Hurry for another chance at a GO!

http://janesfabrics.blogspot.com/2010/09/its-go-for-giveaway.html

Too much fabric?

Look at me! I'm published on Stash Manicure. And they are having a giveaway over there. Pop on over and check it out :)

Cross Country

What a great day to have a cross country meet. It was only 105. If anybody was looking for summer, I found it. It was hiding at the end of September, when it is supposed to be getting cold.

My son decided this year he wanted to run on the cross country team. His older sisters had both run in middle school and his oldest sister did it in high school as well. He just wasn't interested last year and we weren't going to make him do it. He is really into band and keeps busy with that.

He managed to pass 3 kids and came in 4th to last. I was so proud of him. He 'ran' the entire way. I told him that moving his arms like he was running really didn't count as running, but at 105, I could barely get out of the shade to cheer him on!

I was a little surprised nobody had heat stroke out there.

I was really glad to come home to the air conditioner and my son couldn't have been happier to hit the shower!

What is a blog hop?

You may have heard of a shop hop, but what is a blog hop? Well, it is a place to visit a lot of different blogs and see what people are up to out there in quilt land.

Here's one with lots of tips for using your Accuquilt GO! cutter. I don't have one YET, but one day hope to get one.

Join in the fun.
http://sewfunquilts-sewmeow.blogspot.com/

state of my stash

I was just looking at my stash and seeint lots of empty spaces here on the shelves. Looks like it is time to raid the garage and bring in a couple of boxes of fabric. Whenever I do that, I take some time to pull fabrics that go together so I can cut them for quilt kits. My daughter helps me because my color choices are pretty bad. Hey, we can't be good at everything right? She will pull three fabrics that go together and I will cut them for the Quick Strippie quilt over at Maryquilts.com.

October 10 is my next Binky Patrol meeting so I need to get busy pulling fabrics so I have plenty of things to cut. I have 3 hours of children free work time :) Have to be ready to work, work, work when I get the time.

163 quilts!

So, what does 163 quilts piled in the back of a van look like? These were dropped off on Wednesday.

My breaks were fixed on Wednesday and the kids who fixed my breaks were probably thinking what is this crazy lady up to?

What was in those boxes?

What a crazy week. Even today, I took a 3 hour nap, so you know I've been needing some rest after the stress of work and family.

This is grade weekend too, so I've been buried in grading lab books.

But, I wanted to share some pictures of the wonderful quilts and blankets that were in the boxes and to share the great news that we have found a home for all of the blankets we have.

One of my students' Godmothers is a teacher at the school in San Bruno where the 13 year old girl went who died in the fire there. I finally was able to get ahold of her today and she told me about their teen mom program, the efforts the leadership group at the school is doing and was excited to be a part of the efforts to get the blankets and quilts into the hands of the kids and families who need them.

Here, because blogger wants you to see this one again :) here is it a second time. Don't you love blogger sometimes?

another Go! giveaway

http://milliesquilting.blogspot.com/2010/09/accuquilt-go-cutter-giveaway.html
check it out. If I don't break down and buy one today at the demonstration at JoAnn's, I'm still hoping to win one out there in blogland.

Just a little heart attack

So, today I was just a couple minutes late in getting to my 6 year old's school to pick him up. I had told him this morning that I was going to be a bit late and to wait for me on the playground. They have teachers who supervise the kids after school for 15 minutes during pickup so I wasn't worried that he would be there alone.

Well, when I got there, he wasn't on the playground. Sometimes, he hangs out in the classroom. I was taking some girls from the tennis team to a match and sent a couple girls in to look for him. They couldn't find him. So, I got out and we all started looking for him. The office called him over and over. The teachers were looking for him, the principal was looking for him and I was asking everyone if they had seen him. I was amazed that I remembered what he was wearing today.

I started calling the parents of his friends to see if for some strange reason they thought they were supposed to pick him up. Both of the ladies that he sometimes goes home with walk home and the first lady said, no, she hadn't seen him today. The second lady did not answer. I called and called, but I knew it took her a little bit to get home. I talked to his teacher and she was helping me with names of kids he plays with and we were about to call those parents, when I finally got ahold of the lady he goes to in the mornings.

She said that her two kids met her as she was walking to pick them up from school and they had my son with them. They said that I had a meeting and that my son had to come home with them. She said I hadn't told her that, but didn't know what to do with him and they were half way home so she took him home and then got the phone call from the school and from me.

