Monday, August 9, 2021

Time Tracking the Quote Quilt

I am working on quilting the Quote Quilt, but I had more blue spaces than I had ideas of how to quilt them, so I found more fabric motifs to add. The hand applique doubles as quilting stitches. I've done that with machine applique before and not with hand applique, but it works just as well. This bright orange also helps make the bright orange t-shirt motif more at home.


This fabric comes from a blouse my daughter and I were trying to sew a long time ago. We never did figure out how to do it with the interfacing, etc., and we both lost the motivation to figure it out since we were busy with work and school.


I've been wanting to add President Obama since I added Justice Ginsberg, but didn't want to  make the quilt political. But he does fit with the historical theme of the quilt, and I was tickled to find a quote that combines genealogy and quilting. "For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness." I'll be adding (blue) color to his hair before attaching to the quilt.



 I got this idea from another blog post, but I forget where I got it. The idea is to use a job costing app to track the hours of quilting. I thought it would be great to keep track of my 15 minutes to quilt. It will also answer the question people have about "how long does it really take to make a quilt?" Although I am deep into the quote quilt,  it is good to start  now to get in the practice of tracking hours.

You can set up different "jobs" to include different quilts, and also for other habits you are trying to keep, like exercise.

 You just have to tell the app when you start and when you stop the "job". You can also set a price for the job. I thought about putting $1 so it would be a 1 for 1, but then I decided I should get paid for all my years of experience.  I am charging myself $20 -- family discount. I am making so much fake money.

Cicada and ladybug



 The key is to remember to start the clock when you start working, and I have already missed two days of tracking. There is some work that is hard to track - "I am going upstairs, I might as well press this since I will be near the ironing board." There is also some that require a slight change of mindset "I might as well applique while watching this show." Instead of thinking of the show as the main thing, I can just think of it as watching the show while I am working on the quilt.


 
This is my contribution to the photography challenge Kate is having with her family. The theme of the week was "leaf."

7 comments:

Wendy Caton Reed said...

Oh, I think I would scare myself at how much money I am not making by quilting . I do keep track of what I am working on each day but not the actual time. That would be frightening to know. If only someone wanted to actually pay us to do what we love!!

gladiquilts said...

"Strength" is not spelled correctly on your patch! Maybe that's on purpose and your choice, of course, whether to leave as is. Nice project!! (gladiquilts.net)

Kim said...

Your Quote quilt is truly a work of art. It sounds as if you are enjoying the quilting of it. Why, if RBG is on your quilt, then of course Barrack Obama must be, too. =) LOVE that quote!! The pop of orange among the blues is inspired and looks very funky. How fabulous is that app; such a great idea. Why, surely your quilting, sewing time etc is worth more than $1 per hour?? If we were to sell our quilts, it is a fact, that we would never receive enough money for all the time, love and enough that has gone into each one.

Queeniepatch said...

You are really good at combining colours on your blocks, and isn't it nice to add fabric from past stitch adventures? It is good that you are keeping track of where the fabric is from and also how much time you spend on your quilting. Yes, what is a reasonable price for our work?

Robin said...

What a wonderful quote from Pres. Obama. It is perfect for this quilt.

Sandy said...

I tried keeping track of my hand quilting time on a bed quilt once. I did ok but then lost the paper and have forgotten now what I came up with!
Love the Obama block - especially the quote!

Tanya said...

Fake money at least boosts our sense of getting things done!