I own my own company but that means I make less than minimum wage for the hours I put in. hehe. Actually I get up early enough to sew for 15 to 20 min. before work and then 1 hour usually in the evening. weekends are hit and miss with family things and church and usually back to work for a few hours.

I don't have help with housework (I wish) but there are now only 3 of us home so it does stay a bit cleaner. I've also learned to live with some of the mess.

I sew for relaxation and fun. Therefore- no quilt police allowed. It's a hobby, not a profession so I just relax.

I work 4 12 hour shifts a week . Have 11/2-2 hour commute. I don't try to do anything during the week except my e-mail and computer games. I work nights and my husband is retired so he does everything but feed and bathe me.LOL I spend the first day off sleeping then have the next days to do anything I want. Life is good!

Before being laid off I worked 40+ hours and almost 2 hours commute (sometimes more), I did alot of cutting out on weekends, sewed simple like log cabins, added a strip to about 24 blocks (chain pieced) before and after work.
I have to admit my Husband is super, he cooks almost all the meals, does the laundry, and shopping. It allows me the time to sew/quilt.
I would iron my prewashed fabric before work. :-)

I am one of those people that help with housework (I clean houses part-time). Sounds like I could get some new customers here if it wasn't for the long commute. I must admit I get less done now than when I worked in an office full-time. You know what they say, "If you want something done, ask the working mother".

I hear your frustration. I am so tired when I get home (get up at 6:00 AM and get home at 6:00 PM. By the time I change and eat dinner (DH makes dinner - he's retired) it is 6:45. I read mail, watch news. I don't sew in the evening because I make mistakes (too tired). So, I occasionally take a vacation day to "treat" myself to a day of doing what I want. The weekends are usually taken up with family, grandchildren, shopping. I think I will be joining the retired set next year and be able to pursue some of my passions. In the meantime I spend more time creating quilts in my mind than in my sewing room.

You know you are right about imposing rules on ourselves....I thinj I have done that forever and I am going to change it. I think because I like to sew I alway feel that I should have everything done around the house before I sat down at the machine....that is going to change starting Today. We have our divorced daughter living with us, we have raised two of her children and adopted the other two who are 12 and 15. We are 22 yr old who took time off from college until fall and the other is in college and she is 20. My husband is still recovering from his third bypass surgery this past november and forced retirment due to poor health...I am going to start sewing when I feel like it......

I am 51, retired two years and WON'T be going back to work cuz my pension is generous... I am lucky! I don't get to sew as much as I want because I have so many other things to do! Scrapbooking, photography, making doll clothes, writing and making slide shows on DVD... just to name a few! So when I see all the gorgeous things the people on this board are doing, I sigh and say, "Maybe someday..."

Hats off to all you creative people!

I work full time 8-5 5 days a week. I am an empty nester, and long ago housekeeping became about my 5th priority item. So, I guess I do have more time to quilt than some, but not as much as others.

I work 42 to sometimes 48 hours a week. My DH is great help. He gets off work before I do and I come home to suppper cooking. I hand quilt in fornt of the TV at night. I am on line at night too, and piece my quilts on weekends.

I have always found time to sew. I sewed in the dining room for years and it was great because I could sew a few seams while the potatos baked or boiled, while I was waiting for the oven to preheat, whatever. Also threw in a load of laundry as soon as I got home from work and it could also be washing while I cooked and sewed. We raised 5 kids and I worked full time and still made clothes and quilts. Figure out a way to have a little time for yourself and the things you love to do. You only live once!

I work full time. About a year ago they restructured my company and we were all changed from five 8 hour days to three 12 hour days. I thought I would hate it, but it's great. With four days a week off I have time to sew. Funny how things work out.

I work full time too - 39 hours over 5 days. I also volunteer at my local stables all day on Sundays. I don't get as much time to sew as I would like, but my partner and I both share the housework & cooking, so that's not too bad (I'm definitely not a perfectionist when it comes to home keeping - clean enough is fine for me).

I try to squeeze in a couple of hours on weekday evenings 2-3 times a week. On Saturdays, I try to get in either some handsewing or cross stitching.

I work nights, so if I am willing to give up some sleep while kid is at school, I can quilt then. I think I might commandeer bosses office (she is a quilter) as our therapeutic quilting room at work :)Not that we get much down time in the ED . . .

I work full time, but i try to fit sewing in when i can it relaxes me. Until my husband got lung cancer and 2wk later a heart attack and surgery for both my sewing time has really become limited, but i sew as much as i can, and because i am fairly new at embroidery and quilting i read all the tips i can get from you lovely quilters, it helps me alot. Denise

I work full time. 10 Hr each day 4 days a week 8 hrs on Friday. 1/2 hour lunch. Then I have 1hr commute to work. And a longer one home. I do hand quilting at lunch, and I try to get an hour in each night. But Sunday is mostly for quilting.

