A quilty year?

I had big quilting plans for 2008. After all, in October of 07' I made this quilt to my satisfaction and without much difficultly.

(my first quilt)

I got very excited at the idea of becoming a quilter and really thought that a year and a few months later I'd have some real quilting experience, not to mention some finished quilts, under my belt.

Um. Nope.

But I DID make three small lap quilts for Christmas 08...

(Scott & Jackie w/their quilts) (Shea's quilt)

and I ALSO completed the quilt top that I started in a Nov. 07' class...

And there was that block of the month group that I joined but only half way participated in.

So I accomplished a little here and there but overall, 2008 was not a very quilty year for me.

So I'm calling it here and now. 2009 will be my quilty year.

I have plenty of books and magazines to get me going. I have a box of fat quarters and stack of fabric waiting to be made into a quilt. I even have about six blocks started for a scrap quilt. I am ahead of the game, right?

I've come across a few blogs that I can turn to for inspiration in my year of quiltiness. Many of these blogs feature other crafty goodness as well. Blogs such as:

• Happy Zombie
• Crazy Mom Quilts
• Melly & Me
• Tallgrass Prairie Studios
• Bad Gal Quilts
• Anyone Can Quilt

I'm sure there are many more out there to be discovered. I'd love to hear about them!

See? I've got a good start. In addition to the bloggy inspiration, I've joined Block of the Month again. This time, I got wise and chose the 1930's fabrics that I kicked myself for not going with last year. Not only have I completed the first block waaaay ahead of the deadline, I've finished my entire set of setting blocks for the first quarter. WooHoo!

I think the reason I never got into BOTM last year was that I SO disliked the civil war repros that I used. Which is weird because I loved using them in Shea's quilt(pictured above) but surrounded with off white fabrics, they made me want to strangle myself. THIS(though the colors appear washed out by my flash) makes me much happier!
Having Mom and Jackie join me for BOTM this year has also upped the enthusiasm. The three of us go to BOTM together, head out for a late breakfast/early lunch after and head to my house to work on our blocks together. Fun!

OK, I'm ready to get my quilt on!