dljennings

when my oldest 2 kids were small, i was alone with them & worked 2 jobs, about 65-70 hrs a week. we were so broke i used to wash all our clothes, (including the cloth diapers) in the bathtub. the laundry mat was a rare treat!

my quilting (badly done hand piecing) & cross stitching was mostly done during breaks on the part time job, when i worked for a caterer...

with no washer & dryer, living in MI, i had to be super organized, especially in the winter, just to make sure everyone had clean (and DRY) underwear & socks every day!

i used to haunt goodwill & salvation army thrift stores, not only for our clothes, but for what i could cut up into pcs to make smaller clothes & quilts.

quilt & craft wise, it was the most productive time in my life....

now i have a wonderful husband, 3 more kids, a lovely antique house we are working on restoring, beautiful gardens a WASHER & DRYER, the resources to get pretty much what ever fabric and or notions i want, but i don't seem to get nearly as much done.... makes no sense to me!!

Appliqueaddict

I have always worked at least 32 hours a week, with husband and 2 daughters. I got up an hour earlier each morning and spent the time in my sewing room. Usually I worked on a piece of applique, sometimes I would just watch the news and read. Both daughters were active in sports and applique is a great 'take long' project to work on. I also take my projects when traveling, it a good way to pass time in airports or riding as a passenger in a vehicle.

cherrio

So glad to hear you got your happy ending! I cut up clothes and jeans for sewing and quilting also. but, my tale is the reverse; I got dumped for a younger model and now it's just my teenager and me. We don't ever make ends meet but some months we come close. (and I do have a washer and dryer) knock on wood. lol

Linda2010

I too,work full time and can't wait till the day I can do what I want.But for now when I get the sewing bug,I'll try to get a hour or more in.But sometimes My grandkids don't leave till late or the phone keeps ringing.

leakus

I work 40 hours per week and now I am lucky because I have a 10 minute commute. I have 5 yr old and DH and of course a a lot of "Have to do" things around the house. My DH cooks almost every day but that doesn't mean I am free to do what I want (Quilt), I am in charge of the side dishes, setting the table and do the dishes. Now that we live in a house I have a sawing room and this allowed me to go there and spend at least 20 happy minutes and accomplish something. When we lived in a condo I couldn't get anything done because just opening the sawing machine, mat, ironing table etc took me a good 20 minutes, then finding the project from under the bed or under the sawing machine another 10 minutes, so it was really bad. Back then my son was little so I didn't get anything done for at least 4 years. Back then I managed to sign up for a class here an there on Saturdays and maintain my sanity.
Now that my kid is almost 6 yrs old I manage to spend maybe 1 hour, 2 if I am lucky in my sawing room but my problem is DH that compains that he doesn't "see" me until is time to bed or dinner time. I feel very frustrated if I cannot get to the sawing room but I try to put myself in perspective and appreciate how things are much better now.
I am planning better now, I try to have several projects going on so depending how much time I have what I work on. I always try to have something to take to the family room when my DH demands me there and watch tv.
I cannot wait to have more time in my hands to quilt but I am 20 yrs away of retirment so I HAVE TO MANAGE the best I can.
Thanks for posting this one, I feel I am not alone and learing from others experiences.
andrea

Annz

I wish I could set aside a small amount of time each day or week for quilting but I don't. I seem to need a quilt meeting to do my work on my quilts. I can make baby quilts because they need to be done by a certain time but for just my pleasure of quilting I find it hard to set this as a priority. I seem to be organized in other areas but my love for quilting seems to take a back seat to others and other things that need to be done. I am working on it though.

zz-pd

When I was able to work,, I did my crafts on the week end, after the house work was done, and my three boys were tended to. I am home all the time now, but pain does not allow much time for sewing. God bless. Penny

C.Cal Quilt Girl

Have almost always taken time to sew some years life got in the way, ill parents, long work weeks, but felt better if something was in progress then were able to get space and time rearranged, so could work and sew with a touch of travel and social life. Then poof 60 to zero no work, didn't take to well to that for quite a while, Now back to parttime at 2 little jobs, and finding a new way to make a living, also looking for ways to fill time, glad I found you all! Things will get Better.

Covered in Threads

I believe I am one of the fortunate ones. My hubby of 37+ years has always helped around the house, gotten involved with the extra activities our girls were doing and been supportive of my crafting business - be it setting up the booth, selling items or just running errands for me.
Though I work only 4 days a week now instead of 5 we have always found time to do our other interests - hiking, camping, traveling along with my addiction to sewing. I've only done true quilting for the past 5-6 years, rest of the years I've done alot of hand sewing (stuffed animals), baby items, sculpting and painting. Together we have participated in numerious craft/art shows using the funds we made to do most of our traveling with.
Being busy as we are we find little slots of time to sew and craft. I hand sew while he drives, prepare crafts while watching TV and I always carry a tote bag of things to work on during my lunch breaks, appointments, etc. If you have it in your heart you can always find time. Now that both of our daughters are on their own we each took over the extra rooms and have our "craft" rooms ready for us whenever we find 15 minutes or more to play. We both find it very healthy and rewarding, so we encourage others to find a hobby/art/craft and seek ways to make it work.

Joanieu

I work from home and work from 8:30am to 7:pm 3 days a week and from 8:30am to 6:oopm the other 2 days. I get my work from the corporate office which sends work by email. So I usually sit at my desk (made 1 bedroom upstairs office, while the other bedroom uphere is guest bedroom with sewing machine). I hand quilt so I quilt inbetween loans. Some days the work is slow and I can get more quilting done some days too busy to even pick up the needle. I also quilt while watching TV with hubby 'cuz usally is it baseball on. A few months ago I pieced 3 quilts while working, I just had the computer volume all the way up so I can hear if I got emails or not - sometimes after about 20 minutes I would come in here and check just in case I didn't hear it. House wise,ummmmmmm, just give me some warning before you show up so I can do the really deep cleaning and vaccuming :)(which hubby keeps saying he will do, yeah right!!). House is straight but not as clean as I want it to be, but at least hubby does the outside work and the keeps the dishes clean and does cook out on the grill most nights. The weekends I do a lot of sewing on machine (piecing, binding, etc..), especially in the winter - during the summer we are out on the lake the whole weekend long, even when it is 103 outside like this last weekend. :)