Do you ever feel overwhelmed by busyness? Is it hard to find the time to make a quilt? Sometimes it seems as though one day just rolls into the next…I get up in the morning and before I know it, I’m getting ready for bed. I ask myself, “What have I accomplished?” Time is such a precious commodity! We all have 24 hours in a day, but some of us get a lot more done than others. Summer is on the heels of an already busy spring, which means graduations, weddings, yard work, etc. Lately, I feel like I have so much to do, I can’t possibly get it all done. That’s when this paradigm pops into my head, and I hear my friend, Sue McMillin saying, ” You’ll never have time to organize; you organize to have time.” Now that’s a powerful concept!
The last time I posted about organization, we focused on the idea that organization is not perfectionism. It generated a lot of conversation on my blog. I guess all of us can identify with the organization, or lack thereof, that we have in our personal lives. We have financial budgets, calorie budgets, and if we’re smart, time budgets. But, that’s all easier said than done, right? For me, it involves changing the way I think about things. For example, I would love to make a scrap quilt someday. Taking time now to organize my scraps by color, type (such as batiks, reproduction, or novelty), or even cutting leftover fabric into 1 or 2 inch strips will go a long way toward actually accomplishing my goal. But, it’s so much easier to just throw the scraps into a bag, and that’s where they will likely be found five years from now. 
I need to change my thinking about those scraps. The key is taking time to organize them now, so there will be time to make the quilt when the mood strikes. Remember: You’ll never have time to organize; you organize to have time.
I can apply this paradigm to many areas in my life. Creating a system to organize my patterns now saves me time from having to go through stacks of stuff to find a specific pattern I need to make a quilt for Aunt Susie’s birthday next month. That’s precious time I could have used for sewing. It is so freeing to be able to find exactly what I need when I need it!
Alas, we are all works in progress. If your sewing room still needs a bit of organizing, and you need to make a quilt…fast, here’s a link to a fun quilt you can make in less than an hour. Yes, less than an hour!! All you need is a jelly roll. Check it out and have some fun! (Then use all the time you saved to get organized. ) -Cat