Well - it's working again! for how long? Who knows!!!!

The bells and whistles sewing machine is working again!!!  HOORAY!!!  For how long?  I have NO idea!  What was wrong with it?  I think it was tired and wanted a vacation!

Sounds like the machine is alive?  Maybe... maybe not!  Either way - there is NOTHING that I did to it that I didn't do before!  .....  Taking it apart, cleaning out the lint (although setting on my desk probably provided more cat hair lint than what it had after I cleaned it!), re threading it (daily until I gave up - then suddenly one day THAT worked!), replacing the needle.  Rethreading the bobbin.  Replacing the bobbin with another one.  Putting my tongue on the left side of my cheek.  Opening the window in preparation to make good my unfounded threat to toss the machine through the window.

Nada!

Went through all the steps!  Even contacted the repair place to come clean and repair tired parts on my treadle so that I could use that! (at $150 just for the visit - not counting any time/labor/parts for the machine - I have to rethink how I'm going to do that!  So my lovely treadle just SITS there - driving me crazy with wanting to use it!)  And suddenly it worked!  NO IDEA WHY!

I swear the thing is alive!  And personally I think it was tired before but now it felt lonesome, neglected (because it was) and so it changed its tactics.  Working great now!

When did it decide to work?  Dec. 24.  What have I done since then?  Brought my Arizona Skies quilt (aka Tequila whatevers) to the point where I need to work on the borders!  SCREECHING HALT!  Apparently I had decided to repurpose the fabrics in the meantime.  I have found out where I had stashed 3 out of 4 of the fabrics and can use unbleached muslin in place of the patterned background.  But the 4th fabric????  Not sure - but THINK I have it here SOMEWHERE!  (Keep in mind please that I had 81 project UFOs at the time and my sewing room is in chaos!)

So that has been put aside in favor of working on Bonnie Hunter's Tobacco Road (I will work on Allietare sometime in the New Year - am printing out what I need to do in the interim and saving in an Allietare folder!)

do I have pictures of anything?  Ummm - no!  And I put my camera in that safe place again - drat it!  Will post pix when I find the camera!  The Arizona Skies is QUITE colorful!  Not a true scrappy - but a fun quilt! (I may re-make some time and do this differently!)

Bonnie's "In-Studio Spiff Ups" #7 and 8

Bonnie's #7 () reads - Straighten and Clean Your Ironing Station!!!! 

Ummm - Mine is - um - strange!  I have an over the door thingy that holds all my ironing apparatus, a small tray thingy that holds the rest (tray is pink, fwiw!) - and usually have my ironing board taking up space in my bedroom - where it sits in front of the TV or my bed and serves as an ironing board, a TV tray, an impromptu desk, a sorting station, a laundry folding station.  Handy things - ironing boards!


#8 reads Time to organize and straighten up your books
MOST of my books are pretty well organized!  Mostly because they fit on half shelves - which means the shelf they sit on is only half as wide!  And every time I go ruffling through them in an effort to browse - I end up with a major book cascade!  

While my non-fiction books are categorized by subject, then author and my fiction books are shelved according to author, my quilting books are grouped primarily by quilt groupings - ie, applique, Bonnie Hunter books, Quilt in a Day books, Charms, Landscape, Block patterns, Machine quilting, hand quilting, Sewing.  G-d forbid that I would end up with a book that would involve several categories!!!  And, no - I don't really file by author - except for Bonnie Hunter's and Quilt in a Day.

It's the In-Studio Spiff up night (LATE!) again! 07-29-15 and 08-06-15 - #4, #5 and #6

Two weeks worth of Bonnie's Studio Spiff up (http://institcheswithbonnie.blogspot.com/p/15-minute-studio-spiff-up_5.html)!  Mostly because I didn't publish last week!

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#4 Straighten up Sewing Desk or table - where my machine is.  This one is Easy Peasy for me - since other than my current project there really is no room for me to stack anything!  Besides - IF I did stack something on the sewing desk - my cats would promptly knock it off because they view this spot as THEIR spot - and woe betide me if I appropriate that space for anything other than my current sewing project!
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#5 The Batting collection!  Straighten it up!

