Hello, friends! Welcome to day one of my Summer Quilting Life 10-Day Challenge. If you read yesterday’s planner post or saw the planner video, you know a little bit about this already. And today I’ll share all of the specific details about what I’m going to do. Additionally, the link for my PDF for the challenge wasn’t working early on. (Thank you so much to those who emailed so I could get it updated yesterday). I’m also sharing the PDF link in today’s post as well.
Quilting Life 10-Day Challenge
I love the power of accountability, and I’ve been thinking for some time about doing a 10-Day Challenge. Basically, you’ll want to challenge yourself to do something every day for the next 10 days. I’m starting today, but feel free to start at any time that is good for you. I’ll be popping in here and there to share my progress over the next couple of weeks. Get your PDF for the challenge here (if you haven’t already) or click the button below.
Step One–Brainstorm a Challenge Activity
Think about something you might want to do to move yourself forward in your quilting life. You can sew blocks or cut up scraps. Perhaps you might want to do some organizing. Any kind of activity works as long as you are able to do it consistently for ten days.
Choose a Challenge Goal and Write it Down
Use the space on the PDF printable to write down your goal. Or, if you have my Quilting Life Planner & Workbook you might want to include your challenge notes and progress there. There is so much power in writing things down. You’ll also want to make sure you have an achievable goal and a way to measure your progress. I’ve decided to make at least one 18″ log cabin block each day. On day one I’m going to cut up my strips, so I’m hopeful that many days I’ll be able to make more than one block. Photos coming soon!
Set a Time to Work on Your Challenge Each Day
It’s very helpful to know exactly when you’re going to work on your challenge each day. It makes it more likely that you will be able to get things accomplished. You might also want to consider a back-up time in case your schedule is occasionally different, or your first choice isn’t working. I’m going to head into my sewing room for at least 30 minutes each day before going into my office. If this isn’t working after a couple of days, I’ll change the time to the last 30 minutes of my working day.
Log your Progress on a Tracking Sheet
I’ve got lots of space for tracking with boxes to check and space to write your progress. I’ve even added more than ten spaces for this in case you want to keep going!
Share your Plans
It’s always helpful to me to share what I’m thinking about doing. It really does help with accountability. So tell your quilting and sewing friends what you’re doing. You can also leave a comment on this post. When I publish my first progress update I’ll share what some of you have decided to do. Additionally, you might be able to help someone else who is having trouble deciding on a plan. One of the members of my Patreon group is going to work for 30 minutes daily on pre-2022 projects. Another is going to get outside for 30 minutes daily and then work on her Christmas log cabin quilt. There are so many possibilities!
Make Notes at the End of the Challenge
There is also space for some end-of-challenge notes on the PDF. This is helpful for planning future challenges. I’ll share more thoughts on this as we get to the end of the challenge.
Thanks so much for stopping by to read about the Quilting Life 10-Day Challenge. I look forward to hearing about everyone’s plans!
Happy quilting!
Sandi Griepenstroh says
Great idea! I’m excited to start!
Denise Wilcox says
I have just moved so this will help me get my sewing room more organized. Thanks for the challenge.
Allison McCullough says
Sherri – I am up to this challenge! I have 3 small totes of scraps I need to cut into 2 1/2″ squares, they have been sitting out for me to get started on for 3 months now and haven’t opened a lid. I am going to challenge myself to 30 minutes every morning before leaving for work to get these cut to size. If I succeed on this challenge I am going to feel like WONDER WOMAN!
dianne m says
I hear about these kinds of challenges and have never participated. Excited to start and to learn what others are doing for continued inspiration. I’m in with getting a half hour of walking in before sewing.
Linda O. says
I’m currently staying with my daughter who’s having surgery, but I brought a wool appliqué project and my planner. For the challenge, I will spend at least 30 minutes a day on the appliqué and 10 minutes daily planning my projects until the end of the year. Thanks for helping us set action to our plans!
