Feeling...Pink?

Turns out I'm on more of a pink kick than I previously expected.  I've decided to work with my Peach-Coral-Orange color palette for two projects this year.  So far I've had two iterations of this palette.  The first one lacked a serious amount of oomph for me.  It was more heavily weighted in the peaches and soft pinks.

So after some rework I pulled in some additional corals and oranges and am very happy with the final results.

I always try to make sure to photograph my fabrics in B&W so that I can be sure of the value weighting of my fabrics as well as color.

The first project I'm working in these colors is the 2014 Aurifil Block of the Month.  You can find the monthly posted FREE patterns linked to on the Aurifil Flikr Page.  You may remember I posted about a low volume version of this block last week, but to be honest, the colors weren't singing to me and I wasn't really excited about working with all low volume for the remainder of 2014.  So I changed it up and made a new block.

Sorry for the dark picture.  I finished this one Friday night and didn't have a chance to get another good picture of it in the daylight.  I'm much happier with this version of the block.  I won't be using a consistent background fabric for these block either.  Each one will be a little different.

The second project I'm working on for 2014 is the Sugar Block Club.  This is a PAID block of the month club (only $7.95 for the year).  Each month Amy Gibson of Stichery Dickery Dock sends a block pattern to your inbox along with a delicious recipe for something sweet.  January's recipe was Hearty Pumpkin Pancakes.

I'm so happy with how this block came out.  Similar to the Aurifil blocks, these will not have a consistent background fabric.  Each block will be a blend of the Peach-Coral-Orange palette.

New in 2014 is the inclusion of a "beyond the block" personal challenge.  For January, Amy challenged us to BE INTENTIONAL.  One of the ways she encourages this is through the making of a list of intentional goals for the year.  So here goes:

I want to be a more active member of the quilting community.  My dream would be to make a living from quilting (my husband tells me I'm crazy for thinking it).  But I believe that with enough prayer and determination I can do anything I set my mind to.  So my first goal is related to this.

I will continue to post on this blog; if not daily than at least once a week.  

I will share my quilt-related adventures with anyone who cares to read about 

them and hopefully a lot about myself along the way.

Another thing that is very important to me is my health.  I won't go into detail but over the years I've had several major sports related injuries.  I went from an active 4 season athlete to a sedentary bystander very quickly during the recovery phase of each of these injuries and managed to gain a significant amount of weight each time.  At this point in my life, it's begun to negatively impact my health so I've decided to make some changes.

I will workout (either walking at lunch or going to the gym) at least three 

times per week in 2014.  My health is that important to me.

So there you have it.  Some quilt blocks and some goals.  Do you have specific goals for 2014?  Share them in the comments if you like.

Happy Quilting.