Time Gets Away From Me

I sometimes think that the time gods enjoy messing around in my life. I work really hard to get organized and do things in a timely manner. The problem is I never know how much time something is going to take. If it goes really well, no time at all. However, if I have to depend upon someone else to help me well then your looking at a whole different schedule. Now, my husband he is a meticulous man, he likes things nice and in order and that is how he works. Not surprising as he is in IT. He and I actually work quite well together. Now my daughter, well she can be a fanatic about her own belongings, but when it comes to doing something with others well she is less fanatic. My son, well he is like my daughter to some degree. So how do you get around having to manage other people's time schedule? Well, that is simpler said then done, according to others you work ahead. MMHMM!

Working ahead is really difficult when you have a full life. I began classes again on the 12th of January, originally I had 3 classes, registered several months ago for them. One of the classes required some big ticket items that I wasn't ready to purchase at this time, so bye-bye class. It would have been nice to know ahead of time about the big ticket items before hand. So, I quickly scanned the catalog and found another class to register in. Yep, you guessed it this is an accelerated class, however, that isn't too bad as I like the topic. But, because I just registered for the class I don't have the book yet. That is a problem. Then I have the one class I really wanted to take and that seems to be going ok, so far. The third class, I really thought I would enjoy, however, after attempting to read one chapter of 32 pages for the last week and a half. Yep, dropped the class. So what good is working ahead when your not sure what the outcome will be. And does it mean you should work ahead in everything you do?

I have found that there are areas in your life where you can't work ahead so the answer to the question is no you don't have to work ahead in everything you do. When scheduling look at the factors surrounding what your trying to do. If your baking a cake you know you have to have the ingredients to bake the cake and you only need to follow the directions and allot the amounted time as the directions tell you to. However, when your sewing or doing anything with a pattern in mind, your best bet is to break it down into sections. And due to my experiences so far this is how I have chosen to break my sections down.

The first thing I do when I am deciding on a project to do, I talk it over with my husband. He has great insight into how I actually do things, and he makes great suggestions. This section can take as long as it needs to, And if it is a project that doesn't really have a pattern it can take some time. There is no pressure here except what I put on myself.

The second thing I do, if I am using a pattern I gather the material. If I am not using a pattern then I am only guessing at what I think I need and sometimes my thoughts work and sometimes they don't. However, no matter what if I buy something for a specific project I have learned I need to put it all in one place. Either a ziploc bag or a plastic tote bin. I also need to write it down on the project notebook that I am doing, otherwise it is going to get lost or used for something else.

The third thing I do is prepare my material, that means if it needs to be prewashed, I do that, then I dry it and iron it to prepare for cutting. This in itself can take up to 2 days to do, depending on how much material I have. So give yourself the right amount of time.

The fourth thing I do is I begin to layout my design. With my embroidery work, I have found that I need several copies of the pattern, so if it is bigger then printer size I need to go to the copy center and get a couple of copies done. That will take at least a day.

The fifth thing I do is prep the material and break the work up into sections. And this step right here is where I begin to lose my time schedule. I allow a day or two to cut fabric all depends on how much right. But once I start to lose what I think is my time schedule well, then I begin to become anxious it isn't much at first but over time it grows.

The sixth thing I do is begin working, this step is where my anxiety really begins to grow. Not only because I feel at times that I take to much time but because I really want to see it finished.

So in reflection, time just gets away from me and I have to give myself a break and realize that Time takes Time. That the only schedule there is, is what is in front of you. So if your like me, slow down, enjoy the journey and quit trying to jump to the destination. I am beginning to think that my motto for 2015 is enjoy the journey, it isn't about the destination as that keeps popping up for me.

I am making progress on my project list from December 31, 2014 that I needed to finish.

Unfinished Projects

Quilting Projects

Globetrotting Quilt

Lonestar quilt

rag quilt -Just need to put binding on

Aurifil Quilt

Embroidery and Sewing Projects

Love Squares

Angel

Christmas Window Hanging- Sewing on the last pieces by hand.

Smaug

Crocheting Projects 

Umbrella- Have gotten it to about 12 inches needs to be 36 inches

So with that I leave you with this saying. Found on the web.