Thread: How Do You Schedule Your Projects?

I'm getting frustrated. There for awhile I was doing pretty well. I'd buy the supplies for one project and then do it and then move on to the next. I've finished all of my crochet projects. Now I'm working in two new crafts. Knitting and Quilting. They both take a great deal more time than the crochet. I've been working on one quilt top for well over a year. The quilting store that was hosting the workshop closed and I lost momentum. Now I'm starting back but hand quilting the stained glass butterfly is a lot of work with approximately 147 pieces. I just had problems after problems and now I'm hoping that if I do one piece a day I'll be finished by May. Then, the question is should I do that trapino technique doubling the amount of stitching or would it make a noticeable difference when I quilt on the black background material?

Maybe I need to explain more. The american cotton fabric dulled when put on top of the black background fabric I was using. It's stained glass but the technique is raw edge applique rather than using the basting tape. So I bought white to go underneath each piece. This didn't allow me to use the simple adhesive method of adhearing the fabric to the background. I didn't realize that I could have just basted the pieces in place, so I've been stitching each in place by hand. Needless to say it has been a problem.

I'm sorry that your getting frustrated with your quilting lately. I try to get fabric from stash depending on the project I want to do. Then I take it to the fabric store and go to town trying to match it with other fabric and pick the block I am wanting to do. I also do crochet but have put it on the back burner and work on it as needed. I think you should just quilt on the black background material. If you are having problems with it your going to dread every minute you are working on it if you add trapino to it.

Having been quilting for about 15 years now, I have a rough idea of how long any given sized project is going to take. I generally make bed quilts as gifts for family/friends. Toss in a few baby quilts along the way. I just last night finished hand sewing the binding down on a baby quilt. The baby is due next week but I believe there is a c-section scheduled for this week. Talk about cutting it close!

I have another over sized twin that I'm still piecing - but almost done - that is to be gifted in June for graduation. I'll be hand quilting that as well. Now that the baby quilt is done I can concentrate a bit more on that one. By the same token, when I was having design difficulties with the larger one, I concentrated on the quilting on the baby quilt. Tried to toss in some knitting when I got frustrated with both.

Have a few other balls in the air non-craft related that I need to concentrate on as well. Sometimes makes the quilting or other crafting difficult to focus on. Sometimes the crafty side helps me focus on the other things.

If you have no specific deadline for this quilt that is giving you fits - put it on the top of your UFO pile until you become inspired again. Life is too short to make yourself crazy over troublesome projects.

I try to schedule but it never works. If something is frustrating me i put it down and pick up another one. Many times the time away gives me a solution to the problem. I suggest you consider starting a different quilting project. One that is less frustrating.

All my quilts are fairly simple and usually I can finish piecing a top in less than 2 weeks, so I usually finish one before starting the next. But I am retired now so can devote as much time to it as I want. I admire those that take on complicated projects that take months or years to finish, but I just don't have that kind of patience! Ocassionally I may stop my current project if I need to make a quilt for a gift with a deadline, but then go right back to complete the top I was working on. I have picked out a pattern and fabrics for my next 6-8 quilts, so always have one ready to start as soon as one is done.

I have goals for projects each month. Then I break them down i into weeks and days. Usually I'm
working on 2 differents quilts and small projects such as pillowcases

Originally Posted by AngeliaNR

I don't really schedule. I usually have about three projects going--all at different stages, so I can choose what I want to do: cut, piece, or quilt. I always have a string block project, so that if I just want to sew mindlessly and play with scraps, I can. Some days, I just cut up scraps. I try not to give myself deadlines, so I can just enjoy the projects and the time I have to spend.

I do about the same, but I have lists showing what needs to be done next on each of the 5 projects I have currently going. It is really nice to cross of a task when it is complete! One project needs to have the quilting finished and the binding put on, one project is to cut 5 pair of jeans into circles to make another jeans quilt, one project is to put binding on a quilt as soon as I get it back from the quilter. When I finish one project I add another to the list. Works for me.

I don't schedule, when I am cleaning and I see a box that is labeled, I open it up and work on it...I have several top almost finished but they are on point and I dislike, dislike, dislike to do the insets..