hi everyone. i haven't said much lately, though i've been lurking and trying to keep up with you all. lots of babies needing quilts in the past several months (next one may get a card only!). i made a quilted purse for a work buddy's birthday. and my son has started reminding me that he leaves for school in the fall and has not gotten his quilt yet. the weekend's coming - my best sewing time :lol: home tonight to put the border on another one - will see if i can get some good pics to post.

-sewcin

It is hard. I work full-time and have two kids. By the time I get home, get dinner cooked and cleaned up and the kids to bed, I am exhausted. I basically sit on the couch for an hour or two and then I am asleep. I try to sew on the weekends now when Madelyn is sleeping, but then the housework doesn't get done. I haven't really sat down much since I was on maternity leave. I miss it!

Sewcin, I love the quilt in your avatar!

I work full-time, and have a few things going on in my life right now, and am usually so tired when I get home. Every once in awhile I will be able to get a block done in an evening, but usually sewing is reserved for the weekends. Then, of course, there are all the "surprises" that life hands us that affect sewing time.... One thing I can say is, once I start sewing, the whole world outside my sewing room disappears, and I am "at one" with my machine and fabric. :D

I wish I had more time. I try to sew every other Saturday in my sewing room, using the machine. I keep hand work downstairs by "Mom's Chair" in case I"m home, relaxing-- :lol: :lol:
I do alot of applique on my lunch hour. I only get 1/2 hour so I gobble my yogurt, munch on carrots and put in a few stitches here and there.

I miss carpool line--I used to get alot more done :wink:

I squeeze it in , which means I am usually behind in getting things done :roll: Work full time also , plus with a large family it seems like something is Always popping up. Its tough, I miss the kids ball games and sporting events, use to get a lot done then :wink:
Sharon

I use mostly weekends for quilting but do a little hand quilting in the evenings while staring at the boob tube. Sometimes the houseworks gets a little slack but it never goes anyplace so it is always available. I just got a new embroidery machine and have been spending way to much time on the internet and at the machine. I work full time also.

I try to sew some on my days off. Sometimes I get more time that others. My family knows I need my sewing time and they try to give me as much time a possible.

I also work full time and try to get the grandbaby time in. I try to quilt a little after work while waiting for my DH to get off work and when we have a nothing weekend - that's when I get quality time in. It's hard to find time to do it as much as I'd like.

The biggest majority of my sewing is done on Sundays. It's just me and hubby at home so he watches TV and I'll sew for a few hours in the evening. I also work full time.

Friday and Saturday is my family time.

Well, my house is dirty, and there are always chores undone. I tend to stay up late at night and rush to get ready the next morning. Of course, my days off work are MINE!!!

This is tougher when you have little kids at home. Luckily, mine are all grown and on their own. Hubby just grumbles a little bit about the dirty home. Dogs don't seem to mind, though!

It's hard when you have a young children at home and a full time job. The crock pot was worth gold to me when I was working full time. There are so many recipes online for crockpot dinners it should be no problem to find many your family will like. You need more then one crockpot. One for main course, one for vegetables. I can bake a pie in a crock pot, it's just like an oven. Now the crock pot liners make it NO clean up at all. Use paper plates, cups and plastic utensils. No kitchen clean up. I detest the clean up after a meal and found ways to not have it. That is a big time save during the week.

I am retired, so my time is pretty much my own now :D :wink: :D When my kids were still at home, I would take ME time, get them a couple of movies, some popcorn, or on the weekends they would stay/play with friends and that would give me a few hours to do what I wanted to do :lol: :lol: :lol: When they were really young, I would work in an hour or two in the evenings after they went to bed or in the mornings on the weekends while they were still asleep.

My suggestion, don't try to keep up with anyone but yourself. Life has a way of getting in the way of quilting. I used to look at all the lovely quilts that are DONE and then I would feel bad about not finishing mine, so I changed my outlook. I simply enjoy the inspiration and get done what I get done. That works.

I agree with this. Enjoy what you DO get done, and never worry about what you DON'T. Anything you do is better than not quilting at all!

Kids long grown and gone, I've gone to four 10-hour days to get an extra day off. By the time I get home from work, it's usually 12 hours. Seems like enough time to have dinner (DH makes it!), be with him for an hour or two, and get ready for bed. (No idea why it should take as long as it does to get ready for bed... but that's another story.)

So... I sew/quilt Friday-Sunday much of the time. Unfortunately, I'm so inefficient, that there should be much more to show for all that. Oh, well...<g>

Sleep is overrated.
So is housework.
:wink:

I sewed little girls clothes, sundresses, pjs until my daughters were out of high school. Then I taught them how to mend and hem for themselves and learned how to quilt, for my own enjoyment. I don't remember how I fit in sewing time without scheduling time, around family needs, housework, and my job. 7 yrs ago Rheumatoid Arthritis was added to my medical problems. I haven't worked in over a year. Now my days are full of medical appts, therapies, long rest periods. Everything takes me longer so it takes days to pay bills, do simple errands, do the household tasks that I can manage... everything. I feel lucky to manage quilting at all so have learned to be very flexible. Some days I cannot do it, other days I last an hour or only 15min. I really love it and my family values my gifts so much it motivates me to do more. I gave my sister a wallhanging for Christmas and before she unfolded it to see the front, she broke out in tears... she never does that. So far, I've always managed to meet deadlines like Christmas or birthday, but now, I'm careful to save myself the worry and only start a quilt project with no deadline or one that is far away. That being said, I've been thinking of trying the Block of the Month club here. It looks like I will be able to finish it late if I had a hard month. That's not allowed in person at quilt shop clubs. Anyway, my recent years have showed me that as long as I quilt at all, every week, a project eventually gets done and can see proof that I actually had accomplished something creative and fun.

