FOCUS is key to success

I've been learning so much about myself and how I function (or don't function). First, while I thought I was managing my stuff well, I wasn't. I was productive, yet I was struggling to meet deadlines. OK, I am productive, but I struggle with paperwork. And there are so many things to do. 

The same is true for my quilting. There are just so many UFOs, kits, and other things. 

I'm learning that focus seems to be a huge factor in making stuff happen. OK, so that's not rocket science at all. But when you have too much stuff in front of you, it's a huge distraction and hard to accomplish anything. You are really not focused if you don't have space to work. That workspace can be tiny, but it needs to be clear of crap! 

I've learned (and am still learning) to put away the crap that you can't deal with at the moment. Yes - I get that you should get rid of it, but depending on your style, you may want to go through it, like me. Don't harrass us slow learners - that's how our brains function. But the key is to keep going. And when you clear a spot, you have the choice to fill it with more crap so you can go through it or leave it hidden. I'm preferring to bring the crap out so I don't forget it. It looks messy, but it's hard to forget!

I think we would be shocked if we calculated the amount of time we are spending managing the crap we accumulated. But that managing gives me so much satisfaction, and I'm learning so much by dealing with stuff. It's easy to give it away or toss it, but to learn to manage it so you don't repeat history? That's for me!!

So what happened yesterday? Loads of stuff. 

First off, I got my desk organized. It wasn't hard - it was just a question of DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. The big shelf I had there before was taking up a lot of room, and there was no place to put my work. It's been like that for years. Why do we do that to ourselves? 

I moved that shelf to another spot on my other desk and will use it as a sorter until the paper is gone. Don't worry—I grab a couple of pieces of paper daily and deal with them. 

I bought a much smaller desktop shelf and put my little knickknacks on it. Yes - I could have gotten rid of them, but a person has to keep some little pleasures in life. My pending folder is on the far left, and my writing utensils are in a cup behind the lampshade. The pile of papers beside the pending is the current paper crap that I'm looking at. It will take me a week or more to go through that pile, but I'm making valiant efforts. Hopefully, it won't take a week - it's just that some stuff takes longer than others. 

The clear desktop

You can't really see, but behind the paper crap is a white basket filled with odds and ends that collect. My goal is to take ONE item per day and deal with it. It's incredible how much that little stuff creeps up on you! The one item for today is in the garbage! 

Perhaps I could do it at a faster pace, but I don't want to get overwhelmed by the crap. Slow and steady is my motto. Now I have space to work, although I still miss a space on my right-hand side to write, but I don't write that often, so I think I can live without it. I have space to spread out the current project and still have room to put the next thing - that makes me happy. 

I sent some emails yesterday that required spreading things out a bit, and it worked like a charm. I was HAPPY, and that's all that counts. WAIT—one more thing—I was PRODUCTIVE. That counts as well. 

Let's move downstairs to see what happened there. One more community project quilt got quilted. Diane made this flannel quilt from all the baskets and baskets of flannel that I bought over the years. 

Community project quilt

 I haven't gotten around to binding these, so I need to start on that. 

Quilts to be bound

When I started this group of twenty flannel quilts, I pulled a basket of flannel pieces that would work for backings and put them in a basket. I pulled twenty flannel quilt tops and put them in a bag. Yesterday, I could consolidate the backings and the quilts into the laundry basket. I know -- my brain works this way. I get things out, and then as I deplete them, I consolidate them. I think I ENJOY the managing of things. Which is good as I'll be sorting for the rest of my life. When I arrive at the nursing home, buy me one of those brightly colored sorting toys, and I'll be happy! 

Flannel quilts and backings for the remainder of the year

I think there are still at least a dozen quilts in that basket. As many as I've quilted, the numbers don't go down! But I gave myself until the end of the year to get them done, so I'm not behind and am realistic about my goal. 

That left the bag empty, so what does one do with an empty bag? You have to fill it! So, back to the storage room, and OH MY - I found another flannel quilt. Then I got digging, and before I knew it, the bag was full of flannel quilts. Where did they all come from? 

Another bag of flannel quilts

So, I got digging on the shelf that houses the backings/fabric that was set aside for community projects. I found a ton of flannel pieces large enough for backings, so those got set beside the bag of quilt tops. 

Large pieces of flannel

I found two NEW flannel kits. There is plenty of fabric for the backings—they just need some time to piece. 

Two flannel kits

I've left that bag and the backings in the storage room, but they are set aside. The two kits are on my sewing table, and I may start piecing them in a couple of weeks. They need to be cut first. 

