Thank you to Birch Living for sponsoring this video.
Quilting is a marathon that requires time,
effort
and stamina.
With your limited time, how do you make more quilts?
And what about the steps that you don't want to do?
Here are 8 tips
and strategies to get you to the finish line.
So stick with me and I'll show you how to do it.
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Hi, I'm Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts.
I give you tips, tricks and strategies
to help you make the quilt that you want to make.
And if you like what you see,
please hit that subscribe button.
There are so many amazing quilting fabrics
and patterns out there.
You see them on social media,
at quilt shows, in magazines
and at your local quilt guild's show-and-tell
and you just want to make them all.
And that's one reason why our stashes become so big.
And large stashes lead to a subconscious pressure
to make more quilts.
And unfortunately, stress of any kind, just slows you down.
Here are 8 strategies to follow to make more quilts.
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If you don't go any farther than this,
just know it's not about quantity.
It's about finding projects that fill your bucket.
Not only is quilting fun,
quilting is good for you.
Not only do you get to use
that underutilised side of your brain,
quilting fills you with purpose
to envelope yourself, your family
and your community with warmth and love.
Take the time to find the projects
that you really want to start
and to see through to the end.
And that might mean more planning,
more practising and less buying.
Remember, just because you enjoy quilting,
doesn't mean it's effortless.
Quilts have value,
so value your effort.
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If you've ever suffered from a sewing rut
or rather watch a Netflix movie than use your sewing room
or lost your Sewjo.
One of the first things you should check in with is,
are you overtired?
And even if you force yourself
to pick up your sewing project,
a sewing session with a tired brain
is almost always full of sewing mistakes,
stitch ripping, and less than stellar results.
So get more rest.
And that means going to bed early.
Sleep is such a vital component
of overall wellbeing and health,
but sleeping is not always easy.
Personally, I have a lot of monkey brain at night,
so I use a sleeping mask to cut out the light.
I also listen to a nonfiction audio book
to distract my thoughts.
And since I found myself waking up all tight and clenched,
from sleeping on a lumpy bed,
I recently changed my mattress.
Birch Premium is a mattress-in-a-box company
that make mattresses and sleep products
that are stylish, comfortable
and environmentally friendly.
It comes, rolled up in a box
and it is super easy to set up yourself.
Birch makes organic, non-toxic mattresses,
right here in North America
and recently introduced the Birch Luxe mattress,
made from organic cashmere, New Zealand wool,
fair trade cotton and a hundred percent natural latex.
Mine was a king
and I was amazed at how quickly it was ready to sleep on.
Birch delivers right to your door
and it's free delivery in the US.
And oh boy, what a difference.
With eight different layers,
the Luxe mattress was made with breath-ability
and support in mind.
The mattress has over 1000 individually wrapped steel coils
that cradle your body and limit motion transfer.
My husband and I are big people
and we like a firm mattress
and we were a little bit nervous
about ordering online without testing it out first.
With Birch, you get a hundred nights sleep trial,
as well as a 25-year warranty.
If you don't love it, they'll pick it up from you
and you'll get a full refund.
I've had our mattress now for over two months
and I can feel a real difference
in how easily I fall asleep
and how well rested I feel in the morning,
with none of the shoulder tightness that I felt before.
And honestly, I now realise
that I should have gotten it ages ago.
Every Birch mattress comes with two
of their eco rests pillows,
made from recycled plastic bottles.
They're breathable and better for the environment.
We love our Birch mattress.
And I think that you would too.
If you're looking for a new bed.
check them out, go to birchliving.com/quilts
or click on the link below to get $400
off your mattress and two free pillows.
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We all know that the clutter creeps in,
especially if you're sewing space
is used for other activities.
And I know how tempting it is
to dump piles of stuff on any clean surface.
But if your sewing table is clear,
you will always have room to create,
when the opportunity arises.
15 minutes of sewing here,
30 minutes of sewing there,
can really add up over time.
So make it a rule to tidy up
after every quilting session.
Remember your sewing zones
from my video, Organise Your Sewing Space, Part 3.
If you have your tools in easily accessible spots,
close to your sewing table,
it will be a snap to clean up.
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Long lists of UFOs, kits,
block-of-the-month programmes,
wish lists and big ideas can easily overwhelm you.
So make a short list of two to four items
and keep your focus there.
But how do you choose which ones
go on the short list?
Go with your gut.
Which ones do you want to make the most?
Remember, you're filling your bucket,
but if you're stuck
you might think about following.
Take a look at your calendar.
Is there a project that has a due date coming up?
Maybe you have a project
that's taking up more than its fair share of space
in your sewing room.
If you need an easy win,
which one is closest to being finished?
Which one is eating at your thoughts
and you want out of your space?
Choose the two to four that are right for you, right now.
And when you're done, you make another short list.
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Quilting is a marathon
and we can easily be overwhelmed by the whole process.
Often we'd rather not start
because we know how much effort we will need to put in
to get us to the finish line.
But remember, we do not need to run this race
all at once.
Set your timer and run it in 30 minute bursts.
You'll also be more focused as well.
Then use a tracker, if necessary, to watch your progress.
They can be simple checklists, colouring pages
or ones that you design yourself.
Remember, steady always win.
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Not only is quilting a marathon,
but there are hills and speed bumps along the way.
So break up those parts
that don't lead to your strengths into steps.
And some of those steps
might need to be broken into sub steps
and then sub-sub steps.
Making one block a day still results in a quilt.
Or maybe today taking that UFO out of the box
is all you can manage.
I know with one project,
I was so mad about a mistake that I made,
that all I could manage was ripping at one seam a day.
And I did that for two weeks,
because doing more than one seem
would just rile me up so much.
And don't hesitate to do the hard steps with a buddy
or an accountability partner.
Sharing laugh on a Zoom call
may be all the support you need to go forward.
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Life is busy with all sorts of demands on our time.
And quilting can so easily get pushed down the to-do list.
So we need to sneak in a sewing session
directly after another activity that we do every day.
And this is called habit stacking.
For example, I have to walk my dog every morning.
So after I hang up Mando's leash,
I head upstairs and put on my 30 minute timer.
Because my space is ready to go
and I have my short list of projects
and I've broken them down into steps,
I know what I need to do.
And when the timer goes off,
I tidy up and I'm ready for the next session.
This also creates some really good momentum
for the rest of the day.
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We spend so much time avoiding, procrastinating,
making excuses for all the things that we don't want to do.
Taxes, cleaning decluttering.
Let's flip that.
If we just take care of it now,
think of all the brain space and time
that you'll have for the things
that you do want to do, like quilting.
The phrase eat the frog first changed my life.
I used to be able to weave great excuses
and rationalisations for missed deadlines
and for abandoned projects, half done.
But once I realised
that the quality of my life would improve
just by eating that frog first,
I changed my ways.
Eating the frog first is hard
and often I have to break it down into 30 minute steps
or sometimes even five,
but getting them done and out of the way
means I have more guilt-free time for quilting,
creativity and fun.
Sometimes you're just too busy to know what to do next.
Take a look at one of my stash buster patterns.
They are fast, easy, fat quarter friendly, free,
with little wastage.
Take care, and I'll see you next time.