Quilting Year in Review and 2025 Quilty Goals
As 2024 reaches a close, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what I accomplished on my quilting journey this year and set some quilty goals for the upcoming year. First, let’s take a look at the goals I set for myself at the end of last year.
2024 Goals
This year, I didn’t hit several of my goals, but let’s celebrate progress over perfection. I set several goals for myself this year—all of which are milestones along the way to my ultimate goal: Have quilting pay for itself.
My goals for 2024 were:
Increase pattern sales by 50% (I want to continue to increase pattern sales to hopefully reach the “quilting break even” milestone someday.)
Write 12 blogs this year (I want to both document my quilting journey but also contribute to this community in some way. Hoping I can find a way to do that more in 2024.)
Quilt 2 projects this year (I want to continue to improve my quilting. I’ll do that by quilting my own quilts more.)
Make time to create quilts for myself (Someday I’d like to have a quilt acquired by a museum. I need to make time to focus on my art.)
How did I do?
While I missed my pattern sales target, I did manage to increase pattern sales year-over-year by 0.23%. In 2024, I only released one quilt pattern (Anachrome Quilt) this year, however I also designed block of the month for my guild (Omaha Modern Quilt Guild.
I wrote 4 blogs in 2024 not at all close to the 12 I had hoped to write. The last blog I wrote about fabric organization has been visited a lot though.
I quilted 3 of my quilts this year! Yay! I’m starting to get more comfortable at quilting and at accomplishing consistent stitch lengths.
I spent most of the year working on quilts in my Dialectic series. I’m really excited about the direction my work has taken, and the first in the series was accepted to Quilt National ‘25!
Bonus!
Something I couldn’t have predicted would happen this year but did: I sold two quilts! At QuiltCon in February, Obscure sold to an anonymous buyer. I had two quilts appear in the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts Annual Art Auction: Multitude and Unboxed or I Want Moiré. The later sold to a collector.
2024 Quilt pattern writing
This was my third year as an independent quilt pattern writer. As I’ve shared in past posts like this, it’s important to note that I have a full-time job that provides the income I use to support myself. Overall, I spend thousands of dollars more than I make on quilting. That was true in 2022, 2023 and in 2024. This is an expensive hobby. Even though I sell patterns, the revenue I generate is no where near what I spend to maintain my website, pay for design tools, supplies, services and quilt shows.
When I look solely at my expenses related to pattern writing (website, Etsy fees, software, fabric, pattern testers, etc.) and compare it with the revenue I generated in 2024, I’m in the green by just over $1,800. 🎉 I’m really proud of that. It’s the small things, right? Shuttle continues to be my most popular pattern—I sold just over 150 copies in 2024.
Even though most of my patterns are priced around $13/each, the average sale price for my quilt patterns after sales and discounts was $10.42. The majority of my sales happened on Etsy, and Etsy charges lots of fees. [Note to quilters: If you really want to support a designer or artist, go to their website and buy from them directly if it’s an option.]
2025 Quilty Goals
As I mentioned earlier, my immediate goal is to have quilting pay for itself. I’m a ways a way from this being a reality. Each year I invest several thousand dollars more into quilting than it pays back. But, my sole focus also isn’t the money. I love this community and enjoy having a creative outlet—a place where I can express myself and take time for myself.
I’ve spent the last several years wavering between dedicating my time to quilt pattern design and the quilt shows/art. In 2024, I definitely shifted and spent the majority of my time creating original quilt art. I expect that trend to continue in 2025 — as I’m not sure I’ll release any new patterns this year.
What I hope to achieve in 2025:
Dedicate time to creating original works (Someday I’d like to have a quilt acquired by a museum. I need to make time to focus on my art.)
Quilt 2 projects this year (I want to continue to improve my quilting. I’ll do that my quilting my own quilts more.)
Increase pattern sales by 10% (I want to continue to increase pattern sales to hopefully reach the “quilting break even” milestone someday.)
Sell 2 quilts (In order to support my quilt practice, I want to sell my original work.)
Hope you found this blog helpful in some way and that you’ll continue to support and be part of my quilting journey. Follow me on Instagram or Facebook - like, comment, share. It’s the little things, right?
