December 6, 2012
My little family of three is staying
with my father-in-law while our household goods make the slow trek
from Greece to California. Over the years, this has been the norm,
but it is much different this time because my mother-in-law is no
longer here to run the household. That now falls to me. While I’ve
cooked in this kitchen off and on for 25 years, it is so different
now actually doing instead of just helping. I find
that even my tried-and-true recipes aren’t turning out the same.
Very strange. I’ve begun making notes on my computer so that I’ll
have some idea of what I’m doing right or wrong. Luckily, I won’t
be in charge of holiday meals this year!
I have similar problems in machine
embroidery. I’m rarely satisfied to leave things exactly as
the designer suggests or the embroidery patterns insist on.
Of course, sometimes I just understand they my machine will be
happier if certain adjustments are made. As long as I think things
through before making changes, all is usually well. Of course, these
are intentional changes and not the weird, unidentifiable ones
happening in the kitchen.
There are several things that can go
wrong, though. If I set up a design to stitch over a pocket, I may
have to adjust the machine to center the embroidery design
exactly where I want it. I love that I can do this. However, what
happens if the power goes out? Instead of panicking, this is
actually the easiest problem to recover from IF I haven’t skipped a
step. What is this miracle step? I simply write down the
adjustments I made to the embroidery machine before starting.
That makes it possible to reposition the machine to exactly where I
started the first time before advancing to the area where I need to
continue stitching. I even note it when I’ve made no adjustments
so that I am never confused.
Then, there are those very in-depth
machine embroidery patterns for things like cutwork embroidery
doilies or free-standing lace 3D boxes. I don’t make any changes
to the actual embroidery designs, but I may change what I do
to create them. If they don’t turn out, I can try again. If they
do turn out, though, I’ve got a winner that I’ll stitch over and
over again. IF, that is, I didn’t skip that magic step.
For example, if I modify a project so
that my doily comes out to a different size than the embroidery
pattern specifies, I need to make extensive notes and keep them
somewhere safe so that they are there if I ever want to recreate the
project. No notes? No easy way to recreate it. Machine
embroidery thread also comes in so many wonderful colors; if I
don’t make notes about those I chose, I can’t color-match
properly.
Sure, I’d much rather just be
stitching, but these extra steps keep my embroidery humming
along once I do get started. Now, if I could only figure out what
I’m doing in this kitchen and have my notes be as helpful, I’d be
happy!
Posted by Roger Kane. Posted In : crafts
November 21, 2012
It was early afternoon today when my
son and I realized that we hadn’t seen our two kittens since early
morning. On any normal day, this wouldn’t have been much of a
concern. On a moving day, though, all bets are off. Especially when
the kittens’ favorite hiding place is inside the couch and those
couches have been fully encapsulated with cardboard and tape.
It’s not a good feeling to think of
what could have happened. Luckily, with the help of the movers, we
were able to find them and remove them from the couch before it began
its 12-week journey. The scare was horrid, but the joy at finding
them soon overshadowed it. Still, I was rattled for quite a while.
I find myself responding like this more
often these days when creating my beloved machine embroidery
designs. Once I get the machine set up and going, I tend to do
other things until the next color stop. If I leave the room, I keep
an ear open for audible changes that could signal disaster. After
four years here in Greece, my embroidery machine is making
strange noises more and more. Taking it to the dealer for service is
something I look forward to.
The problems got worse and worse as the
noises became more frequent. I became flustered thinking that I was
somehow forgetting my knowledge of machine embroidery. I
thought the mistakes were my fault, instead of the fault of a machine
that needs some tender loving care. Regardless, each mistake or
problem makes me more jumpy than the last. Finally, I watched every
stitch as it formed. That, along with listening closely, helped me
to finish more projects.
When I become nervous about something,
I do a lot of research on the subject until I feel certain that I can
overcome any issues. With embroidery, I end up at my favorite
embroidery design gallery instead. It’s so much more
interesting than reading about a million and one machine problems.
I’d much rather be finding new embroidery patterns! And I’m
always guaranteed of finding a new free embroidery design for
my efforts. Much more fun than research!
Now that I’m an experienced
embroidery artist, I think I need to remind myself of the
lessons I learned as a newcomer. It’s important to take time to
get the project hooped properly. Take a little more time to study
the embroidery designs before they stitch so that I am
familiar with them. Then, just stitch. If it gets messed up, it
gets messed up. There will always be some flaws or issues with
machine embroidery, so it’s important to just go with it as
much as possible. Agonizing over mistakes or what ifs will only suck
all the joy out of the endeavor.
