Day Number . . . Uh oh, I Lost Track!

Does this mean I’ve been kicked out of the 100 Day Project club?

I am not known for doing many things reliably every single day. I’ve got the bare basics down, you know: sleeping, eating, brushing my teeth, etc., but if I had to track what that looked like for me each day, and then report out to the world about how I did, then things would look as if I couldn’t find my bed every night nor touched my toothbrush in a month. Not because I wasn’t sleeping or brushing my teeth everyday, but because I fumbled those extra steps of recording and reporting about it.

I am an ADHD Superstar! Routine is important to my abilities to complete any task with regularity. A small hiccup to my routine can derail months worth of progress on any of my projects. I am aware of this reality, and I have spent decades learning how best to set myself up for success in the face of all the damned hiccups that are guaranteed to be a part of anything worth doing. Most importantly, that has meant embracing the philosophy of just rolling with the hiccups, and letting go of the shame. I work to minimize the comparing of myself to others (a herculean task at that!), and let go of arbitrary timelines and non-existent deadlines. I am also mindful of disregarding any of those superfluous tasks or details that may seem necessary on the surface but are actually enormous time bomb like hiccups waiting to destroy my projects entirely!

And yet, I started a 100 Day Project that is based on the premise of doing a particular thing every single day for 100 days, and then sharing about it each of those 100 days. So yeah, it should be no surprise that I have not successfully tracked and shared my creative progress every single day since Day 1.

My take on it all: never mind the calendar, just keep going!

I believe there is great value in embracing inspiration to join a larger creative project such as a 100 Day Project, or a 52 Week Project, or a 30 Day Project, or a whatever-inspires-you-to-simply-start-a-thing-and-explore-what-it’s-like-being-creative Project. Regardless of any parameters initially set, I believe any gaps in participation days are irrelevant. Vacations happen. Crazy-busy days happen. Sick kids happen. Being exhausted and needing a day off happens. Life happens, and that needs to be okay without declaring ourselves failures or being seen as less than simply because we didn’t keep up with the social media postings. It also needs to be completely okay for someone to discover this kind of project isn’t for them, and they deserve the space to simply stop participating without explaining anything to anybody. The point should never be strict adherence to inspirational timelines, but instead it should be the inspiration to go explore one’s creativity and then celebrate it in whatever manner suits each individual best.

Okay, yes, clearly I have opinions about this, but that is because of how many times I have tried to adhere to such arbitrary and rigid timeframes and then felt like the biggest failure when the first hiccup presented itself and I couldn’t be perfect in my participation even if I only stumbled for one day. That should never be the point with projects intended to inspire creativity, and yet even if it isn’t explicitly stated as a “rule,” perfect adherence to such structures can be internalized without us realizing its being done. And so, here I am, sharing my participation, my progress, and celebrating my lack of perfection while continuing to count all of these 100 days!

Embracing this philosophy of just carrying on even if I haven’t lived up to all of the “rules” has allowed me to succeed in this project more than I imagined I would. Even though this is only my third specific 100 Day update, the last 80-plus days have been pivotal to my development as a quilter, and (hopefully) to the writing career I continue to strive for. I think that’s more important than whether or not I remembered to make a social media post or cross off another box in my notebook tracker every day. I’m still here working, writing, and stitching away, and I’m trying my best to share my progress as often as I can. Through this project, I think I’ve even found another set of tools to help work with my ADHD brain instead of against it.

Let me explain. . . .

Just prior to this whole 100 Day Project thing starting, I had been pondering whether or not I should try doing a “numbered day project” on my own to help me get myself back into the grove of my quilting, writing, and podcasting process. That was the serendipity of it all when I spotted another creative I follow on the socials announcing that she was getting ready to start this particular 100 Day Project the very next day. That’s how I very quickly threw a project plan together, and made a little notebook tracker for myself (I do better with pen and paper than I do anything digital), and then dove in without much thought. I’m glad I did, because sometimes that’s what it takes to find out if a process fits a need. And while the structure of the 100 Day Project does not really fit my needs, I did find elements of it that do, and all of them are in that little notebook tracker I started.

This little notebook is a place for me to write small notes to myself about how my project/process is going. I started by drawing out a numbered grid to help keep track of the 100 days within the project timeline, and I made a little project related focus page to keep my goal in sight. I then used the following pages to make little progress notes about what I’ve been doing and how it’s been going. Think of it kind of like an accountability buddy. Writing these notes to myself in this little notebook helps me stay focused and on track. And being that my physical projects are fabric related, this little notebook also gives me a place to add fabric scraps from my quilt projects to the pages. This creates a further tactile experience for both adding updates about my work, and reflecting back on what I’ve accomplished.

I have also really loved the idea of breaking down the larger timeframe of a year into a smaller selection of days with a focus on what can be accomplished within just those days. This mindset helps take a larger goal of, say . . . writing, recording, producing, and publishing a full 12 episode season of a podcast entirely by myself in less than a year, and instead turning it into something less daunting like maybe . . . now that I have a clearer focus of who I am as quilter, how about I write a couple of episodes discussing how I found my quilting path, what these first few steps have been like, and maybe share the story of a quilt or two? Breaking larger goals and tasks into smaller chunks is always anxiety relieving for me. Plus, I love this idea of having my own little tracking notebook at hand to help me stay engaged with my projects and keep track of how much time has passed.