I asked my son and he said he just wanted to play with his friends.

I am never going to be even one second late in picking him up again!

Quilt Shop

This is my local quilt shop, A Quilted Heart. It has a great location, righ next to the freeway. Easy access, but not too busy all of the time. They have a great fabric selection, but I'm on a no buy. They have lots of patterns and books. That's usually where they get me. I see a quilt hanging on the wall and think "I can make that" and then buy the pattern or book and then never make the quilt :)

Yesterday I went it to pick up the quilts that were dropped off for the San Bruno project. These were the quilts that were left.

This one was made by one of the ladies who works at the shop. The back is minkie. I love that fabric. SOOOOOO soft. And the quilting is just perfect. Of course you would expect that from someone who works at a quilt shop :)

The rest of these were donated and I don' tknow who dropped them off. I love them all! Flannels that are quilt as you go and so warm and snuggly.

This one below is made from scraps of bright colors and framed nicely. I'm loving this as an inspiration for something even I could do!

DejaVu?

OK, so I don't speak french and that's probably not how you spell it, but it seems like I just posted this picture yesterday, minus the cute little guy in it :) Two more boxes arrived today! They were both squished and ripped, but looks like the contents are ok.

I plan to open all of the boxes later, after I get my older son from cross country. I think I said that yesterday too!

These boxes came from Upland, Ca and Quincy, Il. Thanks Binky Buddies!

20 more followers. can you ask a friend?

OK, getting there, but things have slowed down. Can you ask a friend to follow me? When I get to 100 I can reapply for the Accuquilt Go! cutter giveaway. That means you get a chance to win one. Only 20 more followers, so close.

More surprises!

These two boxes were waiting for me after work today. One is from Cresco, IA and the other from Temecula, CA. I am waiting to open them until I go to the quilt shop and pick up the quilts that are waiting there for me. First, I have to get my son from cross country practice and get some more gas for the lawn mower. It died on me again yesterday in the middle of mowing the lawn. I actually like the half mowed look, but I'm not sure the neighbors would agree :)

And that yellow thing in the picture is the scooper from cleaning out the rain gutters. I cleaned almost all of them yesterday too. I can't seem to find a minute to rest around here. It rained just a sprinkle on Sunday and that was enough to scare me up the ladder to inspect the gutters. We have pidgeons who like to sit on our roof and their poop clogs the gutters. If we don't keep up wtih the cleaning, they clog and overflow into the house and garage. What a mess! I'd rather spend an hour cleaning gutters than 20 hours cleaning up the mess the rain makes when it gets into the house. But, then I can't take 5 minutes to put the scopper away? Wow :)

what size quilts?

What size quilts do you normally make? Most of mine are in the 40x60 range. With the need for quilts for bigger size people in San Bruno, I'm trying to make things a little bigger. This one I started last week by putting the borders on the 6 1/2 inch squares and then finished up the top today. I added a couple of borders on it and it is about 48 x 65. Not much bigger, but the extra width will be good as a lap quilt for a bigger person.

I want to make a twin size quilt because my friend is going to be doing the quilting on the bigger quilts. They just take a lot longer to make :) She has the width on her quilting machine. I don't have room to make my quilting frame any wider in the room that it is in now. I have moved the frame at least 10 times since setting it up and it is fitting really nicely right now. I just can't see moving it again until the kids are all gone from the house. That is at least 12 years from now, so in the meantime I will keep making the smaller ones.

100 quilts so far!

Wow, response has been tremendous to the call for quilts and blankets for the victims of the San Bruno fire and gas pipe explosion about a week and a half ago. I have collected these 100 quilts and blankets and they are going to be dropped off with my friend. She is really sick right now, so I need to wait until she is feeling better and then I can have my van back :)

I can't believe we are half way there already. I talked to the assistant pastor of my church and he is going to help us get them into the hands of people who need the hugs they provide. I can't do all of this alone and thank everyone who has been helping me with this special project.

We were hoping to have everything collected by October 15, but it looks like we may be done long before that! Thank you everyone for helping so quickly.

Nice surprises

Ever come home and find a 'surprise' waiting for you? This was a nice surprise waiting for me today after church. A lady had contacted me and asked if I wanted some fabric she was getting rid of. This is what I came home to! Some? Wow, I will have fun going through these boxes and bags of fabric. This is going to keep me busy for quite some time.

