It's getting late...

and I should be heading to bed, but I'm being called equally by two things:

• A bowl of Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal, and
  
• My blog.

So here I sit with a late-night snack (a salad for dinner, no matter how large, is never quite enough) and my thoughts. This will be a rambling entry that I may or may not decide to publish, but one week into the New Year I feel a need to assess how things have gone.

One thing I learned from watching other people work is that doing things is how you get things done. This is a shocking revelation, I know, but it hit me suddenly one day when I was teaching someone how to pin baste a quilt. It took all of 25 minutes to baste this quilt. Twenty-five minutes! That's all it took! Mindboggling!

This was unbelievable to me. To me, basting was a mind-numbing task that consumes hours upon hours of life. But I learned that basting a reasonable wallhanging can take just minutes. I had no idea.

(In my own defense, this belief stems from the very first quilt I basted. It was a queen-size quilt and I thread-basted it in preparation for hand quilting. It took me thirteen hours of non-stop work to finish. Thirteen hours! No wonder I avoided basting.)

So December was the month of basting. Through December and into January, I pin basted seven quilt tops for machine quilting. (I have another stack of quilt tops that need borders, but one thing at a time!)

So I have seven projects ready for me to quilt. Since the New Year, I have committed myself to working on something a little each day, even if it is just for twenty minutes. I am amazed at what I have accomplished so far.

• I finished a rag quilt that I started over four years ago. I had 44 of 63 blocks done. It only took me a couple of evenings to finish the remaining blocks and then sew them together. One more evening was spent clipping seams. After washing, I gave it to my husband, but it seems that he will have to fight the cats for it. (Cats love rag quilts.)
• I ditch-quilted a paper-pieced flag wallhanging that is over six years old. My next decision is whether to just bind it as is or add additional quilting. My vision for years has been to quilt a large, traditional American eagle across the entire quilt. But do I still care that much?
• I am currently quilting a Yellow-Brick Road quilt. This quilt is only one year old! I'm probably half-way done with it. Can probably finish it by the weekend if I continue with a little progress each day.

So, seven days into 2008 and I feel a real sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. A little bit each day adds up to a lot over time. I will keep to my commitment to a little progress each day. I like that I am already seeing results.