How do I make time?

Hmmm......I ship hubby to sea, send the kiddo to work, then I have the entire house to myself. If the cats get in the way, I feed them cat nip so they'll just veg for the rest of the day. :) :)

I'm fornutate that I don't have to work outside the home at this point. (Who knows about the future?) I have a 7 soon to be 8yr old in 3rd grade and a 2 year old. During the day its usually just me and the LO. Naptime, Barney and Sesame Street are great for sewing time.

She loves to "help" me clean but its usually get messed up 5 minutes later so I make myself not obsess about the housework. I keep a calendar to keep myself on track with appts and "chores" I usually set Monday's and Tuesday to clean. I break the house into 2 halves so that I don't have so much pressure in one day. Wednesday are projects day where I work on my quilting/sewing/etc. projects. Thursday are groceries, errands and Friday's are bills and straightening up the house and sometimes an afternoon of reading (during nap). All done with my "helper"

Add onto the main stuff: Girls Scouts, Softball, PTO, Church events (at least 2-3 evenings a week), onine time, quilt guild and a few committees I'm on.

I talked to my mom about a grandma/granddaughter one afternoon a week just so I can actually have some alone time. DH took both girls to with him to my oldest's softball practice the other night and I had 1.5 hours of alone time. I can't remember the last time that happened. That's what gave me the afternoon at grandma's idea.

I can sympathize with all you ladies that have to work 40-50 hrs at a job then come home and take care of everything there also. Been there, done that and don't think could handle it again. I pray I don't have to at least until the LO is in school.

guess i could have phrased it better. i simply enjoy seeing all of the finished - and not so finished - items that folks post. i'm a single mom with three kiddos and a paid full-time job. i consider it a good day when i remember what we are all doing! the "baby" is 16 so they are fairly self sufficient. some nights i sew like a crazy woman; others, not so much.. but the kids all know when i go out and turn on the music i'm serious

I agree with you. I have 3 shows I watch each week otherwise, I listen to my ipod and sew. More relaxing and helps release the stresses of the work day. :lol:

i, too, work fulltime and am oncall while at home - usually those things can just be taken care of via the phone or internet. i homeschool our two boys and am responsible for our meals -everyone pitches in on the rest of the stuff - laundry, sweeping, dusting, dishes!! thank goodness for that!! my husband would love a perfect house but is happy with a lived in one!! :D i usually sew about 1 hour when i get home from work - i have very strange hours and can sew before dh gets home each day - usually. i watch tv just on tuesday and wednesday after church - favorite shows, you know!! :wink: the othe nights i sew. every other saturday dh takes ds's out to do a work project leaving me with the morning at least to sew- afternoons is family time. we take long weekends about four to five times a year and i make sure i have plenty of handwork to do as i sit and do nothing at the cabin!! love it!! little bits of time here and there and lots of sewing is accomplished. didn't always have this much time to sew, but am thoroughly enjoying it now. when i had less time i just did a stitch here and there - it just took longer to finish!! as someone else said, enjoy what you DO get done and don't worry about speed or how much doesn't get done.

In my previous house, I had a TV in my sewing room. Killed 2 birds that way. In the new house I won't have the space for a TV, since the new quilt frame takes up most of the room. I guess, I could mount a flat screen on the wall. :) But that would lessen my quilting funds. :cry:

Just recently I added hand piecing to my methods list. The hand piecing is strictly a TV pastime for me. This winter I went through a spell that the sewing machine noise was unbearable and I didn't feel like doing cross stitch or knitting. In answer to the original question, while working I had to write quilting into my time schedule just like anything else that had to happen.

I agree! I do work outside the home and besides learning to let alot "go" (like my mom said I would when I had a baby!), I have put my housework on a schedule. I have a daytimer where I write my to do list, etc. I have a cleaning shedule that on the first Saturday of the month I dust, clean the bathrooms, and clean the floors (for example), on the second Saturday I clean the floors, water the plants, and change bedsheets, etc. Third Saturday it is a different set of chores---whatever works for you! I even remind myself in my daytimer to check the furnace filters and flip the mattresses! anyone who looks in my daytimer would probably roll their eyes, but I have to stay super organized so I don't feel overwhelmed. of course, if I am having company over, things get done ahead of schedule. During the week I only try to keep up with the dishes and laundry. I am fortunate to have a dishwasher and a washer/dryer in my house. If I can't even keep up with that (and there are times!!) then I let the laundry go until the weekend. I sew/quilt on Sundays. I figured even GOD needed a day of rest, and that is what I do to relax.
the housework doesn't wander away, take time for YOU! you will be a better mother, wife, daughter, and sister for it!
Rose H.

