Staying Motivated

I'm a wonderful goal setter. Always looking to improve something, somewhere. Goal finisher? Ehhh. Making a Dear Jane® quilt is one of my bigger goals but it's been awhile since I made any blocks. Finding motivation to continue working on a big project can be a huge issue for me. 

 

I finished 6 blocks in April, 2 in May, 0 in June and only 1 in July. You can see the trend . . . . I became worried it would continue spiraling downward. Like many of you, I plod along making this quilt. Some years I'm good and some not so good. 2013 was not a great year for working on them until I decided I needed a little push to keep going and formed a Yahoo  Dear Jane®  Support  group for some of us working on the blocks (see sidebar for info).  So I challenged myself and some in the group by putting my name on a list for all to see and committed to making at least one block per month. Nothing like accountability. The idea was that one block would get the ball rolling for me and then perhaps I'd become motivated to make more. One block a month may not sound like much, but, you have to admit, it's still a lot better than NONE per month, which is where I was heading. 

 

Baby Janes??

I find I spend the longest time just going through and picking out the fabric I want to use for a block. Do you do this too?  A long time ago I pulled some of my favorite fabrics (some new, some very old) that I thought I'd like to use in the quilt. I set it all aside and now keep it in a separate DJ basket. If I buy a new print and want to use it, then I cut some off and place it in the basket. So at least that's somewhat organized and I don't have to go through all of it every time I begin a block.

Well, so far  my plan has worked pretty well. I finished the block for August in no time at all. Sure, it was an easy block, but sometimes that's just what I need to get back into it, you know? Once I decided to do this I didn't want to let myself down (or anyone else on the list. This was my idea so I'm supposed to be inspiring everyone else too, right?) 

I found I was able to become motivated to finish another block -

 

This one was a more difficult block for me -  I could not get those teensy pieces to line up right. Even after ripping it apart and trying again. Enough I said and decided to go with The Galloping Horse Theory on this one - If you can't see a mistake while riding past it on a galloping horse, then it doesn't matter. Looks okay to me from a distance. Up close? Don't go there.

  

So now I've finished two for August and the month isn't even over yet.  (Yes, patting myself on the back here. Completing even a small goal makes me feel good.) 

Here are some ways I try to stay motivated: I bring out the DJ chart I made from poster board with pictures of the blocks I've completed so I can see my progress. It's fun to fill in the spaces.

Here's how I made my chart - I drew a grid of squares to represent the blocks in the quilt on poster board, numbered the rows, then printed out pictures of my blocks in a small size and cut and pasted them onto the poster board.  Primitive, yes, but it really works for me and allows me to see how far I've come. (I cannot get the digital one that comes with the DJ software to work with my computer.)

Then I attempt to fill in some of the rows or work on the trip around the world motif in my quilt. I keep a list of the blocks I've finished by date and then also check them off on another list according to difficulty. I've finished quite a few of the easy blocks and need to work on some difficult ones now. Yes, applique and paper piecing. Easy for some of you, not so easy for me. 

 

Here's my main problem, though: I've been so  lazy  busy this summer that my sewing space is quite a mess. I drop things on the table and don't clean it up. Can you imagine? : )  The weather's been so nice and it's so much fun to do other things instead. I'm going to miss going to the beach when it gets colder but I'll be more productive, that's for sure.

 

I tend to not want to create in a messy space, however, so that's the real hurdle I have to face pretty soon or I won't get anything done. On the list for next month - CLEAN up the mess! 

Quilts sur le Table

My apologies to our French-speaking friends. I am trying to say Quilts on the Table, or "Table Quilts," our blog topic for today. But first I am going to tell you about my "productive" day so you will see how I got there from here.

I had nothing special planned today, for a change - a doctor's appointment this morning. When I came home I had breakfast with the dog (literally, since she was sitting patiently at my left side, waiting for me to drop something. She had been fed her first breakfast before I left.). Then I walked the dog. After that, I finished some e-mails, cleaned up the kitchen, vacuumed and mopped the floors and picked up a little.  My, how time flies.

