Mary Beth Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 Okay, we have covered this topic about a hundred years ago, so it is time to refresh my memory.... What are the things that steal your time from quilting? I\'ll start, I\'m not bashful. My time stealers are: 1. The telephone - family knows that I am home during the day so they call me to chat. Starting today I am putting a stop to it, (not from Jen, but from everyone else). They can leave a message and I will call them back like everyone else. If they don\'t leave a message, they didn\'t want to talk too bad. 2. This computer - I\'m feeling all green lately...so I have decided to start turning my computer off - completely - whew, that feels better. I get bored quilting so I come to this chat...I have to stop doing that....so starting today So what about you guys....what steals your time from quilting? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruthieq Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 My 8-5 job as a graphic designer for a printing company. It\'s a fun job, but I\'d rather be quilting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattyJo Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 Seeing things that need to be done around the house. Or thinking of something that I just have to take care of NOW before I forget it, so I stop quilting and go and take care of it. Then something else will grab my attention etc, etc, and before you know it an hr or two is gone before you know it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ffq-lar Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 My worst time stealer is inertia!!! Sometimes I cannot drag myself out to the studio--especially if I am stuck on design ideas or have an uninspiring top--you know--the one where the customer tells you she doesn\'t want any of the stitching to show!! I\'m in the middle of one now and here I am on the chat looking for someone to poke me in the butt (verbally, of course!) to get out there and finish that thing! Well, it\'s 5:30 am and here I go! Wish me luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted November 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 Good luck Linda!! And here I am again!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myrna Ficken Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 Mary Beth this is a great topic. So many thing steel our time We work alone and are social people. It makes it hard to keep to the task at hand, getting the job done. I am as guilty as the rest so let me tell you what I tell students. Family and friends have a difficult time realizing what we are doing really is a job. It is up to us to make it clear that it is. 1. Turn your phone down, and let it go to the answering machine. Cell phone as well! 2. Make it hard to get to your PC, take it out of the room. Turning it off is a great idea. It will take more time to restart. 3. Set hours that you will work and force yourself to stick to the hours. 4. Schedule time for yourself, be it piecing , quilting, whatever. 5. The household stuff can wait, just as if you are working outside the home. If you stick to your quilting and get it done you might find you can pay someone to come in and clean for you by doing an extra quilt. Same with running errands, try to set a day for it. If I go out to run a couple of errands I know it will be an all day event 6. Organize your work space. It steels a lot of time looking for what you need. 7. Chew gum, it will save a lot of time marching to the fridge because you can or out of habit. 8. Try new quilting ideas. It will help you stay interested in what you are doing. I know I get bored fast. 9. Paper work, and touch up take a lot of time. Going over the quilt making sure nothing was missed, no thread left, photographing your beautiful work, emailing a pic to the customer, calling the customer. **Setup drop off and pick up time for one day a week and schedule a time slot for your customer. Customers can take a great deal of your time when it is not necessary, 30 minutes drop off or pick up is long enough. If they want to spend hours on a consultation charge for your time.** Set goals: Make a game of it, see how fast you can get a panto finished. Then reward yourself. Custom quilting takes longer, charge for it. If you must take a look at the PC or answer calls that can wait work it so that every hour you work you get a 10-15 minute break for whatever and stick with it... use a timer, you will be shocked. Someone, don\'t remember who, told me that what you start out doing in the morning you will end up doing until the middle of the afternoon. I for one was shocked to find that it\'s true. In the end we get paid by the piece so to speak. It\'s in our hands to do more pieces a week and make more money to go play:P:D;) This all said I better get to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RitaR Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 Two things will take me away quicker than anything.. someone saying, "lets go sightseeing" or "lets go fishing" Love both/either.. and I\'m game.. just to get out of the house, really, since I hate shopping! RitaR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted November 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 Great list of ideas Myrna. I have a hard time letting my cell phone go and not answering because that is my business phone. Of course all of my relatives have that number too and are not afraid to use it....I just don\'t have to answer to them. I have decided to answere my cell phone always...it is my business phone and I don\'t get calls everyday or even every week...so I really need to answer that one...but not if it is family. I will be selective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JenMcManus Posted November 17, 2007 Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 This site, and my 14 and 15 year old boys. BUT... I love this site, doing stuff with my kids, AND quilting. So, I\'m happy! Jen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mary Beth Posted November 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 17, 2007 Oh good, Jen...I was afraid you were going to say that you love this site, so it is less time with the boys That just wouldn\'t be good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grammie Posted November 18, 2007 Report Share Posted November 18, 2007 Well Said Myrna well said. It\'s true I get those phone calls myself. I\'m learning to just let it ring as I do monitor caller Id. I do have elderly to look out for. lol Sometimes when I should be off WORK I just do overtime and well it catches me the next day. I\'m trying to keep a better schedule but creativity sometimes comes at the strangest times. When I\'m feeling creative it is usually when I should be sleeping. lololol I was better at holding to a schedule