My Quilt WIP Stocktake 2025 - Learn to Love Your WIPs Again!

It's January 2025 and I am back at work after a 3 week break. Happy New Year! I always find this time of year tricky, do you? I have my kids home for summer break. The lack of routine that we so lovingly embraced before Christmas now feels like a curse. I don't remember the last time I was alone, and if I could just get some time alone, I could probably think up a pretty good routine to see us out till the end of summer, happy and engaged, but instead, I will keep juggling work and family poorly, letting each day spill out into the next, and saying yes, again, when my 10 year old asks if she can play Hogwarts Legacy.

This summer, however, I have one saving grace. My husband, generous and thoughtful, and aware that his work doesn't allow him to share the summer parenting as easily as mine, is taking the 2 of the kids to his parent's house next week where they can have a beach holiday, and he can work from home up there. Hurray! It's not quite the same as taking all three kids away, but my middle girl wanted to stay home to work and save money, so I'll have a considerably quieter week than the noisy, bustling summer of the last several weeks.

So between trips to the local pool and policing screen time and catching up on email, I've been making lists, and piles of quilts, and more lists of things I really want to get done while they're away.

I have a plan for this year. One I'm pretty excited about. But I just can't quite make myself dive in until I get my quilt WIPs (works in progress) in order. It's starting to be a bit of a recurring theme for my Januarys. I push through the final pattern launch of the year, the kids break for the summer, and I leave everything unfinished and untidy, waiting for me until now to wade through before I can start anything fun and new. There are probably things I could do to make it easier on myself, and maybe I'll think about that next December, but for now, I'm motivated to try and tidy up the mess and close a few (ahem, many) projects left open at the end of last year. 

That means it's time for a WIP Stocktake! This week I've been going through my quilt WIPs, taking note of where they're up to, what, if anything, has made them stuck, and what I need to do next. My goal is to journal here about each of them over the coming weeks. I'm hoping that documenting them and processing some of the roadblocks in writing will help me clear out my head and my WIP cupboard ready for a new year. And when I say 'clear out', I don't mean everything finished before I can move on. I just mean that things are in order and understood. I've learned over the years that I need to focus and push through a bunch of WIPs a couple of times a year so that I can make space in my brain for new things.

I plan to focus most of my attention on finishing the 10 quilts that are basted, some quilted, and ready to trim and bind. This feels a little tricky because my sewing machine is in for repair, and the repair guy is on holidays until the end of January. I've been slowly hand quilting the pile rather than whipping them through my machine, and I've borrowed my mum's machine for binding. I think finishing these quilts will be just what I need to make space for new projects, but I'm happy to keep going and delay new things if I still feel crowded with WIPs. I also know that if I just take the time to make some decisions about quilts that are stuck, and prepare the next step, progress will be smooth and easy when I want to pick them up throughout the year.

Here's my January '25 WIP Stocktake:

How are your quilt WIPs treating you? Do they sneer or whine? Are they smothered under several layers of Christmas mess? Is it time to bring them out into the light and make some decisions you've been putting off until the right time? Or maybe you need to set aside an afternoon, take over the dining table, and finally finish that quilt that's been waiting for space and concentration. 

Let me email you my WIP Tracking Toolkit, complete with 5 different ways to sort your WIPs, give them attention, get a birds-eye view of your projects, and set up easy future progress. Enter your email below and I'll send it to you! It will help you love your WIPs again.