Sew Cute!

This is the really cute little sewing machine I got yesterday at the thrift store for $3. I tried it out this morning and it really works. It has some tension problems and I'm thinking that the way they say to thread it is the trouble. I plan to thread it a little differently and that should take care of the troubles. The stitches are pretty even and it has some good power for being so little! I'm so excited to have this little beauty so I can sew on the go. There will be no stopping me now. Tennis tournaments will now find me sewing off in a corner as I wait for my daughter to start playing. I won't be able to sew while she plays because it is loud. And I don't see me sewing full quilts on it, but I can sew some 4 patches or 9 patches. No more wasting time sitting around anymore.
These are all of the little pieces that came with it. The scissors don't cut anything so into the trash they go. It has a little foot pedle and can plug it in when I have power or it uses 4 AA batteries, which I have plenty of rechargable ones around here somewhere. It can use regular size spools of thread or you can just use a bobbin on the top for the top thread.

What a fun new toy for me :)

But, off to clean house so I can justify playing more. There are always clothes to wash around here. I think I should suggest everyone wear things 5 or 6 times before we wash them. That sure would cut down on my laundry time!

Amazing day

Wow, today was amazing. And I think a lot had to do with my attitude.

I had to be in two different places at exactly the same time. Normally this would stress me out, but yesterday I had my son call a friend and get a ride and the problem was solved. I was able to drop my daughter off, find a perfect parking spot and get to the jazz festival in time to get a front row seat, where I could see my son perform. It was amazing.

Here he is doing his solo. He actually had two of them. The first was in a song called Killer Joe. Fitting I think. He was amazing.

As soon as he was finished, I had just the perfect amount of time to get out to pick up my daughter from her tennis lesson. I only had to wait about 5 minutes. Amazing.

Then, I came home, made lunch and took her to her group project location. I had just enough time to get to JoAnn's before my break job appointment. They had the batting I buy at 40% off and they had enough rolls to satisfy me :) Amazing. I got 5 rolls. I also got a spool of bobbin thread for 50% off. When I went to the cash register, the lady said I had a 20% off everything coupon. I saved $48 and only spent $43. Amazing! I was down to my last roll of batting. I had been buying batting like crazy with coupons last November when they were having great sales and haven't had to buy batting for such a long time. To be almost completely out and to have such a great sale just when I needed it??? Say it with me...Amazing.

Then, I got to my appointment and they took my car. I signed the paper and talked with the lady and said how I wanted my breaks fixed. They have been squeaking and grinding and said I would be back in 1 1/2 hours. I could walk back downtown and listen to some jazz music instead of sitting in the shop where it stinks really bad. She said that it would take 1 1/2 hours to FIX my breaks so that would be great.

I walked downtown and my phone battery died. No problem. I had told them to FIX my breaks, so they shouldn't need to get ahold of me. I went into the thrift store and there was the cutest little sewing machine for $3. It is supposed to be a toy for a child, but I'm betting it works ok. I have to still try it out and it even runs on batteries. If it really works like the instructions say, I can take it with me and sew on the go! Think of all the things I can get done while waiting. Won't I be a sight pulling this little thing out and sewing at the doctor's office or while waiting in line at the grocery store? How funny would that be?

I will post a picture tomorrow because my daughter took my camera to her group project and I have no idea where she put it.

So, I get back after an hour, sit for another 30 minutes and they finally call my name. I go up to the counter and the guy says that my breaks need fixing. I said, I know, that's why I told the lady to FIX my breaks. He said that she didn't put down to fix them, just to look at them! UGH. Really? I wasted 1 1/2 hours waiting for them to look at them? That takes like 10 minutes. So, instead of getting really mad, like I normally would, I made an appointment for Monday and then thought to myself I will just have the kids at my high school fix my breaks. If I get the parts, the can fix almost anything. They have a full auto shop at school and are always looking for cars to work on.

I went to the car part store with the list the repair shop had given me and for only $105 got the parts I needed. They were going to charge me $368 to fix my breaks. Hmmm, what to do with the extra $263 :) Ha. Even the price on the parts was over twice what I paid. Wow, I went into the wrong business. But, I hate getting my fingernails all greasy and dirty so maybe not.

I am finally home after being out for 10 hours and there is dinner to cook. I doubt I will get any sewing done, unless I put batteries in my new, little machine and try it out. Wonder if hubby will mind if I take it up into bed with me tonight?

