List of Three

For a number of years I've been receiving Philip Humbert's weekly "Tips" newsletter (http://www.philiphumbert.com). I like Phil's newsletter. They're success orientated, but recognise that success does not necessarily mean lots of money, flashy cars and over sized houses. Success is a very individual pursuit.

Some time ago he suggested a very simple method of getting things done. I wish I could find his instructions, 'cause there was a little more to it than I'm about to explain. However, the premise was to take a small card that will fit in your pocket, wallet, etc - so you have it with you all the time. On one side of the card you write three things you have to do today. You will not go to bed until those three things are done. I think on the other side you kept the full to-do list. But the three things are a priority.

Well, I've substituted my to-do app on my phone for the card. After all, I have my phone with me 24/7. I started on the 2nd (not into NY Resolutions). Each day I enter three tasks that I will do today. For the last four days I've completed all but one of them. The outstanding task was a little ambitious and multi-step undertaking.
To add a little accountability, I thought I'd post each of my three tasks on Twitter and then post when they're done. Obviously, my explanation is a little longer than 140 words - hence the blog post. Gees, what did we do before the internet?

The important thing, for me, about the "list of 3" is that they don't necessarily have to be important or life-changing tasks. They're things that I would probably put off without some prompt to get them done.
Here's my lists to date (with a little explanation):2 Jan

1. Fit kitchen shelves - this is my outstanding task. It really should have been just the first step, but I'm leaving it there until it's done.
2. One bookshelf - we're decluttering our books, one shelf at time. This task is likely to be reoccurring for the next few weeks (at least)
3. Bedroom floor - it just needed to be vacuumed and mopped - every square, dusty inch of it, which means moving the bed and everything

3 Jan

1. Masters - to buy bits and pieces including cucumber seedlings and kitchen shelf brackets (and check out whether it really is as good as Bunnings)
2. Weed veggie patch - self explanatory really

I didn't have a "3 3/1", because after the kitchen shelves I was thinking "smaller, smaller", and then went too small, listing each item I wanted from Masters as a separate task. It's a learning process.

4 Jan

1. Plant cucumbers - I'd bought them, they needed planting
2. Buy newspapers for GP cage - we don't buy newspapers, but we'd run out of freebies for lining the guinea pig cage
3. Call Trev, plan worship - needed it for Sunday

5 Jan

1. Clean out the "deal with it" drawer - this is the 'pre-filing' drawer.
2. Plant low-growth seeds - I have had a collection of seeds, some years old. So I dump them into a container based on their growth habit - root, low, high, climber.
3. Clean study desk and shelf - my desk is used for study, for sewing, for work and is everyone else's general repository for junk they're not sure what to do with

As you can see - nothing particularly astonishing there. If you look closely though, you'll see that some tasks have a theme. I could set myself a NY resolution (or just an every-day goal) of setting up my veggie patch again, which is a big task - it needs to be weeded, dug over, plants bought, plants planted, rah-rah. Hours and hours of work. Easier to leave it until 'later'. If I set myself a single simple task each day, before you know it - there's a veggie patch happening.

The other important thing about the List of 3, is that they're not my only activity for the day. They are simply three things that I am going to prioritise on any given day. As things I want to achieve occur to me, I'm adding them to a general list of tasks. Some of them will simply happen as a matter of course, others will get transferred (in small chunks) to my List of 3.
My aim is for each of the tasks I set myself each day to be important to me. I found a little quote last year that I'm using to help me determine just how important things are:

If it's important to you, you will find a way
If not, you'll find an excuse.

If I'm finding excuses not to do things, why are they not important? Have I set the wrong goals? Are they my goals or are they goals I think I "should" be aiming for? Am I wasting time and energy on things that really aren't important to me after all?

