Feeling angst about WIPs-B-Gone

Project that broke my sewjo, July2021

 Have you ever done a 100-day challenge? I haven't, but I have FOMO about the times I lurked and followed along with someone else's 100-day journey as if I was the one doing the work.

Most recently, Sarah of Sarah Goer Quilts had her own 100-day challenge to finish a bunch of WIPs--which she did amazingly well. I tried to use her finishing energy to get myself motivated on some of my own UnFinished Objects, but ended up being mightily frustrated and losing my sewjo. The exact opposite of successful.

So, along came Leanne of Devoted Quilter with a 100-day WIPs-B-Gone challenge that involved actually signing up, with prizes for encouragement and gentle accountability. I signed up.

That 100 days starts today--100 days left in 2021. If you're keeping track, that means I have made a commitment that will extend through my busy travel-for-work month of October and the whole end-of-the year holidays. What am I getting myself into?

Well, the first issue I am contending with is my HUGE list of WIPs: 63 as of this writing. In fact, most of them are so long since the last time I worked on them that I generally refer to them as UFOs (WIP having that pesky "in progress" part of its acronym).

 

Currently in progress Norah Quilt

Some folks have declared a Top 3 Goals for the first 25 days of this challenge--I'm so very scattered when thinking of my extra long list that I haven't been able to winnow down to any sort of reasonable "what should I start with" or even "where do I want to finish". I know I want fewer than 50 items on my list at the end of 100 days. That's a goal, right? I also want to experience what it's like to make time every day for my stitching practice, no matter what the busyness of the day/month/season feels like.

So today, I decided that I would let go of a project or two. That's one way to embrace WIPs-B-Gone! My Quilt Guild has a "Kiss it Goodbye" table that shows up at meetings a few times a year--and that's happening next week. So, in preparation, I went burrowing in the bins and totes and canvas bags to find projects I am well and truly ready to part with.

 

Discarding or donating projects counts towards WIPs-B-Gone!

 

I am choosing to let go of 4 projects: paper-pieced kimono wall hanging (last blogged about in July 2017); two other paper-pieced kimono blocks that feel too much like cultural appropriation; funky fish blocks that I made as prototypes for writing a tutorial (in August 2014); and teen-friendly wheel blocks from 2017's Row by Row "On the Go" free pattern, that were used as a floor sample when I worked at a quilt shop.

  

Row by Row 2017

 

Lo and behold, in parting with these blocks, I may have discovered my first WIP to tackle. I have a pair of placemats that are pieced with the same kimono blocks that I just parted with. I also have enough background and backing fabric to complete 4 more. 

Bonus reason that this project speaks to me now? I leave in 12 days for a business trip and need a portable handwork project to bring with me. The existing placemats are lightly hand-quilted with big stitch; I think they're a perfect travel size! Add in the motivation of deadline sewing to get the piecing done before I travel, and I might be off to the races...

Any 100-day challenge words of wisdom?

Medicated

At some point, probably while I was busy not-blogging, I started taking medication for my ADD.  I am a little sheepish about admitting this publicly, because I was trying so hard to manage my symptoms without resorting to pharmaceutical intervention.  I saw the stimulant meds route as a failure of my willpower, or some other such nonsense.

I think I first entertained the notion after the 3rd time my therapist said, "Are you sure you haven't tried any medications for managing your ADD?"  (Um, I'm pretty sure I would know if I had been on meds for this...)

So I tried a prescription.  Very low dose.  And within a month, my therapist fired me as a weekly client, because most of the source of my frustrations and depression turned out to have been due to  dealing with the way my brain processed the world.  So that was a win.

But it's not all rainbows and bunnies.  I still struggle with my brain wandering off in random directions (see recent blog post, for example).  I am still incredibly slow at doing things.

I have major needs in terms of executive functioning of my brain.  These needs are not addressed by the meds.  As one of my HS students once said of ADD medications, "It helps me to focus, true, but it doesn't help me figure out what is important to focus on."

And so it goes.  Much better in some areas--I can leave a task half-finished because of an interruption and often come back to finish it--but no better in others.  Some days I am sad that I need to take a daily medication in order to "feel normal".  But then I spend some time in the presence of another adult with un-managed ADD, and I feel so bad for them.  I know what pinball game is going on in their brain; I am grateful that the meds allow my brain to have stepped away from that game.