Exactly my life as well :-)
Hugs
April

I'm retired and still can't get quilts done in a timely matter. There's always something else to do and we're raising my granddaughter and I take her to school M-F so that she doesn't have to ride the bus for an hour. We have horses and other animals, we need to put laminate flooring in our home, build a shelter big enough for the 4 horses, clean and organize the garage and barn, organize my store room, etc., there's just not enough time in the day. Oh, also have to train the "baby" horse and take time to go riding. I need longer days. LOL

I have a full-time job & during this busy season work 6 days per week, go to the gym 4 days & come home & walk the dogs. I still try to get some sewing in even for 1 hr, I cut or piece, every little bit helps.

I work full time too = 9-10 hour days, 5 days a week, and one weekend a month. On the weekends when I'm now working, I go home to see my DH and animals and can sometimes stir myself to do some handwork when I'm there. I haven't even seen my sewing machine in so long, I'm going to have to get the instruction book out next time. I guess this is one reason I haven't finished any project (quilted or knitted) for at least 3 years...sigh.

I am retired,widowed,and all my children away from home,live with my DS and DIL,they are soooo supportive, I have Activity induced SOB and have to have constant O2. I do what I can to help around the house,which is not much if it is too active, I am relaxed and laid back ,My DIl is fast and antsy. lol so we make a good pair. They love to come into my room and see what I have done in the way of quilting,applique etc every night. My son says someday I will grow up and he wont have to keep a constant eye on me. lol So long story short. I can qult to my hearts desire. Tha Lord has been good to me. Jolo

I work full time, 4- 10 hour days( very fortunate..) I have one of my Grandchildren 3 days a week. . I schedule time on the weekend by letting other things go that aren't that important to me, like dusting, vacuuming; my DH does the dishes and cleans the kitchen, Thank GOD! I spend 1,1/2 to 2 hours on the weekend cooking everything we're going to have thru the week, then just heat it up. We get up at 4am every day but Sunday, then it's 5am. It gives us a little time together before we have to go out into the world; walk the dog, start a load of wash, get ready for work and leave by 5:15a.I work from 6A til 4p; go to exercise class from 5:45-6:45p I use the 5, 10, 15 minute rule for everything else; if it can be done in 5,10 or 15 minutes, I do it. if not I leave it for another time. You can get alot done in that amount of time. I set a timer when I go into the sewing room, sometimes only for 20 mins. Again, you can get alot done in that amount of time. And we turn off the T.V. there isn't anything on anyway...

I have 2 work-from-home jobs & I am currently studying to become a Pharmacy Technician. My days are very full & only dedicated to work & study. My kids are grown & in college. I don't watch TV at all. That's a huge waste of time as far as I'm concerned. I'm a very high energy person so I have no problem with getting everything done. :)

I work full time, Sunday to Thursday at a hotel, and every Friday at our LQS. I also take at least one dance class a week, at the moment 2. I love my Fridays. I get to sew almost all day, that is; when I'm not serving customers. :) My bigger projects do tend to take me months usually. I sew almost every evening for at least an hour and on Saturday mostly all day. Like most of you, I have to watch I'm not too tired. That is when the really silly mistakes happen. I'll admit there are days that I don't sew at all and just look through magazines for my next project or come to the board to chat. Barb

I work full time and don't get to use my sewing machine much. This is the first semester in 7 years that I am not taking a college credit course - I've been through a lot with two gum surgeries and dental work. By the time I get home and tend to my responsibilities, I am tired. I try to do some hand quilting while watching TV but my eyes are tired. I try to do a little bit of quilting at a time - to me the hand quilting is relaxing and a stress buster. I am working on Grandmother's flower garden with 1930's fabric and really enjoying it very much. I would love to some day retire and devote more time to quilting and other crafts.

I work full time (80-115 hours every 2 weeks) and when i'm not at work...i'm in the sewing room.
i take hand work to work with me...you'd be surprised how much you can get done in 10-15 minute breaks. i can bind a quilt in no time when i work on it during breaks at work. lots of prep work can be accomplished during breaks too, like copying appliques, or drawing diagnal lines on squares for half square triangles. i trouble shoot in my sleep...you'd be amazed at how i've managed to work out a design problem in my sleep :)
Nancy Zeiman put out a book (quite a few years ago) called 5-10-15 minutes to quilt... basically, to find time you just have to take the time...
i don't watch much tv, when the rest of the house is watching that favorite show i'm in sewing...going somewhere this weekend? while hubby is in shower, i'm in sewing room...i 'steal' what ever moments there are...i could decide that i don't have time, but then the time is just spent on some other activity...just decide what you can change to give yourself time....if you take prep work with you to work, then when you get home that part is done, you can sit down at the machine and sew...
time organization is as important (and as hard to accomplish) as any organization in our lives.

