Finishing The Gift of Sensitivity was much harder than I expected. When I decided last February to focus on it in 2025, I didn’t realized it would actually reduce my productivity. Giving myself a deadline usually helps me to finish things, but in this instance it also caused some problems.
As I’ve mentioned before, my studio is full of works-in-progress. In 2023, I identified 76 unfinished projects only to discover later that I had missed some. I have been pushing to finish more things ever since.
Choosing a project of the year seemed like a smart idea given my enormous projects. However, the work I did could probably have been done in a couple of months, instead of the ten I gave myself. Given the way my year went — I spent four months total traveling or sick — I am grateful that I hadn’t been more ambitious.
The unexpected side effect of my deadline was that, when I had time to make something, I felt like it had to be my chosen project. I wouldn’t let myself do anything else, with the result that I often did nothing at all.
That has me looking at 2026 in a different way. I really want to finish more projects. And I keep coming up with more things I want to make. So how can I make progress without handicapping myself in the process?
By swapping “project of the year” with “project of the month” (POM).
I got this idea from The Quilted Forest’s annual challenge. Shelley Robson picks twelve projects. Some are nearly done, some not started at all. Some are big, some tiny. They are all things she wants to work on. The goal is to make some progress. She works on one randomly chosen project a month.
I realized this might fit my work style better. Finishing in a month is unlikely for many of my projects but switching between them could keep me from getting bored. I’ve decided that if I’m not feeling excited about my POM, I only have to work on it once each week, then I can do something else. That way I will make at least a little progress on the POM without resenting it.
I decided to try the POM challenge right after I finished The Gift of Sensitivity. The hard part of making my list was limiting it to twelve. I tried to include a variety of projects but most of them turned out to be sewing-related.
Of course, I’m already breaking the rules. My January project is my advent calendar LNK, which I put at position four on my list because I knew Robson had pulled that number for this month. Also, I’m trying to finish it even though the goal it just to make progress. I have been working rather obsessively and while it’s been a ton of work, I am nearly done.
I hope to follow Robson’s draws for the rest of the year, but I am giving myself permission not to. I have at least one project that has to happen before some of the others. Also, I may choose to work on smaller projects during months I know I won’t have as much time.
Will this work? Only time will tell. But I’m optimistic that it will at least be an improvement over choosing a project for the year.
Next week: my project list in detail.
Lists work for me, and I feel like I’ve accomplished something when I can cross something off, after completing it.
Your candy cane looks so real!
I guess this really is just making a prioritized list. The fact is, I keep forgetting what I have in the hopper!
The candy cane ornaments turned out to be some of my favorites!