well, ladies i've enjoyed reading all your posts, and yall are just so busy it made me tired to read it. and i remember when i was like yall described, so busy with kids, grandkids etc but hang in there, everything will change for you some day as it did me. my kids grew up, grandkids grew up, husband died, even 2 great grandsons outgrew coming to stay with Gigi. I'm a barber so i work 4 days a week just because i want to, i have a room built onto my house just off my kitchen so i made my kitchen into a sewing room, funny huh? i dust my kitchen stove once a week or so. and if a customer comes in the shop, my dog barks to alert me. I sew in between haircuts or any other time i take a notion. ALL my time is MINE. I do whatever I want whenever I want and spend my money how I want. I cherish the good ole days but we all have to learn how to roll with the punches that life deals us. I also cherish this quilting board and all you wonderful ladies. There's a local quilt shop where I hang out a lot, wonderful people there in the quilting world I have grown to love. Lots of single old ladies I run around with. You can actually survive on hamburgers, pizza, and pot pies. I'm 72 now and still enjoying life - only in a different way than when i was young. so hang in there all you younger ladies with busy busy lives, it will all change someday.
Donna

I don't work outside my home but I have difficulties finding time to quilt. My problem is working around my fibromyalgia. I have days when I can barely get out of bed much less do housework and cooking for my husband and I. On those days sewing and quilting is the farthest thing from my mind. I have to focus on putting one foot in front of the other and getting though the day. I do try to keep small projects to work on by my chair. I also take small projects with me in the car when we travel.

Have you tried some of the new medications that are out there? My dad suffers, too. Medication has worked wonders. Ask you doctor, maybe he/she can help.
Rose Hall

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Wonder if cat nip would work on my kids?!

I'm lucky I don't work so I fit sewing in around the kids, Hans and the garden - housework is the bottom of the list - clean clothes and good food, that's about my lot!

K x

I totally agree with you. Quilting is the best therapy!

I squeeze it in when I can. More gets done on the weekend. But homeschooling, 4 children, part-time job,... makes it tough. The house certainly isn't neat. There are dust bunnies multiplying under the furniture... But I get the kids to help as much as possible. One of their primary jobs is laundry. They even fold it, not perfectly, but they fold it.

But it gets hard to squeeze it in when life gets in the way...

Great to get the kids helping - my 6 year old pairs up all the socks!

K x

my 5 year old empties the dishwasher. It is great! Seems like it isn't much, but I can't stand to empty it. Then all I have to do is load! He thinks it is fun, so why not. He will windex windows too! Kids at this age have NO clue! I love it!

Yes, helping to them is fun! Shame it doesn't last though!

K x

I use my crockpot, but have not heard of the liners, bellaboo, what are they? I need all the help I can get. :D

yup, this is the reply that fits me. I have decided, not to feel guilty over what I am not doing...I could make a list as long as my arm and my leg, of what I'M NOT doing, but then I look at what I do...I've decided that I am here and there, and hit and miss, and that is the way I am wired, so why fight it? I love it, when I get down to sewing, and get in the zone, so gonna try to remember those feelings, and try to shrug off the rest. My body fights me every day and night of my life, time to let go of something. re-phrasing the song: I THINK THE WORLD NEEDS A QUILT! lol! :D

edit: I am on one of those fibromyalgia meds, and it ain't helping mine. wonder what else there is, besides, xstrenght Tylenol, three times a day, every day. DD is worried my liver won't last. Well, all I can say, is pain is no way to live, so we do what we gotta do...and I try to go quilt. :D

I schedule in a project - even if I can only devote an hour per day. My daughter used to take the 2 hour long naps, and, well, I had the time, I had the fabric, and I had the sewing machine, so I got a lot done. Now that she's in school and I'm in school I still have afternoon blocks of time to use to do my sewing while I am shamefully unemployed. I've been finishing up some other painting projects and cleaning out my garage for yard sales these past few months, but now that most of all of that is all done I can sew again while I am home. My house is a mess - but isn't it always?? Since it gets messy and dusty no mater how much I clean or don't clean, I use my time to work on quilts so when I do go back to work I'll have a box full of finished quilts instead of regrets. Don't worry, my tune will change when I go back to work full-time again! But for now, day one hour one, cut the pieces. Day two, start piecing. When I've finished my blocks around day 10 - start cutting the border and settings. Two days later, start putting together the top. I finish a top in about 3 weeks or so, depending on the difficulty, just sewing 1 hour a day. Now, actually QUILTING it, that's a whole different story.

Enn the flower grower

Hey - crock pots are GREAT! I've got a huge one, it does soups, stews, chicken stock, curry, chilli etc and ALWAYS enough over for the freezer - that's a meal in the bag, I love those!

K x

speaking of crock pots,

have you seen this website--crockpotting for a year??

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2007...anie-odea.html

I thought it was a great resource.

Rose Hall

Bellaboo - I hadn't heard about Crock Pot liners. Who makes them - Reynolds? Are they like Reynolds Alum. Wrap? Sounds good!