When Do You Sleep? Organizing Your Life to Sew

Fabric made just for me!

My mother-in-law lives just down the road, and she's 
one of the first people to see a finished project. I'm 
sure I hound her, but she's a captive audience. She's 
never honest, and always says she likes everything. 
Let's admit it--that's pretty sweet. Then she asks 
me, "Do you ever sleep?" It's our routine.

Honestly, I sleep a lot. I need every minute of

8 hours, and sometimes 9. I go hard during the

day, but I get a lot done. I had to cover a lot of 

territory with 5 kids. There was always a little 

one in tow while we were on the move and 

homeschooling. I also sewed, gardened, canned 

when I could, and we always had enough animals 

for a zoo. Most of the time my house was controlled

chaos, but I used a lot of tricks. I am a list maker 

by nature, and remember doing this even by

about age 9 or 10. 

In the recent past, Sunday afternoon 
of every week was my time to make out all the 
assignment sheets for the week for the kids.
Then I did a menu for each meal, and a shopping 
list for everthing I needed to buy. If it wasn't on 
the list, we weren't coming home with it.

My memory was already at capacity.

I was a Fly Baby, and read Fly Lady emails

every morning. It worked like magic here.

 I still had someone come in to help half a

day every other week, but we took care of 

the rest. That meant a big yard, feeding the 

pets, and even mucking the barn. 

Most of the kids are grown now, and I

don't make so many lists anymore. Some

have become second nature, though, like

throwing in a load of wash first thing in 

the morning, and hanging it at night. We 

share shopping, and who knows what 

strange things show up to be cooked, but

my youngest is an aspiring gourmet, and I

encourage that. She takes over a lot of

the cooking these days, and is better than I.

Lentil soup from scratch, and homemade 
bread was dinner last night!

Another thing I try to do every day is 

Eat the Frog.

Whatever it is that I want to do the least,

I try to do it first thing in the morning,

and get it out of the way. Then I'm

free from dread for the rest of the day.
******

“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning 

and nothing worse will happen to you 

the rest of the day.”

― Mark Twain

Moving my cubes up to the loft space was a major 
project over the weekend, and I needed 
help and equipment. We mowed in the morning while 
it was freezing cold, and my husband was happier 
about helping me move things up there in the 
afternoon. That evening I put all my fabric away, 
and now I can find things again!

Here are a few of the prints I found
at some of my local quilt shops just
before my move, and had lost
in the boxes and bags. Love those
kitty cats, don't you?

If you think there's never a way to carve out

enough time to sew, try organizing the parts

of your life that you have control over.

Make decisions about lots of little things at 

the same time. Be a list maker, if that works 

for you. It's no different than the

theory of chain piecing. Do all the same 

things at the same time, then move to the 

next activity. You will save time, and 

work more efficiently.

As lists go, here's my list for the week.

Monday--Ikea trip with my daughter. Look

at floating shelves, and fabric for backing.

Monday's are their Eat for Free day here. Save

your receipt from your meal--do get dessert, 

add some chocolate bars there, too, and then 

when you spend $100 or more, and show your

free Family Card, it's deducted from your 

total. You can't beat that deal!

Finish the FMQ pillow to enter in the month's
giveaway at Quilt Shop Gal. Must be blogged
and entered by Thursday.

Tuesday--Finish remaining blocks and setting 
triangles for the QST quilt. Start sewing rows.

Wednesday--Sewing at JoAnn's in the evening.
Start an applique project during the day to
take along, but I have a beginner coming I've
promised to teach basics to.

Thursday--Do the binding on one charity quilt
before starting in on my own projects. 
Hang my shelves, and clear a table to relocate 
my ironing area off my cutting table.
Create a large pressing surface from a piece
of leftover wood, batting, and fabric.

This will be the last day for entries to the Variable
Star Within a Star Giveaway here, so tally
emails up with Pet Project entries. Did you
send me your email yet to enter?

Friday-Put in an order for supplies including
batting for my QST quilt. I like the Fairfield
50/50 blend of cotton and bamboo the best, 
but maybe something lighter that will take less
space in the throat of my Janome. I'm a wee 
bit worried about the bulk of that giant quilt.
Decide on a design for my Anna Marie
Horner Swap for my secret partner.
I'm laying out some combinations.
This is the new Folk Song line.

I hope you heard something that gets you 
thinking about time management, if that's
what you need. It's the only way I can
Do It All, so to speak, and I can tell quickly
when I drop my routine of list making.

Let me know what works for you in the 
comments. I love suggestions for organization.

Come on, Doxie Girls.
Let's go sew.

Linking up today with~
Freemotion by the River
Blossom Heart Quilts
Quilt Story
Show and Tell Tuesday
Late Night Quilter
Monday Makers
Show and Tell with Bambi
Patchwork Times
Hug-a-Bit Quilts
Cooking Up Quilts
Molli Sparkles Sunday Stash

Thank you for the link up opportunity!