Attack of the Open Computer Tabs

Warning: ADD post ahead.
This is what my brain looks like... an ever-shifting random collection of ideas and information rabbit holes, some of which I have clearly abandoned, but which I cannot let go of (why is that?)  Here are the tabs currently open on my browser--I'm sure some psychology grad student could do their dissertation off of this list...

The Technium: 1000 true fans - an online article by Kevin Kelly, which is used in Tim Ferriss' book "Tools of Titans."  An essay, originally posted in 2008, on how small entrepreneurs/artists just need 1,000 passionate customers that they can engage with repeatedly in order to make a living.  Interestingly, a Web search on the title will get you lots of more recent commentary and support for the concept.

Search results for images: "chicken silhouette" "simple cat shape" and "bat shapes for children".  I'm up to something, just can't get myself over the fear of not being able to draw.  Really, I just need to get out of my own way...

Apps to make your own memes - umm, yeah I guess I was into that.  For about a minute.  And yet, the tab is still open on my computer.  At this point, I'm starting to feel like I don't pick up my sweaty socks off the floor...

Slave Chain quilt block, also called Job's Tears.  The link discusses some history of the block but doesn't give a tutorial.  I am interested in this block, because the African American Quilt Guild of Oakland, of which I am a member, is making Underground Railroad quilts this year.  And while the concept of using quilts to send messages to escaping slaves--described and patterned in an Eleanor Burns book from 2003--was widely discredited by scholars, that has not stopped our efforts to publicize links between quilting, slavery, and African Americans.  I had looked briefly through Barbara Brackman's book "Facts and Fabrications: Unraveling the History of Quilts and Slavery" that expanded upon blocks that might be meaningful in an Underground Railroad quilt, and the slave chain block kinda stayed with me.  In a fittingly uncomfortable way, I might add.  So I am sitting with this discomfort, now represented by an open browser tab, as I work (on and off) on the blocks for my guild quilt.

A post on Washing Rayon Clothing and Fabric - rayon is very delicate when it is wet; good tips here

I dreamed of the Convergence Quilt pattern one night (without knowing what it was called, or who the designer was), as a response to working with two Frond Design Studio fabrics that didn't make the cut for the giant quilt currently awaiting binding.  Lo and behold, a customer at the shop the very next day came in with a Convergence top that she needed borders for--along with a host of photos on her phone of various Convergence patterns she had made over the years!  The serendipity, I tell ya.  An almost-tutorial on the process is available on the Adventures in Quilting and Sailing blog, but the author of the post tells you to get your hands on the Ricky Timms book, as it has so many variations, and clearer directions, etc.  Plus, it's always good to support the actual designers who do the work to birth these great ideas!

Amazing Quilts by Grace - saw her value tool on an episode of Fresh Quilting (or was it Quilting Arts TV?)  Really think I need one...  As the saying goes,

"Color gets all the credit, but Value does all the work"

Bookmarking my Brain

Well, I've got lots of windows open on the computer again.  ADD = attraction to new & shiny, apparently.  So, as I did last time this happened, I'm dumping it all here.  Apologies to any who are not interested--there's more fabricky goodness coming soon.

A Body Double Helps you Zip Through Paperwork
Found on the Totally ADD Blog, a guest post by Linda Walker.

Pattern page for designer Laura Heine.  She is owner/founder of Fiberworks, and her collage quilt patterns are *AMAZING*.  First saw one of her designs at a quilt guild's Show and Tell and I had to go look her up that minute.

An amazing series of posts by Felicia at The Craft Sessions called Stash Less.  I read through the whole thing (I think it's 17 posts on this topic).  I kept this tab open because I wanted to write a blog post about how her ideas and her journey inspired me.

The Renfrew knit top by Sewaholic Patterns.  So many folks in one of my Facebook groups were making this, and it was so darn cute!  Why haven't I bought the pattern yet?  Oh right, I hardly sew garments...

Fitting Fundamentals for Sewers, a Craftsy guide.  It's FREE!  This is me, dreaming of sewing more garments.

Hunter's Star quilt tutorial from the Missouri Star Quilt Company's blog.  I know I want to make one of these, but I'm sure I won't follow their particular tutorial.  Despite Jenny Doan's awesome video tutorials, their version uses layer cake pre-cuts, and I want to use Thangles.

