Getting stuff for free or almost

Like all of you (well most of you), I own a lot of quilting stuff. I'd like to say that my stuff is all organized and labeled and I could dig out pretty much anything you ask for. For the most part, that's true, but there's a lot of stuff.

I've been quilting in Studio B, the last couple of days and while the machine runs, I've been poking around in some of the bags. Oh boy - there's a lot of stuff.

I came up with an idea of what to do with some of the stuff. You'll have to wait for that. I think it's pretty exciting. At least, it's a plan on what to do with all of it.

Not only is there a lot of fabric, but there are lots of UFOs (that's the one that bothers me the most), there are supplies, notions, tools. You name it - it's downstairs. Each time, I come upstairs, I'm starting to bring up a bag of stuff. I'm taking it right upstairs (got one bedroom set aside to take all this stuff!). My plan is to sort through it and label it and find a more "permanent" home for it rather than an IKEA bag where it's been forgotten. The less that we have to deal with when they start the floor, the better. I know that it's going to be a mess for a couple of weeks while they work. No start date yet, but we're negotiating right now.

But the other day, Ronda was over and we were looking for some hardware to make some little zippered pouches. Hmm - I think I have some hardware. I went to one of the storage closets and pulled out a box. OK - so I found two boxes of bag hardware. One of them was half filled with fabric that I was going to make into bags.

I spilled the contents of both out onto the kitchen table. Oh boy!

Bag hardware

I found this many packages of NEVER OPENED swivel hardware.

Packages of swivel hardware

Then I found a whole bunch of lanyards from various trade shows. Even DH brings home his lanyard. HEY - there's good stuff on many of those lanyards.

Lanyards with good hardware attached

I even found some shoulder straps for purses that I had bought at ValueVillage. I mean - TWO swivel hardware pieces for NINTY-NINE cents???  That's practically free!!!!!

Shoulder strap for a purse

One of the shoulder straps was still in the plastic wrap. It had never been used.

Brand new shoulder strap

With my trusty scissors, the hardware was soon separated from the lanyards and straps. That takes up a whole lot less space. I'm not sure I'll use those clips in the top left, but I kept them - just in case. Each category has been stored back in one of the boxes in a separate bag.

Four different types of hardware from the lanyards

Then the fabric and bag handles (new ones) and a few other trims were put back in the big box.

Bag stuff back in the box

When I was in the closet to get something else, I discovered ONE MORE BOX of bag hardware.

The third box of bag hardware

That got dumped out on the table and then integrated into the other two boxes.

More bag hardware

Actually, I think there are still three boxes of stuff - just much better organized. That's my plan with the house. Get the like stuff together, then it's easy to deal with. If things are scattered, how can you take inventory???

 These are the kind of swivel hooks that we were looking for and guess how many loose ones we found in the box or that were attached to the lanyards???  Yep - all of these. That's totally crazy. But not that much. Let's just say that a few of these got used in the last couple of days. Can't show you yet. But super cute!!!!

Swivel hooks for bags

I'm definitely a morning person and taking total advantage of having the house to myself. I'm quilting away on the long arm which I love doing first thing in the morning. The light is much better in Studio B, while the light in Studio U is not great when it's dark outside. Hmm - so what about the noise when I'm not alone? I've tested it out. While you can hear the long arm working even with the bedroom door closed, I bet DH wouldn't hear it. I might just start quilting first thing in the morning!!  I've been making great progress in the quilting area and will share that with you another day.

But seriously, I get it that some people aren't morning people, but I'm so a morning person. I saw a saying the other day - "If you get up late, you're considered lazy. Are you lazy if you go to bed early?"   That's me then - lazy!!! But after a good sleep, I can tackle anything. Obviously, I had a good sleep last night as I have half a large quilt already quilted this morning! I will NOT tell you what time I got up, but the quilt was already loaded!

They say that it takes 6 weeks to change a habit or to create a new habit. I used to go to Tim's for a tea (or previously a hot chocolate) every day. Sometimes several times a day. I switched from hot chocolate to tea a while back. And when I wanted to get rid of even more refined sugar from my diet, I switched to decaf tea. I had two sugar in the steeped tea and none in the decaf. Yet, I have tea at my house and how hard is it to make tea??

So for the last year or more, I've been making tea at home. I know - do NOT judge me! I'm merrily working my way through the various tea chests and bags of tea that have accumulated in the cupboard. This is the box I'm currently working on. It's filled with a variety of different teas. Each morning is a surprise!

My small tea chest

 I had to laugh because on the morning that that e-mail came in, this was the tea right up front in the tea chest. A soothing herbal tea!!!  It must have worked.

A "calming" herbal tea

One very important thing that I've learned about tea. I used to drink the steeped tea from Tim's and it's so bitter that I needed to put sugar in it to make it drinkable. When I switched to the decaf, I didn't need sugar. Why? I seriously feel that the steeped tea is burnt. I know - hard to believe, but that steeping process at those hot, hot temperatures just burns the flavor. The decaf tea (from a tea bag) doesn't get the same treatment.

I've found the same thing at home - if you pour pouring water over most tea, they end up tasting bitter. That's why if you're a tea drinker, you NEED one of these kettles. It has different temperature settings and it's the best thing ever!!!

Kettle with various temperatures

Thanks to M who, years ago, introduced us to this kind of kettle. There is only one thing that I dislike about this kettle. It has a "keep warm" function. DH tends to put water in the kettle, hits the temperature setting, then "keep warm", and then "start". He then walks away and will come back much, much later because he has forgotten or got involved with a phone call. Could you take a few minutes to just wait for the kettle, make the tea and then shut it off???

Anyway - I feel better that I'm using stuff that we have in the house and I'm saving money (and the environment) at the same time! No cups are thrown out. I do treat myself once a week for Tim's decaf tea.

The other thing I've learned about sugar - refined sugar that is. We make jokes that if we eat something sweet that it'll go to our hips. Come on - we've all said that. Well - it's true. Except the sugar goes to my waist. I can tell if I've been cheating and overindulging on the refined sugar (and trust me - I don't eat a lot), but my waist is puffier when I eat refined sugar. That's how bad it is for you and how literally, it'll go to your hips. My weight is stable - just body content changes - less lean and more fat!! I know cause I also checked it on the scale at the gym. UGG!!! 

As I was puttering in the basement, I found another stack of cloth bags! I know - where the heck did they all come from. They are grouped together and I'll be letting Jane know so she can use them for the food bank.

More cloth bags

Holy - I wonder what else I'm going to find as I search through that stuff down there.

I even managed to get out and do some gardening yesterday. OK - so I dug dandelions from the front. Took me about a half hour. I'm going to dig them from my neighbor's small lawn today. That's the extent of my gardening, except that I really, really need to get some mulch. I might do that today. The rest of the time that I spend in the "garden", is in the gazebo - relaxing!

Oh - I'm reading a book on my iPad. I'm so not used to reading e-books, but I don't think that's the problem with this book. I'm reading The Thomas Berryman Number. It's the first book by James Patterson that he wrote in 1976 or something like that. It's so damn confusing. I have no idea what's happening in the book. Thank god he changed his style!!!!  If you read the reviews on that link, I'm not alone. Thank you!!!!

On that note, I'm out of here!!!

Have a super day!!!!


Ciao!!!