The Sticky Buns Challenge
Posted on July 2, 2023 by prairiemoonquilts in ChallengesIf you’ve been reading my blog for very long, you’ve probably heard me say more than once that I have to make things into a game for myself to stay motivated sometimes.
In fact, in my recent article on Battling Burnout in Love of Quilting Magazine, one of the things I suggest is making things into a game for yourself to help you stay on track.
I’m always trying to come up with new games to keep from getting bored, and last week, I landed on a good one, so I’ve decided to share it with you. And it’s not about food!
I’m a flitter by nature, so it’s very difficult for me to keep my attention on any one thing for very long. In some people, this might be diagnosed as Adult ADHD, and while I don’t have any such formal diagnosis, I DO know myself, and I have to make the flitting work to my advantage.
I get lots of interruptions every day. We live on a farm, so there’s always something happening. A storm blew down one of the goat barns and injured Agnes’s foot . . . we had to clean up the mess from said goat barn to keep anyone else from getting injured . . . my horse decided to try and slice off his eyelashes, and had to go to the emergency vet for stitches . . . we drove four hours to go pick up a load of fencing supplies, which had to be first loaded and then unloaded . . . and that means we’ll be rebuilding some fences in the near future . . . my parents need me a couple times a week to come help them . . . and lots of life stuff happens in between, some little, some big. It makes cooking and cleaning seem like child’s play sometimes!
So when I do get to do real work in the studio, I have to make the most of the time I have available. Which basically means FOCUS. Which I have a hard time with. Hence the games I make up to help me with that.
So my new challenge is called The Sticky Buns Challenge.
I’m forcing myself to sit down at my sewing machine for 30 minutes every day to sew. My goal is to sew as much as I can during the 30 minutes, and I’m not allowed to get out of my seat. Sticking my buns to my chair and focusing on sewing as much as I can for 30 minutes.
Here are my self-imposed rules:
- • Prep work is key. I pile enough projects around my machine that I won’t run out of things to work on in the 30 minutes I’m there (and I have plenty to work on). I also wind bobbins, gather other materials I might need, etc.
- • No pressing allowed. Just sew, and nothing else. Just feeding pieces and units through the machine to further the projects along. Pressing can come after.
- • No getting up for any reason. No trimming, no “Oh, I forgot . . .” items, no potty breaks, no drink breaks (plan ahead), no excuses.
- • Set the timer when I sit down, and don’t get up or quit sewing until it goes off.
So far, it’s working! I’m getting a lot of sewing done that I would not have concentrated on as hard if I were not doing this challenge for myself. I love chain piecing anyway, so this is really working well for me. So my goal is to do this every day during July, and see what I can move forward. If it makes a huge difference in my productivity, which it appears it might, I may continue on after that — if not every day, then at least several times a week.
Sometimes it’s a struggle to choose a window of time when I will have 30 uninterrupted minutes, so it happens at various times of the day, but that’s OK. Whatever works!
If you’d like to try this, too, you can most certainly make up your own rules for yourself according to what you need. Maybe 15 minutes works better for you (maybe 45 minutes works for you!), maybe not every day is possible for you, maybe you can’t sew for that long without pressing, in which case, you could place your iron at your sewing station to keep your buns sticky!
Make up your own rules to help you stay focused for a period of time so you can be a bit more productive. Your brain will tell itself that for the next 30 minutes, this is your only option, so you’d better make the most of it!
If this works really well for machine sewing, I may incorporate it into my hand sewing as well. Progress won’t be as fast with hand stitching, but a dedicated 30 minutes at a time should make a difference!
And in some future posts, I’ll get to tell you what I’m actually working on!
One of those projects just might be this one:
My Cowboy spotted this vintage Pinwheel quilt on FaceBook Marketplace, and it reminded me of my Kathy’s Ramble quilt I made a couple years ago:
It was a fun quilt to make, and used up a lot of scraps, so now I’m thinking a bright-colored scrappy one is in my future next! I’ll keep you posted.