One thing that I do enjoy about
watching every stitch form, though, is the knowledge I gain in how
each embroidery design is created; how the beauty forms. If
mistakes didn’t occur, I probably wouldn’t remember to take the
great opportunity of this. Much like my cats hiding in a sofa and
scaring me so badly, mistakes in embroidery offers a wonderful
silver lining.
My number one tip is to just enjoy the
calm after the storm, although dancing in the rain can be fun, too.
Posted by Roger Kane. Posted In : Shopping
November 7, 2012
It was early afternoon today when my
son and I realized that we hadn’t seen our two kittens since early
morning. On any normal day, this wouldn’t have been much of a
concern. On a moving day, though, all bets are off. Especially when
the kittens’ favorite hiding place is inside the couch and those
couches have been fully encapsulated with cardboard and tape.
It’s not a good feeling to think of
what could have happened. Luckily, with the help of the movers, we
were able to find them and remove them from the couch before it began
its 12-week journey. The scare was horrid, but the joy at finding
them soon overshadowed it. Still, I was rattled for quite a while.
I find myself responding like this more
often these days when creating my beloved machine embroidery
designs. Once I get the machine set up and going, I tend to do
other things until the next color stop. If I leave the room, I keep
an ear open for audible changes that could signal disaster. After
four years here in Greece, my embroidery machine is making
strange noises more and more. Taking it to the dealer for service is
something I look forward to.
The problems got worse and worse as the
noises became more frequent. I became flustered thinking that I was
somehow forgetting my knowledge of machine embroidery. I
thought the mistakes were my fault, instead of the fault of a machine
that needs some tender loving care. Regardless, each mistake or
problem makes me more jumpy than the last. Finally, I watched every
stitch as it formed. That, along with listening closely, helped me
to finish more projects.
When I become nervous about something,
I do a lot of research on the subject until I feel certain that I can
overcome any issues. With embroidery, I end up at my favorite
embroidery design gallery instead. It’s so much more
interesting than reading about a million and one machine problems.
I’d much rather be finding new embroidery patterns! And I’m
always guaranteed of finding a new free embroidery design for
my efforts. Much more fun than research!
Now that I’m an experienced
embroidery artist, I think I need to remind myself of the
lessons I learned as a newcomer. It’s important to take time to
get the project hooped properly. Take a little more time to study
the embroidery designs before they stitch so that I am
familiar with them. Then, just stitch. If it gets messed up, it
gets messed up. There will always be some flaws or issues with
machine embroidery, so it’s important to just go with it as
much as possible. Agonizing over mistakes or what ifs will only suck
all the joy out of the endeavor.
One thing that I do enjoy about
watching every stitch form, though, is the knowledge I gain in how
each embroidery design is created; how the beauty forms. If
mistakes didn’t occur, I probably wouldn’t remember to take the
great opportunity of this. Much like my cats hiding in a sofa and
scaring me so badly, mistakes in embroidery offers a wonderful
silver lining.
My number one tip is to just enjoy the
calm after the storm, although dancing in the rain can be fun, too.
Posted by Roger Kane. Posted In : Shopping
October 25, 2012
In terms of decorating, whether it is
your home or your person, I am a firm believer that less is always
more. Too much of a good thing just spoils the whole endeavor!
Unfortunately, I get hopped up on the power of the sewing or
embroidery machine and stitch until my original project idea
is barely recognizable. I know I should stop, but I just can’t
seem to do so.
If the project is for the home, I
quietly remove as much of the additional “décor” as I can
before using it as intended. If I’m unable to salvage it, it
becomes a new fixture in my sewing room to remind me not to do the
same again. As for clothing items, they sit in my closet, never
worn, looking beautiful and embarrassing. I would never actually
wear them outside the house. From the looks of my fellow crafters at
times, though, I don’t think all of them share my less is more
philosophy.
Matching tees, totes, jackets, wallets,
hats and more welcome me to any crafter’s venue I attend. Quilted
fabric, machine embroidery designs on every available surface,
appliqués and 3D objects adorning ladies who are happily
unaware of how, well um, colorful they look. Actually, their
happiness at their handiwork does give them a certain glow that is
beautiful, so there is definitely something to be said about that!
And, maybe they just have more confidence than I do. Maybe I just
need better self-esteem in order to wear some of my own more, um,
creative outfits.
