978gray

Well my DD will be arriving home from college today and I fear my quilting time wil lhave to take a hiatus for the summer.

I had not sewn for years due to "keepig up with the kids" and certianly enjoyed the past year with both kids out of the house.

Ideas on how to cope with the return of a college student and quilting will be greatly appreciated.

Rebecca VLQ

Hmmmmm...that's a good one. Depends on how you do it now...do you just quilt whenever? Or certain days? Certain times of the day?

Setting your expectation in the beginning will help your college student to respect your time/space. Say you like to quilt in the mornings, then tell them so. Like, "I usually grab a cup of joe and wander around The Studio, so if you'd like to go XYZ in the afternoon, that would be fun!" or, if they say, "Hey, I made an appointment to have my teeth cleaned on Friday at 10am" then you can say, "Ooh...do you need help getting there? Because I can't do it in the morning, but I'm available in the afternoon...can you call them to see if they can reschedule?"

If they try to just make you "drop everything" this will be yet another life lesson..."I'm sorry honey, I can't do that right now. But I can do it at X time..."

cjomomma

The way I see it is that college age kids can take care of themselves. Let them know that you are not their slave any more and that you will continue to do your thing even when they are home.

sewcrafty

Do you think there is any possibility that you could get her interested in quilting? Might be a fun and memorable experience.

BellaBoo

How will she interfere with your quilting time? When my girls were home for the summer I rarely saw them!

beachlady

Won't she be working a summer job?

dkabasketlady

I'm with BellaBoo, my college kids were so busy catching up with their friends, I didn't see them very much, but their laundry was another matter,lol!! At least I knew they were home some of the time.

978gray

I work full time so I spend about an hour a day quilt - my down time after dinner. Hopefully she matured this year away from home, but prior to going to college she was like my appendage - wherever I was she was - she is very very shy so did not go out much. When I quilt I like to be ALONE very ALONE... I do not even like it when my husband wants to keep me company.

I'm thinking that I'll just say that I need from 7 - 8 pm each night as my time. Hopefully that will work.

Butterflyblue

She's in college, and can reasonably be expected to amuse herself, in my opinion. And I bet two semesters away from home has helped her be more independent.

raptureready

Remember that she's used to her independence too and she considers herself an adult now, not a child to be taken care of. If she's not working while she home then perhaps she should take over some of the household chores giving you MORE time to sew. Sharing the chores will give both of you more time to enjoy each other and individual interests. If she gets a job then sew while she's working. If she insists on being an appendage then buy her a machine. Set boundaries right off the bat and tell her that you're taking a few hours a day to sew---ALONE.