Amazing

Jazz schedule

In case anyone wants to stop by to listen to some free jazz today or tomorrow...here's the schedule! Come on out to Vacaville and listen to some great music this weekend.

Friday night fun

What do you do for fun on a Friday evening? Well, when you have 200 quilts to get done quickly, you try go get some quilting in whenever you can! Last night while making dinner, I quilted up this little beauty. The top was sent to me a while ago and now has found the perfect time to be quilted and into the hands of a little one who needs a hug. I LOVE the colors on this one.

This second one was made during our Disney Give a Day workday I believe. Aged to perfection and now ready to snuggle with a little soccer player. I love the fabric on this one too.

Today's plans include taking my daughter to tennis lessons and my son to a Jazz performance. He has been practicing for about 6 weeks in the city Jazz band. This weekend is the big Jazz festival and his little band gets to play with some of the big, famous bands. It should be really good. I haven't heard them play since the first practice when it was all squeaks and bangs.

Then, I get to take my daughter to a group project and my car in to have the breaks looked at. They have been squeaking and grinding for a couple of weeks. I'm sure that can't be a good thing :)

Maybe this evening I will get some more quilting time in again.

Have you seen this website?

http://www.freequiltpatterns.info/

I just discovered this website tonight. Every free quilting pattern that exists on the internet. Wow. This should keep me busy for quite some time! Hope you can use something you find here to keep you out of trouble too...or maybe get you in more trouble for buying more fabric or starting a new project when you really need to finish an old one :)

Enjoy

Getting close!

I only need 28 more followers to qualify to reapply for the Accuquilt Go! cutter giveaway on my blog. Wouldn't you like a chance to win one of these great cutters? They claim to make cutting fabric 90% faster. That's almost twice as fast. Think about how many more quilts you can get done in the same amount of time. Do you think they also sell Accuquilt sewers and quilters and binders? If only...

If you haven't clicked the follow button, but read my blog regularly, please click and follow me today :)
thanks!

even more

These quilts were dropped off the other night when I was out. I came home and there they were, sitting on the couch. More quilts for the fire victims. These have come back from Rhoda and Carla and are ready to make someone feel loved.

Mr. President

My older son is the president of the National Jr. Honor Society at his school. If that wasn't enough, he is also in a city jazz band, runs cross country, is in the school jazz band, symphonic band and marching band. He is also the drum major for the marching band. He plays the trombone and has a lesson every week as well as a guitar lesson too. I'm thinking this kid needs to do a little more to keep busy. Oh, yeah, how about straight A's. Yep, that will do!

On Tuesday night, he and the rest of the Honor Society had to go to the school board meeting and each give a speech about what is going on at his school. I had to laugh because when he got up to speak, I swear he started turning into a man right in front of my eyes! His voice was so deep in the microphone. He said he was afraid his voice was going to crack. That has been happening a lot :) What a fun time!

one of THOSE days?

Ever have one of those days where you wish you could just crawl back into bed?

I teach full time. 99.9% of the time I LOVE my job. But, not when I have a migraine. I usually get several migraines a month. They are way more under control than when I was younger. They started after my first child was born. Just one of the many gifts she has given me along the way :) At least I don't ever think I will get grey hair from her. It just isn't in my genes. My dad's hair turned platinum blonde as he ages so I think mine will turn white or get more blonde instead of going grey.

But, back when I first started getting migraines, I would get really sick. I would have to get in a dark room and be very quiet. I would have to lay down or I would throw up.

Now I am on a daily medicine which allows me to be able to still function when I get a migraine. Most of the time when I get a migraine, I can get rid of it just by taking ibuprofen, but not today.

And today we were working with microscopes. A bright light shining right into my eye is a sure trigger of a migraine.

I don't think any of my kids realized how much pain I was in because I still had them laughing, even in 6th period. I tell you sometimes I think I talk like the teacher in Charlie Brown. I swear I make perfect sense and then when I ask the kids to repeat what I just said, they look at me like I was speaking Japanese! Today I wanted to bang my head against the wall. They just laughed and instead of getting mad, I just laughed too. What else can you do but start over and talk slower and make fun of yourself when it seems like nobody is understanding. Tomorrow is another day.

