vjengels

I work full time, 4- 10 hour days( very fortunate..) I have one of my Grandchildren 3 days a week. . I schedule time on the weekend by letting other things go that aren't that important to me, like dusting, vacuuming; my DH does the dishes and cleans the kitchen, Thank GOD! I spend 1,1/2 to 2 hours on the weekend cooking everything we're going to have thru the week, then just heat it up. We get up at 4am every day but Sunday, then it's 5am. It gives us a little time together before we have to go out into the world; walk the dog, start a load of wash, get ready for work and leave by 5:15a.I work from 6A til 4p; go to exercise class from 5:45-6:45p I use the 5, 10, 15 minute rule for everything else; if it can be done in 5,10 or 15 minutes, I do it. if not I leave it for another time. You can get alot done in that amount of time. I set a timer when I go into the sewing room, sometimes only for 20 mins. Again, you can get alot done in that amount of time. And we turn off the T.V. there isn't anything on anyway...

PamQuilts

I have 2 work-from-home jobs & I am currently studying to become a Pharmacy Technician. My days are very full & only dedicated to work & study. My kids are grown & in college. I don't watch TV at all. That's a huge waste of time as far as I'm concerned. I'm a very high energy person so I have no problem with getting everything done. :)

Overlander

I work full time, Sunday to Thursday at a hotel, and every Friday at our LQS. I also take at least one dance class a week, at the moment 2. I love my Fridays. I get to sew almost all day, that is; when I'm not serving customers. :) My bigger projects do tend to take me months usually. I sew almost every evening for at least an hour and on Saturday mostly all day. Like most of you, I have to watch I'm not too tired. That is when the really silly mistakes happen. I'll admit there are days that I don't sew at all and just look through magazines for my next project or come to the board to chat. Barb

Beachbaby12

I work full time and don't get to use my sewing machine much. This is the first semester in 7 years that I am not taking a college credit course - I've been through a lot with two gum surgeries and dental work. By the time I get home and tend to my responsibilities, I am tired. I try to do some hand quilting while watching TV but my eyes are tired. I try to do a little bit of quilting at a time - to me the hand quilting is relaxing and a stress buster. I am working on Grandmother's flower garden with 1930's fabric and really enjoying it very much. I would love to some day retire and devote more time to quilting and other crafts.

ckcowl

I work full time (80-115 hours every 2 weeks) and when i'm not at work...i'm in the sewing room.
i take hand work to work with me...you'd be surprised how much you can get done in 10-15 minute breaks. i can bind a quilt in no time when i work on it during breaks at work. lots of prep work can be accomplished during breaks too, like copying appliques, or drawing diagnal lines on squares for half square triangles. i trouble shoot in my sleep...you'd be amazed at how i've managed to work out a design problem in my sleep :)
Nancy Zeiman put out a book (quite a few years ago) called 5-10-15 minutes to quilt... basically, to find time you just have to take the time...
i don't watch much tv, when the rest of the house is watching that favorite show i'm in sewing...going somewhere this weekend? while hubby is in shower, i'm in sewing room...i 'steal' what ever moments there are...i could decide that i don't have time, but then the time is just spent on some other activity...just decide what you can change to give yourself time....if you take prep work with you to work, then when you get home that part is done, you can sit down at the machine and sew...
time organization is as important (and as hard to accomplish) as any organization in our lives.

laparshall

My full time job interfers with my sewing on a regular basis. I work with a computer all day, so I am usually suffering from eye strain when I get home from work. If not, I try to spend some time sewing. I usually schedule Saturday mornings for sewing. If I am working on a deadline project, I will sew a couple of hours each night that I am free. Occasionaly, I will take a Monday or Friday off as a mental health day from work and spend lots of time sewing. I usually can get my sewing room straightened up on these days too. One of my favorite things to do is to let my family and friends know that I will be going out of town on Friday evening and returning late Sunday evening. And then I go up to my sewing room and sew most of the weekend without the phone ringing off the hook. I tell DH that I will be on a quilting retreat, he asks where, I say upstairs and that is all that needs to be said. Neither of us get too excited about cleaning as long as it is picked up we are both very good at ignoring the dust.

I am able to keep the house about 20 minutes away from clean by following the FlyLady system. I found the Flylady in a post to a thread a couple of years ago. She has a wonderful system to help get it all done and have a lot of free time each day too. www.flylady.net.
I am dream of retiring though, and until then I will continue to collect fabric, patterns, and notions. I will be so prepared when that wonderful day arrives.

summerstorm

When I was in your position I realised that I had to find some me time or melt down.

I researched people who cleaned. The one found, attended my church so I did not have to worry about having a stranger in.

For about the price of a meal out I had a lady come in once a week. She vacuumed, moped, cleaned the bathroom, striped the bed, washed the bed clothes, remade the bed, dusted and generally cleaned.

Every month or to I would have her clean the oven, fridge and tip her.

I still had all the daily stuff but I did not have to use my day off for cleaning.

Sharon

keesha_ont

I work full-time as a finance manager. Don't get much time to sew at all. When I'm preparing dinner I'll do some blocks but most of my quilting time is done on Sundays (unless visiting children, grandchldren, family). Work sure does interfere with my quilting.

mirish

Prioritize... I work a FT and a PT (20 hrs a week) job. I seem to find the time if I really want to get something done. I love Post-It notes to remind me where I left off and what I need to do next. Also keep each project together in a plastic shoe box or zipped project bag and separate baggies inside. Sometimes I'm at a point in a project I can take things with me to work on during my lunch breaks too.

laparshall

This sounds so tempting. I think I could sell this idea to DH.