Look what i got - FOR FREE!!

I got this beauty from a lady on Freecycle. I'm feeling extra lucky, maybe I should go buy a lottery ticket!

That was easy

While cleaning up a little in the craft room, I came across three leftover blocks from a quilt I made a couple years ago. This seems to happen all the time.  I can't bear to throw them away, but I don't want to take the time RIGHT NOW to decide what to do with them. Does this happen to you?

Since I try to stay focused on dreaming cleaning, I always put these orphan blocks in a drawer, or a pile, to save them for when I'm ready. Well, that drawer is getting full, so I figured I'd use these 3 blocks to make a little quilt RIGHT NOW.

I put this whole thing together in one day. ONE.DAY.  That is a record for me, even though this little thing is only 10 x 23. The reason I sound so shocked is that I rarely can stay focused long enough to complete anything in one day.

I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet.  Maybe put it in my shop, maybe donate it for an upcoming fundraiser at my son's school.  Hmmmmmmmm.

The gloves came off

It occurred to me the other day that I may need a new pair of quilting gloves.



Me: Honey look, I think I need a new pair of gloves.
Him: Well it's about time you wore through a pair of gloves around here.

And then the gloves came off...

I think I can, I think I can

I've started the quilting on the one just for me and it is looking awesome! if i do say so myself


There are 12 blocks in this quilt, and they all came from the SewConnected 3 group I'm in. I needed to make the quilt a little bigger, so I put picture frames around each block in white and dark brown.

Initially, I was going to stipple the center blocks and do straight lines on the frames, but then I thought, What the heck? This is MY quilt, I'm going to practice some of the fun quilting patterns I've seen online! So I did. :)

You'll notice there is a duplicate picture in the mosaic above. That's because I had already stippled two blocks before I decided to change things up.

The straight lines around the frames are the ones that are killing me. They look awesome, but honestly, my body is so freakin' tired of shoving all this fabric through the machine on each turn of the needle. I'll have to mentally make a note to myself about that for the future. I actually found myself thinking of the train going up the mountain while I was doing the squares. Of course I haven't been doing my Wii Fit for WEEKS so, maybe I could consider this quilt my workout.

Now that I've taken a break from it, I'm having a hard time starting again. Does this happen to you? It just makes me freeze in my tracks to think of wrestling all that fabric again. My new mantra will be I think I can, I think I can....

Why I love the Grocery Game

Have you folks heard of the Grocery Game? It's this awesome website that makes shopping with coupons so much easier than the way I used to do it.

Instead of taking way too much time to flip through the weekly flyers that come in the paper, and comparing them to the coupons I just spent hours cutting out, this website does all that for you.

I. LOVE. IT. And I've been doing it for years. However, since I'm recently *ahem* self-employed I really have to make our dollars stretch like never before.

I wanted to share with you some examples of our most recent trips to the grocery store.





And just last week, I beat the previous trip's savings with this:




The site does charge you to be a member, but it's only $10 every 8 weeks, so I feel it's totally justified. Plus, if you just want to try it for a bit before you sign up, you can get a four week trial membership for only a dollar.

Also, if you refer a friend, you get free weeks toward your subscription! So if you do decide to join, make sure to give them my address jjkj6640@msn.com.

Let's start saving some money!!

I always knew it...

My color personality is RED!!

True Value has this fun little quiz on their site and I just couldn't resist. Here's what the magic color quiz had to say about me:

You boast incredible willpower and are capable of overcoming obstacles that would normally leave others shaking in their boots. You have a penchant for colorful environments and often impress others with your energetic bursts of energy. Your interests in many areas of life often leave you scattered, but when you focus you can accomplish anything you put your mind to.

Mostly accurate, although I wish I were really that cool.

What is your color personality?

Just for me

I'm finally working on something for me. ME!

All my other quilts have always gone to someone as a gift. In fact, that's usually what gets me started on a new quilt, the thought of someone else. Sometimes it's a new baby on the way or a wedding. Other times I'll see a fabric that reminds me of someone, and then have to use it to make them a quilt. Not sure why I've never made myself one.

This one is made up of wonky log cabins that my peeps in Sew Connected 3 made for me. I have about 5 blocks left over that I think I'll use to make a table runner.

I decided about a year ago that my kitchen and living room needed to be redecorated. Because they're next to each other, I'm keeping the colors the same for both rooms: Red, brown, white. The decorating is still a work in progress, and by the time I get it done, I'll probably want to change it again. You know how it goes.

This picture is not of the finished product, but I'm so excited by it, I thought I'd share it with you now. However, I think I need some help deciding on the quilting thread color. Dark brown? White? A nice neutral tan or beige? Suggestions welcome.