While you’re sewing…

Do you do anything else while you are sewing?  So many of us are compulsive multi-taskers 🙂  Most of the time, I listen to audiobooks.  It’s a perfect way to combine two of my favorite things to do.  I don’t like to watch TV while I sew as the visuals are too distracting for me and I end up watching the TV and not sewing.  Sometimes I listen to the radio or podcasts or music, but audiobooks are my favorite.

My listening-while-sewing taste tends to run to light fare – I think of it as the audiobook equivalent of romantic comedy movies.  Because I do need to keep some of my mind on the sewing, I don’t want anything that requires me to pay attention to every word.  Sometimes the sewing machine drowns out the audiobook too.

While I usually enjoy whatever book I’m listening to at the time, many of them don’t stick in my mind for long after I’m finished.  However, some are a cut or two above my usual “romantic comedy” fare and stay with me.  I’ve just finished listening to “Cutting for Stone” by Abraham Verghese.  It was wonderful!  A friend recommended it to me several years ago and I found it in the library recently.  The characters are beautiful, the events dramatic, and the narrator’s voice was one I could (and did) listen to for hours.

A couple of other favorites have been The Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver and The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.

So, do you do anything else while you sew?

(PS  FYI, these are not affiliate links)

9 Comments
  • Paqui Azores Blazquez
    Posted at 21:06h, 14 October Reply

    Fantástica idea tu si sabes aprovechar el tiempo!!!
    Te he conocido por Quilter Gallery y con tu permiso te seguiré. Un Saludo.

  • moira
    Posted at 10:20h, 07 October Reply

    I listen to music or the radio. I get distracted my the ping on my computer too!

  • Marg
    Posted at 10:12h, 07 October Reply

    I just listen to music. I haven't listened to an audio book since I bought the Harry Potter series for my daughter years ago. We used to listen to it in the car on long drives.
    I must try and download at least one to try it while sewing.

  • Betty
    Posted at 12:48h, 06 October Reply

    Cutting For Stone continues to be on the top of my favorites. I would like to also suggest Barbara Kingsolver's Flight Behavior and The Round House by Louise Erdrich for great listening.

  • jill/marny
    Posted at 01:41h, 05 October Reply

    I listen to HGTV, Love Curb Appeal and Income Property or a CDs of Jersey Boys,Neil Sedaka ( feel good music)! My attention span is limited to not too much thinking or I get goofed up! jill

  • Beth at Quilting Hottie Haven
    Posted at 17:39h, 04 October Reply

    I just discovered the joy of listening to audio books while sewing a few months ago. I've been re-reading the entire Outlander series back to back as the first time through it took me 18 years to read them all. Amazing how much I remember, and how much I have forgotten, and how I don't miss as much when there isn't 3 years between books!

    Trick for being able to hear over the machine – I read them via my audible app on my phone, and I just stick the phone in a rocks (short and squatty) drinking glass right next to the machine. It amplifies the sound immensely.

  • katyquilts
    Posted at 15:01h, 04 October Reply

    I listen to audiobooks too. I loved Cutting for Stone also! I also love biographies.

  • Anjeanette
    Posted at 14:50h, 04 October Reply

    Great question. PS. I love the Winter's Lane line of fabric in your picture. I'm a bit addicted to it. I need some of the mint fabric to make me really happy.

    I have been trying to find my "thing" to do while I sew. It seems like such a waste of time to not multi task. I often listen to music on Spotify. I've been trying to figure how to download audio books on my Android phone to listen to while I sew. I can listen to them on my PC which is not in my sewing room.

    Lately, I have been renting all the Redbox movies I don't think my husband would want to watch with me while I sew;)

    BTW, I adore Barbara Kingsolver!

  • Sarah Elliott
    Posted at 14:07h, 04 October Reply

    I usually just listen to music while sewing. However, if I have a lot of fabric to cut or press, I'll watch something on Hulu or Netflix. I keep meaning to try listening to an audiobook while sewing, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

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