But then too - my batting always seems to run neck and neck with those projects I absolutely have to finish - and what is left over isn't much! and it all fits into a box.  Actually this is the ONLY 15 minute project that is taking me less than 15 minutes to do!  

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#6 Straighten and organize the yardage fabric!

This one isn't too bad for me - sorta....  My fabric is already sorted by color and my yardage is separate from my FQ and scraps.  Also most (supposed to be ALL) of my fabric has been wound around my 6.5 inch ruler and then folded in half.  As a result it stacks neatly and for the most part doesn't keel over unless the fabric pile is awfully high!  Still and all, I do need to go through and straighten quickly.  

No pix yet - but I'll take pix tomorrow and post!

Bonnie's In-Studio "Spiff-up" or "Hmmm -- there seems to be a pattern developing here! " - #3

Hmmm -- there seems to be a pattern developing here!  On Wednesday's I have Bonnie's "spiff-up" - unfortunately - by the time Wednesday rolls around, I'm tired - and spiffing ANYTHING up is the LAST thing on my mind!

That being said - for the next 30 minutes I'm pretending like it is Wednesday.  After that 30 minutes are up - life can go back to being Saturday!  In fact, I would really like it to!

Bonnie's 3rd assignment (http://institcheswithbonnie.blogspot.com/2015/01/15-minute-studio-spiff-up-week-3.html) is to straighten up the FQ collection.

Ummmm - mine isn't in TOO bad of a shape - mostly because I store my FQ in plastic shoeboxes and by predominant color.  IDEALLY however, once cut into - the FQ is no longer a true FQ - and needs to move on to large hunks of scraps.  However I don't have a good system in place for that - just grocery bags where everything is jumbled.  So the cut-into FQ goes BACK into the box - hopefully with the cut side out so that I can tell I used part of it.

There is a down side to doing it this way.  For some wierd reason - I will use YARDAGE.  I will use SCRAPS.  But - I DONT seem to use the FQ - and so they linger and linger and linger!  I'm better about it than I used to be - especially since some of the quilts I've been working on DO use FQ.  However, given half a chance, I ignore the FQ and go for the scraps almost every time!

.....
This hasn't seemed to take too long - and hopefully I will find my camera so that I can take pix of some of my FQ collections.  It isn't terribly extensive - and it would be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO easy to "just drift into the quilt shop and pick a few" now and then!  good thing that I head QUICKLY - head down, past any temptation and back to the sewing tables for class!

Bonnie's In-studio spiff up (OOPS! Pretend it's last Wednesday!) - #2

#2 OOPS!  07-11-15 - Guess who forgot!  I'm going to pretend it's last Wednesday and do it TODAY!

Bonnie assigned Step 2 as the day to "Tackle your cutting space." 
>http://institcheswithbonnie.blogspot.com/2015/01/15-minute-studio-spiff-up-week-2.html<  (I would love to comment on her blog - but for some wierd reason - my computer won't let me comment on ANYONE's blog - drat it!)  At any rate - this one may take a while - mostly because I need to figure out WHERE I'm putting the stuff I take OFF of the table!

Granted - I have one of those vertical office file thingies that hang up on the wall - like they have in Dr. offices - and use that for holding  patterns - mostly applique patterns.  This HAS to sit on the table since my plaster is so old and weak that it would shatter if I tried to nail a nail into it!  I also have little trays - a cutting tool tray - has scissors, slicers, etc. in it - that I use on that table.  And I a baggie for scraps - which hangs on the doorknob right next to the table with those plastic rulers hanging right above.

My "work" door - actually a door to a closet that is extraordinarily narrow.
I use the door for sewing machine directions, paper piecing patterns,
goals, and mostly for rulers and templates that I use a LOT!
(the 6.5 x 24" I use on yardage, an 18.5" one, a skinny little 3.5 x 12.5" and a 4.5 square)

All my other rulers sit inside the closet
hanging on hooks that are probably as old as time!
On the floor sit a craft case and my rollaway sewing machine bag.

