I almost caved!

I haven't made any resolutions about not buying quilt related things in 2018, but I would like to make an effort to shop in my stash first. If I can't find what I'm looking for, then it's safe to go shopping with a LIST and my codeword - CLUTTER. We had a garage sale at our guild the other night and I did buy one kit - I think I mentioned that. It's a small kit and I didn't pay a whole lot for it.

Brand new kit I bought at the garage sale

Yesterday I was opening some e-mail and I saw a BOM that I wanted. OH NO - this was a quilt that I saw several years ago and it's gorgeous. Well, I called the shop and it appears that it was the block of the month for 2017. They have kits. OK, how much is the kit. YIKES! It was a lot of money. While buying kits is very efficient, I wasn't prepared to put out that kind of money. OK - so I would have paid that price if I signed up for the BOM, but at least it would have been spaced out over the year. The pattern wasn't available on its own. I said, "I'll think about it". Imagine ME - I actually said that!

I'm also happy to report that the second item that I bought at Fabricland a couple of weeks ago - well I started to use it this morning. You know - it feels good to have only bought what I knew I was going to use. I'm going through my batting scraps like mad and I'm going to have to start quilting a bunch of small stuff (don't worry - I have an entire tub of small wall hangings that need to be quilted). I don't have much left in the way of sizeable pieces of batting scraps at the moment.

I have no problem joining the batting for my own quilts (or customers if they are OK with that).

You can join the batting pieces with the sewing machine (triple zig-zag) or you can join them using a fusible product. You can even buy this stuff already cut into a roll. OR you can be cheap like me and buy lightweight, fusible, non-woven fusible interfacing. It works like a charm. I cut it into strips using my ruler and rotary cutter.

Joining batting with fusible interfacing

The day that I bought the interfacing, I didn't have my loyalty card and I wasn't going to buy more than I needed so I only got 1 meter. Now that I'm cutting into that meter, I might go and get some more. Although there is no rush. The Fabricland closest to me closed just before Christmas as they are moving to a new location and will be open later this week. If I happen to be in the area, I might just pop on by.

My own strips of fusible interfacing

I really don't have a problem to buy and to buy at the high prices that seem to be prevalent these days. Unfortunately, that's just the way the industry has gone. I should do a post on some of the things I've noticed in the last couple of weeks. OK - I will. Maybe next week.

Anyway, I've decided that I've already spent a small fortune buying fabric. I should be using that first. Then if there is something that I can't find in my stash, I'll MAKE a list and that is what I will buy when I go to the local quilt shop. Yes, I would like to keep buying at a frantic rate with all the new and cute stuff, but seriously - where do the fabric manufacturers think I'm putting this stuff? It needs to be contained and so far it is. I'm on a tear to keep it that way!

On New Year's Day, I saw a lot of people coming up with a word for 2018. I hadn't really thought of a word. But I have a word now - it's CLUTTER. My goal is to rid this house of every piece of clutter even if it kills me! So far so good and M is making headway. I don't think we'll get through everything before she leaves, but I'm trying. It's very hard for her to focus on the project and I'm trying to be the nice Mom. But I'm happy with what's been done so far. It's time to set out a few more things for her to browse through.

As I was cleaning up the other day, I came across a bag of stuff from Micheal's. That used to be my downfall. So many cute things at very little cost. I have so much "stuff" from there. And what to do with it all??? I managed to find a home for it all.

This is what causes clutter!

 And then I came across this bucket of stuff. Odds and ends of tools. What to do with all that? This is how our studios get cluttered. We buy/receive odds and ends of things and where do you store these items so you can find them again?

More odds and ends

I did find a home for some of this stuff, but the rest of it went back in the container. I'll deal with it another day or I may just have a "junk" container for all those odds and ends. The problem is that if it's been in this container for years, chances are I don't need the stuff. But some of it is cute!

I wasn't as productive as I should have been yesterday. I signed up for a D-TOX program yesterday. I start on Tuesday but in the meantime, I'm supposed to start eliminating things from my diet. Caffeine - no problem, I'm good with herbal teas, no alcohol - no problem. Sugar - ACK!!! NO!  So after lunch, I had some chocolate to finish up that open bar. Needless to say, my brain must have been working on my stomach because I didn't feel great for the next couple of hours and I hibernated on the couch!

I got my second wind last night and was back to work. Since tomorrow is Motivational Monday, I'll save all the details for then. But I wrote down that first completed item in my book!

They say the temperature is supposed to get into the single digits (still minus) today. Bring it on!

Have a great day!

Ciao!