Peppermint Magazine - a print magazine about style, sustainability, and substance.

Hampton's Beach Bag free knitting pattern/tutorial from Joann's. This window's been open for over a month (how often do I reboot my computer? now you know)  I think I wanted to make it out of strips of fabric, instead of yarn.  But it's been so long since I even looked at this link that I have forgotten.  Gosh, what good is that?

30 Photography Magazines Worth Subscribing To.  It's a list from 2010, so don't know how many of these magazines are still in print.

Does this count as decluttering my brain?  Or even my computer's memory?

Annotated Bookmarks

ADD post.  Apologies to those who are easily distracted--this is a dump from my very own distracted brain.

I was having trouble with slowness on my computer, and battery life on my phone.  Umm, yeah. Apparently, having a dozen webpages open at a time will do that.  So here is my list: Bookmarks that are currently open on my phone and my computer

olukai.com
Saw these awesome shoes on a customer in line at the store; asked him about them, and he proceeded to sing their praises.

fiftynotfrumpy.blogspot.com
Lifestyle blog that I occasionally peruse.  Can't I just set a bookmark for that?  Or better yet, put it in my own feed of blog posts that regularly come before my eyes? 

The Momentum Optimization Project List (They're rules, not guidelines)
Another blog.  I want to go and read all her posts on "Momentum Optimization", since I seem to be battling the same motivation/get-going-already issues she talks about in this post.  Also, I think some of her ideas, maybe not from this particular post, but on this theme, have gone viral.
The blog is narrowbackslacker.com

White America's racial illiteracy: Why our national conversation is poisoned from the start
april 10, 2015 post by Dr. Robin DiAngelo, the good men project
salon.com

allthingsthrifty.com
Not even sure how useful this is...

makingitlovely.com
A design blog about "living a stylish life and transforming the so-so".  Again, how useful is this link?  (And why do I collect useless information?  Oh wait: new & shiny.)

vintagerevivals.com Tagline: "fearless DIY"
I think this was me trying to get our large blank walls filled inexpensively and yet stylishly.  A post on upcycling thrift store art looks useful.

rowbyrowexperience.com

meetup.com

google search: house hunting quilt pattern
Every now and then I get the itch to make this quilt; BOTM from 2010 maybe?

A progressive exercise regime from Redbook Magazine
21 days to "Get in the Best Shape of Your Life"  I just love promises like that one!

Climbing Monkeys Winery
Want to take Sweetie there sometime; but you have to make a reservation because they don't have regular hours, just by appointment

Circling the Stash

Circles.  They have been going round in my head recently (pun intended)--but I reserve that blog post for another day.

"Boule" 2008 vintage

So, with the knowledge that I've been circle crazed lately, lookee what I found!  Gold bolt end tells you it's Alexander Henry.  Price told me it's an older fabric.  And a customer at the shop said, "When you find an Alexander Henry that you love, buy it!  Because you won't find it again."

Well, what could I do but start shopping for coordinating fabrics?  I do follow orders well (it's those 10 years in the Navy).  Here is the advantage of working in a quilt shop... auditions!

The teal group, left to right:

• Clothworks, Hey Cupcake, Sky
• Studio e, Just color, Slate
• Felicity Miller, Charleston Farmhouse, Dahlia Leaf

The chartreuse group, left to right:

• Timeless Treasures, Fun, Citron
• In the Beginning, Painted Summer, Color 2
• Joel Dewberry, Bungalow, Empress

The brown group, left to right:

• RJR, Pomare, 0668
• Kaufman, Quilter's Burlap, Cocoa
• Free Spirit, Lilliput Fields, Ancient

The cream/tan/ecru group, left to right:

• Timeless Treasures, Sand Wave, Cream
• Kaufman, Doe, Natural
• Quilting Treasures, Studio 8, Soho

Late addition: the only gray I liked was Quilter's Burlap, from Kaufman

WAIT!!!  What am I doing?  I see this ONE fabric that I adore (the circles, the circles!) and suddenly I'm ready to buy enough fabrics to make a whole quilt--with no pattern, no plan, no room in my already-stuffed UFO/WIP black hole for another project to come in and take over.  Aack: ADD = low impulse control (betcha didn't know that they were related, but they are).

The voice of reason prevailed.  I bought one yard of the Alexander Henry (instead of the 5 yards that I envisioned--go big or go home), and left the other fabrics safely on their bolts, in the shop, where they belong.

