I kept the house spotless for 20 years and what do I have to show for it? Now the house is reasonable clear, the washing sometimes done and I bought a crockpot. I sew many hours each day and everyone is thrilled when a new quilt, etc is completed. It's all about priorities.
PS If you have small children that need transportation, there are many small take along items that enable you to use time more efficiently!

Are you at home during the week that you accomplish so much quilting? Do you have a cyber sew clone? Please tell me!![/quote]

I totally understand what you're saying. I'm very fortunate because I'm retired now. When I worked full time and had housework, 4 children, cats & dogs, plus a messy husband to care for, I had little or no time to quilt. Now that I'm not working, the kids are grown and on their own, and I've replaced the messy husband with a tidy one, I can make quilts all I want. But I still feel guilty if I spend too much time at it. I have the house to keep clean, meals to cook, and grandchildren to care for, often. Even so I can spend a lot more time quilting than I ever could before. All I can say is, and I mean this wholeheartedly, your time will come. In the meantime you will just have to squeeze in an hour here and there. When you can, take a block of time to get down to business with it. I can remember, even in the "old" days, every once in a while I would suddenly have an afternoon to myself! And I used it (usually) to my advantage, for quilting.

When I raised 3 children, had a full time job, kept a clean house and fairly clean flower beds and veggie garden, I still sewed clothing in the evenings, but no quilts ... the quilting interest hit me in the mid-nineties. Now I've been retired since the end of 1994, live with a husband and a needy dog, keep a neat but not very clean house, and rarely do yardwork.

Except for needing maternity clothes as necessary, I've worn the same size clothes for 50+ years, so I don't need to make clothing and I don't get a whole lot of quilting done, either. There's rarely anything on t.v. to justify even turning it on.

I've concluded that what I'm basically doing nowadays is just taking up space.

Having said all that, the quilting hobby is thoroughly pleasing to me; I love it, but production is mighty slow and I don't care!

I only started quilting about a year and a half ago, and in that time I've made 11 quilts. Eight of them are bed sized. I retired about five years ago, but when I was working, there was no way I could have done that. When I was in graduate school (full time) I was raising two kids, putting in 16 hours a week at my internship, working about three shifts a week at the hospital, volunteering at my kids' schools, and volunteering for five different social service agencies. Looking back on it, I'm not sure how I maintained such an insane schedule. That's why I retired early!

I like your attitude!!!

I work three jobs, but I get up extra ealy in the morning to get some done. At times, it's only 10 to 15 min. but it adds up.

I might only sqeeze in 15-20 minutes in the evening...while I'm watching my favorite TV show.... and then on the weekends... I'm a huge sports nut... so I love to sew while I watch and listen to football/tennis/college hoops/NASCAR. It's amazing how much you can do in little snippets of time. :mrgreen:

Nancy of Nancy's Notions has a softback book called 10-20-30 minutes to sew. The tips and tricks in that book have helped me make the most of every opportunity I have to sew, etc.

YES the PC is my problem also. lol if i can get away from it I would sew. You would think that i wouldnt even look at a computer at home since i work on one for 8 hours 5-6 days a week!

I work thrid shift so I take my quilt to work with me and average 3-4 hours each night. It sure makes the time fly by!!