I’ve been trying to make tiny goals this month. I really love big goals. Oh man, remember those? The last few years have an included interstate move, a book, building our first house. And now?

I’m luck really. After building the house, we didn’t really have the next big thing planned, so we didn’t have any wonderful plans cancelled with the pandemic. But I’m definitely the kind of person who thrives on having a big thing I’m working towards. And I don’t know if this is just the hazy settling time that always happens when you finish a big goal, or if it’s just that my brain is too overwhelmed to come up with the next thing, but gosh, I feel like I’m drifting! I’m guessing I’m not alone?

Our second lockdown here in Victoria, Australia was one of those rude awakenings that this is our life for the foreseeable future. There’s no winning and moving on in a few months like we all thought. There’s only waiting, holding tight, staying home. But even known uncertainty is a kind of certainty.

So this weekend, I asked myself a question. If this is my rest of the year, what will I be glad I’ve done by December? I also gave myself some rules. They had to be things I could do here, at my house, on my own, with the kids around. New quilt patterns require Tim’s help, so while I can make some loose plans, they can get derailed based on his work and our combined energy. A launch or a fun idea can suddenly be bad taste or bad timing if further huge tragedies hit the news. But what can I do? For me? Here?

And so I’ve made a simple list:

I want to photograph and blog my recent finished quilts each week
I want to finish the quilts that are remakes of kits I already have in the shop by Black Friday

I’ve even dramatically shrunk my photo expectations for the first goal. A few ladder shots and a few floor shots. That’s it. That way I don’t have things like needing a quilt holder, good weather, and an interesting new location to get in the way of my goal. For years, I’ve felt like next time I take photos, I’ll defintely dust off the DSLR, and find an SD card for it. And then the ‘next time’ never happens! For the rest of the year, I’m keeping things super simple. I’m trying to stick to a guiding question: What can I do here, now, with what I have?

And so, my first quilt to show you, in my house, with my quilt ladder and phone camera, is Rosemallow. She’s one of the patterns in my Hexie Handbook, an ebook with 15 hexie blocks and 18 quilt patterns, and I have to say, this one’s my favourite so far. Every time I make scrappy quilts, I remember how I love them the most, no matter how simple the design. I went through my stash looking for flowers and fun novelty prints for the centre hexagons first, and then I went through my scrap tubs finding fabric for the half hexie borders. About half way through bordering my hexagons, I decided my scrap borders were too busy, and so from then on, I chose super basic prints from my stash to complete the rest. Love, love, love.

Get the hexie handbook here!

Some quilts, once finished get folded up and put straight on the shelf, but the fun scrappy ones, with lots of little pictures to find, immediately become part of the furniture, used in games and indoor picnics and morning snuggles. That’s the double win about a scrappy quilt. So often my attention is on the making part. But once the quilt is finally finished, it gets a whole new chapter. I think Rosemallow took me about 8 months to stitch (in amongst other quilts), and then another 8 to finally getting around to adding in the edge bits and basting it! It feels so good to have gotten it across those final hurdles. Turns out just finishing a quilt in a pandemic is a pretty big goal!

You can find the pattern here, and the paper shape bundle here!

Rosemallow Quilt Finish!