I have no idea how long I'll keep the posts to Twitter going, but I thought I'd try it. My first post (including the link to this blog) I'm including on Facebook, but after this one, I'm only posting to Twitter. So, if you're at all interested in whether I achieve a 1,000+ tasks by the end of the year, you'll have to follow me there.

~~~~~~
I found Phil's instructions:http://www.philiphumbert.com/3x5Card.htmhttp://philiphumbert.com/audio/3x5audio.mp3
http://philiphumbert.com/Time.htm

A quilt

Haven't posted since June last year! How time flies. I'm back at uni this year, doing some post-grad studies. So, naturally, I'm back sewing again too. It's only when you're busy that you get stuff done; at least that's the story of my life. This week I've worked 42 hours (not bad for a 'part-timer'); started and finished a quilt; finished a first draft of 2 assignments; and some how managed to not fall apart (yet).

So, to the quilt I started and finished this week. A lovely lady I work with is not well. I wanted to make something fresh and bright to add some colour to her day. It needed to be simple and quick because I knew I'd be busy. I put out a call to my on-line quilting buddies for ideas and they sent me a dozen or so wonderful options. I didn't use any of them :-) But I did use the inspiration to decide what to make.

The pattern is called Chinese Coins (I think) and the quilt is called "Chinese Coins for Health". I'm not completely sure if Chinese Coin quilts are supposed all be the same size blocks, so it might only be an almost Chinese Coins quilt.

The Teen chose the colours - pink, purple, green, and yellow. I simply pulled out the scrap bags, pulled out a dozen or so of each colour, cut various length blocks to the same width, sewed them together and quilted it with fleecy.

I also put a fair bit of maths into it, to ensure it was completely random. I realised after I was almost finished that I did the maths backwards. I worked out for a 50 inch strip, I would need so many 6 ,5 ,4, 3 and 2 inch strips. If I had 6 strips, I'd need 6 times that amount, divided by the four colours, gave me a roughly even distribution of colours and sizes. The more logical way to do it would have been to divide a 50 inch strip into 4 (colours). Divide each of the four into various sizes. Each strip would then have the same amount of each colour.

However, I like the quilt as it turned out anyway. Some fabrics repeat; some are loners; one is backwards (I decided against unpicking it); and some ended up not so random. But I still like it. I hope Jo does too.



For those like to know these things - the blocks are 4 inches wide, the sashings and borders 2 inches wide (finished). The finished quilt is supposed to be 38 x 54 inches (but with my sewing and cutting - no guarantees).

And Finally - Project No. 4

This has to be the last one, 'cause it's way past my bed time. I have a shirt I was given. It's a stretch t-shirt, but still a wee bit too tight. Only the arms though. And a bit too low in the front.

I fixed the front a couple of weeks ago. The shirt is grey and I had some black netting with some fancy flower work on it from another project. I put that in the front, like a sewn in camisole peeping through.

Still the sleeves were tight. I found some black lace that is actually elastic (or maybe it's elastic that is actually lace?). I cut the sleeve from cuff to shoulder and sewed the lace/elastic in. It looks pretty funky; black stripe down my arm.

It doesn't feel so crash hot. I used a narrow zig zap 'cause I didn't want to lose much to seams. And it's a bit scratchy. I have to think about what to do about that.

Again, no photos at the moment. Sorry about that.

Project No. 3 - Cushion Covers

For several years our once-white lounge has been covered with an assortment of sheets or blankets. They always come untucked, ended trailing on the floor and generally looking rather tacky. Sadly, the once-white also looks a little tacky.

Today, I cut up the sheet currently being used and made covers for the seat cushions. Reasonably simple process. Given the sheets are old and aren't furnishing quality I didn't want to go to too much effort, expense or time. Basically, I made a fitted sheet for each cushion.

Working with a piece of fabric I knew would more than fit the cushions. (Covers the top, the sides and comes in about 3-4 inches on the bottom)
Pin the fabric to the top of the cushion so it's smooth.
Turn the cushion upside down.
Pin the sheet around the edge of the bottom.
This leaves 'dog ears' at the corners. Pinch and fold the corners. Pin the corners.
Remove all the pins (except the corners).
Take the cover off the cushion.
Sew the corners. I laid the each corner out flat and drew a straight line where it was pinned before I sewed.
Cut off the dog ears.
Sew a casing around the edge, thread elastic through casing.

Edit 22 June 2010 - here's a photo.

Project No. 2

I'm going to Manila (in the Philippines, not northern NSW). It's for work but I'm very (very) excited. I haven't been overseas for ... a long time. I'm also very nervous. I have to change planes in Sydney, and, well, I haven't been overseas for a long time. I decided I needed a travel wallet. One of those lovely fancy things that holds your passport and tickets and rah-rah. I found a wonderful pattern.

I will say the pattern needed a little altering. It may be my sewing isn't as accurate and neat as it could be, or it could be that passports and credit cards are slightly different sizes in different parts of the world. If you do decided to make it, measure the two rectangles required before you sew them (they have no pattern piece). The pattern also talks about a contrasting strip on the front, but I didn't quite get how that worked, so left it out. The pattern says to use six different fabrics - each bit is different. I combined several into one fabric. Really, like most thing, you can do whatever you like. I'm thinking of making a raw edge leather one for The Man.




Photos of other people's version here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/glassbeach/541301419/in/set-72157600405070648/
Instructions here: http://www.box.net/shared/y27zn7uz41
Pattern pieces here: http://www.box.net/shared/spfyrf8e0m

Project No. 1

Every year, at least once, we stay with a wonderful person in Goomeri. Maggie is a fellow Meniere sufferer, only she's a lot worse off than I am. She's lots of fun and a very generous spirit. She has a lovely old Queenslander, which originally she was doing up for a B&B, 'til the Meniere's got too bad. In her kitchen she plans to put gingham curtains on the cupboards.

During our last visit, while she was having a nap, I snuck about and found a tape measure and measured the cupboards. When we got home, I realised I'd stuffed up when I wrote the numbers down. Digit dyslexia strikes again. I wrote the 'rail' to the bottom shelf was 20.5 inches, and the under-bench to bottom shelf was 25 inches. However, I knew positively, that it was NOT 5 inches to from the underbench to the rail. So, were the numbers 25.5 and 25 or were they 20 and 20.5? Who knew? Not me.

I very sneakily found Maggie's good friend & neighbour on Facebook and asked her to sneakily remeasure the cupboards for me. Once that was done, I went and bought the fabric. Lime green 1/8 inch gingham.

I started with this project because it's quite simply the simpliest. A casing at the top for the elastic wire to thread through, a hem at the bottom. I left them full width, which is about 2.5 times the width of the cupboards. They might be a bit full, but I figure it's easier to make them narrower than to make them wider.

The three curtains are all packaged up, addressed, and waiting for a trip to the Post Office tomorrow.

New Whiteboard - starting my busy weekend

Haven't blogged for ages. I have done a few things, here & there. This weekend I've been especially productive. I've started a new "whiteboard" of projects on the go/in the planning.

Did you know you can use ordinary glass as a whiteboard? I "knew" that 'cause all our office whiteboards are actually glass walls, but I didn't "know" that until I read it somewhere. DUH! I have a picture frame; el-cheapo and a bit dodgy for hanging on the wall (probably fall apart in the middle of the night and scare the bee-gee-bers out of all of us). I put a piece of paper in the frame and, hey presto, a new handy sized whiteboard to list all my projects on.

The entire list (which is not the "entire" list) was a bit disheartening. I mean, where to begin. I had several Spotlight bags on my desk of things bought for various projects. Just overwhelming.

However, I overcame the whelming, and started.