Great responses, Margo and Robin. I often say you find time for what's most important to you. When I decided to make the time for quilting in August of 2000 I started getting up earlier in the morning to work (or play) an hour or two before anyone else in the household arose. That way there were no interruptions. I also often found some time later in the day so was able to finish a lap size quilt in a week. I did that every day for 3 years, seldom missing a day. That's how the quilts were done for my rag quilt books. Then when we became empty nesters I decided that was enough of the early morning sewing and stayed up later at night instead. I still found plenty of time for sewing but lots of other stuff didn't get done. This week I started the early morning routine again. I figure if I get 1 or 2 hours of sewing done most mornings that would be an additional 300 to 600 hours a year and that should be plenty of extra time to do a few projects that I wouldn't be able to do otherwise. I make more mistakes during the early morning hours so have to be more careful. My DH often works at home in the late mornings and the phone rings a lot so I don't get a lot done until later in the day and then there are errands to run etc. And I work at home so I'm always at work and since I'm my own boss I can choose what work I want to do each day, or take a whole week off if I please and just sew, as long as I have the important stuff done. It's just a matter of being inspired. And this year I'm keeping track of my sewing time on an engagement calendar like I used to do in the past.

We are accountability buddies, Eileen! ... but also sympathetic ears!

I'm like Robin-I don't work a regular job. I quilt for others and we all know that in the great scheme of things that this is not a necessity. I've been busting my butt trying to finish a piece from the class I took with Katie PM. I actually have a deadline; something I'm overly familiar with. So my center block copy is cut out (by DH Mike with his Alto Quiltcut 2) and taped together. Once I'm done for the day with the other piece, I'm going to sit down and do my tracing. I have to give my friend back her light box on Sunday so I want to get the tracing done before then.
I'm going to just plug along at my own speed and everything should get completed eventually.

I don't have an engagement calendar so I'm trying to use a spiral notebook to stay on track. Robin, we're accountability buddies, right?

Eileen, thanks for asking this question! And Margo, thank you for your thoughtful explanation. I've heard from others about making time, rather than finding it, and I'm trying hard to do that. I do not have an 8-5 job. I freelance, and it's pretty much feast (sometimes 10-14 hours/day), or famine (when I'm worried about when the next job is coming). During the very busy times, sleep becomes my priority in off hours, so I try to take advantage of the slow work times for quilting, but it's hard to get into a routine that way. Plus, I've now gotten much more involved in TQS and in a couple of local quilting groups (which I never had before) -- I'm enjoying both tremendously and have gained so much (in personal friendships as well as quilt knowledge), but that does tend to divide my quilting time even more. This year, I'm trying to focus my weekends (when I have them -- freelancing often means people give you things to work on over the weekend so they don't have to ) or slow times for doing machine piecing and getting things ready for hand work. Then, I should be able to take advantage of 10 or 15 minute breaks to do some applique, hand piecing, or hand quilting. I'm hoping that will make me feel more productive.

Pam, this is a great project for using up fabrics that work with your other colors but you don't especially like the print any more, because everything gets cut up into tiny pieces! It's more important that the value be right....the lightness or darkness of the fabrics so that you have some contrast in most of the fabrics against the background. For scrappy quilts, the more different fabrics you use, the easier it is to slip in some of those old dogs!

You may notice that in the Beloved Beauties version there are a couple of fabrics that are very close in value to the background. I used them anyway because I like the way the different values make your eyes dance around the quilt, but people using that kit may choose to leave those fabrics out of some of the elements! You just don't want to use a lot of those close in value unless it's a design choice.

Margo I am one of 'cant find time because something else will get done'. However DS is finally moving out and I am in the process of sorting and storing my fabrics and equipment in a way that I can find things easily and only have one project out at a time. I must confess that before everything was all higgledy piggledy and I could never find anything. I am seriouly drooling at the BOM 2011 so if I can get my stash sorted properly, who knows I might join you this year. It might be a way of using some of the awful pink and lilac floral fqs that I bought when I first started quilting, because they were pretty. Needless to say I am more selective with what I buy now.

Great question and great response from Margo. I plan on making more time to quilt by retiring sometime this year, if all works like I hope.

I really think that organizing your time is even more important than organizing your space. Quilting is Sue's job. She spends at least as much time each day in her studio as you working ladies spend commuting and putting in a full day (and more?) at work. And she always has a hand project to take when she needs to be away from her wonderful studio.

As for me, I am fortunate that I have been able to expand my quilting space since our children left for college. As for time, since my husband's cancer diagnosis in 2007, we have been house-bound for long stretches of time, and I've been able to get a lot of concentrated time in the sewing room since then. Because we are both retired, that also frees up a lot of time to devote to things that give us pleasure. Mine is quilting, his is golf when he feels up to it now.

Before that, I made quilting a priority when I wanted to get something done. I would schedule time to quilt on my calendar, just like I scheduled important appointments, like the doctor's visits for DH and his mother. (I'm also her caregiver.) I would set aside whole days or half days and would go into the sewing room and WORK.

People with more obligations (job, children, church, volunteer work) may not be able to set aside whole or half days, but you can set aside a solid hour for concentrated work. You need to MAKE time to quilt. If you just wait until you FIND time, it probably won't happen. Something else will get done, but quilting is easily set aside if it's not a priority.

When I head to the sewing room, I am on a mission. I know what I'm going to work on, and know that I work better in a neat environment, so the first thing I do is put away anything that may have been left out of place the last time I worked so I can concentrate on one thing at a time. I guess I'm not good at multi-tasking.

I don't really have a lot of UFOs because I either finish what I'm working on or decide that it has taught me some kind of lesson and I can abandon it. I do have several projects going at a time, but they don't drag on and on.

I hope that answers some of your questions about how I work. I'm looking forward to seeing what others do!

Several of us have been wondering, very seriously, how some of you get so much done. Like Sue being able to do about 20 quilts a year! Margo must have a clone somewhere to get so much done and Geneva as well.
How do you set up your area and prep your applique? Do you take it everywhere with you? Do you sleep at all? I am not being facetious here-I really need some advice.