While my own fiendish little heart
refuses to allow me to follow them, there are some basic fashion
guidelines that we should follow in order to look our best and not
draw undue attention to make our kids squirm. When using a favorite
embroidery design, it’s best to only stitch one or two
motifs on a shirt or skirt; not both. The item not embroidery
embellished can then match any color of the machine embroidery
thread, adding versatility.
Just as one’s top and bottom pieces
shouldn’t be matchy-matchy, it’s definitely a fashion faux paux
to make matching jackets, totes, and more. One tends to look like a
tourist, even in one’s own back yard. What I do like, is
making a matching tote, wallet, makeup pouch and anything else that
can be put into said tote. I don’t care what the fashion police
say; some embroidery patterns just cry out to be made as
identically as possible. Sometimes matchy-matchy is cute, especially
when my embroidery supplies include several yards of fabric
that I can’t find another use for.
On a recent visit to my favorite
embroidery design gallery, I picked up a free embroidery
design that I simply adore. I like it so much that I stitched it
all over my comfy, faded chambray shirt. Once again, the embroidery
imp just wouldn’t let me stop with the pocket and collar points!
When I showed it to my friend, who dropped in just as I was about to
cut the whole thing up for rags, she exclaimed that it was just the
cutest thing she had ever seen. Can you guess what she’s getting
for her birthday next month?
No, she’s not getting my shirt.
Instead, I’ll make her one of her own. Then, I can wear mine at
the same time. If my embroidery machine won’t stop me from
stitching a hot mess, then I will just have to enlist my friends to
wear my creations. There is safety in numbers after all.
Maybe I’ll even stitch us some
matching hats.
Posted by Roger Kane. Posted In : Shopping
October 11, 2012
During our four years here in Greece,
I’ve has so many people get excited when they find out that I do
machine embroidery. They always say they should have me
create this or that project. In that time, only one of them actually
did so, and I had to turn down the commission because the project was
both against copyright laws, and would not have been a proper project
to highlight my skills. Strangely, now that we are leaving for home
in a couple of weeks and my embroidery supplies are packed up,
everyone seems to want me to create something for them.
When it rains, it pours!
When I have to turn down every request,
I get one of two responses. The first is a glad assurance that their
project will just take a second. Really. The second is a
knowing look followed with the sudden remembrance that moving is time
consuming. Regardless of the response, I’m reminded of a good
reason to move. None of these people have offered true
neighborliness, instead asking me to do something for them when I
have very little time for myself.
My friends and family at home aren’t
much more helpful, but at least they understand how time-consuming a
well-made embroidery project can be. My sisters-in-law
understand that they can request projects all year long, but each and
every project becomes their birthday or Christmas present for me.
They understand that the time I spend on them is time I’m not using
for myself or my own embroidery patterns. I wish everyone
else was as understanding!
Bing overseas, I don’t mind not
doing projects for others. I have to get all of my embroidery
supplies through online mail-order, so running out of the perfect
color of machine embroidery thread half-way through a project
was always a possibility. For my own projects, I could just switch
to a similar thread, but this isn’t good practice when the project
is for someone else.
This is another good reason to move
home. Easy availability of embroidery supplies, quilt
patterns, thread and more is very attractive. Revisiting my favorite
fabric stores where I can actually feel the texture and see the
colors almost has me wanting to jump on the plane tonight! I’ll
have to be very, very careful of my budget in the next few months as
the excitement of physical shopping might just overwhelm me!
If you haven’t already picked up on
it, I am not really looking forward to leaving Greece. I knew we
could only stay for 4-5 years, but the reality of it doesn’t mean I
have to like it. When I get blue about our upcoming move, I start
reminding myself of all the good things of the move. Donut shops.
Sewing machine dealers. Fast food. Faster internet. Well, I’m
sure you get the idea.
Something I’m very thankful for is
all the embroidery digitizers who offer free embroidery
designs! When I blow my budget on stabilizer, bobbins, new
tools, and donuts, I know that there will always be fantastic free
embroidery designs for me to discover. It may even put me in a
charitable enough mood to create a project for someone else, also
free of charge.
I like that!
Posted by Roger Kane. Posted In : Shopping
September 27, 2012
This has been a weird sort of week.
First, we have a houseguest; a female friend of my son visiting from
Finland. Then, my husband who usually works a 2-day-on/2-day-off
shift schedule is in a class for two weeks. That means instead of
coming home after his 48-hour shift, he’s in class and only gets to
come home a couple of nights each week. It’s really messing with
my calm, especially since he’s the more social of the two of us.
