Well friends, it’s Monday and that means it’s time to set some goals. Every week I figure out what I really want to prioritize for the week. I keep in mind how much sewing time I’m likely to have and what would be the best use of that time. My goal is always finishing at least one quilt. Setting goals also helps with squirrel syndrome–chasing every shiny object that catches my eye. I love, love, love cutting out new projects and could easily cut a half dozen each week. Judging by the bottomless UFO bins, I’ve done that way too often.
The other thing that helps is to keep my list short. I will typically list 4-5 things. I also try to balance how long it will take to complete each item. For instance, I would not list “Make a Double Wedding Ring Quilt” as one of my items. That would be an almost impossible task and seeing how little progress is being made, it would lead to discouragement. Instead, I will break it down into smaller parts. Weekly goals may be to piece a certain number of blocks, piece blocks into a top or quilt a top. Some tasks may take a few minutes and some require several hours. By mixing it up, there is some feeling of accomplishment each week, even if it is only piecing a few blocks. It is so satisfying to cross things off the list!
One think I know for sure is my attention span is short. For me, the magic is in seeing how blocks or a quilt come together. Do the colors work well? Is it a clever piecing technique? Does a secondary design happen when the blocks are set together. Once I have the answer, I start to lose interest. By alternating a few projects each week, I am able to move forward while keeping my enthusiasm for each. In the end, any progress toward finishing is a win!
So how did I do last week? Progess has been made on the Ombre Stars quilt. My goal was to complete the top. I finished that, got it loaded on the frame and started quilting.
The quilting is fairly simple and I think it will compliment the piecing.
Finishing the little blue floral UFO was on the list. I fixed the mistake but haven’t done any more quilting on it. In hindsight I should have quilted this one before Ombre Stars since this will go faster, but I didn’t so this will wait a little longer.
The third item on last week’s list was working on the homespun tumbler quilt. Again, I made pretty good progress on this. Several rows are pieced and I like how this is turning out.
On this week’s list:
1. Finish quilting Ombre Stars
2. Finish blue floral UFO (quilting and binding)
3. Piece tumbler top
4. Piece blue stars (another ongoing project)
5. Piece Rectangle Wrangle top
These Rectangle Wrangle blocks have been sitting in plain sight for months and piecing the top is long overdue. I’m not sure how big this quilt is going to be. It seems like I have a hundred blocks in the stack. Here are a few on the design wall. I think I’m going to like this one!
This is a pretty ambitious list for the week, but high temperatures will barely hit zero for the next eight days so I anticipate plenty of time inside. Have you set some goals this week to maximize your productivity in the sewing room? If not, give it a try and move some of those projects forward.
