2023 Planners
Today I’d like to share with you four different planner options you may want to consider to help you meet your quilting goals in 2023. Each has different strengths and meets different needs, but each and every one of these are planners I’ve used in the past (or currently use!) and had success with…and they can help you be more productive this year too!
Note: This post may contain some affiliate links, which means I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post at no additional cost to you. Thank you for supporting Wild Plum Lane!
The Quilter’s Planner
The Quilter’s Planner is the ultimate planner for quilters. Not only is it pretty and super-colorful (both inside and out!), but there are helpful quilting resources, a tip of the week, project planning pages to track progress on WIPs, goal setting pages, and more. I simply love it.
Another great feature of the Quilter’s Planner is that you get to customize it! First choice is the cover design, second choice is between Sunday start or Monday start, and then you get to choose the layout of your weekly pages. You can have the days shown vertically (for more time-oriented tasks) or horizontally (which offers more space to write), or go with a more flexible approach with the graph paper or dot grid options…because who knows where your creativity will take you each week?!
If you aren’t in need of a full planner but would like a way to keep detailed track of your projects, you may want to consider a Quilter’s Planner Design Book. Similar to the Quilter’s Planner in terms of the project planning and goal setting features but without the dated pages, you can use the Design Book for as long as you have blank pages to fill (but knowing how many ideas you all have, I can’t imagine they would stay blank for long)! It is a great way to keep track of your current and future projects.
Use code wildplum for 10% off through the end of January 2023!
Day Designer
I looooove the pretty covers on Day Designer’s planners, and used their daily planner for years. The cover is beautiful, and the layout inside the pages is very functional but pretty. Not colorful, but pretty in a cool design-y sort of way!
The daily planners come in two different sizes - Original (9” wide x 9.75” tall x 1.5" depth) and Mini (6.625” wide x 8.3” tall x 1.5" depth) to make it easier to carry around with you. I had the Original, and while it was a LOT to carry around sometimes, it gave me plenty of space to write and plan, and was 100% worth it!
If a daily planner isn’t your thing and you’d rather have weekly spreads, Day Design has you covered there too. Weekly planners also come in both the Original (9″ wide x 9.75″ tall x depth: 1.25") and Mini (6.625" wide x 8.3" tall x 1.25" depth) sizes offering a great chance to see at-a-glance everything that’s coming your way that week.
One of my favorite things about Day Designer is their free downloads - you can try out their planning, goal-setting, and habit-tracker pages before you purchase your planner to see if you like them. Check those out here.
Use code code WILDPLUMLANE10 for 10% off sitewide through the end of March 2023.
The Full Focus Planner
While a bit more “spare” in terms of design, the Full Focus Planner packs a wallop of useful space to plan, dream, and do.
First, I love that the planner comes in 3-month sections. Overall it is more expensive this way, but you also don’t have to carry a brick around in your bag (and can test it out for three months to see if you like it before committing to a full year). The beginning of the planner has a series of helpful tools such as details for planning your annual goals (which you get to revisit to see your progress every three months when you switch to a new book), monthly calendars, a full year look-ahead to plan out upcoming fun that’s on the horizon, and pages to plan out your daily rituals (coffee, anyone?!), your ideal week, and the key projects you have this quarter.
My favorite part of the Full Focus Planner is that there is a section to plan ahead for each week, reflect on the week prior, and create prioritized goals for the week. Sometimes while reflecting on the week prior, it’s super-helpful just to see that there was progress made last week. It’s easy to get lost in the daily tasks and feel forever “behind” if you don’t take a moment to reflect on what was actually accomplished!
In the daily pages you can separate out those weekly goals into daily, do-able tasks. There is a space for your top 3 most-important, must-be-done tasks each day, space to list out additional tasks, a column to fill with your schedule, and another FULL PAGE to write anything else you need. I find that having this much space on a daily basis really helps me brain dump all the things I want/need to do while separating between my life, day job, and quilty fun so there is enough space to keep all of them well-organized.
The major downside to this one? The cover is not very pretty (sorry, if anyone from Full Focus ever reads this). As quilters, we are often drawn to pretty things. You get to choose one neutral color for the cover, and there are no graphics or colors inside to make you smile.
But my friends, there is a solution for this! A workaround is to buy the prettiest stickers you can find (my faves are these from Happy Planner) and spend just a couple moments decorating your daily page. It can be a fun ritual and help you personalize each day as it comes.
I also use these pens and choose a different color each day depending on my mood. Stickers and colorful pens make a huge difference to bring that bit of fun, whimsy, and color into this super-functional planner!
The 2023 Quilty Planning Bundle
If you’re looking for something that’s super-simple, easy to transport, and you can use during your busy weeks (and then leave behind when you’re not-so-busy), I’ve prepared a printable PDF bundle with digital, printable planning pages and calendars (available in the Wild Plum Lane Shop) that you can print as needed on your home printer.
The bundle includes the Quilter’s Weekly Planner (also available for free here), a 6-month look-ahead planning sheet, monthly calendars with inspirational quotes and space for goal-setting, and instructions to help you use it all to your best advantage.
The best thing about this option is that it is something you can print as you need it…and you don’t have to carry around an entire series of months or even a full year in your bag (because if you’re like me, your planner goes EVERYWHERE with you). Just print the sheets you need and tuck them inside!
Use code 2023PLANNING at checkout for 50% off the Quilty Planning Bundle through the end of January!
So…what do I recommend?
I use a combination of a few things, actually! First, for events - like places I need to be or my children need to be - I use a Google calendar that is shared with my husband.
For my dreaming and ideas, I’m using the printable 2023 Quilty Planning Bundle for long-term planning. The way my brain works, I like to draft out different ideas on sheets (that I can then print out again and start over with, if needed!) before committing my to plans and adding them to my primary planner.
As my main planner for 2023, I will be using the Quilter’s Planner to map out all the ways in which life and quilting happily collide. I just love having all the planning pages and project tracking pages in one place. I ordered the Aqua cover, Monday start, and Horizontal layout…I find that it provides enough structure for me while providing plenty of room to write everything that’s needed daily!
Each week, I transfer the events from my Google calendar and Quilty Planning Bundle pages into my Quilter’s Planner, making sure to include any family activities, vacations, personal priorities, or appointments. This step really helps to visualize how much time is available to take care of everything, while making sure there is plenty of time for quilting too!
Your turn!
Now comes the fun (but sometimes challenging!) part where you get to choose the right one for YOU!
There are so many great options out there, but seriously…don’t stress about it. You really can’t go wrong with any planner. Maybe you’ll fall in love with one of these, or maybe you like a different planner entirely. Whatever you choose will be great, because all of them will help you be more productive.
Let’s start using our planners today so we can get those quilts out of your WIP pile and into the world to keep someone warm and snuggly!
Happy planning!
