getting organised on <s>paper</s> tablet

I have so many stitching projects "in progress" (read "started but going nowhere") that I have been feeling overwhelmed which leads to the easy option - fall back on the knitting and concentrate on one project! In this post in June and in this post in July, I listed many (but not all) of my WIPs. However, just knowing how many projects I had on the go wasn't helping me get moving on most of them any more than focusing on just one knitting project will see my sewing completed!

Privately, I tried listing all the things I needed to do to bring some of the projects to completion but that, as you can probably imagine, just made things even more overwhelming. Then, in the first hours of daylight last Thursday morning the solution came to me. What if I list each project and just the next task that needs to be done on that project? I could cope with just one thing, the next thing, couldn't I?

After trying my notebook app (which I love for taking notes and storing PDF files), a couple of spread-sheets and  the built in reminder app on my iPad, and rejecting databases as too complicated, I decided to type "lists" into the search box in the App Store. I found lots of interesting things, and even tried a couple but the app I have finally settled on is simply called "Errands" and, so far, it does what I need it to do.

It's a full application, not a lite version (another app I tried would only let me list 30 items in total). With this app, I was able to list more than 30 items which I chose to put in two folders -- "works in progress" (meaning I had done something towards starting the project beyond planning) and "projects to go" which are projects I hope/plan to start soon.

The app had a place for me to write the name of the project and some details if needed. I was able to assign  it a high, medium or low priority, and where necessary, set the date (and time) for its completion.

Then I was able to sort my projects according to priority, due date or just list them in alphabetical order (as seen here).

Or I could manually sort them according to my own personal criteria.

I could put a little star to tell me which projects I want to focus on and even have the app put an auto-star on the project for me (I have set mine to add the task/project to the focus tasks fourteen days before the due date but there are other choices). This then feeds into a folder called “focus” which is just what I need – something to help me focus on one task (not project) at a time. How can I not see what I need to be working on when it’s this clear?

I spent an hour or so on Friday morning setting due dates for my projects – this will help as they get closer and the app sorts them for me! Items like donation blankets and warm clothing don't need to be finished until the end of April. Likewise, all the quilts for Caring Hearts Community Quilting Group need to be ready to go by the end of March.

Each task can even have its own checklist within the notes section. Here are my notes for my Christmas Tree embroidery #2. These are the two thinks I need to do to complete this embroidery.

If I wanted to, I could have an alarm to alert me to the fact that a task is now due -- and there is a large choice of different alarm sounds! I could even choose what time I wanted to receive that alert!

The app has a logbook which records when tasks have been completed so I can look back and see how much I have achieved (or not) in a given time period! As you can see, when I took this photo I had only completed one task, and that was on Thursday afternoon – but give me a break, I only found the app and installed it on Thursday afternoon!

And the logbook tasks can be used to create another task for the same project. So, for example, I write that my next task is to cut and iron the binding for an I Spy quilt. I complete the task and check the box. I can then copy that project to a new task in the folder of my choice and change the task to machine-sew the binding to the quilt and set up a new set of time limits and priorities (if I want to).

I admit that it did take me quite a few hours to try different many ways of recording the projects I have underway and the next task needed for each of them but that was because I tried many different ways until I found the right app for me. This sounds like time-wasting but in the end, it should save me time. I like this kind of organisation – it helps me to see clearly what I need to focus on!

The only thing I would change about this app is I would love to be able to assign a different date to the next task and the due date for completion of the project. But this is not what the app is designed for so I’m asking a lot!

The app is very easy to use and the set up is so clear. The left side of the screen lists the folders available and the right side of the screen shows the contents (in my case, individual projects or tasks) in each or all of the folders. At the time this photo was taken, I had the “works in progress” folder open.

All in all, I'm very happy with the app so far (at the time of writing this post I had only been using it for about 24 hours). I'm not sure that David Mandell, the app writer, had craft projects in mind when he wrote the app but it's a comprehensive way to keep track of what has been done and what needs to be done and when! Best of all, it's a full app for free!

Thanks, David! I really appreciate your expertise. I, for one, would have no idea how to go about writing an app!

moving on a Friday afternoon*

*hum "Groovin'" by George Benson while reading the title of this post!Warning: This is a long post - you may want a glass/cup of something delicious to get your through!

It goes something like this:

• DD and I somehow get involved in patchworking and take over the dining room as our sewing room. No one can find the dining room table for meals. Because the dining room window looks out onto a covered patio on the south-eastern side of the house, the natural light in the dining room is poor on overcast days (of which we seem to have had quite a few).
• I decide I want to move the sewing machine (which belongs to DD) to "her bedroom" because the natural light in there is much better. DD was married in January 2009 but seems to spend at least one night a week sleeping in her old bed. The rest of the time the room, which is the second largest of our four bedrooms, is completely unused.
• Having made the decision to move the sewing machine and enlisted WM's assistance to move a couple of small pieces of furniture, I realise that we can't use the sewing machine in that room because the cot is also in that room and the most likely time for us to be sewing is when GS#1 is sleeping!
• I suggest we move the cot to WM's office but that idea is soon vetoed!
• DD suggests I move the sewing machine into my study - this is the smallest of our four bedrooms, only 8 x 10 feet, with a built in wardrobe (closet). The room already contains a computer desk, a writing (and crafting) desk, two book shelves, a set of drawers and a three-drawer filing cabinet. The wardrobe is full of knitting yarn and crafting items. The only power outlet already has the computer, printer and modem plugged into it and is almost inaccessible behind the computer desk. There is no way that the sewing machine will fit!
• After further thought, I tentatively suggest to WM that it might be a good idea if I move my study to DD's former bedroom (which is big enough for a double bed) and move the single (twin) bed and cot to my study. WM agrees and later reminds me that he had suggested that when DD left home!
• We move some of the furniture from DD's room - the two chests of drawers and two bookshelves stay but the bed, the bedhead and the cot have to go - as do the contents of the bookshelves and the drawers.
• Suddenly my relatively tidy house looks like a bomb has gone off - there is stuff on the kitchen bench, the breakfast bar, WM's office floor, the sofa bed (also in WM's office), and all up the hall. The family room remains relatively untouched - but only because the "force of nature" (a.k.a. GS#1) has already swept through that room.
• During this chaos is a visit to the hospital to see FIL after he has been moved to his private room and all interventive treatments have been stopped; the last time DD and I saw him before he passed away.
• Back home, with WM still at the hospital, DD, SIL and I try to move furniture (and other detritus of nineteen years of living in the same place), but the major item - the computer desk - can't be moved without WM.
• Late in the evening, around 10pm, SIL goes home - he has to work the following day and needs to go to bed. About half an hour later, GS#1 finally goes to sleep. WM and I determine that the major pieces of furniture have to be moved before we can do likewise. The computer desk finally makes it from the study to DD's old bedroom (henceforth to be known as my "studio"). The bedhead gets moved from WM's office and the bed and it's accompanying drawers get moved from the hallway. Of course, in between all this furniture moving, the vacuum cleaner has to be used!
• We fall into bed around midnight with the kitchen bench and the breakfast bar still covered in books and other items that came off the bookshelves. WM's office still looks like a bomb has gone off but, at last, the major items of furniture are in their new homes. The sewing machine is shifted from the dining room to the studio.
• WM and I go off on holidays with mountains of stuff piled on the floor of my former study and on the sofa bed and floor of WM's office.
• DD sorts through some of her stuff and clears the former study (now the spare bedroom) enough for my mother's visit.

It will take me weeks to sort through all the stuff to be moved or discarded from my old study and who knows how long it will take DD to go though her things (she may not be living with us anymore but her possessions haven't left home!).

But for now, my new studio looks like this (clockwise from the door):

two bookshelves: the one on the left is 60cm (2 feet) the other 90cm (3 feet). The empty spaces show you that I have not yet finished moving books and magazines.


two drawer units: the blue one holds fabric (I already have the beginnings of a stash -how did that happen?), the grey one hold mostly DK weight wool sorted by colour: yellow and brown, green, blue, purple, red and pink


my computer desk - workplace central! To the right you can just see my very old (pre-DD) metal Muppet garbage bin, faded but enjoyed by GS#1 as a drum. The black shape to the right is the back of my chair, facing my work desk.


Perpendicular to my computer desk, under the window, is my desk/sewing table; to the left of the desk was an empty space which currently holds four archive boxes containing yarn, a roll of fusible web and a roll of stabiliser; to the right is a built in wardrobe (closet).
Under the desk, the red box is used to transport our "goods and chattels" to and from the quilting workshops and store things, like a walking foot and a stippling foot. The clear tub holds all the paraphernalia from when DD and I were learning Japanese. I am hoping to find another home for that tub! The black "thing" to the right is the electric cord and foot for the sewing machine!


On the fourth wall are two chests of drawers (back to back) currently with Quilt #2 rolled up and lying on top. As luck would have it, my cutting mat (35 x 23 inches) fits perfectly on top. Now I can access my cutting mat from three sides not two as before when I was using it in the kitchen! The height is still a bit low but WM assures me that he will build a little table to go on top and raise it to a better height (I prefer a working height of about 90cm (3 feet).

I hope you've enjoyed the tour of my new studio; I'll keep you posted with future developments!

a place for everything

Well, almost. DD and I spent Friday afternoon sorting through the stash and finding homes for all the yarn that followed us home from Victoria! WM even tried [in vain] to find more storage space in the linen closet! Not that we have much linen; the cupboard is mostly filled with other things: cassettes, glassware [in boxes - only used for 'good' occasions], cameras - you know what I mean!

Anyway, I thought it might be a good idea to flash the stash at home! Firstly there's the five drawer unit that holds wool - mostly 8ply [DK] sorted by colour [neutrals/yellows, greens, blues, purples, red/pinks]. Those drawers are stuffed full! On top is the bag of roving we brought home from Bendigo. It's labelled felting/filling but I think DD intends to try spinning with it. On top of the bookshelf beside it [not shown] is 2kg of white 8ply wool we brought home from Bendigo Mill which will be skeined and dyed.

In the built-in wardrobe [the fourth bedroom is my study/storeroom] are ten archive boxes. The first four [not shown] are labelled finished items for charity [have to store them somewhere until I see my contacts] and random acrylic - this box contains novelty yarns and yarns of unknown ply and/or composition. Then there's a box with UFO's made from wool and at the bottom DD's box of acrylic 'mohair'.
The six boxes shown [top to bottom, left to right] are labelled
blue [DK acrylic]
neutral/green [DK acrylic]
red/pink/purple [DK acrylic]
sock
hand-dyed [DK acrylic]
UFO's
On the shelf above the boxes [not shown] there is a bag containing 500g of white Cleckheaton Country 8ply for dyeing, and a ball and a half of 20+y.o. Patons Jet.
Finally, on the top shelf of the wardrobe, are packets of yarn bought in Wangaratta at Australian Country Spinners Mill Shop, mostly acrylic or baby nylon. The bag on the left is Cotone for making chemo caps.

Amanda asked what I'm going to do with it all. Answer, no specific plans yet but I don't think DD or I will have problems finding yarn for our next knitting projects. LOL

As it is, I have so many WIPs and UFOs [see sidebar] I want to finish some of them before I start anything else - with all this new yarn starting something else is very tempting!