I need to learn to let go of the things I have no control over, like not knowing I had three students who didn't speak English until yesterday because the teachers weren't given the list. I was so frustrated, but there isn't anything I can do about the past. I can only change the future. Now that I know they need extra help, I can put a student with them who speaks their language (except the Chinese girl) and talk a little slower so they can understand me easier.

And I can come home, put my feet up, watch a quilting DVD and drink a coke :) the caffeine helps the migraines sometimes.

tomorrow will be better

here they come!

The blankets are starting to show up for San Bruno. In the clear bags are 27 kid size blankets from Ruth. She is the wife of my oldest daughter's 5th grade teacher. She is also a retired school teacher. In the brown bags are 5 crochet baby blankets from Carol. She is also a retired teacher. What is it about teachers and blanket making? Do you think we all like children so much we do everything in our spare time to bring them comfort too? Or we just can't rest when we quit working :)

The church I thought was going to be our drop off site said they only want money. They said they don't have a storage facility to house the blankets, so we are back to square one looking for a location to drop off the quilts. That won't stop us from collecting because I know that once we get them all, if I have to drive down there myself and walk door to door, I will get these blankets into the hands of the people who need them. We are going to call the hospitals today because many of the people are still in the hospital. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to give things away sometimes.

When I first started with Binky Patrol, the hardest part was finding people who would take the blankets. They all thought I wanted something in return. How could someone want to make blankets and just give them away? But now that they see the quality of the work my group of ladies do, they can't get enough!

no time to rest

Please keep following me :) but in the meantime, there is no time to rest! Must keep quilting!

I've been working every minute I can and got these two done over the weekend between running here and there. I can't wait for my #2 daughter to learn to drive! Sound crazy? Well, then there will be one less kid to chaperone everywhere. Why is it they all need to be somewhere at the same time?

I LOVE the quilting on this one. I made this up by myself, probably put together from several other patterns I've seen in books and videos and on the internet. It started off as leaves on a vine and kinda turned into this pattern. This is one reason I love the quick stripie quilt from maryquilts.com so much! I can practice these border patterns on a quilt and try new things.

And then when I don't really feel like getting fancy, I can just do something simple and it still looks great!

This one just had some loops and zig zags and it was quickly done. When you are trying to get 200 quilts done in a couple of weeks, you don't have time for fancy quilting.

I really need to get these quilts to Rhoda for binding. I'm sure she is finished up with the last batch and ready for more. Everyone needs a binding buddy like Rhoda!

Off to a school board meeting. My older son is the president of the Jr. Honor Society and has to give a speech tonight. No rest around here!

Follow me!

The great people at Accuquilt (accuquilt.com) have made an offer to blog owners like me who have been writing and keeping up with a blog about quilty things for a while. The offer is-they want to give away more Go! cutters and are looking for blogs to host the giveaways. I applied to be one of those blogs and they visited and said looks great, but you only have 6 followers. I know there are lots of you out there who read this blog on a regular basis because I've had over 30,000 visits in only 2 years which is more than 1250 a month. That's a lot of people :)

If I can get more than 100 followers (you know, click the follow button above this post) they said I could apply again for the giveaway. Let's see how quickly I can get 100 followers. Please :)
thanks!

quilts for San Bruno

http://www.thereporter.com/ci_16040126?IADID=Search-www.thereporter.com-www.thereporter.com

Here's a link to a news article about the gas explosion that destroyed 53 homes and killed 7 people so far. They still have several people missing.

Binky Patrol is responding by making quilts and blankets for the families who have lost everything. We are going to be delivering the blankets to a church in San Bruno who will be able to the people in need.

Looks like I need to get busy. There are a lot of people in need of a warm, handmade hug.

How cool

When I logged onto my blog today, this is what the counter said. How cool is this? Who knew this many visits would come to my blog over the last 2 years? Hope some of my posts have been entertaining, inspirational, or educational. Here's to 30,000 more visits :)

hobby or obsession

On my stashbuster yahoo group the other day someone asked me if I sewed as a hobby or business because I was thinking of how much time I spent on things and how I wanted to balance things more. I have since figured out that my hobby has turned into an obsession! I think about quilting almost all of the time. I think about how I can be more productive, to use up more fabric, to make room for more fabric, to make more quilts. I'm not entirely sure this is healthy :)

But, in the meantime, I am busy again making quilts for kids and there has to be something good coming from that. The top one I did last night and the bottom one tonight. I had a request from an in home nursing program that goes around to help new mothers with their babies. They asked for 25-30 quilts and that just gets me excited to be working again. I love it when I know exactly where the quilts are going and makes me want to work harder.

