mini quiltathon

I am so happy that it worked out that I could spend some time on a mini quiltathon this weekend. I should have spent more time but I am still dealing with my whole "can't get out of my own way" thing.

I have a friend at work who is anxiously awaiting the birth of his first child towards the end of July. He is a really good friend so of course he had to have a quilt. I have been thinking about what to do. They already know they are having a boy, but I have no idea on colors so I just picked something I liked. The purple has firetrucks and trains. I hope it is boyish enough. All made from stash. I am trying to decide if I'm going to do a border or not. It's only about 34 x 42 inches, and I really wanted to put a purple matching the trains around it, but I don't have anything suitable in stash and I'm not going to buy anything new. I was trying to think differently when April suggested that it didn't need a border at all. What do you think? I could just bind it with the brown dot material.

My "no buy" is still going strong. I managed to save about $25 on groceries this week although that will probably change as DS is due home this week from his summer program. I didn't buy anything else this week except gas. So far I haven't noticed a difference since I pretty much exclusively shop with credit cards and it won't show until the next statement. I'm excited to see how low it is.

This week's stash report:

fabric in -- 0 again

fabric used -- 2 1/2 yards

I also got some work done on the quilt for my friend from work.

it's working

I got my first nasty comment to my blog this week. A person with a "no-reply email" said we were tormenting Simba in this post. It was very annoying not being able to respond. I told DD and she laughed. Simba was having a really great time playing. DD named him Simba because even when he was a tiny puppy of about 2 pounds he would run up and play with dogs 3 times his size. When we were on Mt. Evans he wanted to go play with the mountain goats.

The moratorium on buying is going very well. I warded off an email sale at Gail Wilson Designs. She had gorgeous Civil War prints already on sale, an additional 15% off. There were 3 that I wanted. April on the other hand went to three separate Marden's this weekend and didn't buy one bit of fabric. I am very impressed.

Another low grocery shopping week. This week's bread is multi grain.

I also had a productive sewing weekend. I finally finished my Pay if Forward gifts from last year. I still have a couple of weeks before the year is up, but I really intended to get it done much, much sooner. I got all the blocks together for my friend's quilt. It just needs to be sewn horizontally. I also got Jan's quilt almost quilted.

Stash report:

Fabric purchases 0 yards.

Fabric used 1/4 yard. It felt like more, but progress made anyway.

where is my way and why can't i get out of it?

I have had a whole bunch of blog posts in my head, but haven't been able to put them into the cyber ether. I can't seem to get out of my own way. Work has been crazy. Long days overflowing into my evenings. I had to give up an upcoming weaving class with Deborah Chandler for a work training class. My Bernina 200 broke again. Everything I start to write turns depressing. So here is a stab at a more upbeat post......

We had a good time in Denver. The best day, for me anyway, was our drive up Mt. Evans. DH didn't enjoy it as much since he got really bad altitude sickness and wasn't himself for the next couple of days. DD showed us where her pictures were taken for the article from last summer . That photographer was even better than I thought. She is standing in the spot he took this picture. (I tried to get her to do the pose, but she wouldn't) Doesn't the waterfall look so much bigger in his picture? The one with the tree really surprised me. That tree is only about 12" in diameter and nowhere near as tall as it looks. I'm always impressed by people with such artistic talent.

On a proactive note I have been trying really hard to be more frugal and spend less. I am afraid what this winter will bring. We have to pay oil heat for 2 buildings. Since our deadbeat tenants (guess I can't completely keep the depressing out) forced us to take out a loan to pay for their heating and housing last winter I am scared what this winter will bring. My friend April and I had made a loose pact about keeping each other on the straight and narrow as far as not buying crafting supplies. Then I read this post about not buying "things" and thought it was a great idea. April and I talked it over and decided we would both stop buying, in 2 month increments. We are not going to buy anything except necessities (groceries, gas, Father's day gifts) for the next 2 months. During that time, if there is something we think we want we are going to put it on a list. At the end of the 2 months we are going to evaluate our lists and see if we still feel the same way about those things and purchase accordingly. Then start another 2 months. I have also gone a a step further and am cutting way back on my grocery shopping. I am doing meal plans and only buying what is on my list, making our bread, growing vegetables and cutting way back on meat since it is more expensive and more draining on the environment. We started as soon as vacation was over. I did great last week. Nothing extra purchased and I spent about 2/3 of what I usually spend on groceries. I feel really good about this because it is something I can control. I think that is the hardest part about this uncertain economy, the feeling that we have no control.

This resolution is going to help my stashbusting as well. This week I put the backing on Jan's quilt and started quilting it. I also finished a round for the round robin I am in and used 3 1/2 yards for some Pay It Forward gifts I have been working on. My year is almost up. {{oops}}

Purchased this week -- NOTHING! woo hoo

Used this week -- 4 1/2 yards.

All in all a pretty good week for me!

i broke my "no fabric buying" today

Not bad though. I am on vacation and when you are on vacation you have to get at least one memento. Today's excursion was to Golden, Colorado and the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum. Sorry, I wasn't allowed to take pictures. I was a little disappointed. There weren't many quilts there. I did like the reproduction display. I just wanted there to be more to it. I wish I needed more fabric. They had the Marcus Brothers Rocky Mountain III collection in the gift shop. I wanted the entire collection, but since I REALLY don't need fabric I settled for a single yard. Yesterday's trip was to the Celestial Seasonings factory in Boulder. It was fun to tour the factory and then buy teas you can't get everywhere. On the tour they talked about Fast Track which is their version of extra caffeine. DD decided she needed some of that. We got a few more new flavors including some coffee for DH. I didn't know Celestial Seasonings made coffee, but it smelled great.

We had more fun than the tour with what we did after we got home. DD's dog Simba is such a good boy. It was great fun playing with him and one of the hairnets we had to wear for the tour. DD would tell him to "sit" and put it on his head. Then she would say "wait" and he would sit with it on until she said "OK". He would then go crazy rolling around on the floor and pull it off. After he got it off he would give it back to play again. It was so funny I had to get out my camera and take pictures. We were laughing so hard. I guess we are all very easily amused. :cD