But, our houseguest is very shy, and I think she’s afraid of my
husband, so I guess it’s better that it’s just me here trying to
make sure she has a good time.
Strangely, other than spending a bit
more time each day keeping the house tidy, I have found myself
getting a lot more done than I usually do! I’ve met all my
deadlines for the month, when I usually am rushing to get done. I’ve
been working on quilting, embroidery and my writing as the
mood hits. It’s a wonderful feeling!
With all this energy for work, I’ve
managed to get quite a few machine embroidery designs
completed. I love digitizing, but it can be very time consuming.
This week, the work has flowed so easily. Maybe I should have a
houseguest more often! My husband already works 72 hours a week, so
I don’t think I can ask him to work even more so I can work on my
embroidery passion.
Because my creativity has come so
easily this week, I’ve even tried a few new techniques and have
ordered some new embroidery supplies as well. I’m looking
forward to trying out my new embroidery designs on the
Mulberry Paper that’s coming. Embroidered holiday cards have
always been a favorite of mine, but I never had time to do them by
hand. Thank goodness for machine embroidery!
Once my son and his guest go out for
the day, and leave the internet to my sole use, I’ll upload a new
set of designs to the embroidery design gallery that I belong
to. While I’m there, I’ll also look over all the great designs
by the other digitizers. If I’m lucky, I’ll find a couple of
awesome free embroidery downloads or a couple of new
embroidery patterns. Although I’m a digitizer, I still
stitch lots of embroidery designs by other designers. We all
have such different talents and styles.
Now that the day is coming to a close,
I need to rush a bit to complete the embroidery projects that
I set for the week. Tomorrow, I’ll be getting my hair done (a
rarity) and then getting the house in order and making lasagna. My
husband will be home tomorrow night and Saturday, and I want it to be
as pleasant as possible for him. The embroidery can be put on
hold for him.
As much as I love machine
embroidery, I love my husband more. Actually, without his
support I wouldn’t even be involved in the art of machine
embroidery or the creative endeavor of digitizing embroidery
designs.
Maybe his favorite cherry pie after
dinner would be a good way to tell him how much I appreciate him. I
wonder if my Finish guest will like it.
Posted by Roger Kane. Posted In : Shopping
September 19, 2012
This time of year, moms are thinking
about the new school year. Now that my son is grown and college is
his responsibility, I’m free to think and worry about and plan
other things. Some years, it’s all about the upcoming holidays,
décor and gifts. Other times, like this year, it’s all
about calendars, organization and making my house look like the home
I want it to be. Of course, my stitching comes into play in a lot of
this, whether it’s making quilted tote bags or tablecloths
embellished with machine embroidery.
My husband is in a career that has a
messed up schedule. Most of them work 48 hours on and 48 hours off,
while others work weekdays, and some work weekdays, but also put in a
24-hour shift sometime during that week. It’s confusing for them,
and nearly impossible for us wives to figure out, especially when
they get a 4-day break once a month and an 8-day break once per
quarter. How do we plan our days, parties, and more? When do I have
a full day to devote to playing with my machine
embroidery designs?
Three years ago, I took over making the
pocket schedules and wall calendars for everyone. These calendars,
through an intricate system of color coding denote days on shift,
days off, and whether those days off are the normal 48 hours or the
more anticipated 4- and 8-day breaks. Last year, I took it a step
further and created a planner for each of the wives. These include
extra calendars, like showing who is off at the same time. It also
includes our contact information, conversion charts and lots of local
information for getting around and enjoying our brief stay in Greece.
As well as enjoying what I can do in
the realm of machine embroidery, I love using my computer for
paper crafting in an arty way and in putting together things like
those planners. Most of the wives make some sort of ornament or
small gift to give at Christmas, so while I created the planners, my
embroidery machine was right beside me, stitching out lovely
free-standing lace ornaments. My husband and son got involved by
adding hot-fix crystals to the rinsed and dried ornaments and also
added pretty ribbon as a hanger. Every year, we also create a CD of
holiday music. These all packaged together quite well, and we all
had a blast doing it.
This year, I need to update the
planners and create additional ones for the newcomers. I need to
collect phone numbers and email addresses, find out kids’ names and
everyone’s birthdays! I used to be an office manager, so this type
of thing lets me enjoy the work I did for so long.
However, this year, thoughts of the
planners have me thinking of my home. Doing animal fostering as I
do, the house gets to be a real jumble. Ordinary, every-day cleaning
just doesn’t keep it organized. Two weeks ago, it got a thorough
going-over because my son had a house guest. Since this is the first
girl he’s brought home, I wanted everything to be perfect.
