And what did we learn today, kids?
Last night I had an acute Crohn’s flareup that lasted into this morning and so I was home sick and feeling sorry for myself today. I ended up not really doing much of import. But finally finished the third quarter of the monochrome quilt. It’s actually a rather large project - a queen size bed - so I had trouble fitting it all in the photo. When it’s finished I’ll hang it on the washing line for a good proper pic.
You can almost see the second red block I got to insert in this quarter (at the top of the photo). There is one more to go into the final quarter. When you piece this many blocks together, the random red is like this huge reward. And for the final quarter, it’s up in row two which is both exciting but means the pay off is sooner rather than later. Any hoo…
Not wanting to let this project languish like last time, I did a count of the remaining blocks I’d already made, to see how many and of which still needed to be made. I have been following my own handy chart for the piecing and whilst I haven’t stuck to it perfectly, it’s been a great guide. Anyway, I discovered that I was just 11 blocks from the end. That’s right, I let this project languish for over a year when I only had 11 blocks to make and then the rest of the project to assemble. Sure, it’s taken me about a week to assemble (and sew) the third quarter and then to look at what remained to discover this. but I can’t help thinking this is a lot like many other abandoned projects of mine - so close to the finish line and then just tossed aside for something more exciting and new.
The calculator says 756 - that’s how many diamonds went into this project. And the photo below shows the 52 blocks I had already pieced last year (or the year before!) that will make up the final quandrant. and above them are all the extra diamonds I cut out. You can’t really tell but that is one big pile of random diamonds I don’t need - I’m guessing there is maybe 100 extra.
And I can’t help thinking that the (lack of ) process of this project shows some insight into how I could improve the way I work, generally. See, I had a plan at the start (see chart in the photo, it has a key and everything). I had all the tools and materials that I needed. And I had enthusiasm. But what I lacked was organisation and management of the project as it unfolded. I tend to wing things in life. Had I had a better logging and management system, I would have made the right number of blocks for each type (I labelled them by the dark diamond) and I would have known I only needed to cut out 756 diamonds in total. Instead, I never really knew how many of what I had or needed to make and the thought of having to audit it in the middle was too confronting and difficult so I just pressed on. Hmmm … this sounds a lot like my finance spreadsheets, doesn’t it?
So, I applied this newfound knowledge to a new problem just today. I realised that the next step (see last post on this topic) for a particular project at TPP was to assign something an ISBN. But I’d been holding off on that because .. .well, I have no system for those. What? Well a press just falls out of your handbag, you never really plan on it, who knew I’d have over 40 to juggle so soon? Anyway, there was only one thing for it - design a logging and management system right then and there. Ahem. A spreadsheet was called for. And whilst, yes that raised more questions than perhaps it answered, I can’t help but admit that I am further ahead. And a bit more organised.
I’m coming to think that I’m not as organised a person as I might like to think. Perhaps that will be something I can report that I changed in 2012?
Mirrored from Champagne and Socks.