Making Lists

I am a list maker. I make lists. I make grocery lists and leave them at home when I go grocery shopping. I make lists of  quilts I am working on. I make lists of quilts I want to make. I colour code my calendar with appointments and homework assignments and babysitting gigs. I plan how to complete dear Jane in one month by choosing which blocks I will make each day.

My cleaning lady wants a list every time she comes. I often forget to make one or make one and forget to give it to her. She likes to have a list to keep her focused and to have that sense of accomplishment when she checks off a completed task. If I do not leave a list for her when I am not there, she will start several tasks and inevitably find an old cupboard of hoarded stuff to remove, dust off and replace in a most artistic manner, short items to the front, taller ones behind, every label readable. It drives me nuts. I do not allow her to touch my quilting stash or my office desk or bookshelves. I would never be able to find anything. It drives her nuts. She is not a professional cleaner, just a girl I am helping by providing her with a bit of work and a bit of cash. In return, she blesses me by doing some of the heavier cleaning that I have been unable to do in recent years. It is a win/win. And, she is making a quilt, slowly, steadily.

Problem is, I spend more time and I have more fun making the lists than actually doing the activities. When I was in school, I had to get to class on time, hand in assignments on time, get to appointments on time. I had gone back to school after my kids grew up and have completed a BRE and MTS all the while getting up before 5 each morning to milk cows as I started each day. I no longer milk cows, except on rare mornings when no one else is available to help my sweetie husband.

Now I am doing a self paced online doctorate with no deadlines. I spend more time quilting than writing and often more time reading blogs, dreaming and drafting than quilting. Sigh. Although I do make sure I am home to watch that blessed little baby grand daughter that comes over 2-3 days a week. Snuggling grand babies is about the most important work I do these days. And the most rewarding. I am visiting my pregnant daughter in New Brusnwick for 2 weeks and left my camera at home so cannot boast about my quilting progress. She is on bed rest for another 3 months until baby arrives but that is not stopping us from making a quilt together. I cut, she pins and sews. It is a wedding quilt for a nephew in August. A disappearing 9 patch. So simple. She has about 1to 1 1/2 hours of usable energy each day and lays down the rest. We watched the entire season 1 of Downton Abbey on Friday. So now I know what that is all about. And, since she has netflicks and a big screen tv, we just watched Call the Midwife. I first heard about that show at Q@F last week. One of my quilting friends is a doula.

I am stitching on 3 CCCQ blocks and jotting down ideas as they come. Making lists. Like which quilts I am going to work on in the next few months. I will be returning here for June when the baby arrives and must have some stitching to keep  my hands busy.  I want to want to want to complete Dear Jane, except that I have not done any work since the retreat in October when I sewed up half a corner kite.  I want to complete the GO real fast quilt. I have all the blocks completed and 2 quilted. But it will have to wait again until I get home. I want to start one of the Di Ford quilts that I am so adoring.  And I have started the Ben Biggs BOM which I am doing by machine applique to get it sew up each month. Sigh.

I am a list maker. I make lists. I make grocery lists and leave them at home when I go grocery shopping. I make lists of  quilts I am working on. I make lists of quilts I want to make. I colour code . . .
Blessings,
Chris