Rats!!

In the Chinese zodiac 2020 is the year of the Rat and right now RATS seems appropriate.  I came close to completing my goals for January, but fell short.
I hate excuses, but my January goal to quilt a quilt each week started with a big obstacle.  While working on quilt number one my long arm quilter started skipping huge stitches.  I had to take it in for repairs.  Luckily only my tension and timing needed adjusting, but this caused a two week delay.
Finally mid-January I was ready to rumble.
Despite this set back I accomplished so much in January.  While I was waiting for my long arm repair I made a pillow from scraps of my green and white snowball quilt. Once repaired and back in operation I quilted four quilts and bound all but one. That is one shy of my five quilt goal, but considering I only had about three weeks with working equipment I'll pat myself on the back.

Four quilted quilts from my January challenge

I will post each finished quilt separately.
Reviewing my other goals the Moda blockheads quilt is very close to being finished and my strip quilt challenge for January is pieced and ready for quilting.  I also made a purse with the Bag Babes group.  Not bad.
I'm sticking to my commitment, so no reward for January.  I'll nail my goal next month.
I read that during the Year of the Rat  "not to fear the rat spirit animal because it symbolizes an abundant period that will soon take place".   I was not born in the year of the Rat - I was born in the year of the Horse.  If you believe in zodiac readings my year has started off as predicted.  I read that  "the Year of the Rat will prove troublesome for the Horse.  The promise of fortune from the previous year has passed, and it will be a struggle to get through this one.  Because the Horse and the Rat are not compatible, problems will appear around every corner.  To combat this misfortune, perform good deeds throughout the year, such as community service or random acts of kindness.  Although bad luck is on the horizon, the Rat does bring success to all.  If you get the chance, take it immediately."  This being said, towards the end of January my iron died, a few days ago as I was preparing to blog for January my computer mouse stopped working.    That darn Rat is up to its trick again this month!  Today I got my computer repaired and ordered a new iron (it was actually on sale for $25 for the same T-Fal iron I paid $60 a few years ago and free shipping) so am up and running again.  Evidently ,January was an unlucky month for the horse.
So now for February goals:
I will bind the green and white snowball,  finish piecing the Moda blockhead quilt, there will be a new strip quilt challenge, the midnight stitchers has a block exchange on February 21st (I need to make 60 9-patch blocks to exchange), I will quilt two more quilts and finally catch up on my postings.
The days are getting longer and I'm ready to check these projects off my February to-do list.  Watch out Rat - I'm full of energy and this Horse is on the run.