But I felt so guilty about where my inner hoarder was taking me, that I had to come home and de-stash in order to feel better about myself.

There: 5 1/2 yards of unloved fabrics  I could save them for bag linings, or muslins, or rag rugs... Or I could donate them to the children's charity quilt bin run by EBHQ, and they could be used.  And LOVED.  I really think the Universe wants them to be loved.

(Plus, my goal of using up or donating 100 yards of fabric in 2015.  There's that, too.)

Following in the footsteps of Jen at A Quarter Inch from the Edge, I am linking up with Molli Sparkles over at Sunday Stash--to crow about both my acquisitions and my de-acquisitions.

I don't do enough quantity sewing to use up those 100 yards by myself.  How big is your stash?

Retreat: what to take with?

I am so distracted lately, can't stay put on one project or one goal, it seems.

I have a quilting retreat coming up the end of this month, so I started thinking about what I might bring along with me to work on.  I always bring too much, because ADD.  Plus, you just never know what you will be in the mood to settle down and work on.

Made a little list: 20 items on it.

Well no wonder I'm distracted.  Sheesh.  Who could concentrate on anything with that much quilty noise clattering around in their head?

Going back to goals has helped me to narrow my focus in the past...

Goal for May - finish 3 home decor items

Goal for year - use up 100 yards of fabric

Well, apologies to Sweetie, but I'm not working on home decor at a quilt retreat.  Therefore, I need to focus on things I can finish, so that I can count some of the fabric I used in making them in my 100 yard destash.

Ok, wanting to pare down my list to 5 items--I think I've decided on 7.  I'll just sit on those seven choices for the rest of this week and see how that makes me feel.

1.  Block Challenge
Each year at retreat there is a block challenge--your option whether to participate or not.  I have made some fun blocks in the past, and even won one year.  This year the challenge is to make a 12" block with gray and yellow.  I have this long-stashed fat quarter of elephants.  Gonna make at least one block for the challenge.

2.  Wordy Wallhanging
This is a pretty old UFO (2011 was its humble beginning) that has been waiting to be sandwiched and quilted.  Gonna do it--I even have the batting and backing all stored with the top.

3.  Binding for Technicolor Star
This has been quilted and is just waiting for the final step.  Can't wait to pick it up from the long-arm quilter and see it!

4.  Crochet Rug
This project is actually past its deadline (a March birthday), but will definitely provide me with an alternative activity if I get tired of sewing.

5.  Red/Pink/Black baby quilt
Finish the quilting, which is already in progress, and really needs more space for me to spread out.

6.  Barnyard Play Quilt
A long-stalled UFO.  Too many steps to complete this at retreat, but maybe I can get the sky and the grass quilted.  (And just maybe, by the time there are grandchildren in my future, I will have this baby completed.)

7.  Sew Together Bag
A new project!  Bought the pattern from SewDemented on Craftsy, and have a thought to maybe teach its construction at my LQS (I heard that quilters can be hesitant around zippers).  If that is to be, I would need to have constructed it myself, right? 



Seven little projects.  Are they the proper projects for retreat?  If I get hives or can't sleep because these choices are stressing me out, I will know I need to revisit my list.  True?

Stitch Modern: my Pinterest

I attended the Stitch Modern Quilt Show this weekend--a local showing of quilts by members of the East Bay Modern Quilters.

So many gorgeous ideas!  Such lovely fabrics, designs, styles of quilting!!

Sun Shine by Sharona Fischrup of New Pieces Quilt Store.  A favorite for showing what can be done with a panel. (And this panel, in turn, was designed from a finished quilt--oh, it's all so delicious.)

My very favorite quilt in the show: Crossroads "15" by Sue Mary Fox of Textile Dream Studio.  Why is it my fave? Color (both bright and neutral), use of negative space, geometric quilting, the fact that necktie fabrics and a ruined dress were included in the piecing.  Yummy.


I mentioned to the hall hostess, as I was gleefully taking pictures, that I hardly needed more ideas in my life; she asked if I used Pinterest for ideas.  Ha!  Pinterest--a deadly place for those with ADD, those who are easily overwhelmed by too much input.

