New year, new planner options (for quilters)

Hello everyone and Happy New Year! I hope 2025 is starting off splendidly for you. I love the idea of a blank slate when I look at the year ahead. Of course it’s not totally blank, but it hasn’t been overloaded (yet) with plans and commitments. This is when I explore new planner options for quilters. I know, I’m a little late to the game; but, I have some great ideas to share with you!

I have a love/hate relationship with planners. I start off the year all enthusiastic and then by April I’ve barely opened the darn thing. At that point, it’s a constant guilt trip every time I see it on my desk. I really want to be an organized, planner-person. You know, the one with the nice planner stack, color-coded pens, cute stickers and perfect handwriting. I have most of those things, but I don’t have the commitment.

If you’re like me, and just now getting around to finding the “perfect” planner, then you’ll love reading about these new planner options specifically for quilters. At the end, you’ll find tips for using a planner and staying organized. True confession – I wrote that section in 2018 when I was in a rare organizational phase!

Note: this is not a sponsored blog post. No affiliate links are used.

The Life + Quilts Planner

I think a better alternative for me is a “print as you go” planner. I recently found The Life + Quilts Planner from Wild Plum Lane. This is an undated digital file that lets you print only the pages that you need as you need them. (There is a preprinted option as well). I’m hoping this will work better for my lifestyle (aka lack of planning commitment).

I love that The Life + Quilts Planner has options for daily, weekly and monthly pages. The Daily pages are divided into Work, Life/Personal and Quilting sections. So handy to have all three in one place! There are also bonus pages including a “My WIP Inventory”, Quarterly Reviews and Favorites List.

Below, you can see an example of my monthly page, a daily page and “My Quilty Fun This Week”. That last one is a free download that you can get from Wild Plum Lane here. This is a great way to plan your quilting week!

The Quilters Planner

The Quilter’s Planner is a gorgeous planner that is loaded with useful content and resources specifically for quilters. There are personal and quilting to-do lists, a project planning section, graph paper, and quilt block patterns. There are lots of cover options as well as layout options.

I used this planner for three years and it was such a visually beautiful and inspiring planner. The problem wasn’t the planner. It was me. I didn’t get the maximum benefit from having such a useful planner for quilters. You can read about how I stayed organized with my Quilter’s Planner here. Below is a photo of my planner in action (2018).

Blue Sky Planners

Last year I tried out a Blue Sky Planner. There are so many options with these planners. You choose the size, the cover design, and the format. I had a weekly format and it had plenty of room to write in my to-do’s, schedule, notes, and goals.

Although this isn’t a planner specifically for creatives, I feel like it has enough flexibility without too much “extra fluff”. If you’re looking for something basic but nice with plenty of customization, this might be a good option for you.

Tips for using a planner & keeping your creative life organized

• Whatever planner you choose, make sure you love the design.  It’s going to be with you for an entire year!
• The inside layout should work with your personal flow.  Do you like a weekly layout or is a daily planning page more your style?
• Start by filling in all of the monthly important dates such as birthdays, appointments and vacation time.
• Write down any goals you have for the month or year.  Maybe you want to finish one UFO each month or get in the habit of drinking 6 glasses of water every day.  Whatever it is, make sure it’s specific and attainable.

• If you schedule it, it’s more likely to get done! That includes errands, sewing time, “me” time and all the little things in between.
• Make a daily “to do” list and stick to it! Try writing down three things that you need (want) to get done. Your list can be longer, but start with three priorities. Once those are checked off, you can breathe a little deeper.
• Keep important notes in your planner. If you have a notes section, use it to write down things that you don’t want to forget or lose in the paper clutter.
• Keep a list of ongoing projects and what stage they’re in.  Update it monthly.  It’s nice to keep track of where things are.  Maybe you forgot about that table runner you started in May!  Or maybe you’ll realize that you shouldn’t start any new projects until you finished a few!  Now that’s no fun.
• Don’t stress about keeping it pretty or keeping it full.  Use it to your advantage and in a way that’s doable and comfortable for you.
• Schedule a weekly planner session. This would ideally happen on Sundays and only take about 10 minutes.  Make sure your monthly calendar is up to date and then transfer any important dates or appointments to your daily/weekly page.  Then add anything else coming up that’s important or you want to get done.  This helps keep you on track and you’re able to see the week ahead more clearly.

---

I’m sure most of you are ahead of me on your new year planning strategies. If you’re still looking for a new planner that is perfect for quilters, I hope this information is helpful. You might also enjoy reading How to organize quilt projects to get your year started off on the right foot!

Happy (belated) New Year!