My full time job interfers with my sewing on a regular basis. I work with a computer all day, so I am usually suffering from eye strain when I get home from work. If not, I try to spend some time sewing. I usually schedule Saturday mornings for sewing. If I am working on a deadline project, I will sew a couple of hours each night that I am free. Occasionaly, I will take a Monday or Friday off as a mental health day from work and spend lots of time sewing. I usually can get my sewing room straightened up on these days too. One of my favorite things to do is to let my family and friends know that I will be going out of town on Friday evening and returning late Sunday evening. And then I go up to my sewing room and sew most of the weekend without the phone ringing off the hook. I tell DH that I will be on a quilting retreat, he asks where, I say upstairs and that is all that needs to be said. Neither of us get too excited about cleaning as long as it is picked up we are both very good at ignoring the dust.

I am able to keep the house about 20 minutes away from clean by following the FlyLady system. I found the Flylady in a post to a thread a couple of years ago. She has a wonderful system to help get it all done and have a lot of free time each day too. www.flylady.net.
I am dream of retiring though, and until then I will continue to collect fabric, patterns, and notions. I will be so prepared when that wonderful day arrives.

When I was in your position I realised that I had to find some me time or melt down.

I researched people who cleaned. The one found, attended my church so I did not have to worry about having a stranger in.

For about the price of a meal out I had a lady come in once a week. She vacuumed, moped, cleaned the bathroom, striped the bed, washed the bed clothes, remade the bed, dusted and generally cleaned.

Every month or to I would have her clean the oven, fridge and tip her.

I still had all the daily stuff but I did not have to use my day off for cleaning.

Sharon

I work full-time as a finance manager. Don't get much time to sew at all. When I'm preparing dinner I'll do some blocks but most of my quilting time is done on Sundays (unless visiting children, grandchldren, family). Work sure does interfere with my quilting.

Prioritize... I work a FT and a PT (20 hrs a week) job. I seem to find the time if I really want to get something done. I love Post-It notes to remind me where I left off and what I need to do next. Also keep each project together in a plastic shoe box or zipped project bag and separate baggies inside. Sometimes I'm at a point in a project I can take things with me to work on during my lunch breaks too.

This sounds so tempting. I think I could sell this idea to DH.

I am retired, but sometimes it seems sewing time is limited and I volunteer at church and the Literacy Coalition by tutoring and adult who wants to learn to read. But I sew rather than do housework.

I work full time, so I too don't have as much time to sew as I'd like. When I do get to sew, I enjoy it!

I'm really fortunate, I'm finally retired and can do whatever I want. Some days the everyday house work doesn't get done when i'm in the mood to quilt. Only problem now is the budget. Not as much $$$ for fabric as I used to have. Am planning a sudoku quilt using some of the fabric I bought way back when. Am doing a block of the month and a really cute frog table runner for my sister. Now that Spring has arrived in Montana I'm outdoors a lot, but the bad weather will return and it's quilt, quilt, quilt.

I work full time and take call 1-2 nights a week - so some of my off time is spent sleeping!
There is a sewing machine in our call room, so when things are quiet I can sometimes get a lot done there with no distractions. Home is hit or miss depending on what else I need to get done - laundry , house keeping, spending time with 2 kids 9 and 10 and husband. I'm not a good multitasker - I can't do much else when I quilt, and I have a hard time just quilting for a few minutes - but some one suggested just doing one block, or part of a binding. I'll try that. Weekend quilting getaways let you get a lot done with no distractions, and get me inspired by seeing what everyone else is doing. I try to do 2 a year. Your LQS may have some planned.

Patrice, I subscribe to your attitude, the house doesn't rule me, I rule it.
You live within a daytrip of a yummy quiltfabric store, St. Simon's island. I visited it two summers ago, walked in with the intention of buying a few fat qtrs and walked out with enough fabric to make a vacation memory quilt.
You should visit Blue Ridge sometime, I'd love to show you around.

I, too, work full time and volunteer at several places, so I get very little accomplished these days. But I love to come here and read about everyone else's work and dream about the day I'll find time to do it, too.

I work full time, 4 - ten hour days so I'm off work on Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday. I dialyze my husband at home 4 days a week for 4 hours, while he's on dialysis, I SEW! If I wasn't stuck there with him I would never find time to sew, so I consider it a blessing that I am able to care for him at home and have time to do something that I love. 16 hours a week at minimum gets lots of quilts done.

I never was able to get much sewing done before I retired in June of last year. This winter I was able to finish a couple of quilts and a few other projects for the first time. Our summers are quite busy with spending time with family and at our cabin in Minnesota. I DO love retirement though and now I feel like I finally have time to do something that I want to do, like quilt. Your time will come, don't give up on quilting. I have plenty of stash to keep me busy for many years. But I still like to buy - I'm trying to get over that habit, but it is not easy.

What I would like to hear from someone is how can you be retired and get time to sew. I find that I have very few minuts that are my own.

Maybe don't say yes to everyone when they ask you to volunteer, as that can become a full time job in itself. You need to save some time for yourself, as you worked hard for these years.