Fortunately for me, Amy Ellis (she of Bloggers Quilt Fest fame) has put out a call for quilters to join her in focusing on "Just One Thing" each week.
Much like the monthly and quarterly finish alongs, this will slow it down even more (for those of us that struggle to just get started or stay on track or FOCUS on their INTENTIONS (eh, hem!). Amy's twist is to name Just One Thing you want to get done each week. That doesn't have to be a finish -- it can be moving something along, taking 10 minutes a day to sew on a project, or even just finally picking out the fabrics for a project. This is perfect for me! When the year started, I had mapped out my priorites for each month in order to keep track of my INTENTIONS this year (yes, I think if I keep saying it, maybe I'll finally pay attention to them!),
In my planning calendar, May (as well as the rest of the summer) was supposed to be for getting back to my Quilts of Valor Projects. At the end of last year, I was in discussion with one of the members of my commnity garden who serves on the Executive Board of one of the Building Associations. She has long wanted me to teach a quilt class after seeing one of the journal covers I made when I attended a journalling workshop we held in the garden a few years ago.
She had shown me the draft of the application for a grant she planned to apply for to help fund the class supplies so it could be offered for free. Taking a look at the application requirements for the types of events that can be funded, I realized it was also a perfect potential funding source for an idea I've long had for starting an annual Quilts of Valor drive in our community.
However, first I wanted to approach the local VFW about awarding some quilts this year during their annual Veterans Day ceremonies in November. Depending on how open they are to the idea and if I could get their support in promoting a bigger event in the future, I would then work on planning a larger sew-in event for next year.
I already have two tops made (which can be seen here and here) but wanted to make a third one and get all three quilted by September which is when I would reach out to the group to gauge their interest and if intrigued I could then work on applying for the grant at the end of the year for submission next January.
My One Goal for last week was to pick out the third project from the rather large stash of ideas for Quilts of Valor that I have accumulated:
Yeah, that's a pretty big pile of ideas! Before I even got deep into the pile, I managed to find seven right off the bat that interested me either in terms of the techniques to make them or that I already had some fabric to start them off with.
This week's challenge is to make the final choice. I'm hoping to pick something relatively easy. While I'd love to get a top done by the end of the month, I'm guessing getting the piecing started by month's end might be a more realistic and probable goal. That's it! Well not really: I also need to (again) clean off my sewing and cutting tables just in case I actually might want to, uh, sew! But the focus is picking the project. However, I'm sure if I can get that going, other good things will happen along the way too.
Amy is running this primarily through Instagram but says you can email your submissions in too. I've long stayed away from social media but always enjoyed particpating in and viewing Amy's twice a year Bloggers Quilt Fest. She moved the Spring edition of that to Instagram three years ago so maybe this is just the thing to entice me to try that platform. If you want to check out this year's edition that was held back in March, check out the links for it here. I've already caved on setting up a Pinterest account, so why not go whole hog? Well, we'll see if that happens. Right now, it's more important to get this project selected!
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