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-   -   How do you find the time??? (https://www.quiltingboard.com/main-f1/how-do-you-find-time-t34447.html)

dunster 01-18-2010 09:03 AM

I didn't start quilting until several years after I retired. There's no way I could have spent this much time on any hobby when I was working and had kids at home.

knlsmith 01-18-2010 09:19 AM

i work 3rd shift so i quilt alot on weekends when everyone else in the world seems to be asleep. ;) Also this time of year my hours at work have been cut from 40 and 60 to just barely 30. I spend all kinds of money when i am working all the overtime and don't have time to quilt so that this time of year I have plenty to do and don't have to worry about the cost so much. Kind of like a fabric savings account. I still manage a trip every 2 weeks or so to a quilt shop though! :)

LovingIzabella 01-18-2010 09:28 AM

I have to agree. it is very hard working full time-especially when the commute to work is one hour one way, have a toddler and a home to maintain. I try to go at least once a week to my mom's to get some sewing in and once we are done with the basement I think it might make life a little easier too who knows :-) I try to sneak it in where I can lol
Hugs
April

cminor 01-18-2010 09:47 AM

I just told my husband yesterday that between him, quilting, my new "baking bread" hobbie, and my beloved Tivo - I don't have any time. I told him I had to give up on one of them :) I also work full time - early hours so we are in bed early - by 7:30 I am in my jammies ready to watch some tv before bed.

carrieg 01-18-2010 10:10 AM

We don't all put out a lot of quilts! I have yet to make anything bigger than 60x70. But I do have a dedicated sewing room and no kiddos. So I can work for 15-20 minutes and just leave everything as is. I sew binding on a quilt during my lunch hours, when I finish one!

I like spending time with DH, so don't get as much done as I could!

MaryStoaks 01-18-2010 10:13 AM

I sew when I should be cleaning too. I'm retired, my husband is encouraging and helpful, I worked hard for many years and now my time is my own. :-D

amma 01-18-2010 10:29 AM

I am retired, and quilt whenever I can. Some weeks I get a lot done, others I hurt to much to quilt so I read/watch videos/surf the internet for new techniques and tips :D:D:D

When my kids were still at home, I did take time in the evenings for myself, even if it was only a half hour.
I think it was good for them to learn and know that their playtime was good and healthy for them, mama's playtime was good and healthy for her too! As they got older I could get an 1 to 1 1/2hours some nights, but we ALL shared the daily chores, and none of us spent more than 30 minutes each (excluding laundry) each afternoon/evening :D:D:D

aberi 01-18-2010 11:10 AM

I too work full time... kids are grown and gone but now I take care of a senior for a friend of mine..I also do accounting on the side for extra income ( quilting money!) so I usually only have Friday nights and Saturday nights to quilt... unless I'm deep into a quilt project.. then I put the house on hold for the weekend and work on the quilt...Spring and summer steal my time as well .. working on my huge flower gardens.. I learned to do hand quilting so that I could sit out on my deck in the summer evenings and hand quilt with a light on!!! I piece it together by machine and then handquilt the top if I want to spend time outside...I look foward to the day I am retired ( not for at least 15 more years) than I can devote more time to quilting!

MadQuilter 01-18-2010 11:17 AM


Originally Posted by love2quilt...
I work all week, come home, walk the dog, (most of the time) make dinner, clean-up, spend some time with my honey, and then it's time to make coffee for tomorrow.

1. Got the dog a buddy and they run eachother ragged. That eliminates dog walking.
2. Crock pots, take out, microwave, or sandwiches are awesome in making dinner fast and painless.
3. Cleaning had to go. Hey, can't do everything and cleaning got dropped in the priority list. (Shoot, it never made the priority list) Besides, it's highly overrated.
4. Checked out the 10-20-30 minute sewing book. There is so much prep stuff one can do in a short time.
5. Sleeping - also highly overrated. I cut back on that and menopause helped. lol
6. DH works late shift so my evenings are all mine.

mpspeedy 01-18-2010 11:30 AM

I will admit that I probably spend more time than most of you with my fabric. I am disabled with a rare autoimmune disease. My husband still works. There are only the two of us at home these days. I always found time to sew even when my daughter was very little and I was also raising a step-son. Since I got involved with the Linus Project I have probably made at least 150 quilts for them. They are very basic top, back and batting, machine quilted or tied. Most of them are whole cloth novelty prints or very simple piecing. I have a woman who comes in every three weeks and cleans my house. Not to my former specifications but tasks I can no longer do. I save my limited energy for my quilting and sewing. I cook from scratch 4 nights a week and we eat out on the weekends. Since changes in temperture, like hot water, really bother my hands my husband has been doing the dishes for the last ten years. I do laundry once a week and usually get my groceries in small batches whenever I am out and about.
At this point I probably only make two or three bedsize quilts entirely from cloth to quilted a year. As for handquilting I do a lot more of that. Last sunday I made a 43"by43" pieced quilt top for a sample of a quilt challenge at one of my guilds. It is already 3/4 of the way quilted. Two more nights of TV viewing and quilting and it will be finished. I also very simply pieced and constructed a baby quilt for my nephew's second child due Feb. 4. It I machine quilted. I also enveloped another Linus quilt. I should get the macine quilting done on it by tomorrow night. My e-mail name is mpspeedy for a very good reason.


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