sunday stash

A boring blog post, but I hate to break my stashbusting reporting.
I had to follow DH to the repair shop for his motorcycle so I could drive him home when he left it for servicing. The dealer is just down the street from Marden's so I had him take me there while they were talking motorcycles and repairs. It took almost 2 hours to get the estimate and everything worked out. I had a moment of weakness while waiting and bought a yard of a Judie Rothermel. I got a little work done on a swap I need to get finished, but basically my weekend was a bust. I should have put Judy's Quiltathon on my calendar and I might have had a more productive time.

fabric in this week: 1 yards
fabric out this week: 1 yard
fabric in ytd: 21.75
fabric out ytd: -.375
I need to get moving in the right direction again.

i think the economy has been properly stimulated

I am home with my camera cable and .. umm.. my purchases. Did anyone notice how the stock market did today? I'm not saying we had anything to do with that... Maybe it was just a coincidence.

We were so excited to get going that I forgot to take a picture until we got to our first stop.... Marden's. We hadn't actually planned to stop there, but just before I picked April up she got an email saying they had a new shipment and it sounded great so we made a little detour. It's amazing how in an hour you can undo all of the stashbusting you have accomplished all year. :*( But Moda and Maywood studio for 2.99. What would you have done?

We stopped at a yarn outlet. Not thrilling. Then a really nice quilt shop. It was adorable. The people were wonderful, very friendly and helpful. It was about 3:00 pm after we were finished shopping and we were starving. They pointed us to a great place to eat and we had nice deli sandwiches for lunch.

Back on the road and next stop Harbor Freight. Judy did a post about Harbor Freight and how Vince could browse for hours and she would rather sit in the car and knit. Well April and I browsed for at least an hour and loved it so much we went back on the way home yesterday. I'm thinking Judy hasn't seen all the potential for the cool stuff you can find there.

The next day we went to the main stop of our trip, Webs. There was so much yarn and so many people we were overwhelmed. We had tried browsing online before we went, but without touching and seeing exact colors I had no idea what I wanted. Some time around lunch we were on overload and were more confused than when we got there. There was a little wool shop we had found online that was about 10 minutes away so we went there and then to lunch and went back to battle the crowds again. I really think I shop better without infinite choices. We each came away with about 100 in yarn and tired feet.

Here are pictures of all of our purchases laid out on our beds. April's first.

Now mine. Amazingly we bought almost the exact same amount.

On the way home we stopped at Trader Joe's. One of my coworkers from Massachusetts had brought in some nuts and trail mixes so I wanted to see for myself what they had. Let me tell you, we need one of those in Maine. I found some really yummy stuff at reasonable prices. I think our favorite so far is the Thai Chili & Lime Cashews. Soooo good. I emailed them today and requested that they open one in Maine. They would do great business.

Then, while I was in a persuasive mood, I emailed Outback Steakhouse and whined how much I miss the Sydney Sinful Sundae. I am hoping to start a write-in campaign to bring it back. Anyone with me? If you've never had it you should write just so you can try it when they bring it back

We had a really great time and I think it did me a world of good. I am much more relaxed and ready to get some of the stuff on my to do list done.

Now for the sad news. My stash report:

fabric in this week: 12.75 yards

fabric out this week: 0

fabric in ytd: 20.75

fabric out ytd: -.375

Ouch. It's a sad, sad thing. I have slipped into the red.

where in the world are tami and april?

My life has been so filled with stress lately. I know part of it is my personality and how I take things to heart, but I think in these times a lot of us are experiencing a whole lot of stress. Every day I hear on the news of new layoffs in our area. Our work has cut back on staff so everyone left has more to do and no one feels safe no matter how hard they work. We still own 2 houses and in this real estate market no one is even looking. So all of this means that we have a need to do something to relieve our stress and hopefully do a small part to help with the economy. April and I decided that what was in order was an economy stimulating ROAD TRIP. We pulled out our credit cards packed our bags and headed out into the world ready to buy. This is where my story looses some of it's pizazz. I was so proud of myself for remembering my camera and taking lots of pictures, but I totally forgot my cord to transfer these fun pictures to my computer so as anti climatic as it is I will have to wait until I get home to post all the fun we are having. Lets just say that this weeks stash busting report is not going to be pretty. Marden's got a shipment from a quilt store and guess where our first stop was. Can you say Moda 2.99? :-0