I love it! Sometimes I get to the end of the day day and realize I did no sewing at all! Horrors! I will set aside 30 minutes each day- even if it is at bedtime. Thanks for the inspiration.
I like your plan and will try it myself.
Who would have thought sewing lots of pinwheels together would make such a pretty quilt?! That might become my starting/ending pieces.
Thanks for your new ideas!
You so impress me! I can’t even imagine how much work there is on a farm…I struggle with keeping up on my house and life chores. And when I worked my sewing was very infrequent (but unfortunately not my shopping). How you do what you do amazes me.
I have found that a sewing date with my friend on zoom 3-5 times a week at 8:30 am for 2-3 hours is really helping me to create the habit of getting going when I get up. I really enjoy sewing with my morning coffee. And I can usually get a few quick chores in before we meet. Now I’m only having trouble keeping the momentum going in the afternoon. I am trying to work on a house project but other stuff distracts me most days. I need to think up a game!
Your pinwheel quilt is gorgeous! I may need to add one to my list!
I’m all for your Sticky Buns Challenge. I no longer have a lot of interruptions like I used to have but am working on getting a handle on sewing with Occipital Neuralgia. I recently bought a weighted shawl like collar that can be heated in the microwave and wrap around my neck. I think I will try wearing that when sewing and see how it helps. I like to have leader/enders ready to use and right now I have borders ready plus a BOM is laid out by my machine so that will be the next sewing spell.
LOL! I think that sound a really fun idea. The distractions here are way too many. I think I’ll have to barricade myself in for some peace and quiet sew time!!!
I need to put my phone out of arms reach so I wouldn’t distract myself. I would get a lot more done
“Sticky Buns”!!! I laughed out loud when I read what this meant. You are one funny lady! I’ve been doing a lot of hand quilting just because I can’t seem to motivate myself to go up to the second floor – to my quilt room – to sew. Does that seem odd? And as a result my work station is covered now with “stuff”. I think I might use the Sticky Buns challenge as the reason to bring one of my sewing machines downstairs and get back to work!!! Thx for the “kick in the butt!”
Just thinking about staying seated for 30 minutes brings to mind how much prep work (and organization) that is for you in addition to the 30 minutes spent at the machine…
Beautiful pinwheel quilt. Thanks for keeping us motivated.
Thank you for sharing your Sticky Buns idea! For some reason, I thought you would be telling us something about cinnamon rolls! You are going to get so much done in July, can’t wait to see pictures.
I love this idea! For various reasons, I have not been able to focus on any sewing in quite awhile and I really miss it. Perhaps if I tried this, and made it a daily priority, I could get some done. I have a crumb piecing project on the go, which might work for this. I like your self-imposed rules, too. Okay, going to give it a go for this month! Thanks for the motivation!
A great idea.I think my recent block increase is due to my timer.I am informed the month of July. I would start right now but it is 5:30 am and my husband is asleep near the sewing machine.
Love this idea. Life distracts me so much.
Think I’ll join this little game challenge myself and see what happens. Thanks for the great idea!
I love this idea, I do keep a timer at my computer. I use it to alert me when an online class is about to start. Thank you for giving it another use! I too have a “Kathys’s Ramble” in my future. I love that, it is trippy to stare at, sometimes I see the pinwheel, sometimes I see hour glasses.
I just quilted a pinwheel quilt for Habitat for Humanity. It was purple and white. Lovely quilt.
I have lots of bonus HST and should just make something.
I try to sew every day, but I’m bouncing around because I have to move. I might not get out of the chair if I was there for 30 minutes.
Love the idea of making it a game.
First, I’d like to know what your horse was doing… ?
Second, nice you’ve found a routine that seems to really work for you! These quilts are amazing, but how do you work on them without getting dizzy?
Good luck, keep us posted!