My new year's resolution at work!

Look at that!  What a thing of beauty.  And so very useful too...

















The huge number of sewing, knitting and quilting WIPs that I have lying around is sapping my craft mojo.  When the pile of things I started gets too big (metaphorically speaking) then my practical crafting slows down.  It is just all too overwhelming.

I tried all kinds of things, all sorts of strategies - specifically with my sewing project (knitting is taking care of itself). What does help is knowing that other people have very similar problems.  So I scheduled an event in my meetup sewing group and found it a real boost.

I called it 'Pick up a Project': pulling out any project and looking it over. Then make a list of bullet points about what still needs to be done, or which items need to be assembled.  Basically putting yourself into a position where you know what's what.

It worked beautifully!  I did the bullet points for four projects and very quickly finished one of them.  I am so chuffed.  The others will take a bit longer, but hey...

Then I scheduled another event: Stich up a Project - grab the project from above and get on with the next step.

Then I thought that I would like a handy spreadsheet that shows me what the major projects are that I want to get on with (very important: not all of them, just the ones that I like best) which also gives me an opportunity to jot down notes: thoughts on what I was trying to achieve, ideas of fabric and design choice, considerations about possible fitting issues... anything that comes to mind.  Where it's nice to re-read later when you forgot half of what occurred to you.

This spreadsheet is the result.

The best column is the 'Next Step' one - what exactly do I want to do as the very next thing? And do I always get stuck at the same thing? Like perhaps: insert the zipper, or find so-and-so... or totally different things?

I haven't figured that one out yet but it is really great for getting a better feel of what I am doing and how it's going.

I put this list onto Google Sheets. This is part of Google Drive (you can also have documents on there, but the sheets are quite similar to Excel).  It is accessible from anywhere with an Internet connection and I can just use the one version to update.

I also have a second sheet of project ideas and which fabrics I want to use. Again, I am only listing some.

I'll let you know some of those major projects and the other strategic ideas this kicked off in my head.

I am feeling so much more optimistic about my sewing now!