I have to ask.............

[Sheron J.]

My sister, lindachandler, and I have discussed this very subject several times. We are both retired so we don't have a good excuse, but we don't produce like Sue & Margo. Thank you both for the tips and advice.

[Constance G.]

I have another question for the highly productive folks like Margo and Sue. What is your "soundtrack" for quilting? Music? TV? Old movies? The sound of silence? What atmosphere do you feel makes you the most focused and happy?

[Margo C.]

Sue is a much better multi-tasker than I am! I need to work in silence. All by myself. When I'm with quilty buddies, I don't usually get much accomplished. And I can also tell you that I very seldom have a television on.
BTW...if you haven't been to Sue's blogspot lately, you need to go check out her Round Robin quilts! I've never seen Round Robins turn out spectacular quilts like these!!
(Scroll down to the November 30, 2010 entry) http://suegarman.blogspot.com/

[Annis C.]

That's a lot of great information Sue. I think I need more handwork. Almost everything I do is by machine except for hand sewing the binding to the back of the quilt, so it's hard to take it with me. But I do sign up for the quilt guild day retreats twice a year when possible for 3 long days of productive sewing. It's only 2 miles from my house so no time lost in travel. The overnight retreats are nice too but I've only done that once a few years ago. I use a lot of quick piecing techniques and chain sewing. Right now I'm working on 52 paper pieced blocks for the final border of a queen size quilt. I'm chain sewing half of them at a time and as soon as I finish this I will be trimming the first half and starting on the second half. I try to divide my time between cutting, sewing, and pressing but sometimes I just want them done so do a little too much cutting at a time. Taking an occasional short break helps. And I think my break time is up for now.

[Annis C.]

I also think its a matter of what type of projects you are working on also. Now that I'm into whole cloth and trapunto quilting the added steps seems to take me longer. Like Margo I work to the hummmm of my machine mostly peace & quiet every now and again I will listen to my ipod sometimes this distraction is not good... I'll get to hiped up... LOL ! I don't watch alot of tv except on week ends when DH is home and alittle in the evenings.
I was once asked how quick can you make a quilt...my reply was: I can make one in no time really but to me it doesn't matter how long it takes me to make a quilt as long as you are enjoying the process along the way!
I'm one of the lucky one to stay at home so I quilt almost every day. Lately I have been drawing alot so I test practice alot of my patterns to see how I will like them. I want to see how I will like them before I actually use them in a quilt.
Today I trapunto one of my scroll patterns...cutting away the batting and fleese from this little piece is taking Alot of time and although it is very time consumming I think it might be worth it ya just never know.
My very first trip to Paducah quilt show I stood in front of one of the most Beautiful trapunto quilt and after examining the quilt well I was so amazed I had lil tears running down my eyes and I walked away lil sad. I was sad to stand near one of the most beautiful quilt with thoughts that I would never ever be able to make a quilt that beautiful!
A year or two passed by and I started to get into whole cloth quilts because quilting is my favorite part of the process. Our dear friend Margo saw my love of whole cloths and led me toward a lesson by Sharon Schambers then I looked through all Margo's lessons and with her guiedness and great advice I began doing trapunto! Every time I look at my first trapunto quilt hanging on my wall even with the lil mistakes its brings me lots of smiles. Never say Never!
My lil take here is as long as you enjoy the time you do have to sew no matter how long it takes to finish each quilt enjoying the process its the most important
Some quilts take years to make.

[Annis C.]

So here's my goofy answer to what "sound track" I listen to while quilting. I love, love, LOVE gray noise. That is... SOMEthing going on in the background that I can listen to but not pay attention to. My gray noise usually ends up being tv, but I rarely WATCH it; it's just "on." In fact, I heard that advertisement on tv about "more bars in more places" and thought for months and months that it was a strange ad about more bars (as in more pubs)... until one day I looked up and saw the "bars" indicating that it was about signal strength for a cell phone. Is that silly or what? And my favorite programs are 1) hard core news programs and 2) reality shows - is that a contrast or what?!

Sue Garman

[Eileen K.]

Thank you, thank you! To Margo, Sue, Annis, Kathy, Robin, and everyone else! I've never been very organized and it's gotten worse with fibro. I don't use it as an excuse, it's just a fact. I put away 2 rings early in the summer and even DH Mike can't find them! :cry:
I am plugging along, and I'll finish-just like the tortoise.
My biggest problem is that I want to do every single project I see. You should see my documents folder. ops: My goals for this year are Ruffled Roses, Roseville Album and Dear Jane. Anything else will be icing on the cake.
This weekend I'm going to do a little work upstairs in the longarm room. I want to be able to do other things when my Intelliquilter is working. So I have some cleaning to do. :roll:

Oh yeah-I'm like Sue. I have the tv on but I don't watch much during the day. It's background noise for me. Evenings, on the other hand, I sit and vegetate in front of it. I'm planning on using that time for my hand applique this year.

[Nancy M.]

Wow! What a great discussion! I feel re-energized and focused just reading the excellent ideas from Sue, Margo and the rest of you all. I remember Ricky made a point of saying "Time is the most valuable resource any of us has" or something like that at a Super Seminar I attended a while back, and I really believe that....need to renew my efforts to make better use of each day! Sue's suggestion for "tracking" how time is spent is a great one...reminds me of Weight Watcher's food tracking, which is very effective....think I'll give myself a wake-up call and try that next week! Thanks, everyone, for sharing your time and insight with us! Nancy