Quilty Bucket List: The Magnificent Seven

When Stacey asked me to be a part of her Quilty Bucket List Blog Hop, I was so pleased to be a part of such a fantastic idea. It's really easy to add new ideas to my Pinterest boards and spot new patterns that I want to try, but I don't always follow up on these the way I should. Making and keeping a definite list helps me to remember the projects that I most want to tackle. This is so helpful when you're between projects or looking for a long term project to occupy you for several months. I made myself a starter list last week from the first ideas that popped into my mind...

1. a sampler style quilt: I haven't decided yet exactly what this is going to be, but I have a soft spot for quilts like the Farmer's Wife Sampler, Dear Jane Sampler, City Sampler, Gypsy Wife Quilt, etc. Either I'm going to follow a pattern or try to get creative on my own, but I like the idea of making one of these beauties. I feel like I got a little taste of that with my Heather Ross improv quilts last year (one of which is pictured above), but I'd like to go bigger next time.

2. a solids quilt: though I'm normally drawn to prints, I really love the look of quilts that are made entirely from solids. I purchased the stack you see above from Pink Chalk Fabrics a few months back (you can purchase one of your own right here), and I'm determined to turn it into a quilt.

3. a linen quilt: I have a fairly large linen stash, most of which is used to make bags and pouches. I'd love to put some of these into a quilt.

4. a voile quilt: I've been holding on to this stack of voile prints since last summer, but I haven't yet found the right pattern. These are too beautiful to stay in the cabinet much longer. I need to start doing some serious research in this department.

5. clothes: I've gotten so close to making clothes several times, and something always comes up to drag me away from my goal. This is the year -- I've promised myself! I'm going to make something for either myself or the girls to wear in 2014. There are some great ideas in Heather Ross's beautiful book Weekend Sewing that I'd love to try.

6. a free motion quilting project: I've been wanting to work on my (basically nonexistent) free motion quilting skills for a long time. Last year I bought Angela Walters' wildly popular book on the subject, and I'm excited to start practicing this in the months ahead so that I can actually use it on one of my quilts.

7. make one project from each of my sewing books: I have a lot of sewing books on my shelf, but sadly I don't always get around to actually making projects from their gorgeous pages. I'm hoping to go through this stack and make at least one project out of each book in the coming year.

There are more ideas already tugging at the edges of my mind, but I've decided that I don't want to make this list too long. A really long list can be just as unproductive as no list at all, in my experience. All those numbers run together and either look like too much work or too hard a decision to make about where to start. So I've decided to permanently christen my bucket list as "The Magnificent Seven" (yes, I do love that movie) and leave it at that. If an item gets crossed off my list, then I get the fun of picking another item to take its place. In the long run, I think doing it this way will make me far more likely to actually work on these projects instead of just watching them taunt me from a clipboard hanging on the wall.

So what's on your list? What are the projects that you've been dying to pull off your Pinterest board and bring into your own sewing room? Over the next month, we'd love it if you would share your list -- and maybe even a finished project or two! -- with all of us. You can join the Quilty Bucket List link-up all during the month of March through Stacey's blog hop kickoff post here or by simply clicking on the link below:

An InLinkz Link-up

We'd love to see your lists and projects on Instagram too! Just be sure to add the hashtag #quiltybucketlist to your photos. Other bloggers will be sharing their own Quilty Bucket Lists with you every Monday. Take a look at this lineup...

March 3 

Fabric Mutt

Sew at Home Mummy

March 10

Freshly Pieced

The Sewing Chick

March 17 

Molli Sparkles

Don’t Call Me Betsy

March 24

A Quilter’s Table

modernbiasblog

Thanks so much to Stacey for hosting such a wonderfully encouraging event. I can't wait to see what we all make! It takes literally five to ten minutes to draw up a list of your own. What do you want to sew?