The house was clean, which made me feel pretty good and motivated me to plan a nice dinner with my favorite salad on the side (recipe later). I climbed up onto the kitchen counter to get a better look inside one of the high cabinets for the glass cruet I like to use for the special dressing I was going to make. (You are probably thinking that I fell or something disastrous happened, but it did not. I just thought the image of me climbing onto the kitchen counter at my age would be good for a laugh . . . .) I couldn't find the cruet so I'll have to think of something else to use for the dressing, but look at the pretty little vase I found instead.

I bought this years ago and forgot I had it. It was shoved into a cabinet.

I stopped to go outside and pick a flower to put in the vase. I know, I should post a photo on Facebook just because it's so pretty. Then, since the camera was out, I thought I'd take a picture of the vase on a quilt. Then I thought I should take another picture of another quilt with the vase. Then I decided to take a picture of another quilt with another vase, and so on and so on and so on. By the time I was finished it was 3:00 and I hadn't really accomplished much else at all other than fooling around with quilts, the vase and the camera. I sort of just puttered around but it felt good instead of rushing around. Pretty productive day, huh? I like to have a day like this every now and then.

People ask me this question all the time - what do I do with small quilts? Easy. You can put them on a table. Here are some of my Quilts sur le Table -

 Patterns for some of my table quilts can be found on my website. 

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Dinner tonight will be Pasta Primavera accompanied by a salad with oranges and candied almonds with an orange vinagrette dressing. It's similar to this but I also add 1 -2 Tbs of frozen orange juice concentrate (from a can).

The missing cruet looks something like this.

                                               

If you happen to see it, let me know. Or, better yet, maybe this is the excuse I need to go visit a Home Goods store and shop for a new one . . . .

Starved Rock State Park

I got my nature "fix" at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, Illinois.

This beautiful state park is almost right in my backyard, less than 2 hours away, and I cannot imagine why I've never been here until a few days ago. It's a nature lover's dream, especially if you live in an urban area like I do.  It's one of the prettiest parks in Illinois. Keep in mind, we not have the scenic views or "wonders" in our flat Prairie State so we take what we can get.

Most of the trails are nice and well kept.

There are sandstone canyons, bluffs, pretty rock formations, waterfalls and hiking trails throughout. The area was hit by several nasty storms in June so when we were there many of the trails were closed due to dangerous conditions - downed trees and damaged walkways and stairways  - but there were still plenty of trails and canyons open. We also went to see the canyons and trails at Matthiessen State Park - just as pretty but lesser known and a few miles south of Starved Rock. 

The canyons are beautiful and it's so cool and quiet and peaceful when you get down there.

 The only problem with going down into the canyons is that, yes, you have to climb back up  eventually : ( 

The other bad part was that on our first trip out on the trails we did not get there early enough in the morning and the crowds were horrible. Too many noisy people and screaming babies. So, if you go, go early. One guy was actually walking along playing loud music on his phone if you can believe it. A kid screamed: "I want to go home! I know why they call this 'Starving' Rock - there's NO food here!!" I guess he expected a hot dog stand and ice cream vendor along the way, LOL. We lagged behind for a bit and let the obnoxious guys get ahead and then we sneaked off onto a side trail that was less populated and much quieter. Despite the heat and humidity it was mostly cool in the canyons. The next day we set out much earlier and were able to hike by ourselves.

Tip for my sister: Some of the streams have bridges you can cross over, but not all . . . .  You're going to get wet at some point.

The park provides stairways to get down into some of the deeper canyons. 

While up on a bridge looking down into a canyon we spotted some teenagers attempting to climb DOWN this slippery waterfall if you can believe it. 

I can't help but act like a Mom to all kids I meet. I thought of my own and yelled at them and asked if they thought they should be doing that. It was pretty deserted up where we were on the bridge - we just happened to be there at the same time they were and I'm sure they were surprised to see us. Later, after we had walked down into the canyon ourselves by way of the stairs, we ran into them again. The girl looked at me shyly and said "We decided to take the safe route down after all." Whew! I told her her mom could thank me later. I'm pretty sure the park rangers see injuries or fatalities every year involving stupid kids doing stupid, reckless things like that.

If you live near Chicago or are visiting this summer, think about planning a trip here. It is worth seeing and we will definitely go back in the fall for the colors. Hopefully, the other trails will be accessible by then. I hear the waterfalls are also much larger and prettier in the spring after a rain so we'll have to return for those as well.