Have you seen the episode of The Office where Jim sends Dwight faxes from “future Dwight”? I have a note from my future self. She’s kindly listed out the WIPs I’ll be scrambling to finish at the end of this year.

So thoughtful, right?

I’ve been working on my resolution to get organized this week. The first day was frightening for everyone. My husband walked into the room and all he could say was “whoa” as he backed away slowly. My little Moosey, who has his own bed in pretty much every room of the house because he likes laying down and being with people, kept looking at me like this:

His bed was buried behind a sewing room explosion and everything he laid on kept getting moved into a new,  [supposedly] better organized pile. After three days of this chaos, we’re all ready to finish up so I can get back to sewing. There are some super late bee blocks waiting in my inbox that I plan to tackle tonight.

I seriously underestimated how little time  I would have this holiday season. My WIP list is decidedly unimpressive, and none of my excuses are very good.

1. Love Panes quilt {binding}
2. Plume Charms quilt {quilting + binding}
[adding hand quilting]
3. Fussy Cut Bee {piece top}
4. Modern Siggy Swap 2 {piece top}
[ran out of white sashing. worst excuse ever.]
5. Wonderland in Aqua {make backing + baste}
6. Gridlock: Summer Palette {make backing + baste}
7. Happy Campers {piece top}
[my heart wasn't in this one. I fell out of like with the fabric and can't get motivated to touch it.]
8. Red + Aqua Strings {make backing + baste}
[all of my safety pins were otherwise occupied]
9. Far, Far, Away 2 plum {piece top}
[see below for the excuse]
10. Evangeline in Paris {complete all cutting}
[No excuses, but wanted to mention that I'm liking my test block more now that I read some feedback comments. Thanks!]
11. Black, White, and Aqua {piece top}

6/11 completed. I sort of sabotaged myself with number 9, the Far Far Away quilt.  In my head, the layout was going to be a simple boho design with lots of over-sized, irregular patches but when it came time to cut the fabric, those princesses wanted to be something else entirely. I’ll share a photo once I finish another block or two.

So how do you do on the challenge? I’ll be perusing blogs and comments to find the winner tomorrow. I’m thinking of a couple of options for a prize (one of them is a Sherbet Pips charm pack!).

Now on to my resolutions for 2011.

No more squares. Square quilts can be cool, and I’ve made my fair share of them. They’re attractive to beginners and they’re very popular all over the modern quilting blogosphere, but I’m starting to find them a little boring. I want to challenge myself with more complicated piecing in 2011.

Use that fabric! My fabric stash is constantly growing, and I’m almost to the point where I look at it and wonder what the point is. There’s no way I can ever keep up at the rate I’m hoarding it. I’d have to make a quilt a week. I attempted to guesstimate the yardage, but when it got well into the triple digits I gave up. This resolution is twofold – to not only use the fabric I’m stashing away at an alarming rate, but to also cut back on new purchases. I’m limiting myself to a yard a week (or $10). That means that if I need backing, I have to hold out for 4 or 5 weeks to buy it. Any monies not spent will be added to my fabric piggy bank.

Branch Out. Before quilting infected my brain, I loved to embroider. I knit and crochet (very little) as well, but I never do any of those things because the quilting fever has got me bad. I’m going to make an effort to do more tactile arts this year. My wonderful parents gifted me with this gorgeous kit at Christmas and it combines quilting with embroidery so it’s a good start.

Get Organized. This means you scrap basket! My scraps and WIPs are overwhelming but I already have them organized in my head. Isn’t that half the battle?

There were so many unexpected blessings in my life in 2010, and I know that 2011 will also be full of happy surprises. I hope your new year is as well.