Welcome 2018!

Last week I shared a review of the year with my "Best Of" list and as 2017 rolls out and I consider what some goals for 2018 might be (as I veg on the couch because of a cold that has whooped on me), here is what I have considered...

Quilting Projects - 

Two commissioned baby quilts for a special friend that excited to become a Great-Grandma. One will feature Eeyore... details on the second one is to be determined.







Three commissioned t-shirt quilts for the children of another dear friend - her twin boys will be graduating from High School and her oldest daughter, who graduated with her Bachelor's degree and will soon be starting a new adventure in a new state.

A Baby's first year quilt for our youngest grand-daughter using her various first holiday outfits and monthly onsies.

A few years ago I was gifted some special farm landscape fabric from a friend in Canada that is similar to the landscape of their property.  His wife is a quilter as well and we have exchanged some fabrics over the years... 2018 is the year to turn that fabric into a quilt - my current plan is that is will be a log cabin quilt with the furrow layout representing the furrows found in fields, as shown below.

























And finally, I really plan to finish the Tie/Dresden Plate quilt that I started.

With the recent acquisition of the Babylock Jazz, I would like to take a class on ruler work.  It looks interesting...

Of course, I will be needing a new table for the machine to sit down in... coming soon!

Blog related goals - 

I would love to be able to grow my audience of readers.  I have seen some slow growth in the past two years.  Joining in on Instagram and creating a page for Melva Loves Scraps on facebook have been a large part of this growth...

Plans to implement continued growth include blog weekly posts and participating in more link-ups, blog hops and quilt alongs.  I think I can realistically do the link-ups and hops once a month, without the loss of much time in my studio, affecting my commissioned quilts.

I plan to continue with my series, Quilters Through The Generations, though maybe only monthly rather than weekly.  The frequency of these posts depend greatly on the timing of the interviews and the recommendations or  "leads" for the quilters to be featured.  

Here is where YOU can help!  

Do you know of a family full of quilters??? I would love to interview them and compile their stories and preserve a piece of history with each story of the quilts they made... you just need to encourage them to contact me or give me their contact info (e-mail or phone number would be easiest, but I can certainly mail an interview sheet to them.)

So, there you go... my quilting and blogging goals for 2018.

On the more personal side of life, my focus word for the coming year will be light... Light offers hope.  Light chases away the dark and reveals truth.  Where there is light, there is no room for fear.

Do you have a focus word for the year?  I'd love to hear from you by leaving a comment below...

Happy New Year!

Melva

Linking up with Yvonne at Quilting Jetgirl for her 2018 planning party...  head over there and see what other quilters are planning. :)