Monday, January 22, 2018

I had my journal written in my mind yesterday – I just failed to get it any further. I was busy at the end of the day doing some Guild business; I realized I needed to have a photo printed so headed out to Walmart. It was just past five and I was worried the photo department would be closed but they are open until six. Good thing as the power went out (just momentarily) when I was loading my photo so I had to wait for the machines to reboot (ten minutes) and for the cash register to come back online (another ten minutes). The photo was fine and I got it into the mail first thing this morning.

I was intending to brag yesterday about my use of lists. I’ve always been a list maker and I expect that won’t ever change. I have paper lists, I have lists on my computer, I have lists on whiteboards and I have a book in my purse for lists. I started listing all my project UFOs on a spreadsheet on my computer, but that was too depressing – so many projects, so little time. So I’ve refined my lists to something shorter and, occasionally, I visit the spreadsheet and am able to remove items that have been finished.

I currently use three small whiteboards (that I got for $1 at a quilting garage sale). One board keeps track of the Guild projects I’m trying desperately to keep up with this year. One board keeps track of cards and miscellaneous projects that need to be done in the short-term. The last board keeps track of my knitting and crochet projects.  These boards keep me focused on what I need to work on and are my best chances at finishes.

My quilting UFO lists haven’t been forgotten; I have two paper lists that I keep for them. The first is the UFO Challenge sheet that the Guild is running this year. I started with six items in September and I’ve completed two of them. Two others are waiting to be sandwiched and quilted, one is my current Tuesday project, and one is a chenille quilt from a one-day class I took ages ago.

I came across another UFO Challenge online that I’m working with. You list twelve projects and at the beginning of the month you are given a number (from one to twelve) and that is the UFO you work on for the month. Even if you don’t finish the project the idea is that you can make significant progress on it during that month. January’s number was 12 and I have finished that project – 40 Shades of Spring.

I’m off now to finish the hand stitching on a Guild challenge – at the end of the day I should be able to wipe one more thing off my whiteboard.