Suggestions from Deborah at Whipstitch

I strolled over to Whipstitch and checked out Deborah's suggestions. Loved the icon above and thought it added a nice touch to this post. I have simply copied and pasted them below. This may help to quide the challenge when bumpy days arrive.....

Things to Do with Your Sewing Buddy

• Make a list of your own sewing priorities. Trade lists with your Buddy and put each others list in order based on which should be done first.  This allows each of you to detail what you’d like to accomplish, but allows someone with a little more objectivity to help you order your work.
• Set deadlines for one another and check each others “homework” when the deadline arrives.  Keeps you on task and accountable!
• Start your own Flickr pool just for the two of you to post images of your works in progress as you go.  This gives you some instant gratification as you work so you won’t get bogged down by the feeling that you “haven’t done anything yet.”
• Email one another a weekly pep talk, but don’t send them to one another on the same day–maybe one of you peps on Monday, and the other on Thursday.  Seems like most of the time the compliments we pass on to others are for things we’d like to have said about ourselves, so giving each other a little positive encouragement works for them and for us!
• Make a joint list of goals that both of you would like to achieve, and work through it one goal at a time, together.  This way, any snags you hit you’ll have someone in the same boat right there to support you.
• Decide on prizes to give one another when you each complete a particular task or project, or when you master a new skill.  Can be something small, like sending a gift of fabric, or something larger, like sewing your Buddy something they wouldn’t sew for themselves.
• Split a complicated project into stages and mail it back and forth, so that you each take turns on different phases of the construction.  Maybe one of you is really great at cutting out, but hates the stitching, and the other feels the opposite.  Or maybe one of you loves to embroider and hand quilt, and the other loves to do patchwork–why not make TWO embroidered quilts, with each of you contributing the skills you have to the project?
• Choose a skill that each of you really wants to master and work on the same project at the same time to perfect that skill.  You can share research and tips and discoveries as you go!
• Make a list of skills you’ve mastered and skills you want to master, and trade lists.  Odds are, at least one skill you want to master appears on your Buddy’s list, and vice versa.  Agree to a “skills exchange” and teach one another!
• Start a two-author blog a la Mason-Dixon Knitting and keep one another updated on your progress.  This keeps you from falling into the trap of believing you only have something to share when a project is completed, instead of recognizing that it’s the journey that helps us to grow.
• Use a universal Wish List function to “shop” together virtually for fabric & supplies.
• Choose a sewing charity and complete a project together for those in need.
• Sew for your Buddy’s family to give her the time to work on projects for herself, then let her return the favor down the road.  Like paying it forward with your needle!