Wrapping Up 2023 and Habit Tracking

I first heard of habit tracking in an online art retreat. The idea, as presented by the session leader, was simple — choose a habit you would like to build — for example, working 15 minutes in an art journal — then just create a row of little boxes for the days of the month, and for each day you follow through, color in a box. For her, this practice was effective because she wanted to see the row of colors grow, so it encouraged her to complete her daily goal.

I loved the idea but I quickly learned it didn’t work for me — at the end of the day, I would think, “Did I color the box today? Or was that yesterday? Or three days ago?” I needed to write down actual dates. I also wanted to track the actual amount of time spent on the goal, and not just a yes/no as far as acting on it each day.

So at the beginning of this year, I spent a lot of time deciding what my goals were, and estimating how many hours I could dedicate to each one each week.  I made a spreadsheet with all the categories and their little blank boxes, and then, throughout the week, I tracked how many hours I spent on each goal.

My big categories of “Want To Do” were paper arts, textile arts, decluttering my house, volunteering with Texas Parks and Wildlife, and blogging. My categories of “Need To Do” were exercise, family care (helping my parents, taking dogs to the vet, etc.), and social engagements. 

Here is a little chart showing my weekly plan for time use, and then the average number of hours I actually spent.

Category Planned Hours/Wk Ave. Actual Hours/Wk
paper arts 4 1.75
textile arts 4 7
decluttering 9 4.25
volunteering 5 3
blogging 4 4
exercise 5 1.25
family care 5-20 9.5
social events 2 5
Totals 36 – 53 35.75

Overall, my time use went pretty much as planned.  I spent less time than planned on paper arts, decluttering, and exercise, and more time than planned on textile arts and social events.

In the textile arts category, this year I was successful at finishing projects that had been on my list for years:  3 bed-sized quilts, one table topper, and two warps.  And one new one, a kids’ quilt.

Six table runners from the same warp.
Table topper of vintage handkerchiefs.
Colorious
Summer dish towels.
Spools quilt with lace overlay.
The Scraps Escape, based on a design from Kelly Young’s book, Stash Statement.
Character quilt, laying on our outdoor coffee table. It is actually rectangular.

I also completed four art quilts for the online group The Endeavourers.

Classic Dash.
Free-motion embroidery on cotton and Lutradur, vintage tatted edge.
London 1572, now quilted.
Primavera 2023.
Primavera reverse.

The main reason I wanted to track my time was to help me plan projects more realistically.  I started quilting back in 2000, after seeing a leaflet from Eleanor Burns’ Quilt in a Day series.  The idea that I can complete a quilt in a day has stuck with me, and between that and the fabric that people donate to me, I start new ones all the time.  I think I currently have 20 tops in different stages of completion!

I wish that I had tracked the number of hours spent specifically on each project.  I came up with some ballpark figures by looking at this year’s total of 366 hours, for these 5 big projects and 6 small ones.  I can estimate that I spent 45 hours for a bed-size quilt, and 22 hours for a crib quilt or art quilt.

Actually, the number of finished projects is not in itself that important to me.  Having four or more hours a week spent on some form of stitching, is good for my mental well-being.  But it is always nice to finish, and knowing how many hours I need will help me choose projects more judiciously.

One area where I didn’t spend enough time was decluttering.  That area of the chart should show negative numbers!  Not only did I not declutter, but I brought a lot of new things into the house.  There were two online auctions I couldn’t resist.  At one, I was bidding on a very nice sewing table, and since I was going to have to go pick that up anyway, I also bought two six-foot bookshelves, stuffed with over 200 books on nature, quilting, and woodworking.  The two books that I was really after were Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, and Kaffe Fassett’s Pattern Library; all the others were just a fun bonus. 

I hauled home two entire bookshelves and all their contents, just to get these two books.

At the other auction, I bought not only the box of old needlework books that I’ve been writing about all year, but the entire contents of the guest room closet, because I had spotted a huge basket of vintage textiles.  And then there was the big annual church garage sale we go to every year — the quilter who is my main competition 🙂 at that sale was out of town this year so I racked up a lot of bargains!  And we have two family members who are moving this year so more items are coming to us.

But what I did learn is that spending time physically sorting stuff, does not help me get any better organized.  I am pretty good at filling boxes with stuff to donate, but we live about 20 miles from the nearest thrift shops, and I never want to drive that far just to give stuff away, so the boxes just pile up. 

The most successful decluttering strategy for me is to digitize and upload as much paperwork as possible — my notes, sketches, mind maps, recipes, etc.  Then I have less paper cluttering up my desk and bookshelves, and I can find what I am looking for more easily.  It is a big reason I still blog; it just helps me pull together what I have been reading and learning, in a place where I can retrieve the information. Digitizing my notes is going to be an area of focus in 2024.  After that I will deal with paring down and donating things.

I enjoyed habit tracking this year, and with a few changes, I will be doing it in 2024 too.

 

Category : Quilting
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