2025 Habits: February Update

Click HERE or on the image to watch the video for this blog.

How It Begun:

I decided in December 2023 and the beginning of January to change some things in my quilting life that just weren’t working for me. After evaluating the good, bad, and ugly, I came up with my top five habits I wanted to implement in 2024. If you want to check out those videos, here’s the 2024 Quilting Habit Goals playlist.

Since 2024 was so successful, I am continuing this series in 2025! Each month I will update you on my progress. If you would like to follow along and create your own goals, I have a worksheet to help you. You can download this free worksheet HERE.

I will also offer a worksheet for each month, too. You can find February’s habit worksheet HERE. These videos and blogs have helped keep my accountable. After all, I know I will be reporting to all of YOU on this, and I don’t want to let you down. I highly recommend having someone to keep you accountable, if not in a public way like I am doing, then in a group of friends. It helps me so much!

February Highlights

It has been a slow month as I am recovering from a pinched nerve in my shoulder. I did manage to accomplish some things, thank goodness! I took down my sewing room tree (so sad to see it go), we worked on a puzzle, hung out with my best girl Daisy, organized my fabric and even tried my hand at wool appliqué.

February Update: How Did I Do?

Now that it is the first week of February , I am going to evaluate how I did in the past month by giving myself a score and where I did well and where I need to improve. Since I am a former teacher, I am going to stick with what I know, using the terms Glow (where I did well) and Grow (where I need improvement).

Goal 1: No Home Zone

Score: 2/5

I must admit—I didn’t do well at this at all! In fact, MORE got piled into the No Home Zone. BUT I have a great excuse, I promise! I am currently revamping my fabric storage system, soooooo I needed a holding spot to keep things while I organize. Like my husband says, “You have to crack some eggs to make some omelettes.” This is me cracking some eggs.

Glow: Taking action to get my fabric organized—yay!

Grow: Maybe I could have done both and found another solution? The important thing is that I don’t let it all sit there, stagnant. I need to get it cleaned up as soon as possible if I want to achieve this goal.

Goal 2: Being Intentional with Quilting-Related Purchases

Score: 5/5

So far, so good on this! I had to order some fabric for an upcoming project (see photo) and I actually ordered it from a small quilt shop on Etsy! YAY! I wanted to make sure I shopped small for this. I also partnered with two American companies are on the small side. One is The Quilt Kit Company. I will be making the Sweet Comfort Quilt Kit in a video coming soon! The other is Splash Fabrics. I am not sure of the parameters of this, but I am sure it will be great! Stay tuned for those videos and more. These were very intentional and aligned with my goals. I also bought some items to organize my scraps (more on this in Goal 3).

Glow: YAY! I did it! One month down!

Grow: I am going to a few quilt shows coming up this spring. I need to stick to this intentional buying thing and avoid impulse buying.

Goal 3: Paring Down My Scraps

Score: 3/5

When I looked at the enormous amount of scraps that I have, I was overwhelmed and not sure where to start. Being a very visual person, I decided I needed to see all of the fabric all together and then cull it out. That’s exactly what I am doing. Although I did donate a lot of fabric to my guild as part of a fundraiser, I know I have much more to donate. First, I need to get it in one place and that’s what I have been working on. I gave myself a 3/5 because I really haven’t been paring down my scraps; rather, going through my scraps. I will do better next month.

Glow: I analyzed and figured out my hang-up. YAY! It is a start.

Grow: I need to actually use, repurpose, or donate scraps.

Goal 4: Getting Out of My Quilting Comfort Zone

Score: 3/5

To be fair to myself, it isn’t like I have been doing much quilting at all with the issues with my shoulder (see Goal #5), but I did take a class that I normally wouldn’t take, That counts, right? I did do one thing that was out of my comfort zone, however. I took a wool appliqué class! Although I can honestly say this isn’t really for me, I am glad I tried it. It was also fun to take an in-person class and to do some hand sewing (what I could) with my quilty friends.

Glow: I took a wool appliqué class. It was fun, but I also learned it wasn’t really for me, which is good, right? Learning what you don’t want to do opens up space to do what you want to do. :)

Grow: I want to start using some of those speciality rulers that I have and never use.

Goal 5: Better Health/More Movement Breaks

Score: 5/5

Honestly, I have spent a lot of time on my couch this month with shoulder pain, but I have been taking some time to sew, especially in the last few weeks. When I do, I set a timer and don’t do any one thing for more than 15-20 minutes. I also bought a harness to help with my posture, I have taken intentional movement breaks, have been stretching and working on a little bit of strength training, and all the healthy goodness I need.

Glow: I am taking the steps I need to get healthy and stay healthy.

Grow: I was walking daily for months, but that has stopped because of the weather and my shoulder pain. I want to start walking regularly again and making sure I am getting some sunshine!

I would love to know how you are doing with your goals! Let me know in the comments.

Happy Quilting,

Kris