Making Time

The other day my friend Karrie asked me where I found the time to make so many quilts (many being, of course, relative...because I don't feel like I actually make that many quilts).

I've never really thought of it as "making time" because it's just what I do with my time. I have to make time to go grocery shopping or do the dishes or to have people over but I never have to make time to quilt or knit. It is the default thing I do.

I thought it would be fun to document a typical weekend day where I have no other obligations. So, here's what I did yesterday:

7am - Wake up, feed the cats who are OMG starving!

7:15 - Make coffee and cut some squares for my Great Grandma quilt. My stack is growing!!



8:00 - Cut fabric for two hexagon potholders, cut Great Grandma squares from those fabrics and put everything away.


8:30 - Cut paper hexagons.

8:45 - Iron and sew backing for Kensington Gardens quilt.



9:30 - Sweep floor.

9:35 - Look for packing tape.

9:40 - Remember that I ran out while I was at the post office the other day...found some masking tape!

9:45 - Tape backing to floor, spray baste batting and top, remove tape.




10:45 - Put sewing room back together, straighten up, take a mini-break, shower, makeup.


11:30 - Set up machine and quilt.


12:00 - Out to lunch (Indian buffet...mmmm!)

1:10 - Back to quilting.



2:30 - Half finished with quilting, time for a break...accidental nap on the couch.

3:30 - More quilting.



5:00 - Finished quilting! Trim quilt, cut and sew binding.





6:15 - Sew binding to back. Normally one side of the binding is much wider than the other. I'm trying to make them more even by using a 3/8" seam allowance.


7:15 - On a normal sewing day, I'd probably quit for the night and we'd make dinner...but neither Ian nor I felt hungry and we both had stuff we wanted to do. So, I started sewing the binding to the front of the quilt. Looks good on the front but not quite perfect on the back. Ideally, the stitching would be right next to the binding, not ON it. I need more practice but I'm pretty happy with my first try.



8:00 - Only 1/2 finished sewing the binding but it's time for dinner: cook a homemade pizza, do some dishes.

9:00 - Eat dinner and watch a really sad episode of Black Mirror. (Speaking of Black Mirror...it is WEIRD and the first episode was gross but it is SO engaging! I just sit staring for the entire episode and when it's over, I finally take a breath...it's really good! It's on Netflix streaming.)

10:00 - Reading and bedtime!

So, there it is. My entire day. I'm so happy that I'm almost finished with the Kensington Gardens quilt. I'm giving this one to Karrie and I'll make the second one to keep. We'll be quilt twins!