But you know what? I don’t love the 100 Days of it all. It breaks up the calendar in a weird way that’s harder to follow than it needs to be, and it doesn’t break the year up evenly. So, as I go forward with my own ongoing numbered-day project, I will be doing them by the calendar quarter. That even fits better into the quilting theme because quilters primarily work with quarter inch seams. That means, this section of my Substack newsletters will be renamed from “100 Days at a Time” to “A Quarter at a Time.” A change that will take effect with the publication of this post.

That does leave June needing to be figured out. The 100 Day Project ends on June 1st, but the next standard calendar quarter doesn’t start until July 1st. My solution: June gets to be its own quarter this year! Because, why not?! June will be a transition time to help me smooth out the first set of inevitable hiccups we all know are going to happen, and hopefully help set me up for success.

So yeah, that’s my update. That’s where I’m at. I’ve been here. I’ve been working. I’ve been creating. I just don’t know if I’ve been 100 Day Project-ing, and I’m okay with that! I’m excited to move forward with my quilting and writing projects, and focusing on what I can accomplish within smaller portions of the year while sharing those accomplishments, and the occasional side quest that pops up along the way.

In that spirit, I want to share a few glimpses into what I’ve been creating these last 80ish days. The most noteworthy part is the absence of the Jane Austen quilt I started this whole 100 Day Project with. I have not given up on celebrating my friend Jane, but I am respecting the reality that the timing is off for me to be working on her quilt right now. I have a few other quilt projects that are a better fit for my attention at the moment. Never fear, I will come back to Jane when the time is right.

My Project Updates

I currently have four quilts I’m working on. Yes, you read that right, FOUR! I know that’s a lot to work on at once, but they each require something different to complete their next step, which is useful because the varying demands of my day (and my kids’ practice schedules) usually end up dictating what I’m stitching at any given time. If it’s cold outside when I need to sit alongside a soccer field for an hour in the evening, I want something big and warm in my lap that I can quilt, but if I’m trying to take up as little space as possible in a small dance studio waiting area then hand piecing small bits of fabric is best. There’s more to share about each of these quilts, but for now, here’s a quick rundown:

Woodland Creatures Quilt

Pattern: Farmhouse Chic by Fabric Cafe

Fabric: A selection from the shelves of My Happy Place Quilt Shop.

This is the quilt that has changed everything for me as a quilter. It is my very first fully hand pieced quilt, and I just completed the top!! I am equal parts thrilled and in disbelief that I did it! I can’t wait to write this quilt’s story and share more about why I started it in the first place, and how it has changed me as a quilter, a writer, and even a person. Next week I have scheduled specific time for myself to piece the backing together and then sandwich and baste it before tucking it away to wait its turn to be quilted.

Stitching My Way To Fifty: My Birthday Quilt

Pattern: Temperature Quilt by Plains and Pine

Fabric: A variety of Liberty Fabric’s Tana Lawn Cotton from Duckadilly

I have a milestone birthday coming up next year, and this quilt is how I am celebrating. I turned 49 back on April 14th, which means I’m about a month into my 50th year. Fifty is a daunting number when it comes to one’s age, so I wanted a way to embrace my upcoming milestone birthday while savoring the last year of my forties.

I haven’t had a chance to publicly share anything about this quilt yet, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love it and can’t wait to share more about it. That simply means life has been a bit busy. Sharing this quilt is important to me, so I want to do so when it can have my full attention. I’m also a little behind in my daily piecing for this one, but now that my Woodland Creatures quilt top is finished, I can focus on catching up with My Birthday Quilt. Keep an eye on my Instagram for updates.

Cabin Beneath The Stars Quilt

Pattern: Cabin Beneath The Stars by Stitched by Starlight

Fabric: Lovestruck from Henry Glass Fabrics

Oh, how I’m loving this quilt!! I had a chance to cut and prep all the fabric while on a retreat with my Creative Crew last month. Since then, I’ve only had a chance to make my first set of rainbow flying geese, but my suspicions of this being a perfect quilt to have a bunch of hand piecing fun with have already been confirmed!

Winter Star Quilt

Pattern: Winter Star by Missouri Star Quilt Co.

Fabrics: A selection from the shelves of My Happy Place Quilt Shop

This is the quilt I have been actively hand quilting for about a year and a half now. I’m getting close to finishing it, and really beginning to look forward to having it on the couch to snuggle under soon. At the moment, I am working on quilting the smaller of the two borders. When I’m done with the quilting, I will be doing something I have never done before: bind a quilt by hand! I kind of, sort of super love this quilt especially because this one’s for me. I firmly believe that we quilters deserve to make a special quilt for ourselves every once in a while, which is exactly why this one exists!

Podcast Update

I refuse to abandon the podcast component to this whole Hand Quilted project, but I haven’t been able to write my stories that comprise each episode, nor have I been able to spend time in my quilted recording booth. However, reengaging with this whole project through these newsletters, and with the quilty clarity I have found with my Woodland Creatures Quilt, I am finding my way back to the podcast one stitch and one story at a time. I hope you will continue to share this journey with me.