Like the rest of the country, I find there are some loose ends to tie up after the events of the weekend. These are from my lorikeet quilt for the next Twelve by Twelve challenge. All will be revealed on 1 September. I wonder if the results of the Australian election will be known by then.
According to an official government website, the average life expectancy for women in Australia is 84 years. I guess that makes me officially middle-aged since I celebrated my 44th birthday yesterday. In any event, I have much I want to fit into the life that I’ve been given and I have a particularly busy program at present.
Last week I decided to go back to keeping timesheets to monitor how much time that I devote to various activities including blog writing, blog surfing/FB/e-mail, teaching, designing, creating, Guild volunteer work, promotional stuff, Twelve by Twelve exhibitions and so on. I am using Harvest Time Tracking - a web-based timesheet software application. Harvest Time Tracking offers a free plan for one user (that would be me) and two “clients” (I distinguish between my personal work and my volunteer work). You can add as many sub-activities for each client as you like and generate various reports that give a breakdown of the time spent on each activity in the relevant period. Because it is a web-based application, you can use this program anywhere so as long as you have an Internet connection and a modern web browser. In addition, I have loaded a special widget on my main PC so that I can simply click on the timer on my desk-top when I stop and start activities.
Other web-based time keeping and project management applications that may be useful include:
Let me know if you have experience with any similar programs that you have found effective.
Incidentally, this short blog post has taken over 30 minutes to write so that gives you an idea of how even an easy task can eat into a day.
Do come and say hello to me and Kirsty at the Australasian Quilt Convention! The Twelve by Twelve theme series quilts will be there too and there are floortalks at 9am on Thursday (for delegates) and 1pm Saturday.
As modern day quiltmakers, teachers and communicators, we rely a great deal on having the right tools and having them work. Lose electricity, we’re stranded. Internet goes down, we’re bereft. Bloglines on the blink as it has been for the past 24 hours and we don’t know what’s happening.
For me, the sudden demise of my laser printer has rocked my equilibrium. The perpetual error message on the front display reads:
Fortunately, I have already printed the majority of my materials for teaching and exhibiting at the Australasian Quilt Convention this week and I have an inkjet printer that can be called into duty. Please wait…I have some adjusting to attend to.
Between preparing for exhibiting and teaching at the Australasian Quilt Convention next week; working on sponsorship, layout and other administrative matters for the forthcoming Sydney Quilt Show; and making my next Twelve by Twelve quilt, my to do list is looking quite formidable. But today, top of the list is a picnic lunch in Bouddi National Park with the Laundry King as we celebrate our wedding anniversary.
I’m not home-free yet but I am feeling considerably lighter knowing that some deadlines and commitments are out of the way. Phew! This unusual butterfly was outside my studio the other day. Are there any lepidopterologists out there that can tell me what it is?
PS: My newsletter comes out this week. Sign up to the next issue of the Serendipity Studio Newsletter and go into a draw to win a copy of 500 Art Quilts.
I made a Ricky Tims “convergence” quilt once. Actually, that’s overstating things. What really happened is that made a quilt top and then gave up in disgust when I looked at it on the design wall the next day and realised that I had pieced some of the strips out of order. Sigh. I’m not ashamed to show you a photo of this pitiful effort but it’s buried in my studio somewhere and I can’t put my hands on it right now.
Anyway. it seems like I have several deadlines and other activities converging on me. I think everything is under control. I just need to make sure that I don’t put things in the wrong order…
There’s snow on the ground and the thermometer has been below freezing for a week. We are snug and warm but we’re looking forward to getting back to the beach, and back online, by the weekend.
Whenever we arrive at my mother-in-law’s place in Pittsburgh, she presents us with a lengthy “to do” list and is astonished at how quickly we cross things off. We also had a list of our own. At the top was to get a Christmas tree. Mimi always protests that she has an artificial tree that would be perfectly adequate but secretly she loves the real thing and to see it tall and trimmed in her living room. Next on the list was grocery shopping. In this Italian household it is catastrophic if the holidays are not accompanied by food and lots of it.
We bundled up Mimi in her wheelchair and whisked her off to the markets in the Strip District. Of course half of Pittsburgh had the same idea but, aside from the hour+ “take a number” line for the cheese counter at Pennsylvania Macaroni Company, it didn’t take us too long to gather our provisions. So my sister-in-law and I checked out the Contemporary Craft Gallery and really enjoyed these metal cabinets by Jim Rose that were apparently inspired by the quilts of Gees Bend.
This message comes to you from a cafe right here at Copacabana. In a fit of super-punctuality (or misrembrance) I managed to rally the Laundry King and our luggage to the bus stop a full hour earlier than required. There’s no point taking our luggage back up the hill to the house and so our holiday has begun…
I will endeavour to blog while we are away but with dial up I’m making no promises. In the meantime, comment moderation is enabled until further notice.
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