Table is semi-cleaned up.
You can see the plastic vertical file holder filled with quilt patterns.
You can also see the green felt covering different miniature "design walls"
that I can  toss into my sewing machine bag.  The yellow Nestle Qwik cans
I use to toss thread and snip its into and when full take them to the LQS for a
lady who makes doggie pillows from them.  We will NOT discuss the
cardboard boxes of SCRAPS hiding in various places!

My sewing machine desk - machine sits on an old cutting mat - that is warped beyond belief!
Next to the machine is the gray cutting mat that I use for quick snips as needed.
Top drawer holds all my thread - well... SOME of all my thread.  More thread is in
its own case tucked in the center open space (along with pin boxes, directions for the machine).
  The bottom drawer holds 2 trays - one for scissors and slicers, the other for odds and
ends - like pencils - stuff like that!

The pictures are OLD - and so right now, my goal is to at the least get it BACK to that level of decluttering and picking up - and then figure out WHERE my problems are (as in accumulation of fabric - scraps and yardage) on the cutting table and see what I can do to resolve that!

Monday, Monday.....

GO AND DO

• DONE groceries
• DONE Chai and Scrappy to the Vet

HOUSE - 

• PAPERWORK - a mountain of it! work on at least a half hour a day
• ZONE 3 
• Sewing Room
• DONE Work on scrap color sorting

GARDEN - 

STUDIES - 

KITCHEN

• SOUPS (serving kept out for Monday - freeze the rest)
• DONE tomato and greens soup
• DONE MAKE MENUES for the week (do Monday)

QUILT

• PIECE 
• DONE - WORKED ON ANYWAY! LE - Jamestown Landing - String  blocks
• DONE - WORKED ON ANYWAY! Baby Quilt for Lynn and Nathan - Bowdacious

My Sewing Room UPDATE!

Sorry about the sideways view!
Cabinet is made up of 2 smaller 3 drawer cabinets stacked one on top of the other
and is used for strips - 3.5, 2.5, 2.0,  1.5, 1.0.
Strips in each drawer (sized by width) are divided into light and dark.

Another 2 sideways views!  Sorry!  We will ignore the mending (to the left of the strip cabinet and right of the shelving!). Shelving is 6' tall, 30" deep, and each shelving unit is approximately 4 - 5 foot wide. Yardage is  subdivided by main color, refolded so it will stack uniformly - that is on the LEFT side of each shelf.  On the right is yardage that I use for sewing (IF and WHEN I get around to it!) and it is mostly just folded!  Plastic bins hold FQ of that color.  Repros share the shelf with the browns and beiges, with homespun, holiday, patriotic fabrics below that on the left and flannels on the right.  On the very top of the shelves I keep holiday ornaments, keepsake storage, trims - each in its own bins and labeled.

Here you can get a better idea of the blues shelf.  Below that are the orange and yellow fabrics and FQs, as well as the black and gray fabrics and FQs and yardage for sewing.  Bins for block units (3.5, 2.5, 2.0, 1.5 - light and dark sit on top of the  FQ bins.  

Cutting table has my magazine holder which I use to hold patterns as well as non-hangable plastic templates.  The green thing lieing flat on the table is an old 3-drawer cabinet lid that I re-purposed with the addition of felt fabric and packing tape into a mini-design wall.  It works.

This closet is actually only 9 - 12 inches deep - so I use it for plastic template rulers (hangable), storage (above) and as a place to store my machine cart-a-long.

Even my door gets used a lot!  Here I hang my most used rulers as well as a listing of my UFOs, machine threading  instructions, and a copy of  my to-do list

My machine desk - complete with the strips I have GOT to turn into 4 patches this week and send on their way.  Flimsies sit in bins under the desk on the left (blond spot is my Widget kitty!)  In the black bag is my son and dil's wedding quilt which I need to do the final quilting and binding on - they celebrated their first anniversary last Saturday.