Unfortunately, I forgot about making the new couch pillows with that
great free embroidery design I found. Instead, I concentrated
on making our American-Clutter house look modern and European. I
succeeded to a degree, but then had nothing on hand to show our guest
when she asked what I do. This got me thinking about what I really
want my home to reflect.
I realized that the kitchen was a
success. It has everything I need, much like a great embroidery
space, and my supplies, whether kitchen or embroidery
supplies, are placed for easy reach. There’s a bit of
decorative jumble, but color is the key ingredient. Splashes of red
in the mahogany and white space make the room look light and bright!
The lack of clutter helps!
So, while I plan my next fabulous
embroidery pattern, I’ll be sorting my home with the thought
of open spaces and lots of color. No clutter, but a healthy jumble
of decorative items that show we live here and love it. Pillows with
fabulous floral embroidery and curtains trimmed with
free-standing lace embroidery designs. Place mats and runners
from a pattern at my favorite embroidery design gallery.
A bowl of fruit on the table in the
great room, and my home is ready for me and any guests! Come on
over! We’ll have coffee and a good chat!
Posted by Roger Kane. Posted In : Shopping
September 12, 2012
This has been a weird sort of week.
First, we have a house guest; a female friend of my son visiting from
Finland. Then, my husband who usually works a 2-day-on/2-day-off
shift schedule is in a class for two weeks. That means instead of
coming home after his 48-hour shift, he’s in class and only gets to
come home a couple of nights each week. It’s really messing with
my calm, especially since he’s the more social of the two of us.
But, our house guest is very shy, and I think she’s afraid of my
husband, so I guess it’s better that it’s just me here trying to
make sure she has a good time.
Strangely, other than spending a bit
more time each day keeping the house tidy, I have found myself
getting a lot more done than I usually do! I’ve met all my
deadlines for the month, when I usually am rushing to get done. I’ve
been working on quilting, embroidery and my writing as the
mood hits. It’s a wonderful feeling!
With all this energy for work, I’ve
managed to get quite a few machine embroidery designs
completed. I love digitizing, but it can be very time consuming.
This week, the work has flowed so easily. Maybe I should have a
houseguest more often! My husband already works 72 hours a week, so
I don’t think I can ask him to work even more so I can work on my
embroidery passion.
Because my creativity has come so
easily this week, I’ve even tried a few new techniques and have
ordered some new embroidery supplies as well. I’m looking
forward to trying out my new embroidery designs on the
Mulberry Paper that’s coming. Embroidered holiday cards have
always been a favorite of mine, but I never had time to do them by
hand. Thank goodness for machine embroidery!
Once my son and his guest go out for
the day, and leave the internet to my sole use, I’ll upload a new
set of designs to the embroidery design gallery that I belong
to. While I’m there, I’ll also look over all the great designs
by the other digitizers. If I’m lucky, I’ll find a couple of
awesome free embroidery downloads or a couple of new
embroidery patterns. Although I’m a digitizer, I still
stitch lots of embroidery designs by other designers. We all
have such different talents and styles.
Now that the day is coming to a close,
I need to rush a bit to complete the embroidery projects that
I set for the week. Tomorrow, I’ll be getting my hair done (a
rarity) and then getting the house in order and making lasagna. My
husband will be home tomorrow night and Saturday, and I want it to be
as pleasant as possible for him. The embroidery can be put on
hold for him.
As much as I love machine
embroidery, I love my husband more. Actually, without his
support I wouldn’t even be involved in the art of machine
embroidery or the creative endeavor of digitizing embroidery
designs.
Maybe his favorite cherry pie after
dinner would be a good way to tell him how much I appreciate him. I
wonder if my Finish guest will like it.
Posted by Roger Kane. Posted In : Shopping
September 1, 2012
I only began my machine embroidery
passion after many, many years of sewing and quilting. Once I
understood just how versatile embroidery designs could be, I
decided to try my hand at digitizing my own. My first attempts were
awful, but I enjoyed the process so much that I just kept trying. I
soon realized that I had discovered a passion that I could actually
embrace as my new full-time job, leaving behind the dry and boring
career of accounting forever. This was something I had been looking
to find for a long time, so you can imagine my excitement!
Of course, providing top quality
machine embroidery designs takes more than just deciding to do
so! It took more than a year to find my style and test my own
designs until they were all that I hoped they would be. Placing my
first designs for sale was both exciting and terrifying! What if I
had failed? Dreams are hard to put aside, so I just kept moving
forward. I’m so glad that I did.
