New Month, New Theme & Dilemmas

I am a woman who likes choices! Never back me into a corner by saying “this one or else”! Happily, WordPress has lots of choices and I have been eyeing this theme for a while. I’m becoming more and more familiar with the blogging business and I wanted something new. Hope you like it. (I am very fond of dots…)

So here it is March 1st and I am feeling like February flew by. My calendar looks even busier this month.

The January to do’s seem like ages ago! I had a class here on Saturday and Peter asked if I had taken the ladies down to the studio and I said “Heavens, no!”. It looks dreadful; perhaps as bad as it did in January when it was on the top of the to do list. One problem is that I have taught several classes lately and the supplies are sitting all over the room. I am guilty of bringing my bags down to the studio and “parking” them. So this week I certainly need to put everything away and definitely vacuum the cat fuzz.

Also, I think I am in the midst of too many projects and I can’t seem to concentrate on one.

• I need to dye some wool for a quilt store and I am worried about getting the color and value that was requested.
• I am going to visit my brother in a few weeks and he wants to learn how to hook a rug, so I have been trying to design a pillow that he will enjoy working on. That also involves  doing some color planning and – oh- then I will have to dye the wool.
• I had a bit of interaction with a local Girl Scout troop about helping with their sewing badge. Seemed like a fun project so I sent them a mock up but then it escalated into many phone calls, many e-mails and Too Much Fuss!
• The quilt stores are working on summer class schedules so I am coming up with ideas and wondering how much I want to schedule.
• And don’t forget all the quilting, hooking, cross stitching projects underway!

I know; this is all not like a 9 to 5 job and believe me, I remember those days. But when you work alone it is very easy to go through a day and not get much checked off the to do list. I find myself darting from project to project – - - when I am hand quilting I think “Oh- I need to make a doctor’s appointment” and I go make it – - – I start to piece a quilt and think “Oh good grief, what are we having for dinner?”. And so it goes.

I’m not alone in my what to do next dilemma! I found Gizmo sitting in the kitchen sink the other day, staring off into space. When I asked him what he was thinking, he said that he was trying to decide whether to pull the towel down into the sink and nap, or lie on his bed in the sun and watch the birds….now those are some decisions!

Perhaps this is the week to remember Peter’s advice: do each project for an hour and see what gets done. While I am quilting I will not stop to check my e-mail. While I am piecing I will not jump up to write a class description. And perhaps I will not spend so much time perusing WordPress themes and looking at other blogs….

(;-D)… just a thought!

Continuing with the Resolutions

I am cleaning the studio, I promise! And while I am doing that, I am always thinking about what’s next, so let’s get into some more interesting resolutions or to-dos. Perhaps just for the month of January? Quilters spend lots of time talking about UFO’s, or unfinished objects. I am the Queen of them! Instead of trying to tackle the whole year and all the projects, I thought I might try a month by month approach, and then revise the next month’s by what I completed in the past month. I had a mental list ready, but then when I was cleaning yesterday, I came across some very old UFO’s. Some went in the trash, and it makes me very sad that I never finished them. I found a few that I do want to finish this year. So here’s what my (revised) list looks like:

• Finish (machine) quilting my hunter’s star quilt, above. I would love to use it when I watch TV at night! Jasmine doesn’t care whether it’s finished or not!
• Warp the big loom and make some Christmas runners. I haven’t woven in forever, so that will be fun.
• Finish (machine) sewing the project,below,which I started in a class I took at the Des Moines AQS show.
• Re do (applique) a square on my beginning sampler class quilt that I dislike so that I can finally finish it.
• Finish my hooked pillow.
• I found this little applique pattern that I designed some years ago and I think was planning a class around it. I still like it and it would be a good class to come after Fanciful Flowers.

Do you see the method to my madness? I have chosen each project by technique; one in each category: *Machine Quilting * Machine Piecing* Hand Applique* Weaving* Rug Hooking* Another thing I kept in mind is that I do these projects at different times of the day. Anything on a sewing machine or the looms is daytime work. Handwork like applique and hooking I usually do at night.

Obviously I will not complete all these projects this month, particularly if I continue to spend so much time learning how to blog, but it’s a start! What are your projects for January???