No, friends, this is my Pinterest.  This blog is my place to store ideas that have found me.  I need not go out looking on the Interwebs for more ideas--being drawn down the rabbit's hole of ever more, ever so much more.  Here's what I saw that I liked best:

Use of Quilting

Orange is the New Purple by Claire Sherman

Moonshadows Pillow Cover by Ann Haley

Biased Opinion by Pati Fried

Use of Scraps

Wavelengths by (improv quilting bee members)

Block/Row Design

fabric choice + block design

improv bee contribution

blocks + quilting = magical

ADD = What's next?

Clicked on a Facebook link...

If You Love Someone Who Has ADHD, Don’t Do These 20 Things 

No surprise, I didn't make it through the list of 20 things before I got distracted; never went back to finish the list.  But I remember one of the lines was that in the ADHD brain, exposure to certain novelties triggers "an obsessive thought pattern of 'wha-ifs'."

Novelty 1: I was given the gift of fabric scraps

My friend Pam cast off excess from making a quilt with 1930's fabrics.  If you ask me, there was a lot of excess, enough to think about making my own quilt.

And thinking, and obsessing thinking, and obsessing dreaming, and obsessing planning. Yep, the old cranial region got to work on designing a new quilt.  All background thought went into this endeavor--couldn't stop myself from thinking about it.

Finally settled on two ideas, and that calmed my mind a bit.  Want to augment the 1930's reproductions with blue and yellow.  AND, I'm particularly intrigued by an alternating block design that I saw on Marcie's blog Patchalot More.  

Novelty 2: I toured my soon-to-be-moved-into new house

Measuring tape in hand, I made sketches of the floor layouts and began problem-solving about how best to furnish a 500 sq ft living room and 18-ft long dining room.  Gone was any thought of the fabric windfall and any effort to put a new quilt pattern into action.

Helplessly, I followed my brain to the land of interior design, furniture shopping, and budgeting for all the new-house-ness that was soon to be mine...

Their brilliant minds are constantly in gear creating, designing, thinking and never resting. Imagine what it would feel like to have a merry-go-round in your mind that never stops spinning.  --from 20 Things to Remember If You Love a Person with ADD

Umm, yeah.  I live on that merry-go-round.  Every. Day.

Novelty 3: Family emergency

In this case, I think even a non-ADD person would drop all their other idle thoughts (in my case, the background processes that border on obsessions, but that allow me to focus on the day-to-day in my mind's foreground).  I was able to focus and BE in the present in a way that is unusual for me.

This concludes our brief tour of Alla's mind.  Thank you for your attention.

Linking up with Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash.  Go see other new fabrics that have found homes this week!

Next pattern purchase: Pros & Cons

In an effort to take myself to task for impulsivity and forever chasing the new and shiny, I am writing down this list of Pros & Cons on the two patterns I am currently salivating over.

Pattern 1: a quilt pattern called Big Quilt Blocks

I saw it on Sewing With Nancy; a two-part video is available online, as well as a pattern.

Pattern 2: a small organizer, the Sew Together Bag

Quilt Zone's version

I'm seeing this bag everywhere on sewing and quilting blogs lately.  (Most recently in the T'was the Night blog hop hosted by Sew We Quilt.)  It has 3 inner zipper pockets, and a very clever way that the outer zipper forms handles.

Pros:

Neither pattern is going to break my bank--even bought together I would spend less than $25.

The bag pattern is something I can envision making several times; I see it even being a Christmas gift (this year!)

The quilt pattern makes an excellent setting for a t-shirt quilt; I have a recipient in mind for such a quilt.

Cons/Reality check:

How many new patterns have I purchased this year?

How many new books have I purchased this year?

How many UFO's and WIP's do I have laying around?

Do I have a solid intention of making either of these patterns anytime soon?

Since I am considering the bag pattern as a Christmas gift, which other potential handmade Xmas gifts will be abandoned in order to work on this bag?

What possible bad thing could happen if I don't buy these patterns now?  Will they not be available later?

Well, that last question really is the voice of reason: what's the worst that could happen if I don't click on over to buy these patterns? 

What should I do?  How useful are these Pro & Con lists for controlling my impulsive, novelty-seeking behavior?  (One of my recent ADD books recommended using them.)  Do such lists work for you?

Prepared vs. Not

I am of the opinion that Life continues to hand you lessons, until you finally learn them.  I had another learning opportunity with the concept of

Be Prepared

today.  And I failed miserably.  So I'm sure I will have another opportunity to learn and practice this lesson in the future, right?

