2019 Finish Along

So here I am at the beginning of a new year, again, sitting with piles of unfinished sewing projects from last year.  I mean well.  I really do.  But things get in the way, you know?  If all I had to do was sit and sew and quilt all day, I …..oh, let's be honest.  Even if all I had to do was sew and quilt all day, I'd still have piles of unfinished stuff I just didn't get around to finishing.

This year, I am making a dedicated effort to finish those projects and use up a bunch of my fabric.  So I can go buy some more fabric!  There are so many new fabrics I want to buy, but I am having a hard time justifying it when I have a sewing room piled with fabric and stuff I haven't made yet.  And books.  And patterns.  And fat quarters are all over the place - on my table, on my ironing board, on the shelves, on the floor!  I think they multiply like rabbits!  Yet, when I go to make a bag or piece a new block, I never have what I want.  So I go buy more.  I need to be a better planner.

I start so many new projects, spontaneously.  I see something on Instagram, or Pinterest, or Facebook, and I immediately have to make one.  Quick - push aside what I am working on.  Start a new project.  I can do 2 things at once, right?  Or 3?  Or maybe I can knit in my spare time in the morning, cross stitch in the afternoon, and sew after dinner until bedtime.  I guess I forget that it takes me at least an hour to figure out where I left off, and what comes next, and by that time I'm ready to call it quits for the day.  

So wish me luck!  I'm challenging myself to do better this year.  I am participating in the 2019 Finish Along, and here are the projects I want to finish in the first quarter of 2019:

I have two of these snowman blocks (the second one is hidden underneath.  They are HUGE.  I have no idea why I made them, but I didn't do a good job on them and they are so old I can't remember when I made them.  It may have been in a previous life.   Did I mention they are HUGE?  The blocks are about 17 X 17 each.  Why did I keep them?  Why did I make them?  Who knows?  But they have been on the bottom of a pile on my ironing board and I am sick of them.  So, I am going to make them into a GIGANTIC SNOWMAN TOTE bag.  I want to cut a lining for them, make some handles, sew it together, and use it to carry my knitting in. 

These are going to be small bags.There are 8 of them cut out and ready to sew together.  I just have to fuse some batting onto them and sew them together.  I was supposed to give them as gifts to the kids at my granddaughter's bus stop at Christmas.  That didn't happen.  Maybe Christmas 2019?  I did finish a couple of them I used as gifts for kids, and I have one finished.  Eight more to go, and I will be all set to fill them with goodies!

And this is a cut out, half sewn, Dottie Angel apron I wanted to make in the fall.  The ties are sticking out from underneath, but that is where I stopped.  I have to make darts, attach the ties, and finish sewing it up.  

So there are the 3 things I want to finish up by the end of March.  Think I can do it?  I might surprise myself!  We shall see.....

Anybody want to join in on the fun?