when I took customer quilts. They somehow kept me on track better than working on my own things. I\'ll keep working at it. Nothing unusual for me to get out of bed at 1am because I cannot sleep and come to my computer or machine to try something that has me awake. lol Mary Beth you cannot stay away from us for a full week. You wanna bet? lololololol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted November 18, 2007 Report Share Posted November 18, 2007 Mary Beth, For me it is my day job! I just can\'t seem to put in enough time and then there are emails in the evening. I\'m getting better about not answering them at night but it isn\'t my strongest suit . My boss thinks that we all have no life like him! LOL I tell him all the time that he doesn\'t pay me enough to be married to my job! I have been really making it a point to get to my quilting at least 3 night a week for 2 hours. It is really hard because I don\'t want to go to work. I quilt one day of the weekend but the rest of the time is getting caught up on housework and grocery shopping. I think hubby is starting to hate that I don\'t have enough time to cook! Somehow we all fit it in though. I\'m getting ready for 30 + people tomorrow for a pre-Thanksgiving. My family and hubby\'s family. Should be interesting...the race is to see whose family will cause the talk for the next year...lol last year it was hubby\'s family for a change! Heidi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsbishwit Posted November 18, 2007 Report Share Posted November 18, 2007 Good topic, where do I start, lol Kids & husband have to be at the top of the list, just when I am on a roll making a dent in what I need to get done, someone interupts mostly trivial stuff that can wait until I am done with what I am doing. House work deffinately is a biggie too since I have 5 kids, a DH and 2 dogs the house can get pretty messy from time to time and it seems that no one knows how to clean/ pick up after themselves but me...go figure! Then there is a little thing like hunger, mine and the families, lol My MIL still calls up during the times I tell her not to because they are my business hours (falls on deaf ears it seams) and usually it\'s beacuse she is having what she thinks is a crisis and that it should be more important than what I have going on in the moement. Then last but not least my lack of motivation when it comes to certain quilts that you know are less than appealing to put it nicely and that require a lot of work just to make it look presentable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lib Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 What steals my time?? Two little dogs, This computer... and digitizing my quilt labels only to loose them somewhere in the computer! Lib Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
countrystitcher Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 What steals my time??? My day job, but I do have Friday\'s off. I usually quilt for a couple hours, take a 30 minute break and put a load of laundry in or sweep (something physical); then quilt again and do this routine until housework is done. Then Saturday is mine to quilt unless DH says let\'s go shopping/out to eat....I\'m out of here. I have a dog that needs attention too, he gets so bored watching me quilt, he comes under the frame and nudges me with his ball - then the guilt hits and we have to go for a walk. Of course, the walk is good for me too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BethDurand Posted November 20, 2007 Report Share Posted November 20, 2007 Time stealer? The "real job" by far. Yesterday I wondered aloud what exactly I was accomplishing by being here, when I could have been home quilting and being able to see something that actually changed. I\'ve got Wed. off, and will be getting up at the usual workday time tomorrow to get stuff done to prep. for t-day (that I\'m not hosting), and the usual day off stuff. Like attempting to clean up the dog hair, and keeping the house decent looking for more than 2 hours. At least I get to do my handwork here at the hospital. Beth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gable428 Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 I\'m fortunate that I put in quilting time every single day, but the biggest annoying thing that steals my time is the phone. I don\'t like talking on the phone, but I\'ve been answering it in case of an emergency. I just got caller ID put back on so now at least when it rings, I can tell whether I actually have to answer it or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cheryll Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 I like to waste time on the computer. I might be shocked to see how much time can go by.I had to swear off ebay just too much fabric and quilt tops to rescue. I mean it\'s almost alike a 12 step program here. I just have to not look at it. It\'s very tempting and can get expensive. I try to stay busy at home and do some quilting everyday. I\'m retired so it\'s a lot easier than when I worked full time. I wonder how I had the energy to work full-time and still quilt. I could go back and substitute teach but I just can\'t see getting back to that stress again. ha ha I better go cut out some more squares. Cheryll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CucumberQuilting Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 ~~~ daydreaming ~~~ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cvrchota Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 my three dogs (yorkie, maltese, morkie)... the yorkie will whine and scold me until i feed them breakfast... dang dogs--they want to eat every day, too! guess i can\'t call them time wasters though... it\'s my computer! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CucumberQuilting Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvPDB9hDsos still daydreaming... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarthaProvencher Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 Nice daydream, thanks for sharing. Okay, now off to Itunes to buy Kokomo. Oops, I mean off to quilt that customer Christmas Tablecloth. Happy Thanksgiving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CucumberQuilting Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 sometimes work interferes with my daydreaming... :cool: http://www.videocodezone.com/videos/c/colbie_caillat/bubbly.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CucumberQuilting Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 2007 wholecloth quilt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quilting Heidi Posted November 21, 2007 Report Share Posted November 21, 2007 That whole cloth is gorgeous! You\'re work is stunning. Heidi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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