This was the time on the clock in my car as I pulled into the parking lot for a 7:30 meeting this morning.  My lack of preparation the night before, combined with Murphy's Law, put me one hour and 5 minutes late.  Ouch.

What it should look like

Oh, but I was so prepared before we left on our honeymoon trip to Europe this past summer.  (Sweetie kept me on track.) 

We packed a week before the trip--so we could add things we forgot as the week went along.  The itinerary, with all phone numbers, confirmation numbers, websites, secret-handshakes, etc. was printed out two weeks before the trip.  The dog-sitter was arranged two months ahead of time; the house was scrubbed and the refrigerator emptied out several days in advance.

I felt uncomfortable with everything done ahead of time.  I didn't know what to do with myself!  Shouldn't I have been racing around, doing those last-minute things that always leave me in a tizzy?  Um, nope.  They were all taken care of.  With lots of spare time for things to go wrong.

I had so much free time, that I managed to finish this scarf the day before we left for two weeks in Europe.  How crazy is that?!?!

Ok, so I just need to remember that lesson in preparedness:  if you plan for the worst, then you have lots of time to relax and play when the worst doesn't happen!

ADD wisdom

Been looking at my own ADD issues of late, looking for better ways to manage the things that are difficult for me (paperwork!)  Checked out 2 books from the local library:

Delivered from Distraction, by Drs. Hallowell and Ratey (the book-on-tape version) and Fast Minds, by Drs. Surman and Bilkey.

I finished listening to the book-on-tape, but am still working my way through the actual book (no surprise there: people with ADD are not fast readers, if they read at all).

Highlights from Delivered from Distraction:

See piles.  See piles grow.

 Adults with ADD make piles.  Those piles metastasize.

A partnership of mutual respect. And fun!

 The two most important life choices to making your life with ADD easier are: (1) Marry the right person. (2) Have the right job.

Point (1) - I did marry the right person (finally).  Sweetie manages my ADD tendencies in a way that no one in my life ever has before: with gentleness, without judgement, and by focusing on my strengths.  She is my rock.

Point (2) - I'm not really sure that I have the right job. Teaching involves, as my Principal put it recently, working in the interruption factory.  It also produces and requires a great deal of paperwork.  These are not my areas of strength--so I am working super hard to do my job.  Some days it feels like it takes every ounce of my attention, and then I am not left with any reserve for the living that takes place outside of school.  So I am looking hard at what "the right job" would be for me... while continuing to work in the interruption factory, manufacturing teenage-math-doing-widgets.



Fast Minds:  I am in the midst of reading about the brain's executive functions--how the brain chooses what to attend to, how on-the-fly prioritizing happens.  Since the ADD brain has difficulty in this area, the book has some concrete strategies presented about managing executive functions using external resources.  (In my mind I'm picturing like an external hard drive; can't I just plug in bits and pieces to augment my brain's shortcomings?) 

This reading has helped explain to me one of the things I have heard about stimulant medications (e.g. Ritalin, Adderal) not being "magic" in the treatment of ADD.  Medications help with focus, but the executive area of the brain still struggles with what exactly to focus on.  Good point.  Which is why there are entire books on the subject; because the meds don't/can't fix all the parts of the brain encompassed in the umbrella of "paying attention".

Distractions Deflected

So... it's spring.  It's sunny out (more than it usually is in Oregon).  I am super-busy; have the endless ToDo list on full throttle.  Whew!

What's a poor ADD-afflicted brain to do?  Why, procrastinate by going off on flights of fancy, of course!

I vote wide-legged...

Sewing garments!  Yeah, that's a great plan (oh wait, where have I heard that plan before).  The ongoing sewing challenges listing over at Modern Vintage Cupcakes lists an indie pattern challenge for the month of June.  Hey, let me go look at some indie patterns... 

Gosh, I want to make pants (got several lengths of appropriate-weight fabric in my stash).  Wide-legged trousers (Maria Denmark patterns Winnie wide-leg) or straight-legged jeans style (Named patterns Alpi Chinos)?

Oh, wait... an infinity dress!  Wow, that looks amazing.  Wonder if I could whip one up for my trip to Europe this summer?  

