The Ongoing Saga of My Quilty Obsession

 Continuing in my current subject of all things quilty, I went on a reconnaissance mission yesterday. I had heard about a quilt shop located fairly close to where I live and when my husband asked me to do a freecycle pickup in that area I couldn't resist stopping to check it out. What a treasure! Loved it!  I was chatting with the nice lady there and telling her I am teaching myself to quilt. I inquired about classes and was intrigued by the long arm quilt classes they offer. Apparently after a one day class I will then be accredited and qualified to use their long arm for $12 an hour. The lady there says that once I'm in practice I could do a queen sized quilt in under three hours. That's a HUGE savings on sending it out to be professionally quilted (something I don't like the idea of anyway...if I'm making a quilt I kind of want to do the whole thing myself. Or maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. Only time will tell. I'm a purist and a newbie). It's also a huge savings in frustration of trying to quilt a queen sized quilt on my sewing machine at home. Tying a quilt is fine, but it's not always the look I'll be going for. So. Methinks a long arm class might be a good thing to put on my Christmas list. ;-)

What?

I know it's only August. I'm just thinking ahead.

Maybe once I get my shop happening I'll pop a few quilts in there along with the other things I plan to stock. Hmmm....the wheels are turning.....

I also picked up a copy of Doodle Stitching The Motif Collection by Aimee Ray. I've been eyeing it for ages and found it for a reasonable price that I was willing to pay. Yay for reasonable prices (and 40% off coupons too)!

I'm such a tightwad. In a good way, of course! ;-)

Image credit

In Which I Return a Cheap Purse and Consider Becoming a Minimalist

I just returned from Target, where I bought nothing. In all fairness, I was there to make a return, not a purchase, but I do need a replacement for the item I returned. This is the second time I've had to do this within a very short span! I'm sick and tired of the trash that is offered for retail at exorbitant prices.

To digress...

Lots going on in my mind lately. Thinking about simplicity, minimalism, what's really important in life materially, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, what's not. How much "stuff" do I really need? Has my "stuff" become my identity? How would I cope if I lost all my "stuff" due to some natural disaster or other event?

I do a lot of reading about living simply, downsizing, minimalism and the like, and I am becoming temporarily introspective to a degree; re-evaluating priorities and decisions and even personality characteristics. Sort of New Year's in the spring in a much bigger way. I'm making decisions about the kind of person I would like to be for the rest of my life. (Mid life crisis? Maybe, but I think it's a good thing. My youngest child just turned 18, and I realized that all my children are adults now, and I still have my whole life ahead of me! Pretty exciting prospect!)

Heavy...I know. This was all precipitated by the breaking of my purse strap, the second one in as many weeks. I returned to Target, from whence the offending article came, only to find that I couldn't return it for the purchase price because it had gone on clearance and I didn't have the receipt. It had originally been a gift, but no gift receipt. So I ended up with a $5 gift card. I wasn't in the mood to argue and what could I do anyway? So. This brought me to a point of thinking about retail products, their quality, what's really important concerning my belongings, and did I really need to purchase a new purse right this minute.

I concluded that, no, I did not need to make that purchase. I do have other purses that languish in a closet. I don't use them because I don't particularly care for them, but they are functional. I did clear out a whole bunch of junk in my latest decrapification session, but I saved a few of those old purses. The decrapification thing is a slow process of letting go. I'm seeing a need for balance on the decrapification front, by the way. It makes sense to keep some things, while others need to go. The balance is in figuring out which is which!

So. The conclusion to this long and convoluted post is that I am further investigating what minimalism means to me, and learning to remove my focus from what's not important, freeing me to focus on what is.

Oh yeah. And since I do make bags and purses for sale, I should probably make an every day one for myself. The quality will be much better than retail trash, for sure! And while I'm at it, I think it's time to restock the store.

Photo credit: Me! That's one I made and sold, not one I bought! :-)

This post has no title because I can't think of one.

Hello! Checking in after a long absence to let you know my mojo is back! ...And I'm glad. I was feeling mentally frumpy and scruffled*, uncreative, and generally not-able-to-get-it-together for the last few weeks, but the muses are returning and motivation in the area of all things creative, including blogging, is finally on the upswing.

Today is rainy and misty, which I love this time of year. I love crisp bright days in the fall too, but I'll take what I can get! Anyway, today was a good day for baking and thinking toward "home stuff." I made some cookies, per my son's request for Bible study tonight. He said, "How about some good old fashioned chocolate chip, kind of raw in the middle?" This is the kid who likes his pancakes literally oozing raw batter from the inside. So I made them. The cookies, not pancakes. Not sure about the "kind of raw in the middle" part, but they are definitely yummy and soft, not hard and crispy. Chocolate chips cookies should never be hard and crispy. Bleah.

I have lots of stuff piled up in the studio to get put together and post in the shop and I'm really looking forward to getting that done. Not in a "good-grief-I-wish-this-was-done-already" kind of way, but in a "looking-forward-to-the-creative-process-and-getting-my-hands-and-eyeballs-onto-that-yummy-fabric" kind of way.

In other news: I'm trying out a new whole grain bread recipe. Results to follow. Getting inspired for Christmas decorating. This is the first year in a long time that I am inspired to really do up the house. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that this is the first year in a long time that I've been eating right and exercising regularly. Does wonders, wonders, people, for the general disposition! More on that in my other blog.

*scruffled: a mental or physical state of being scruffy and ruffled in an agitated and annoyed sort of way. syn.: scrumpled.

New Stuff!

Trick or Treat bags are in the shop! Along with a a few other goodies and more to come! Yay!