More UFOs (other ufos on bottom shelves of the big fabric shelves).  Also books.  Small drawers are for sewing tools - ie, measuring tapes, scissors and slicers, etc.  Videos were gifted to me by a friend who knew I liked to watch quilting movies.

My work basket - is supposed to have ONLY the things in it that actually are on the design wall for the week.  Supposedly!

Yup - Birthday month!  Time for a sewing room update - and more yet - to CLEAN the sewing room!

(that is clean it more than the usual run the dustmop and duster over everything!)

I belong to a Stashbusters group - and decided to do pix of my sewing room along with a report on my stash - birthday update!  First I decided to pick up a little in there - you know - 15 minutes of pick up...........


4.5 HOURS later I was able to take pictures!  MOST of it had been straight - but the parts that weren't more than made up for lost time!

And I STILL have a humongous box under my cutting table with fabric scraps in bags that are color coded - for the most part.  Scraps are to be sliced and diced into strips, blocks or used as strings or even crumbs.  What's left goes in one of the 3 Nestle Quik boxes sitting on my sewing table and goes to a lady who uses them as stuffing for doggie beds.

Odds and Ends and a Carpenter Star to boot!

Ugh! I was going to post a picture of the project I'm currently working on (finishing up my Carpenter Star - only 3 years overdue!!!) but it would certainly help if I could find my camera! Definitely will be doing some picture posting this week - AFTER I find my camera - and AFTER I figure out HOW!!! Am excited.

The quilt wasn't really as far along as I had thought - but now I have to connect my rows together - tried some - but while I was "in the groove" yesterday - that sure isn't the case today! So - am working on the apartment - and doing laundry - which is really a good thing since I think there may be a ban on my showing up at work in just skin! At the least I know it would take a long time for my boss as well as CT to recover from the shock of it all!

Other stuff - Re-watched DaVinci code which I find interesting - but may decide to re-home the DVD - haven't decided. Not really my cup of tea!

Nathan is here today - and working on the second coat of paint in the bathroom - YAY!!!!

Made some Pasta Fagioli - VERY good - except I like mine spicy hot - and, of course, discovered at the last minute I'm out of hot peppers! I would say I will add those later - but the soup isn't going to last that long! I really hate to say how many cups I inhaled for lunch today!

Garden wise - still weedy - we had a really ominous looking thunderstorm - so no weeding - BUT - I harvested tomatoes (4), a few potatoes (um, a bit late - they were sprouting already!), and one of my eggplants - which are the long skinny kind! And I REALLY want some for supper - AND sooooooo..............

YAY - have reduced BP meds! Go Me! AND I lost 8.5 pounds since June!!! Yeehaw!

Wendy and I played work for 15/play for 45 yesterday and today - was GREAT! Mostly I focused on cleaning up my sewing room - which I did NOT finish - but it is better - a LOT better! YAY!

Quilting retreat!!!

I had a wonderful weekend - sewing, slicing and dicing blocks and otherwise making a wonderful quilty mess! Didn't work on son's quilt - though I will - but have been going full steam ahead on the Underground RR quilt! Mostly cutting - but sewing too! Did discover that I left 2 of my fabrics (which I THOUGHT - quite erroneously - were together!!!) at home. One I know what it looks like (yes, it HAS been a long time since I worked on this one!) and essentially where it is. The other one??? well, if I can't figure it out - then that calls .... for a trip to Southhampton quilts!!!! (and you can see how I suffer when I say that!!!!)

Other than that - it has been very quiet. Son's gf came over yesterday - I really REALLY like her. Of course it doesn't really matter whether or not I do - only whether or not son likes her! And I think he does! She's a very warm, caring person - who also has no problem telling N. when he's coming on a bit strong. She also volunteers to chip in and help where help is needed and continues until the job is done! All very positive things!