Time to Vote!

Ok, need your help again. Time to vote for your most favorite athletic event of the weekend. So, you aren't sure which one to pick? Let me help you :)

www.goyeo.com

under the poll section (right side or bottom of the screen depending on which browser you are using) you will see Josh Mandel. He is the quarterback and happens to be my daughter's boyfriend.

Here's the link to the article about the big game this weekend.

http://goyeo.com/news/2010/9/4/FB_0904102629.aspx?path=football

We actually got to watch it on live streaming video which was really cool! It was a very exciting game and I know nothing about football! They won the game in overtime.

So, if you have a minute, could you please vote? He doesn't win anything but bragging rights for the week, but it is fun competition.

Thanks! Now, get back to quilting please.

perceived time vs. real time

So now that I'm thinking about managing things in the sewing room and changing the way I deal with my stash a little more, I decided to tackle a few things yesterday. I challenged myself on Sunday to get 10 quilts quilted by the end of Monday. I knew this was going to be difficult and probably wouldn't get done, but I'm way behind on my goal for the year. Last year I got 200 quilts done. This year, I had a lot of health issues and sewing machine issues and just didn't get as far as I did last year at this time. I have so much fabric backing up and piles everywhere that I really need to get things moving around here.
I needed to get the last bit of backing fabric off the machine so went digging through my premade pannels that have been sitting for a couple of years. When I got these two, I thought, oh, how cute are they! I will use them up right away. Each of them had an issue. The top one was cut funny and crooked. No problem. I will just sew borders on it and fix it. Never happened. The bottom one had a big hole in the top, up near the sun. No problem. I will just sew borders on it and fix it. Never happened. Well, it turned out that both of these pannels fit perfectly on the last of the backing flannel fabric I had on the machine. Finished is better than perfect. Once they are bound, you won't know that there ever was a problem. 2 years is too long to sit on a shelf waiting for a turn to be made into a blanket for a kid!
Then, I had 4 of these stripie quilts with backings already picked out. Normally, I would load them one at a time. This time, I sewed all of the backing fabrics together. The backings are longer than the fronts and I will be able to squeeze another quilt inbetween each of the tops. It will save me about 5 minutes time each quilt because I don't have to load the backing fabric each time.

And finally, to the title of this post. I have had some bags of fabric sitting in my living room for about a month. Every day I keep telling myself that I need to go through them and sort them. Every day I tell myself that it will take longer than I have.

Last night I had 30 minutes til bedtime. I pulled out those bags and in about 10 minutes they were sorted, the fabric folded and put away. Then, I grabbed the two boxes of fabric that has been sitting on the floor for about 3 months and folded and put that away. I always think something is going to take longer than it really does.

another quick one

This is from the book Strip Happy by Donna Kinsey and is called Sunshine Makes Me Happy. Well, this quilt made me happy. With my strips that I cut several weeks ago, it went together really quickly. I needed another quilt top that wasn't too wide for the backing I already had on the machine so I whipped up this top and got it quilted today. Now, that's the fastest I've ever made a quilt! I will bring it to my binding buddy this afternoon when I take her son back. He has been over playing with my little guy. They are having the best time and keeping each other occupied so I can play too!

What percent of your time?

I was just thinking this morning...How much time do I devote to each part of the quilting process? Why do I have piles of fabric in every room of the house? Why do I have 29 quilt tops waiting to be quilted? Why do I have so many scraps waiting to be cut? What part of quilting is my favorite?

How would you answer those questions? I bet there are some people out there who only buy what they need for each project, never end up with any leftover scraps and finish what they start. Are they normal?

