Welcome to my blog

Please don't remind me that I'm poor; I'm having too much fun pretending I'm simply "living green" like everyone else these days.


Pages

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Another one is finished



The owner was supposed to be here yesterday to pick it up but didn't make it.







I did a feather swag on the outside border.






Another view of the swag.




I did a feather design on the solid squares and line dancing on the pieced squares and a simple swag design on the inside border.




A view from the back showing the feather design and the inside border swags.




A view from the back of the outside border.





I cooked more of the food from the freezer... in between customer visits. I hope I wasn't too rude when I kept saying "excuse me while I go check the food on the stove" several times. I also cut apart and stored all the cardboard in a back room. If I could only find more time to work with it.


My brother was cleaning up downed tree limbs a few days ago when another branch came down on him. It twisted his knee cap and he will probably have to have surgery to fix it. I'll be his chaufer to the doctor for 6 weeks if he has surgery.


As if I didn't have enough on my schedule already; the nursing home says my mother has to be moved to another facility. They want to send her to northeast Ohio to a nursing home there. They tell me they couldn't find not even one nursing home any closer than that capable of handling her special needs. How on earth am I supposed to go visit her so far away from me??
.
Moving her from here to all the way up there is like telling me that I will never see my mother alive again. Geeze, don't those people understand city buses don't travel that far?? Northeast Ohio is not one of the scheduled TARC bus stops. And just how am I supposed to go sign her into a hospital when it's needed? If that nursing home can't take her then she may have to be sent to a state out west someplace.
.
In order to find a nursing home closer to me means I will have to put in lots and lots of time on the phone. Time that won't be spent quilting. If I really can't find some place closer then she will have to go where they are equipped to handle her.


Yesterday, I took a look at my waiting list to see which quilt is next. I couldn't make heads or tails out of it. Some that were scheduled to be here in January have just now shown up. Some that are not scheduled until April have shown up already. Some that were due to be finished back in December are still being worked on. Some people that were scheduled for only 1 top decided to bring 3 or 4 instead because they didn't understand how the list works. Some that planned on bringing small quilts brought queen or king size. I found myself thoroughly confused by my own waiting list. Everyone is extremely nice saying... "Do them when you have time." That sounds very nice in theory but the reality is very different.

I took my calendar and worked with it for a couple of hours. I inserted names on the calendar based on the waiting list names and what I have already here in the studio. Hmmm.... I kind of suspected this in January but seeing it on the calendar confirms it. I'm completely booked for the rest of the year; with lots of overtime in the future too. Yes, I do mean all the way through December xmas rush. I couldn't find even one day off for at least 3 months. Awww.... gee whiz.... there has to be time off in there somewhere! I'll have to work with the calendar again because I can't live like that. No one can.


Here are just a few of the things that I have not scheduled on the calendar yet:


Classes at the quilt shop as promised

Classes in private homes as promised

Classes here at my house as promised

Time with my kids and grandkids - this is a definite!

Quilt shows I'd like to attend

Fair attendance days

Holidays

Lunches with friends

Piecing charity quilts

Piecing grandkid quilts

Contest quilts

Machine maintenance

Window quilts and other weatherizing stuff

Visiting my mother

Doctor visits and yearly exams

Yard work

Sick days
.
Family chaufering
.
Organizing
.
Blog posting
.
Creating cardboard crafts
.
Making rugs


There are many other things I really want time for doing.... but WHEN am I going to do them?? My quilting schedule and waiting list seriously need redesigning! It's not working the way it should. I have to start practicing forming these words more often......
.
"No, I'm sorry, I just can't."

1 comment:

Quiltin' LibraryLady said...

OK Anita, calm down. Giving yourself a stroke won't help any. Didn't you just say your brother is laid up with a bad knee? Put him to work calling nursing homes about your mother. Her needs must be very, very special indeed if it's so hard to find a nursing home for her.

As for the quilting schedule, if they didn't get their quilts to you in time, they go to the bottom of the list. The ones who brought them early get theirs done when they were scheduled. Those who brought more than they were scheduled for get the scheduled one done & the rest go to the bottom of the list. Those who brought bigger than they said get told it may take longer & it'll cost more. Try to work in the ones from earlier as soon as you can. And, while I know you take pride in your work, maybe you just need to put a little less work into each quilt. From what I can see in your pictures you do heirloom on almost every quilt. That last one for instance could have had a quick pantograph & still been beautiful. Maybe some of your backlog would be happy with simpler quilting. Sometimes done is better than perfect. With your tight schedule you may have to forget about some of the classes, promised or not. And definitely make time for your kids, grandkids & friends....it's what keeps you sane. Please don't make yourself sick trying to be everything for everybody.