Patti McConnell says
I am going b to pick a leader/ender project and get my scraps cut up for that. I will try and use those for at leastc10 days and hopefully be able to get a small project whipped out!
Sharon F says
Hi Sherri,
Great challenge! I plan to do 30 minutes of hand stitching each day for 10 days, starting yesterday. I have both a hand quilting project and an applique project in progress, so if it’s too warm to hand quilt, I can work on the applique. Thanks for the inspiration!
Theresa Baethke says
Sherri! You always inspire me. I will accept your challenge. I will work on my hand-pieced mini quilt each evening will watching TV with the hubby.
Diane says
Thank you! This is an awesome idea.
Donna says
Wonderful idea! Thank you for keeping me focused.
Tammy E says
Love this idea, now to figure out what my challenge will be🤔
Robin says
I just wanted to thank you for this challenge! Day One has been great, I accomplished the first step of all three of my goals. Two goals are organizational in nature and I can already see a difference! I do wish I’d taken a ‘before’ pic, but I think the chaos is burned into my brain anyway. 🤣
Deborah DeLisle says
I have a summer runner that I keep pushing aside.. This 10 day Challenge should be plenty of time as I only need 3 x 12″ block and 4 x 6″ blocks. Thanks for the encourgement…Let the Games Begin!!
T H says
I’ll bite! I wanted to incorporate more than just sewing into my challenge, so along with dedicating time everyday for the next 10 days to clear out a few WIPs, I am going to tackle my 5 totes of scraps and come up with a plan for them and finally, each day I will get caught up on printing off quilt pics and coming up with a timeline for the quilts I have made over the past three (maybe more?!) years. I have kept a quilt journal from day 1, but once the journal was full, I couldn’t find one that I liked as well so I just quit. There are so many precious memories in my journal so I’m committed to getting caught up again. Thanks so much, Sherri!!
julie kaplan says
hello everybody…..thank you for this challenge, sherri. everytime i go to my sewing area, i get overwhelmed by the number of rolling 3-tier supply carts i have and how each time i think i have at least one of the carts sorted out, i find more of the same that i missed. it is close to this point that i become discouraged and quit. not a quitter by nature, i am having sew much trouble setting up everything so that i am not spending valuable time looking for what i need when instead of spending the time actually quilting/sewing/embroidering. help!!! whatever and however i can be helped, i am listening and very open to suggestions. thank you lots and lots!
Anna V says
Great Idea.
Day one clear my work table, done
Day two go through three baskets of cloths that have been sitting there for 6 months. I have moved the baskets into the living room so I can tackle them after work. No Longer out of sight out of mine.
Thanks
Marlene says
Thank you, Sherri! This tool will help me get organized for Summer Sewing!
Looking for the link to the “Socialite Quilt Along”. from FQS without success. Would you be kind enough to direct me or send the link?
Many thanks!
Marlene
julie kaplan says
hello everyone…..hope you are all doing well. as a follow-up to my previous post: does anyone have any suggestions? i am certainly open to any and all help you can offer. with my sincere thanks and gratitude…….
Robin says
Julie, since it seems you have tried organizing one cart at a time and that has not worked out too well, do you think it would work to try more than one at once? If you took several carts and dumped them all out on the floor or on a table, it would make a huge mess but it might be easier to then sort them into piles a little at a time. Once you had those carts all sorted, you could put those piles of items where you intend to keep them. Afterwards, you could go back to the one cart at a time method and just sort each cart into your previously organized areas. This is similar to how I’ve been working through the chaos in my sewing area and it has worked really well for me. In addition, I bought some extra storage bins…
Just a thought!
julie kaplan says
hi robin…..thank you for answering my call for help. your suggestions certainly do make sense, and i plan on implementing them. i especially like the “dumping everything on the floor” idea because with the incredible mess that it will make, it will force me to pick it all up quickly and do my sorting. nothing like good old fashioned motivation to keep you on the right path. thank you again, robin. hope you are having a really nice weekend.
Earlene says
I am interested the table runner pattern at the top of this blog