The Year In Review
Well, once again I left my camera at work - so no photos today.
If you've been with me for the year, you may recall that I spent all of last New Year's weekend cleaning and organizing my sewing room. I swore that I would keep it picked up (you know...that "clean as you go" thing). Well, in the frenzy of the last few months, the table was piled up again and the Sophie hairballs were thick. I decided last night that if I cleaned up then, I could sew without guilt on New Year's and start clean again.
I was derailed last night by a broken vacuum cleaner belt.
Russ solved that problem this morning, and after I got home from work, counting fat quarters at the shop (over 12,ooo!), dinner, Target and WalMart, I finished cleaning up. I started to sew, but it was almost 10 so I decided to tally up my project index cards for 2006. (To catch everyone up, I decided on New Year's that I would try to track all my projects on index cards - I did pretty good on remembering to do it!)
So, here's 2006 in a nutshell:
25 shop samples (5 quilt tops, 7 pieced by others but quilted by me, and 13 complete quilts)
7 other quilts completed from start to finish
1 quilt quilted for someone else (can you say barter?)
4 UFO's finished
6 quilts donated
52 yards of stash used (I could use more if I weren't making all those darned shop samples!)
37 other projects finished (postcards, tote bags, night shirts)
I didn't get as many UFO's finished as I wanted - and I only created 2 tops that need to be quilted. But I guess I came out ahead - I finished more than I made!
But I have learned one thing about myself. I don't go backwards. If I don't work my way all the way through a project at one time, I have a hard time going back and finishing. I blame most of this on my chosen profession - owning a quilt shop, there's always something new to be made for the shop. I fantasize about having a whole month to sew on MY stuff, but that's not the real world I live in. Oh well, I'll retire someday. I can console myself with the fact that I have plenty of projects and fabric to keep me busy!
My goal for 2006 is to make more personal time to sew. Think I can do it?
posted by Susan @ 10:48 PM
5 Comments:
Good luck with finding more time to sew. I don't think you'll find much sympathy here - you have what seems to be a dream job to most of us - owning a quilt shop! The reality is much different from the fantasy I know - but still you can make lots of fun projects and call it work. I wonder how much of that stash you are putting away for after retirement - a quilt shop owner I know cuts at least a yard off anything she likes just for herself. She is extremely prolific, but I bet her stash is huge.
I don't go backwards, either. Since life frequently interupts, that makes for a few (*choke*) UFOs. To me it sounds like you made wonderful progress in 2006.
Susan I'm with you...owning a quilt shop means we get to sew lots but our personal stuff goes on the back burner. More time for us in 2007 :)
Love your idea of the index cards. I've never kept track of my projects before this year, but with my blog as my witness, I did more than I thought, LOL. I understand about your frustration of sewing, but not sewing for yourself, so to speak. Here's wishing you a bit more personal sewing time this coming year.
Cheers!
Evelyn
You have done a great job, making lots of fun quilty things, and not increasing your UFO list. It must be really hard to be a quiltshop owner where the work quilts cut into the the personal quilts time. Hopefully you can combine them, make things you like for yourself, and use them as shop samples?
The index cards sound like a great idea. Keeps you off the computer, and gives you something physical to look at. You could even tape/glue a photo of the finished thing on them.
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