I've never sewed in a group unless I was taking a class but I can see where it would be a problem with the talking thing. I'd probably have that issue
I don't justify anything that I want to do. It's like when I either spend time with the kids or clean; the kids will always come first because the cleaning, cooking, etc will always be there to get done or redone. If I need to stop and start the meal I'll do it or if something is bothering me I'll stop and clean that. Like this weekend I set the embroidery machine up in the living room so that I could hear when it needed thread changes or bobbins and cleaned my upstairs and kitchen. I normally always multi task anyways because it's so easy for me to get distracted. I go to work, pay the bills and the rest I do on my terms most of the time.