Ever since I was a child, I have pursued crafty endeavors. I remember my mother teaching me how to embroider when I was barely old enough to hold a needle, because I begged her to teach me to “sew.” As time went on, I learned many different crafts, and bounced from one to the other like a toddler on a trampoline. As a young teen, I took a home economics class, but I have to say that I didn’t really learn much in the class, other than I hated sewing. Still, I did from time to time, make garments because it was cheaper to sew a few pair of shorts for my little ones than it was to buy them.

My love of quilting did not take off until my now ex-husband and I split up in January of 2000. My kids were still very young – just five and six years old – and I needed a hobby that would take my mind off the horrible breakup, but that I could do at home. I’d always admired quilts, and thought I’d like to learn how to make one, but I wasn’t really set up to do something like that. So, I bought a Viking Rose sewing machine, traded it a year later for a Brother PC8500, and the rest, as they say, is history. I taught myself how to quilt using books (there was no YouTube back then), and by asking questions at the local quilt shop when I couldn’t otherwise find an answer to a challenge.

I remember thinking back then how nice it would be when my kids got older and how much more time I would have to quilt and sew when I didn’t have to run around to various activities after work and on the weekends. I did get a fair amount of quilting done back then, I realize now. My kids are grown, one with a family of her own, the other getting ready to embark upon his first grand adventure in the new year when he moves in to his own place, and I have come to realize … I quilt less now than I did when they were little things. And to be honest, that makes me very sad, because I still find a lot of joy in quilting, sewing, and other crafty pursuits.

What’s changed between that time when I longed for more time to quilt and now? Well, I’ve gotten older, obviously, but I’ve also remarried, and I have a wonderful husband. He works a fair amount of hours, so I like to spend time with him when he’s at home. I am still working as well, and at the end of the work day, sometimes I am so tired I can barely move. But I know, from past experience, that if I would go to my studio and work on something, I would feel better just being in there. You’d think this would be a no-brainer for me now, because while I am still working a full time job, I’ve been working from home since March. I have gotten quite a lot more done this year than in years past, to be sure, and I thoroughly enjoy spending my lunch hours at my sewing machine, which I have done a lot in recent months. Still, I don’t make as much progress on projects as I did back when the kids were little. Of course, back then, all of my waking hours that weren’t spent at work, spending time with my kids, or taking care of household chores was spent on quilting, and I don’t do that anymore.

But why don’t I spend more time in my studio? I could spend a significant amount of time in there, yet instead of heading upstairs to my sewing machine at the end of the work day, I find myself sitting on the couch watching episodes of tv shows I’ve seen a million times. Even worse, I have a tv in my studio, so if I really wanted to watch those shows, I could do it while I’m being productive. My husband tells me all the time that if I want to go quilt, I should do it. He tells me that we can come back together an hour or so before bedtime to spend a little time together, if I want to sew. I’ve never really taken him up on that, before now, but I’m thinking I’m about to start doing just that, at least a couple of times a week.

Twenty years ago, I longed for more time to spend quilting. Now, I have a LOT of time to spend quilting, but I don’t utilize it. I began thinking about people who always seem to make great strides in their quilting, both their skill sets and their production, and I realized that it’s because they treat quilting as if it’s their job, or at least an important appointment they can’t miss. That’s how it was with me back when I first started quilting. I would come home from work, make dinner for the kids, do homework and baths, spend a little time with them, then put them to bed and go to my studio. When they got a little older and could do homework and baths themselves, I would be available, of course, if they needed anything, but otherwise, I would be in my studio. And on weekends, they would go to their dad’s house every other week and I would spend the time they were gone in my studio. I treated it like it was important, and I made great strides in both my skill set and my productivity.

So, I began to think that maybe what I need to start doing is setting appointments with myself to quilt. I need to set aside time that is specifically for quilting, and stick with it. With that in mind, I began to devise a schedule that may work for me. My plan is to set aside at least three lunch hours a week to spend in my studio. I’ve been in the habit of eating lunch at my desk at work for years, so I will eat a little something at my desk while I’m working, then I will head upstairs for at least 45 minutes of studio time. My work day usually ends between 4:00 to 4:30 each day (I start by 7 am most mornings), and Chris rarely makes it home before 6:30, most often around 7-ish. I can leave the studio around 6:15 to make dinner, giving me about two hours in the evening to quilt. On days when the plan works, that gives me about three hours a day of quilting time. And if I really want to, I can return to the studio after dinner with Chris and get in another hour or so of quilting time.

Of course, that would be reasonable on the three days during the week that Chris works, but he’s off two days during the week, so that may not work as well on those days. He also works one weekend day each week, so I plan to utilize a good portion of that day for quilting as well.

If I were to follow this schedule just twice a week, it would give me a total of six hours of quilting during the week, and possibly as much as 10 hours of quilting on the weekend day he’s working. Of course, there would be times when this just would not work, but I think it’s a good goal. It’s certainly better than what I have now, which is basically nothing, and I’m tired of feeling like I’m never making any progress.

So now I wonder, how much time do you spend on your crafty pursuits? Do you schedule time to quilt, or do you just do it when the mood strikes you? What keeps you motivated to keep going when you might not want to do it? Share your secrets with me!