I have alwyas been a dreamer

I have always been a dreamer.

I have always been good at  making plans and lists of things to do but not so good at the follow through. The other day I said to my son "You have to set some goals and you have to write them down otherwise they are just wishes." (I think I was paraphrasing Gail Vaz-Oxlade). It dawned on me I should maybe follow my own advice. So over the past few days I have been thinking of ways that I can set some goals and organize at least one part of my life.

So I decided to focus on the quilting side of my life. First and most important, it makes me happy and content and gives me a sense of accomplishment when I finish a project. Second, there are so many techniques and skills that I want to learn. Third, I already have so much stuff that there is no big financial outlay (but there will be a long arm machine in my future if I ever I win the lottery). Finally, quilting makes sense because I am good at this and I want to become better.

I got down to work right away and opened a Word file. Low and behold, I discovered a folder called "quilt stories and blog".  A sense of "deja vu" swept over me! The files were dated 2010 and 2011 and there was a story about setting goals, stories about quilts I was working on, stories about retreats. I asked myself, what do I have to do to make this idea work the second time around? Putting my thoughts and ideas out there into the universe might just do the trick. It feeds into my inner story-teller persona and my passion for sharing my quilt stories. Certainly I might be able to share some knowledge or skills with others and I have no doubt that I will learn new things along the way.

Besides I already had a name I could use. Janiebird comes from my childhood; Mrs. Ireland who lived around the corner from my family always called me Janiebird. I never had a nickname and no one ever called me Janie. I don't know why but it always made me feel special whenever we talked.


Obviously the first task is to set some goals, so here goes.

1. Figure out what I have to do to get back on track with the CQA judging program. 
2. Clean and organize my sewing corner.
3. Sort through my fabric and rulers and books and figure out where I can donate the stuff I will never use.
4. Prioritize learning objectives and set out a plan to build new skills. 
5. Prioritize the quilts that are underway and put together a schedule. 
6. Report back on the above by September 30, 2015

So let's see how I do ... there is part of me that is expecting a screw up but there is a bigger part of me that thinks this challenge, even self imposed, could be exciting and fun and motivating. 

Thanks for reading but it's time for some stitching

Jane

Tip of the Day: Do your bobbin threads get all tangled up? Do you remember reinforcements (those little donut shaped labels we used on the 3-holed paper in the days before computers)? Place the thread over the top of the bobbin, place the reinforcement over the tread onto the bobbin. Perfect size for a bobbin and great adhesion. No more tangles!

Accountability - Reporting Back

Accountability - Reporting Back

It's time to be accountable ... with just over 10 minutes to spare I am reporting back on my goal to get started on 6 tasks from my first blog post. In fact, I added another task to the list! I am so thrilled that I really got a good start on this list.

1. Follow up on judging program. The new coordinators for the judging program emailed me back that they are looking at the status of a bunch of people and will get back to me soon. CHECK 
2. Clean up and organize the sewing corner. A picture says a thousand words! What I learned is that I must have enough fabric for a dozen Christmas quilts (that is 4 per bed!). CHECK
3. Sort through all my stuff and figure out what I can donate. I sorted through all the scraps and organized stuff for dog pillow donations, the next quilt show member boutique and stuff to go to Africa for women's cooperative groups. The scrap collection was rather large. I have great plans to work on scrap quilts but I never seem to get around to them. So I have decided to stop saving scraps as hard as that might be. If I don't have the energy or enthusiasm to make the scrap quilt right away no sense taking up valuable storage space in my sewing corner; better to find it a home somewhere else in Mississauga! CHECK but I really have to go through all those fat quarters, yards and project boxes and really sort out what I want to keep.
4. Set learning objectives. On this one, I didn't have to work very hard. For the past couple of years I have focused on building applique skills (machine and hand). I have taken lots of classes and started blocks, read books, watched you tube videos and paid special attention to appliqued quits at shows. It is now time to figure out how I am actually going to get down to doing applique. CHECK and new goals below.
5. Prioritize project list. This wasn't that hard ... the queue has been set for a few months, no make that years. Some had fixed deadlines - bind the baby quilt for Holly (it's been delivered), bind and label the baby quilt for Carolyn's shower for this Sunday (finished yesterday) and bind the wedding quilt for Jen and Grant by Thanksgiving (the wedding was in May, the binding is ready to be sewn on). As for the 2 quilts for me that I have in progress and the quilts for other important people, the priority list is as follows: finish the top for the floral quilt as soon as I get that extra 5" of fabric that I was short on, finish and quilt the winter quilt to be ready for Christmas, finish and quilt Heather's 60th birthday quilt in time for her 62 birthday in April and finish the kaleidoscope quilt for Joe by next summer. I am so lucky that he is so patient; this quilt has been in the works for over 5 years but I am already so much further along than his last quilt that took 17 years to finish!  CHECK
6. Report back by September 30. CHECK

Here is the evidence of success! I love these rolling scrapbooking boxes - just the right size for a quilt project (except the backing). The top box is my Christmas quilt in progress. The other boxes are the quilts in progress including Heather's and Joe's.

 This is the finished quilt for Carolyn's baby shower. Check out the label!

Here is the sewing corner (you can't see most of the fabric which is stored in rolling bins under the tables and on shelves on the right side. You can see the binding going on the quilt for Jen and Grant. And there is the floral quilt going up on the design wall (that is about 6 yards of flannel that I got at Fabricland years ago for about $5/yd (best investment ever) that is attached to the wall with 3M Commando velcro strips (best invention ever).

The new task I set myself was to apply for a volunteer position for CQA 2016. I had hemmed and hawed about this for weeks and finally just said to myself, the worst thing that might happen is they have a dearth of creative, energetic, enthusiastic quilters applying and my skills and experiences don't hold a candle to what so many others have accomplished. Besides, there will still be lots of volunteer roles for the conference and show.

It's time for some new goals. These are going to focus on actually spending time quilting. here is my plan for skill building:

• 30 minutes or more each day piecing 
• 60 minutes each week doing machine applique
• 60 minutes each week doing hand applique
• finishing exercises/projects from classes within a week (or at least setting a timetable to finish)
• sort through one box of magazines and decide what stays and what goes

Thanks for reading but it's time for some stitching

Jane

Tip of the Day: I found one of those file folder dividers in a cupboard and thought it could be re-purposed to hold rulers! The rulers are organized by size, shape, purpose. The binder holds all the instructions for using the rulers.