Mmm, scrap quilts!  My blue scrap bin overfloweth.  I've wanted to dig into it for some time now.  And the blogger's quilt festival that is happening NOW has a category for scrap quilts.  Maybe I'll just take a short break and check out some of the designs there...

Rainbow-colored and flying-geese-adorned.  What's not to love about this quilt, from Quilting is More Fun than Housework?  (Seriously, you should click on the link just to see it.)

I actually succumbed to pawing through my blue scraps for a tiny bit of time.  How could I not?  I was so enamored of the quilt with the flying geese!  I just had to start making it: RIGHT. NOW.
Fortunately for me, it looks like my scraps fit better into a string quilt-making format.  So I had to look again at a scrap quilt called String Theory, from Crafts, Cavies and Cooking.

Save Me!

All that process took me away from reality for about three days.  Oh, my mind was reeling with the possibilities.  I pulled out my wallet (twice) to buy pants patterns.  I was a-sewin' and a-cuttin' and whatnot--all in my mind, thank goodness.

What saved me from the flights of fancy?  Having  a list of sewing goals for the quarter (which doesn't end until July 1st).  I can add any of these crazy projects and ideas to my sewing ToDo... next quarter.  For now, I'm full up.

For once, having a ToDo list has been a good thing.  Reign in the wayward brain, says I.

reaLISTic expectations

I have worked diligently over the past few years to become aware of how long things take.  I am chronically late.  I also know that I just move slower than my fellow human beings.  So these are my challenges... but I am working on them.

Made a To-Do list when I got home from work yesterday.

Ok, 11 items.  Doesn't seem so bad.  Numbering helps with being realistic about what can get done.

According to my recent experiments with how long things take, I can estimate 30 minutes for most individual To Do list tasks. (Unless travel time is involved.)  So, an 11-item list might take 5 and 1/2 hours to complete: yikes!  Who has that much time, especially starting at 5:30 on a weeknight?


According to Sweetie's advice, I should cut this list in half.  Which is what I did.  Prioritize.  What do I really want to/need to get done tonight?


Happy to report that I completed all 5 circled items before bedtime, and felt pretty good about it.  My
most proud accomplishment was "hemming curtains".  I had a 6-hour odyssey with what should have been simple curtains awhile ago, and I was determined to just get this project done, letting go of all need for perfection, and settling for basic, finished curtains.


Didn't iron.  Barely measured.  Used 1/3 as many pins as usual.  But they are done, and they look fine.

Done is beautiful.

Haven't I heard this somewhere before?

A successful list management experience, for a Tuesday night.  And guess what?  The after-work To-Do list will happen again today.  More opportunities to practice being reaLISTic.

Media Diet

I listened to portions of the book "The Four Hour Work Week" by Timothy Ferriss recently on a car trip.  Don't really know why I picked it out--just in self-help gotta-get-more-organized mode, I guess.

Several of the author's suggestions were familiar: along the lines of "Eat That Frog", get your most important tasks out of the way first.  But he also advocates eliminating ALL time-wasting activity, and severely limiting contacts.  The "severely limiting contacts" is what got me started on my recent unsubscribe mission.  He weans his colleagues and business associates off of the expectation of rapid email responses, in order to only have to check and respond to email once or twice a week.

Guess what he has to say about social media, blogs, and the internet?  Exactly: they are time-wasters.  (After all, his premise is that, without all these constant distractions and non-essential non-work-related activities, you could get your job done in only four hours a week.)

Well, the advice gets more strident: go on a media diet for a week.  This means don't spend time keeping up with the news on television or radio or internet.  In fact, avoid any and all media, unless it is critical to getting your work done.

This intrigues me.  As an adult with ADD, I often get sucked into the internet vortex, horribly distracted and off-task, even when I start with something as innocuous and simple as checking the weather before getting dressed for the day.

Maybe there is a lesson hidden here: severely limiting the inputs to my brain can be a helpful thing.  I know I love being exposed to a daily dose of new and interesting (and often nerdy) ideas by listening to NPR, but is this really causing me too much distraction?  Would I be more productive--or at least have an easier time focusing and feeling less stressed--if I severely cut back my media exposure?



My Social Experiment: we'll see how this plays out over the next week.  (Disclaimer: in looking for images to accompany this posting, I spent about 30 minutes actually reading and digesting other ideas on media diets, including a blog post that resonated with me.  But it also took 30 minutes away from what I wanted to do with my time this evening.  Damn.)