Summer Goals Redux

At the beginning of the summer, I made a list of thing to do. Now that summer is officially over, I will report how I did. Or didn't, as the case may be.

I planned to:

•See a musical
•Go to the beach
•Make 2 quilts
•Go thrifting

It was a short list; deceptively simple. Did I get everything done? Not so much.

1. See a musical--Welp, there weren't any, so I did go to a comedy in a nearby town. It was good, and I enjoyed it, but I'm still on the lookout for a musical.

2. Go to the beach. I did, several times and it was great. I will buy my State Park sticker earlier next year and get going right away.

3. Make two quilts. Well, maybe make was too strong a word. I did work on both quilts and did a lot of other incidental sewing. My new, revised, in-the-back-of-my-mind, loose plan is to try to finish the t-shirt quilt by Christmas. (Along with a few other little ruffled goodies.) I also need to have a baby quilt in the works shortly after that. And I do plan to make some progress on the WIPs.

4. Go thrifting. I went twice. It was underwhelming. The first time, however, I found yards and yards of white wired ribbon for pennies a yard, which I used to make my daughter one of these, with enough left over to make another one, if I so desire. But that was about it. But, I wasn't really "on a mission." I just think I need to get into it a little more.

So, that's that.

Time

Last week as I was making plans for my week, I spotted an empty block out of the corner of my eye. I didn't want to stare, for fear it would disappear. As the week progressed, nothing came up that had to go in that spot. The excitement was building! What would I do with three whole, unclaimed hours?

I made a plan for how I would use (code for not waste) the time. I didn't want to lose track of the time or get distracted. I made a schedule, I established a reward system. (I know, what a dork! Brutal honesty here.)

Unfortunately, I didn't work on anything fun, like sewing, quilting, or scrapbooking. I did work on something that I have been hugely behind on at home, that once I get caught up, it will be really easy to stay caught up. I made amazing progress, getting over a big hurdle, so I am thrilled!

This week? No such luck. I have had something every night this week and have gotten behind on everything. That same time block will be used for getting control of the piles of laundry (mostly clean) and all the other stuff that has piled up in the mean time.

C'est la vie!

A Random Meme

Cause, you know, it's all about mememememe!

What is one goal you’d like to accomplish during your lifetime?
Visit all 50 states.

If you could visit any place in the world, where would you choose to go?
Italy. Or Greece.

What are your favorite hobbies?
Sewing, scrapbooking.

Tell us about a unique or quirky habit of yours.
Quirky? Me? Nah...

If you won a million dollars, what would you do with it?
Buy a house, travel.

What is one crazy thing that you would just love to do?
Ride a zip line through the rain forest.

What was your favorite TV show when you were growing up?
Pettycoat Junction.

Name the most famous person you've had a face to face encounter with.
Robert Redford.

Goals

I work full-time, forty hours a week plus five hours of driving to and from. I have a time-intensive church calling. I am the designated errand-runner and grocery-shopper. I am the designated house-cleaner and laundry-starter and folder. Due to our opposite schedules, I am the weekend-cooker. (I could say "weekend chef" but that would be giving myself way too much credit.) I have a husband who needs a certain amount of attention. (And, granted, probably doesn't get enough.)

The point is, I have a lot of stuff I have to do and not a lot of time left over for big (cleaning, organizing, fun, scrapbooking, sewing) projects. I do not, as a rule, have large chunks of time for, well, anything.

(I should post this disclaimer on the front door!)

Wait, where was I going with this? I got distracted!

Oh, yeah! My point is, while I would rather have long stretches of time for projects, the fact of the matter is that I have to break things down, sometimes into teeny tiny chunks.

Take the t-shirt quilt as an example. I was getting really frustrated that I was not busting through that pile of t-shirts fast enough. I had done one small session, then worked on them some more while waiting for the cable guy (don't get me started on that subject!) and later, cut a few more. Then I looked at the pile every time I walked by it on the way to do something else (something less fun, I might add!)

At that point I decided that I needed to break things down into really small (doable) steps. I set a goal to cut two t-shirts per day for the next week. That would leave seven to cut on Saturday. Just setting that little goal energized the whole process. I knew that no matter how busy my day was, that I could spare enough time to cut just two shirts. It worked like a charm! One day I even had time to cut four shirts, which worked out well because the next day I didn't have time to do any, but at that point, I was still on track. When I got to the weekend, the pile was really small, and I knew I could finish it off, and I did.

In the midst of being frustrated by my lack of project time, I read a blogger that said she only has 45 minutes a week to sew so she has to make the most of her time. I found that comforting. And inspiring. Then I read another blogger who said that she allows herself to sew for 30 minutes a day, guilt free. Also inspiring.

So that is my aim. To carve out those short spans of time and make them count for something.

Unsewing

Saturday I went to the beach. It was a breezy, cloudless day. The water was a dark, dark blue. The waves were rolling, and there was a huge contingent of sailing vessels on the horizon. There were people playing in the waves, and couple of sand sculptors pouring and packing and scraping away.

I love to watch the people coming and going. It is interesting to see what other folks find necessary to bring to the beach. As for me, I bring a chair, an umbrella, and a bag o' stuff.

In my bag I have a towel, (more for covering parts the umbrella doesn't shade than for drying off, because remember, I don't swim and I don't like being in the sun,) a water bottle, my cell phone (for the time, as there is rarely a signal at the beach,) something to read and something to do.

This time I brought both books I am reading and a bag of unsewing.

I have been looking for a "take-along" project for a while, something portable to take along when I may have to wait or have some down time away from home. I have not (yet) been carried up in the hexie craze that has been rampant on the internet this summer, nor have I been to JoAnn's to get the Kona White I need to start a little house quilt (scroll down for it).

I do, however have those red and blue quilt blocks (UFO # 3) that I want to revamp. And a seam ripper and a few quilt blocks are quite portable, in a zippy baggie. So, that is what I did. I brought some nine-patch blocks that need a bit of tweaking and did some unsewing at the beach. I got a lot more done that I thought I would, and I enjoyed it immensely. I am no stranger to the seam ripper, and I don't mind doing it. It is always worthwhile in the end.