Aah... that's better.

I just finished up the task I gave myself for today... prepping the binding for my husband's Christmas quilt. I have about an hour of "free" time in my sewing room, and still have time to spare. Instead of starting to pin the binding on, I decided to make a project list in my sewing room journal. I made four columns, then thought of everything I could to put in each column. Here's what they were:

• Sewing - Things currently in progress - 15
• Cutting - Things that are being / have been cut and are ready to sew - 8
• Materials Acquired - I have the materials and pattern / idea chosen, they need to be prepared - 15
• Idea - I have an idea to create these items, but have to choose materials - 10

This is a big list, to be sure, but it feels good to see it on paper, and it really doesn't seem like as much as it was when it was all in my head floating around. I feel like if I just pick something off the list and work on it a little each week, I'll make good progress. That, and not adding MORE projects to the list. Of course, I think this is the hardest thing of all, because when you are creative, you want to, well, CREATE!!! When your mind gets-a-whirling, it's hard to stop it and it just wants to keep going. So, I guess I'll allow myself to think of new things (which is a good thing to do) and even choose materials from my stash, but I'd like to use more of my energy to finishing the things I've started. Tomorrow I'd like to have the binding roughly placed on the quilt and have the machine set up to stitch it on (changing the presser foot). Perhaps, I'll even start to sew it on tomorrow, but, since I'm planning a late morning / lunchtime outing, and since I've been sick for quite a while, I'm not going to push the actual sewing thing.


Suzy :)

PS: One thing I've found VERY HELPFUL in my sewing room is a little journal I started keeping. Most every project I work on, I jot the date down and then notes on it as I do it or right after I finish. I've been doing this for a couple of years now. It's nice to look back and reminisce, but more than that, it's helpful when I want to remember how I did something (like I wide was that stitch or did I use a special needle or something like that). Also, I save a lot of time re-thinking things, especially the math of a project. The few projects that haven't found their way into the journal (like the Christmas quilt I just was working on), I spend SO MUCH time searching for my notes, but my journal is always in it's home on the shelf. Also, if I have a good idea, I'll jot it down (along with the date) so I remember it later. I DEFINITELY recommend keeping a journal in your CREATIVE ZONE. Mine is just a little spiral bound notebook about 5 1/2" wide x 8 1/2" tall. It's enough. :)