2018 Planning Party

After reviewing 2017, it's now time to plan 2018. Thanks to JETgirl for hosting this party!

I was very ambitious in my planning during 2017 and really hope to learn from this.

When I said that I was tired in my last post, I wasn't kidding. Thank goodness that I'm able to take 5 weeks off work, from the end of December to the end of January. The beginning of January will be spent on a vacation while the rest of January is for relaxing. I had booked an in-town retreat with my guild, but I even cancelled that! No plans, just rest :-)

Needless to say, that's going to affect my quilting and blogging plans.

So, having learned from 2017, these are just projects and learning that I would like to pursue in 2018. There is no pressure and no big over-arching plan.

2018

Possible Quilt Alongs

I've committed to participating in Alida's Starry Bright Sky QAL. It looks like it will be challenging but since it's once a month, I hope that I'll be able to manage it. I love stars and I love learning new techniques, so this sounds like a good fit.

I've also been admiring the Block of the Month Series presented by Bernina. It started in March 2017 and seems to be going for a few more months. I fell in love with the quilt, or probably more precisely, with the fabrics and amazing colours.

Bernina's Block of the Month Series

Beautiful fabrics from Studio 39 Fabric

Since I was the lucky winner of a $25 gift certificate from Studio 39 Fabrics during the 2017 Q3 Finish-A-Long, I invested in some Alison Glass fabric as well as other matching fabric.

Thanks to the hosts of 2017 Finish-A-Long and Studio 39 Fabrics. I'm really thrilled to have found another Canadian online shop!

I'm already several months behind, so there is really no stress to make it on any schedule. The blocks are quite large and don't seem very complex, so I'm really looking forward to making it....eventually. Now I just have to pick up some background fabric and I'll be ready to go.

Learning Quilt-A-Long

The end of the Learning Quilt-A-Long

I hosted the Learning Quilt-A-Long from August to December. It was a lot of fun, but very few people have linked up. I've decided to stop this event, after the December Learning Sum Up. I learned a lot and made some neat projects that I'll keep working on.

I would love to host some kind of link-up but I haven't decided on a theme. I know that I don't have the time or energy to host a link-up every week, so I'm going to have to think about it.

If you have any ideas about an event or a link-up that could be fun, please let me know :-)

Update my blog

I've learned so much about blogging by reading and seeing other bloggers' work. I've got a few ideas for updating my blog this year. It doesn't need a complete make-over, just a few tweaks, a little at a time! I have already started by creating a 2017 Finishes page using Inlinkz. Eventually I'd like to have a page for every year that I've blogged.

You may also have noticed a new Featured Post widget at the top of my blog. I'm hoping, from time to time, to highlight an older interesting post that might be relevant.

Gaïa, Mother Earth

Art Quilts

I have no doubt that if Alida hosts another Art with Fabric Blog Hop, that I will participate.

I also want to keep working on my art quilts. This year, it's the Common Threads Quilt Guild's turn to host the quilt show in May. The good thing is that many of my Art with Fabric quilts were made since our last quilt show two years ago, so I could just enter those. It's great to have a backup plan!

Lone Tree 2

This year, the Out of the Box Fibre Art Group has a challenge. There is a theme as well as a size requirement, but nothing else, so I will have to look into it. We will also host Fibre Fling 7 this year. It would be great to have at least one new piece in there.....we'll see.





I think that it would be wise to leave it at this. I know that I will continue learning this year, even without a quilt along. It might be nice to do it without any pressure (from myself).

A picture from my first post.
Merry Christmas!

This whole post is essentially about what I learned, so I'm going to allow myself to leave it at this :-)

Wishes & Thanks!

I wish you all a great end of 2017, a wonderful Christmas or holiday season and a terrific new year!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my posts. I also appreciate your comments, even if I'm not always good at replying.

Related Links

• Starry Bright Sky QAL, main page
• Block of the Month Series by Bernina
• 2017 Finish-A-Long
• Studio 39 Fabrics
• Best of 2017, December 23, 2017
• 2017 Finishes page
• Art with Fabric: Gaïa, Mother Earth, October 10, 2017
• Lone Tree 2 - Tired or Overachiever?, January 24, 2017
• The First One!, March 27, 2012

Linking Parties: First of all, I will be linking this post to JETgirl's 2018 Planning Party. Check out what everyone is planning! I will also be linking this post to these other parties. Come and see what's happening... Finished or Not Friday, Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?, Linky Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, Midweek Makers, 

A New Look

Since July, I've been learning how to change and design my blog by following

Beautify your Blog

Erin's Beautify your Blog series.

So far, I've learned to:

• create a new page within the blog;
• create and add a header; 
• change my background colour; and
• create and add a navigation bar (or tabs).

You can follow my journey through my Learning and Design blog.

I auditioned many headers for this blog, but since I'm still missing Bandit so much, I decided to use the header that included his photo. I'm sure that eventually I'll be able to let go - but that time hasn't come yet.

For posterity, here is a photo of the Quilting and Learning Blog as it's been since my first post in March 2012.

Original look

Please use my new navigation bar above to check out my "About Moi" page (it's an ongoing project) and my "Learning and Design" blog.

What I've learned:

• There is a lot of work involved in designing and re-designing a blog.
• Creating a test blog to play with is necessary.
• Even transferring your new look from the test blog to the "real" blog can be tricky.
• It's an ongoing project...
• I LOVE IT!!!!! Not bad for a non-techie :-)