Thursday's Thoughts: Fearsome Focus

Silver FOCUS Ring
by Nora McNamara

I have mixed feelings about whether reading books on time management are a good use of my time, but I have a slight addiction to them. To save you time, however, I thought I'd bring you a little snippet of good guidance from The Power of an Hour, by Dave Lakhani. Lakhani suggests that you can create time by being "fearsomely focused." To acheive this intense focus, carve out some time away from family, friends, phones, etc. and:

1. Decide what to focus on. Be as detailed as possible.

2. Create a roadmap for action listing what steps you need to take.
3. List the tools that you will need. Have them ready and available.
4. Stay focused. Do not let anything distract you. This goes for e-mail, co-workers, and your own thoughts.
5. Get started. Taking decisive action to begin your project creates momentum.
6. Constantly check your progress against your list of steps. This positive feedback will build up the momentum you have started.
7. When distractions arise, take only a moment to acknowledge them, then get rid of them and go immediately back to work on your chosen project.
8. Keep working until you have completed all your steps. Being methodical pays off.
9. Congratulate yourself for completing the task and allow yourself to relax.



Lakhani suggests that we practice by attaining this focused state regularly, create a routine, and dedicate a specific, regular time and place to work with intense focus. I'm going to try this tonight. I have about four hours and twenty Gettin' Down to Business Card Wallets to finish up. We'll see how much I accomplish when I'm fearsomely focused!

What do you do to help you focus?

Wednesday on the Worktable: A LOT More of the Same

This is crunch week: the last full week before my back-to-back shows. This weekend I will make some iPod/iTouch pouches, about a million bookmarks, and some more jotters, but this week I dedicated to finishing up all the Quilted Tissue Pillows, qClutches, and Gettin' Down to Business Card Wallets that were cut and prepped and ready to be sewn. One of the things I really love about making massive amounts of items in preparation for a show is having stacks of completed items, all uniform in size, just showcasing lots of fun fabrics! One final push, and we'll be show ready, but right now the studio is looks a bit like a war zone!

Un-stuffed Quilted Tissue Pillows look so nice in a stack!

So many fun Gettin' Down to Business Card Wallets to choose from!

This qClutch should be named "Green with Envy." This is definitely a fave!

I couldn't resist making a qClutch in one of my new favorite fabrics.
Michael Miller's Sea Beauties add so much fun to a wallet!

I just love this one. The fabrics are individual favorites of mine
and I think they work so amazingly together!

I added a little extra flair with some satin ribbon around the zipper.
Just another pop of wow!

Tuesday's Treasures: Carrots for Easter

I have a large and beloved collection of carrot items and I really love that at this time of the year, with Easter upon us, carroty goodies abound! I thought I take today to share with you some of my favorites.

Acrylic Robot Painting, entitled Pick Me by Wayward Girl Meets Boy

Carrot Arrangment by Horns Home and Garden

5x7 Riot of Orange Fine Art Print by abcd images

Fittipaldi Car Carrot Knit Pattern by HandMadeAwards

Carrots by Blue Bond Studio

Monday's Marvel: The qClutch: Refreshed

You may remember a while back that I introduced the clutch-style wallet that I'd just finished designing and was about to launch in the shop. Well, I didn't launch the new design back then, but, after a few improvements, I'm ready to launch it now! Oh how I love these wallets and really love the improvements, too! These are fun to make, but they do take quite some time due to the measuring, folding, and pressing of the interior card pockets. It's worth it though! These wallets just have it all!

Friday's Fresh Find: Erika Martin Designs

I saw this amazing work in a beautiful treasury and immediately visited this shop: Erika Martin Designs. So many eye-catchingly beautiful and unique hand-stitched pieces, this shop is definitely a fresh find. I look at her work and it makes me happy! You and I will get the opportunity to meet the artist at MayDay, but in the meantime, I hope you pay a visit to Erika Martin Designs and check out this wonderful shop!

Hand-stitched Felt Covered Album

Red and Coral Blooms handstitched Girl's Felt Belt

Felt Embroidered Eyeglass Case - Bright Blooms

Fairy Finger Puppets with Roll-up Bed

Thursday's Thoughts: Take a Stand

Dress Form - Original Papercut Art
by Papercut Art by Tina Tarnoff

Talk around my work team is on a recent article professing that folks who sit for eight hours daily at work are 54% more likely to die of a heart attack than those who stand at work. WOW! I sit for 40 hours a week at my day job and then I sit for about 50 hours a week in the studio.

Regardless of whether sitting actually leads to an increased risk for a fatal heart attack, I know that sitting so much is really hard on my back. So I, and several of my coworkers, decided to make a change. We're working on converting our workspaces into standing stations - I'll have mine done next week and will post some pictures.

Since I actually spend more of my time in the studio than I do at work, I decided to make a change there too. After my April shows, I will be raising my cutting table to waist height. They say that standing  while cutting improves accuracy anyhow, so that's a good thing. The only issue is that I am very tall - waist height for me is 48" so I think I will put my tables up on cinder blocks to get the height I need. The other areas of my studio will be uplifted as well: shipping station will go up on blocks, photography station gets some height, and the ironing board is already raised for stand-up ironing. The only thing I will still sit for is sewing, but I think the up and down from the sewing chair to the rest of the work spaces will be good exercise.

I'll post pictures of the transformation and keep you posted on how its working for me. What do you think? Do any of you work standing up? Thinking about making the change? Here's a great blog post if you're interested in making some changes to make your space work better for your body.

Wednesday on the Worktable: Quilted Tissue Pillows

I mentioned on Monday that half the cut fabric on my table was for a new design that I would show you today: Quilted Tissue Pillows! Oh boy, do I love these! About half of my creations come from personal necessity (while the other half come from requests from friends and customers) and these are something I've always needed to have on hand. As an allergy sufferer, there are never enough tissues around when I'm out and about. Having a cute little Quilted Tissue Pillow in my tote bag will be so handy! I hope you think so, too! When they are stuffed with a pocket pack of tissues they look like little pillows (or burritos, but Quilted Tissue Burritos doesn't sound quite as cute!)