Every digitizer of embroidery
designs has their own style, own goals, and own ideas on what
they want to provide for their customers. Because I love to share
and teach, I like to provide free embroidery designs as often
as possible. This allows embroiderers to test my designs to make
sure they like them, and also allows me to help out those whose
budgets don’t allow for a lot of different embroidery patterns.
My style keeps evolving, which is both
wonderful and not. Each new style shift means many more hours of
practice and test stitching, which takes away from my need to create.
But, trying out new ideas also keeps my creativity going strong. It
is obvious that I will never grow bored because there are so many
different types of embroidery designs and styles to try out!
My goals are twofold. For those who
stitch my designs, I want them to enjoy every step of the process and
never have any issues with the embroidery that they create. I
know that I will not always succeed with this goal, but I always try!
For myself, I simply want to never have to go back to the staid,
uncreative job of number-crunching. Creating machine embroidery
designs will never make me monetarily successful, but my life is
so much richer for the choice I made to follow my dream.
I sometimes wonder what the future may
hold for me. Will I create my own line of embroidery supplies?
Will I discover a machine embroidery thread that never
breaks? Will I discover a way to make my embroidery machine
also sweep the floor and fold the laundry? Hey, it’s my fantasy!
Dreaming big just means that our smallest dreams will come true. We
may have to work hard for the biggest dreams, but I believe the
journey is worth it whether the dream is realized or not.
Take a moment each day to work towards
your dream. Everyone should be as content as I am today.
Posted by Roger Kane. Posted In : Shopping
August 22, 2012
I thought I had a handle on my monthly
deadlines and schedules. It seems I was sadly mistaken! Whether you
make your living by working at home, like I do, or work in an office,
it is so very important to have tasks scheduled so they get done
before they are due. This is not rocket science! When I worked in
an office, it worked flawlessly most of the time. Working at home is
a whole new world!
Most of my work revolves around machine
embroidery designs and embroidery quilting. While neither
can be described as a quick and easy task, I have set my schedule to
allow me to get as much work done as possible without driving myself
crazy or finding that I’m spending too much time at my desk or in
the sewing room. Balance is definitely the key.
I had a spurt of energy and inspiration
at the turn of the New Year, and my new schedule shows it. I had
become convinced that I could do more embroidery designs and
spend more time making quilts than I had been. After all,
years ago, I would spend eight hours in my sewing room, making
quilts, and never thought about it. It was my weekend sewing
time. Household chores got done during the week, in the evenings
after returning home from the office.
Now that I work at home, I feel a bit
of guilt for spending so much time doing what used to be my weekend
pleasure. Even though it is my job, making quilts and
digitizing embroidery designs is so pleasurable, that it still
doesn’t feel like work, even after several years.
Last year, I would really hustle to get
my deadlines met at the end of each month. The last week of the
month was spent meeting obligations, while the first week of the next
month was spent in answering questions and fixing any mistakes made
the previous month. The middle weeks were mine to do as I wished.
Generally, I didn’t work as efficiently as I should have.
Recognizing that I should have been
using the middle weeks to actually get my work done, I changed up my
schedule. Guess what? It actually works! Imagine that!
Now, I meet my monthly obligations a
couple of days early and use the last days of the month to do
follow-up. With embroidery, this means making sure everything
is listed accurately. With the quilt embroidery, it means
answering questions and, possibly, revising my work.
I then let myself enjoy a few days of
leisure, which usually involves some sort of work because I truly do
enjoy it. This also gives me a break between one deadline’s work
and the next, which is important because each month is a different
project. Keeping fresh is key!
I now spend the middle weeks doing my
work, wandering between making quilts and digitizing machine embroidery designs as I feel the need to do so. Since what I do
is art/creative, it is easier to accomplish my goals if I don’t
force it. As long as I meet my goals, nothing else matters.
In an office setting, that isn’t
always true. But, you still have some flexibility to schedule your
time to use it most efficiently. I tried several schedules until I
reached this one that seems to work for me; changed it if I saw an
area for improvement.
You can do this, too! Your boss will
honestly appreciate a motivated, organized employee who meets
deadlines ahead of time. They might persist in wanting you to do
certain things at certain times, but you can show them the light!
Just tell them you’re making quilts.
If nothing else, it will confuse them
and they will go away!
Posted by Roger Kane. Posted In : Shopping
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