Then, I surveyed the flannel to see what remained. Oh gosh—the basket on the left is full of scraps. My intent is to make improv flannel blocks from them, and I'm sure I'll get a couple of quilt tops from that basket. I've already pulled a small bag of scraps] to take to the retreat next week. 

Flannel that still needs to be dealt with

The bag is filled with green pieces. The other three baskets are more or less sorted by color. All of that is flannel! We ran out of time before Diane could finish. 

I've already been there this morning and rejigged it a bit. While lying in bed (pain-free) thinking about the day, I knew I had to further sort this. I pulled a couple of large pieces of red and put them in the backing pile. The green (in the paper bag) went into the now empty basket where the red used to reside. What remains is a basket of scraps and four baskets of flannel pieces that could be made into backings or could be cut into squares. I'll wait and see what happens when I get there. 

But I have made it my goal—and I need to write this down somewhere—that I want ALL the flannel in this area dealt with by the end of 2025. You thought I was going to say 2024, didn't you? 

I'm going to hazard that there will be about FORTY (that's being generous) more quilts of flannel to deal with! And I should be able to handle that next year. Slow and steady, focus on what's set out, which is the laundry basket at the long arm. Plus, I inherited a partially pieced flannel quilt from that donation. That is going to the retreat; I'll deal with it there. 

I'm using my batting bits, and I'm sure I'll have enough for all those quilts! 

What is nice is knowing there's a plan. A plan to use up the closet of batting, a plan to get rid of the flannel, and then it'll be time to tackle the cotton tops. But that's for another day!

Oh—and then some flannel quilts on this rack are done and ready to be donated, as well as a handful upstairs. I must dig those out. I've decided that I'll donate them at the end of the year. Yes, it would be nice to have them ready for Christmas, but that isn't in the cards, so they will get donated when I'm ready. I'm not rushing to meet a deadline. 

Quilts ready to be donated

Then, I spent some time dealing with computer files as I have to migrate from the old laptop to the new one. My desktop was sluggish, so I deleted some of those OneDrive files that were synced to the desktop. Oops—that also started to be deleted from the OneDrive shared drive, so I CANCELED pretty quickly.  

I wish someone would tell me exactly how that DARN OneDrive works. I have an account that allows me storage and space to save my work. I dislike that we are FORCED to use that drive if you want to use AUTOSAVE, which I always use when writing a document. You don't want to write for hours and realize you didn't save. And you can NO LONGER do that on your computer. 

OK—so move on! Then, when the sync function is turned on, it somehow links the files to the hard disk on your computer. NOT an external hard drive—oh no—you can't do that. It has to be the computer's hard drive, which I hate as it takes up a lot of space. 

When I realized what I had done, I thought, "Great—I just deleted some files that I need." Many files I don't need are gone, and I'm OK with that—they needed to go. Then I went to my laptop and found the files still on OneDrive, but they didn't appear on the desktop OneDrive. Why? Yes - it's all about syncing, but it's a mystery and how it works. 

I was able to save the missing files onto an external hard disk. 

I don't understand why the darn thing doesn't sync to everything simultaneously. I'm glad it didn't, but what a mess. So, if anyone knows a guru who understands OneDrive, I would like to talk to them. Or I should Google it as part of my paperwork this morning and get it set up once and for all. Wait -- it's set up, but I want to know HOW it works. Reading anything online is like having your teenage grandchildren show you how to do something. They just do it, but you don't learn anything from it!

I believe the files have been transferred from the laptop, and the missing files have been saved. So, I can now start deactivating my programs on the old laptop and reinstalling them on the new one. 

OK—I found the Microsoft training for OneDrive. It tells me how, but I want the WHY. 

I had a good chuckle as I was digging through a journal. Oh my - this was when the EPIC 2 was released. And the lighting makes me look like I have a clown nose on!!! What fun! 

Three Amigos

A quick update - the physio thinks my issue is nerve-related, not strictly muscle, since I've done everything I can to release the muscle, and she doesn't think it's that tight. So she gave me a couple of simple exercises to take the pressure off and told me that the ones I was doing were likely exacerbating the pain. I've learned to sleep with a pillow under that leg and NOT move at night. Side sleeping was my issue the previous night, and I paid the price. She suggested I get an X-ray and see if a disk or something is out of place. So I'm good. I'm just careful, and today, everything is good! 

I'm like Murphy. All I need is a stick, and I'm good!

Murphy and her stick

But it's a challenge to get any exercise in with her around. The instant she hears that mat touch the floor, she is there, rolling around and trying to be helpful. You can't help but laugh, and laughter is good! Love you, Murphy!!!!

Here is another blog post on QUILTsocial. 

All about embroidery with the Husqvarna Viking Designer Quartz 29

Have a super day!!

Ciao!!!