I actually finished this block in a single day, over three weeks ago. It was a day my Hand Quilting Group was meeting, and I needed something to work on, so I cut out the very doable 13 pieces in the morning, and headed out to meet with my quilty friends.

The block was very similar to the not-so-savage beast of a block that I tackled this spring, but with slightly different proportions, and without the appliqué in the middle. That was just fine with me … I was feeling pretty appliquéd out after the month-long ordeal of my last block. I’d specifically chosen a simpler (and appliqué-free) one this time, thinking I could knock it out quickly and move on to the next, getting back to my self-imposed schedule of 2.5 blocks per month.

And it did indeed come together quickly; I finished piecing it in the three hours allotted for the Hand Quilting Group meeting, then pressed and photographed the block as soon as I got home.

And that’s where it sat for over three weeks. I didn’t get this blog article written, I didn’t start the next block. I went to three doctor’s appointments with nothing to work on in the waiting room. I went to a quilt guild board meeting with nothing to stitch while I listened. I waited to pick up my kid from driver’s ed with no project to amuse myself.

At one point, about two weeks in, I finally cut out one piece for the next block … but only one piece. Not even a second piece to sew to the first one. I still had nothing to work on.

Meanwhile, I agonized over why I wasn’t progressing on this quilt project. How is it that I couldn’t find a few minutes in my day to work on it? I’d even written a blog article last year about working 15 minutes a day on these blocks. And yet, I was not doing that.

Granted, there’s a lot going on right now. I have a new longer commute that’s trapping me in the car for an extra three hours per week. I’ve had a lot of special projects assigned to me at work in the last few weeks. School has started up again for my child (plus we’re still wrapping up those driver’s ed requirements). October 1st is the start of the new year for my quilt guild, which means lots of updates I need to make to the guild’s website.

But who can’t find 15 minutes a day? What am I waiting for? I think the problem is that I feel like I shouldn’t do anything as frivolous as quilting when there’s so many other things I’m supposed to be getting done.

How can I spend time blogging about my latest block, when my kid needs to practice parallel parking? What will people think if I cut out pieces for the next block when I haven’t finished updating the quilt guild’s online calendar?

The realization I came to at 5:30 this Sunday morning (as I simultaneously tried to fix my computer and herd my child out the door to a robotics competition) is that the to-do list will never be done, and people won’t begrudge me a little bit of time to make quilting a priority, in the midst of all my other responsibilities. If they do begrudge me, I probably don’t want them in my life anyways.

So, I’ve decided the wait is over. I’ve given myself 30 minutes to write and post this article. And then, before I tackle my lengthy to-do list for the day, I’m going to go cut out a second piece.