mjsylvstr

I'm retired !!!!!!!!!!!!!

cabbagepatchkid

I like to keep small projects, related to whichever quilt I'm working on, in the kitchen. For instance, if I have some blocks to pin together, I can work on them while cooking supper or while the kids are having a snack, etc. After they are pinned then they are ready to sew together next time I'm in the sewing room. Then I bring them back to the kitchen so that I can iron them open, whenever I have a few minutes.

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen and it helps keep my hands busy. In this way, I'm able to get quilts done by using "found" minutes. I have a drawer that I can keep extra sewing supplies in so that I don't have to keep moving scissors, pins, etc. out to the kitchen.

Sometimes, I'll even set up one of my extra sewing machines on the kitchen table. I like to sew, out where the rest of the family is, but I also like to have a sewing room to keep all of my 'stuff' in.

There is a well known quilter (Carol Doak?) who hand-pieces and hand-quilts all of her quilts. They are amazing quilts and she says that most of her sewing is done a few minutes at a time. She brings her projects with her wherever she goes.

Bonnie Hunter works the same way. She brings projects with her where ever she travels. Have you ever joined her, when she sews, on 'Quilt Cam'? Lots of people tune in to "visit" her during her live quilt cam and they sew as they "visit".

iwillquilt

My sewing room is cold in the winter so I have a hard time going in. Once in I don't want to leave. I would have a ton more time for sewing if I would stay off the computer. But my list of oooohhs! and ahhhhhs! and I want to do thats would also be a lot shorter. And I wouldn't have learned all the cool things everyone shares here. It is a choice like anything else in life. It is important enough for you to make time or you don't. I go to work 30 minutes early because I know I will sit and work on my applique project. If I am at home there are other things calling my name. I hope you decide you can find a little time for an enjoyable and useful addiction.

MimiBug123

My sanity and well being are worth more than a spotless house!

Mariah

I had the same problem when I worked. How about your lunch hour? I made a quilt as you go and a Crazy quilt by making the blocks on my lunch hour. It only took me 15 min. to eat; 45 min. to go spend $$$ or relax and quilt.
Another idea; sew while watching tv, if your machine is in the tv room. I have one there and one in the sewing room. It is relaxing to hand sew while watching tv.
Those are ideas that worked for me! Good luck!
Mariah

adamae

While working, it was almost impossible to find time to sew.. Husbands do need attention , so I usually saved handwork for the evening to sit with him. Now, since he is deceased, I have more time than motivation. Living alone is not my cup of tea so quilting is my sanity. I belong to several quilt groups and do not have much help with yard work. I have a quilting friend who has 10 children she home schools some of them and machine pieces, hand quilts and does LA quilting for others. She has many blue ribbons for her work in the county fair. She has help from the older children, her husband and has a very orderly management style. I am slothful. erratic, eccentric and unpredictable so my advice is spend time with that hubby and maybe plan a sewing cruise together. Of course, he doesn't have to sew.....

LenaBeena

You people are wonderful! Such great advice. I have decided to be more forceful and insistent. Not bad, just determined to find time for me. The kids are grown and gone and somehow I found time for all their activities and sewed their costumes and altered their clothes (both tall and thin) and sewed for the house,etc. So now I SHOULD have more time for me. Seems DH has gotten more "needy" since he retired. The other day he called from his recliner in the living room to me in the kitchen "I'm very thirsty." A friend visiting said to him "Have you forgotten where the refrigerator is?" We laughed but DH didn't. The friend later said his wife would not have brought him a drink. My children and their spouses do not wait on DH when we visit and tell me I should not either. Best advice is from a friend whose husband is a model railroader. When he can spend hours and hours on his hobby, she spends time on hers. Wish me luck with getting help vacuuming, trash, cleaning, etc. Yep...more forceful from now on! (I may need boosts from you sometimes, okay?)

Wanabee Quiltin

I would sit down and write what my priorities are to find out if I want to quilt that badly. If you do want to quilt, then start with DH first and go from there. My DH and I are retired and he does quite a bit around the house which I have given up so that I can quilt. No, my house is not as clean as I would like it to be all the time, but my serenity level is quite high due to the quilts that I make. I always take a day a week and that is my day to quilt: no cooking, no cleaning, no phone calls etc. And then I quilt any other day that I want to also.... Good Luck.

GingerK

Usually my DH is away from home Sunday thru Thursday. I work part time and babysit my DGD's on Tuesdays. Since October, DH has been working from home. GRRRRR!!! Even tho I am thankful to him, that I have not needed to deal with the snow blowing, the dog, or the garbage over the last few months, the amount of sewing time that I have lost, simply because of his presence, is terribly frustrating. But at least he is working and not just taking up space.

It really sounds like your DH is taking up a lot of space and not contributing much. How about giving him a detailed list of your 'chores' and attaching a cost to each one. If he wants to be waited on like he was when he was working, maybe he should hire a housekeeper--you--and then you could always subcontract!!

Momo

What is that doctors name and where might he be located? I think many of us would love that same prescription! Perhaps I will discuss this with mine next trip in. I hope she thinks I need more than 15 mins. at a time.