... maybe we'll turn it upside down and backwards... but the key is to make it your own... learn it thoroughly and make it stick.

At first I wanted to make a crazy quilt and use the stitches in the making of the quilt; however, I think a sampler format would be a better way to go. Doing a sampler gives me the freedom to concentrate solely on the stitches and what I want to do with them, not their position and purpose in a Crazy Quilt. I also want to be able to refer to the stitches I learn on a continuing basis and the sampler will be the way to make that easy. Allie, of "Works in Progress" has outlined how she will be approaching the challenge and I think I will probably be doing pretty much the same thing. I'll have to find a binder and some document protectors first... I wonder if they come in a smaller size than 8 1/2 x 11? Will have to check.

Anyway... this leads me to another problem... although I will be learning embroidery stitches and their many permutations, I won't be creating anything specific. This is where some more traditional quilting comes in. I've decided to make a quilt for our master bedroom, as well as a complementary wall hanging. I also volunteered (via Debra Spincic) to make a woman's Quilt of Valor . That will be a good start for me during 2007... I'm sure there will be other things that reach out to grab me during the year, but this will do for now.

So... for 2007 I'll be learning many lovely embroidery stitches without the pressure of deciding how, when and where to use them in a Crazy Quilt, I'll be making some much needed quilty additions to my home, I'll be volunteering for a cause that is close to my heart.... and I'll be blogging it all!

2007 should be a good year. ;0)