1 more day

Something exciting happening on Friday. Can you guess what? Only 1 more day until......

a finish

March isn't going as well in the finishes department as January and February did. Here is my first. I felted it today just in time for the warmer weather. :-/ Its been sitting around waiting to be felted for a bit.
I think I need a different plan of attack for next month. It felt great finishing off something early in the month for the last 2 months and I think it motivated me. I do have a table runner basted and ready to quilt. Hopefully, that will be a second March finish.
A lot was accomplished today even though I really have nothing to show for it. The quilt I posted last week is now 24" longer and the shawl that April got me started on is about 5 repeats larger. Meals are all planned and pre-preped for the week and I got a couple of other projects preped and ready to work. I envy all of you who can get so much done in a week. I always feel like I am going to be productive, but on weekdays by the time I get home from work I usually end up making dinner and then sitting and reading blogs. My weekends seem to get eaten up with laundry, groceries and making meals for the upcoming week. I need to find more time in my weeks. Anyone know a secret?
I did use a little stash this week lengthening my co worker's MIL quilt. Not much, but at least I am still moving in the right direction.
Fabric in this week: 0
Fabric out this week: 1.5 yard
Fabric in ytd: 8
Fabric out ytd: 12.375

april made me do it and it's better than it sounds

I know I am supposed to be finishing up UFO's for my one a month challenge and I was on such a roll. I had been being so good. Even at SPA weekend I didn't start a new pair of socks. Then, this week April messaged and begged me to do a KAL with her for a Swallowtail shawl. She has been wanting me to do something lace with her for a while and I had been standing fast saying after I finished some UFO's. I really liked the shawl she had picked out and I had some yarn in my stash that was good for it so how could I refuse? :D Now, I am hooked. It has been taking up a lot of my free evenings as well as lunch hours. I am up to 10 repeats. If I don't get my one UFO done we know who to blame. ;)

My stash report looks rather dismal this week, but it really is much better than it looks. This is where I am on the quilt I am making for my coworker's MIL. I got quite a bit of the center sewn together. I had already counted all the yardage when it was cut so even though I did all this work I have no stash reduction to report.

Here are my stats, looking suspiciously exactly like last week's:

Fabric in this week: 0
Fabric out this week: 0
Fabric in ytd: 8
Fabric out ytd: 10.875

males are all alike

"Don't change it! I'm not sleeping."

It must be a guy thing. They all need to control the remote.... even when they are sleeping.

spa weekend

April and I had a GREAT day at New England Textile Arts SPA weekend yesterday. There was knitting, spinning, shopping, a little weaving, massages, manicures and pedicures. We weren't quite sure what to expect having never gone before. It was all very informal. If you want to teach something you post to a bulletin board when and where and then people just show up and join in. There were informal groups knitting and spinning together all over the place.

After we checked out the vendors, we sat in on a two at a time socks demo. It was slightly different than the way I do it. I like to learn different techniques in case they are better than the way I know. I like mine better.

After lunch we wandered around and networked with people doing interesting things. We met one woman who was hand knotting an oriental rug. She showed us the stitch and the process she goes through. OH MY! The one she was working on for her DH, about 2 by 3.5 feet, she figured would take her more than 14,000 individual knot stitches. I do not have the patience, and I have no desire whatsoever to take up hand knotting oriental rugs. I have no idea when I would fit that in between all my other projects.

I have to say, I showed tremendous restraint in the vendor section. I bought this one little skein of sock yarn. I have so much yarn and so many projects I figured I didn't need to add to it.

My day yesterday motivated me to do some crafting today. If I hadn't had to spend some time preparing for a possible power outage from the big storm heading our way I would have gotten more accomplished. I started and almost finished a hat for myself (knitting in the car on the way to stock up on groceries). I also worked some more on my coworkers MIL's quilt. Stashbusting! :-)

Fabric in this week: 0

Fabric out this week: 2.125 yards

Fabric in ytd: 8

Fabric out ytd: 10.875