If I want to get a handle on things, I think I need to change the way I do my quilting. Since 99.9% of my quilts are for charity, I am given a lot of fabric. Most of it I do not seek out. But, sometimes I will see a post on Freecycle and ask for fabric. I bring in a lot of fabric every month. Way more than I can ever use. It is part of the feast or famine mentality. I think that one day the fabric supply will run out and I will have to only use what is here. I really haven't purchased any fabric in a very long time. I think the last time I bought fabric it was for a specific quilt (which is still waiting to be made) about 9 months ago. I've picked up a piece or two to finish up something which needed that perfect piece, but as you can see from most of my quilts, they are scrappy and are put together with what has been donated to me. My daughter helps pull the fabrics together and for her to be able to pull fabrics that go so well from the stash I have is a skill I will never posess. I don't know what I'm going to do when she goes off to college. In fact, I had better get her pulling fabrics for me for the next 2 years so I don't have to worry when she leaves :)

SO, at any given time, I have a bag or 10 or boxes of fabric in the front room and on the floor of the sewing room. I have boxes and buckets in the garage waiting to be sorted. I need a faster way of processing the fabrics once they are donated. I've started spending my Binky Patrol weekend (3 hours) just cutting fabric into 6 1/2 inch squares, 2 1/2 inch strips and 3 1/2 inch strips. I find these are the sizes of pieces I am using the most. I also use 6 1/2 inch, 3 1/2 inch and 1 1/2 inch strips for the stripie quilts, but those are cut from specific pieces of fabrics. When I'm ready to make quilt kits, I will have my daughter pull three fabrics that go together and then I will cut as many kits as I can stand. I think I have about 40 kits ready to sew. Most of these I give to other people to sew for me. They are a great beginner quilt because they are just straight seams and you really can't mess it up.

Lately I have been piecing tops more often. That's probably why I'm behind on the quilting and have so many quilt tops. I haven't really gotten too many tops from others lately. I've challenged myself to quilt two quilts before piecing a top. Let's see how long I can keep that up :)

Quilting should be fun, so I don't believe in too many rules, but there has to be some sort of order around here. Things are just starting to get out of control!

Today's goal is to quilt 6 quilts. I doubt I will get half of that done. I'm working on piecing a top right now and my little guy has a friend over and my daughter is off to make jewelry with a friend and then has tennis lessons, so who knows where the day will go from here, but there's always tomorrow :)

PS. clean your sewing machine! Mine was sucking the fabric into the hole and I took the coverplate off and pulled out so much lint from around the feed dogs. I don't remember the last time I cleaned it, but it has been more than 6 months and I sew a lot. Now it sounds different and sews so much better! Took 5 whole minutes and is not giving me any troubles! Why didn't I do this a month ago?

one more tonight

Got one more done tonight. This one is just some fat quarters, cut and sewn together, super quick. I also found the hidden bucket of quilt tops. There are now 29 tops waiting for me. Of course, none are small enough for the backing I already have loaded. So, that means I have to throw together a couple of small quilts tomorrow to finish off the backing that is already on the frame. Busy day planned for tomorrow.

Getting things done anyways

I'm still not feeling well and took a nap yesterday and again today, but decided this morning I was still going to get some things done. I hate having a vacation weekend and feeling like I wasted it being sick. I HATE being sick. Do you hear me? So, I loaded a quilt top and got it started this morning before having to take my daughter to a tennis lesson. Yesterday at tennis she got really sick and I had to come and pick her up early. She is feeling much better today of course. Kids, they bounce back so quickly. Probably because when they get sick, they stop and rest. I should learn something from them.

Then, after we got back and after lunch I finished up the first quilt top and loaded a second. Lickety quick I had that one quilted too. This one I sewed together last night right before bedtime. Just a bunch of leftover strips from other projects. Mostly pinks and purples. Took about 30 minutes to sew together and another 20 minutes to quilt. Backed with a nice, soft flannel, some little one will be snuggly warm.
And finally, after my nap and folding about 20 loads of laundry, I got this one quilted. I think this is about the shortest time I have had a quilt top sitting around. I made this one about 2 weeks ago to try out a new pattern. Most of the time the quilts need to age a bit. I'm still trying to find the bucket of quilt tops I hid in the garage when my daughter's boyfriend came for a visit this summer. I sure did a good job of hiding them because I have looked and looked and still can't figure out where I put them. Ugh.

I am going to try for one more quilt tonight and then my goal for tomorrow is 6. I have to get some more done for my binding buddy. She is really fast!

Not feeling well

This has been a really long week. Every night I was out late, from tennis matches on Mon, Tue, and Wed to a Band Booster meeting on Thurs to driving my daughter to a bowling party and picking her up on Friday. To top that all off I have a bad head cold. I really want to get in the sewing room and cut some scraps and make some quilts. The only thing I did was bring some batting in from the garage. I'm trying to rest, but there is always something to do around here. Too bad everyone wants to eat 3 meals a day!