Thursday Thoughts - How to Restart?

Two weeks ago, for Thursday Thoughts I wrote about wanting to do every quilting project I see.  Life interrupted that post and I didn't complete the post.  That happens.  Things happen that you can't control.  Life changes. We get busy or just delayed by the happenings in our lives.  I have been with my Mom and family, as my Mom had a brain tumor removed.  Mom is home from the hospital and has a lot of healing to do yet.  Thanks for all the messages and prayers.  

Tomorrow, I am headed home, and back to work/quilting, after being here for two weeks. I live over two hours away from my Mom. 
So how do you pick it up again and get restarted?  
We have all had this happen at sometime or another.  
Where do you start? 

I am a list maker. I start there.  As I received emails and phone calls from customers, while I was here, I would return calls and emails. Then I would write everything down that needs to happen when I get home.  Example: calls to return,  appointments to set up, and  prioritize quilts with a due date for my customers.  And last, but not least restart some of my personal projects. I will need to have a few "Minutes for Me" at the end of the work day. That's where I started, so my business didn't clog my head while I was here.  That allowed me to concentrate on Mom and her needs at the hospital and at home. When I return home, I will know right where to start.


How about you? How do your restart after a gap or break in a particular project.  Friends ask me how do you get motivated to finish the unfinished projects?  Sometimes the projects you are working on get a little difficult and you set them aside.  Sometimes you start a project at a retreat or a Saturday of sewing and you can never find a block of time to get back to that project.  


I have a couple ideas...


First, don't look for a block of time.  Find fifteen minutes to sort the project and set it up, so when you have another fifteen minutes, you will be ready to go!  A little later that day or another day you can start pressing, cutting, or sewing.  I have finished a whole quilt this way, never sewing more than fifteen minutes at a time.  Sometimes I would be having so much fun, that I would sew four or five times during the day, only fifteen minutes at a time.


My other suggestion is a revitalizing project.  A revitalizing project is a new quilting, sewing, or craft project.   Have you ever said to yourself I can't do the fun project until I finish this unfinished project that I am struggling to find enough time to even work on it.  Go right to the fun project and let yourself start it.  Start something fresh.  That is the key to making this work.  Have some fun and then go back to the unfinished project.  If you do this you will enjoy both projects.  Knowing that you can return to the fun project every so often and play is the key to making this work!  


Take some "Minutes for Me".  Believe it or not it really works!  Feeling good is so important in order to create.  A happy brain is more productive and creative.


These are some of the projects that I made in fifteen minute intervals or small blocks of time.

The piecing on this courthouse round quilt was all pieced in small blocks of time and then assembled at a later date. This is the quilt I donated to Rainbow Hospice for a raffle to raise funds for their Family room at their facility.  It is currently on display at The Fireside in Fort Atkinson, where you can buy tickets before entering the show.  If I had waited for a big block of time, I would not have been able to finish this quilt. Here is the link to the post about it. Donation Quilt.




This was the first quilt I made for Project Quilting.  It was in January and that is a very busy time of the year for my quilting business. I had limited time to create. (one week) This was made in small blocks of time. click here for the post about the Primary Colors Baby Quilt.

Most of the project quilting quilts were made in small blocks of time.  
Another quilt I made in using the fifteen minute method was the Spiral Spinning Flower Bags and The Floating Lilies Quilt. Here is a link to all of my  Project Quilting projects starting with the most current project.

This is a Jewel Box Quilt made with at texture black fabric and a multi colored batik.  I started it on a Saturday of sewing and then finished it in small 
blocks of time.

The Embroidery Stitched Greeting Cards are made in fifteen minutes blocks of time.  These were very enjoyable to make, because I could create and just have fun with the scraps.  I tried using different embroidery stitches too!  Fun way to try all those stitches in your sewing machine.


Just about every project you are creating can be made in blocks of time - a few minutes at a time.  Try it and most importantly enjoy the time you are creating!  


Have you tried creating in small blocks of time? 
I would love to hear what you do.


Marcia