Sunday, January 10, 2021

Quilting Stats and Word of the Year


I know I have already given you a recap of my quilting year complete with pictures. 

Since these numbers keep changing, I wanted to document my inventory of my quilting for 2020.  I keep a running spreadsheet that lists the quilts I make. It includes the dates I started and finished the quilts. There are some additional columns that show the progress - fabrics cut, blocks made, border added, and quilted -- but I hid them because they clutter up the spreadsheet for the inventory.

The outstanding things I noticed is that I finished only one old project in 2020.  I have given myself permission to just make blocks instead of projects when I am experimenting with patterns, so it wasn't really on my radar as a UFO.  But I wasn't sure what to put as a start date, so I added the date I made the blocks.

It also appears that I didn't make any new UFOs. I finished every quilt I started, but I do plan to add more embellishments to the Fancy Squares quilt. After all, all quilts are subject to additions at any time.

I did move some older quilts further along, like the Quote quilt, Sunshine in Winter and the Yo-Yo quilt,  but they don't show up on the stats.

So the stats are as follows:

I have started 145 quilts in my lifetime.  Some of these are batches of quilts instead of separate ones, like postcards.

I have given away or sold 30% of these 145 quilts. I have finished 115 quilts, which is 79% of the quilts I have started.  I think that is a pretty good number, but I have five quilt tops ready to quilt and I would like to get to those this year. 

It takes about 9 and a half months to finish a quilt. Some quilts are worked on every day. Other quilts get made fifteen minutes at a time with lots of time on hold. The Advent Calendar was made quickly, but it took a good part of two days to make it. I changed the formula to add both the start and the end dates so now the average is 295 per quilt. 

This average completion time changes a lot since I make small quick quilts that reduces it by a lot, and working on UFOs increases it a lot especially when it is really old.  The number will increase substantially when I put a finish date on the Quote Quilt. This number is fun to look at because it changes so much, but I don't let it guide my choice of quilts. I could easily manipulate it by making a whole bunch of small or easy quilts, but I would rather allow myself to take on the time-consuming ones that appeal to me. The joy of a quick finish also lasts about that long, while the ones that took more time and effort make me proud long after the finish.

 Word of the Year

Since the word Laid Back helped me so much, I am hoping for a good word for this year too. This is difficult without knowing what the year has in store for us.  

I was debating between Advocate and Accept.  When I went to the doctor's office last time, I called the office from the parking lot as requested, and they said to come on inside. Usually this means that I am alone in the waiting room and they whisk me into an exam room right away. But this time there was a family there. There was a man in the hallway by the door, and in the waiting room was this mother / daughter pair. The mother was talking about her neighbor who had texted positive for COVID but kept her door open.  While she was discussing this situation, both of their masks was under their chins.

I stayed calm about the situation and joined their conversation but I kept checking my mask to make sure it was properly covering my face, and when I was about to ask the staff how long the wait would be, they finally called me to go to my exam room. Once I got there, I realized the severity of the situation and thought I should have done more. Maybe ask them to put their masks on, or ask for an exam room earlier. I have been able to avoid people during the pandemic, staying outside, keeping a distance, wearing masks, etc., so I didn't have any experience with what to do in this type of situation.

The doctor's office is now closed and doing tele-health only.

So I was thinking Advocate. I need to stand up for myself more.

But I was also thinking about Accept because everyone is trying to do what is right, but based on my information and experience, I may not agree with their decision. I have had people disagree with my housekeeping decisions and felt the need to advocate and ask for acceptance, so it is only right that I also give acceptance.  It is a fine line and I am hoping to find that right balance to get acceptance, but also give it. I was trying to think of the right word that would fall between Advocate and Accept.


Then when I was working on this art journal page, I thought I needed a quote for that space in the middle, so  found this quote.

“There's a story behind every person. There's a reason why they are the way they are. Think about that and respect the way they are.”

In looking up this quote, it looks like lots of people said the first two sentences. Right now, I think Respect would be a good word to use.  Both in giving and requesting Respect. I am going to try this one for size before committing to it.

RESPECT

2021:  Weeks 2 of 15 Minutes to Stitch

I am so grateful to Kate for continuing the 15 Minutes to Stitch for another year.
 

My hard drive is failing, and this is one of the few photos I had saved on my Google Drive. I couldn't read the quote from the thumbnail, but it seems appropriate for the week.
 
This week, I made the light bulb quilt I showed you yesterday.  I also hand stitched the fusible I had attached to the back of the quote quilt.

15 minute days this week --7 out of 7
15 minute days this year -- 10 out of 10 days
Success rate  = 100%

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7 comments:

Quiltdivajulie said...

I think in the case of the doctor's waiting room, I would have spoken to the staff as soon as I realized that there were so many others in the room. That's me - I'm very very careful because our adult high risk son lives with us now. DH and I are in "the age" category but healthy otherwise. You could go with both words and be fine - Advocate and Accept do seem to work well together. OR use Respect which encompasses all that and more. Good luck!

Deb said...

I feel for you not knowing what to do in the mask under their chins, now a days you can risk physical and verbal abuse if you speak up. I have been in similar situations and believe me biting my tongue is not always easy but if you don't know a persons story sometimes silence is all you can do. Though I would have alerted the staff.

Wendy Caton Reed said...

I cannot think of a better word for the year to come. We all need to advocate for ourselves, accept what is and most of all respect the feelings and beliefs of others. Thanks for that reminder. And, have fun continuing the 15 minutes a day.

Rose said...

I have had this blog open since yesterday...but my mind was so here, there, and everywhere I wanted to wait till it had calmed down and I could enjoy reading.

I really need to make myself make a few small quilts. Just to finish something. And actually I want some to hang up.

Kate said...

Cool statistics! I keep similar spreadsheets on my quilts with start and finish days. Your totals are pretty impressive and your finish rate of 70% is awesome. Respect is a great word for 2021.

Tanya said...

A very thought provoking post. I am definitely in the accept things as they are quadrant... When I speak up I always second think and third think whatever I've said and I end up beating myself over the head even more just because I may have offended someone. Not a great personality characteristic but it is how I work...

Nancy said...

That would have been a hard decision for me in the doctor's office waiting room. I'm glad you didn't have to wait too long and I especially hope you don't come down with Covid!
I think it's sometimes fine line between being respectful of others and advocating for one's self. What I really want is for all of us to be respectful and thoughtful of each other, but we're not all in the same place.