Other news - acc. to son - Dennis finished putting down the subfloor this past week - and apparently will be working on setting up walls, insulation and the rest of it. Who knows - I might even get back home before the end of March - although I'm not banking on it. Cabinets though won't be delivered until late Feb/first part of March = and I won't have them probably until sometime in May - however it will be nice to get back home and to my own sewing room, etc.

Still have to get my garden stuff ordered - think I will work on that tonight - I'm kind of quilted out for the moment!

Starting again - or ... Isn't life really all about starting again... and again... and again???

LOL - back again - and I have clean clothes for tomorrow too! LOTS of clean clothes!

Today - my dd called - and we played the 15/45 game - that is - work our buns off for the 15 minutes (actually 20 in this case) and then spend 45 minutes playing - which for us means QUILTING!!!!

Today - I spent most of the time cleaning - uh - doing laundry! - PLUS eating (I take my lunch with me and t
n eat that!), doing some light shopping (I had the Spark menues for the week and the shopping list! so didn't get into TOO much trouble!!! :) Also cleaned out my handbag, and the car while waiting on the laundry. All this in an effort to avoid doing my well overdo paperwork! AND - I succeeded! Of course - NOW I feel guilty that I didn't get the paperwork done! Maybe 15-30 minutes tonight.......

Oh yeah - re the quilting end of things - for those who know me - and know that I REALLY promised to NOT start another new project but to work very hard on all the old ones and get them FINISHED!.... I lied! As of 20 mintes ago - I have all the pieces cut out for Christmas ribbons - which is a very cute quilt! Have set up a paper of all the stuff that I want to finish - one step at a time!

Exercise wise - today is cardio day - and some truly intense cleaning (and rushing around like crazy) for about 20 - 30 minutes and I'm caught up on that! Not going to count Pounds on lifting and moving laundry about or on carrying bags of laundry upstairs - although I COULD......

Food - I changed my dinner menu a bit - mostly becase I didn't eat all the lunch foods. Dinner - I have peas and carrots to eat with my broiled salmon - (in other words - I forgot to head to the garden for the broccoli spears!) Also - eating 1 apple as opposed to eating grapes! COULD eat some strawberries - but I have the apples and need to eat those first (strawberries are dehydrated! and will hold longer!)

Tomorrow - work day! Packing up lunch tonight - and have tomorrow's breakfast ready to go already! Now to pick up, clean up and go find my DVDs and settle down in front of my TV!

Have a great day everyone!

It is GORGEOUS out!!!!!!!

Good morning (yes, it is still morning here in MA!)!!!

It's a lovely overcast, cool and rainy day outside.

Now where did the lovely come from? Probably came from getting within eyesight of finishing a flimsy I've been playing around with this last year or so! Yes, I found my Flying Geese directions AND the ruler (at the same time - they are both now in their "home") - and have finished MOST of my flying Geese (I only have 12 more to go - actually less since I did the beginning stages on 2 sets of 4 last night) Then off to trimming and stitching the flying geese and log cabins up in rows, attaching the setting triangles and stitching the whole thing together!!!! THEN I get to send the whole thing to Wendy!

DID occur to me - as I'm doing my Leaders and Enders that I COULD work on my next quilt! So I STARTED with these really cute churn dash blocks (a favorite of mine!) that I dressed up into flower gardens - then discovered entirely too soon that (1)

I needed to cut up a LOT more of fabric for more of these - and while searching through my blocks and strips - got wonderfully sidetracked onto what had to be a gazillion rectangular blocks of various widths that I had trimmed from some blocks that a friend gave me (she got tired of working with them) and that I had sized down considerably so as to get something remotely like a uniform size (those blocks are also ESSENTIALLY stitched together - BUT am missing one vital color currently). It occurred to me that one quilt I have wanted to try for years was a very simple basket weave! So - with that in mind I have my new and current L&E project, keeping in mind that I do tend to hyperfocus - and the add-on project all too often becomes the major project!

Now - this morning it occurs to me that since I want to tie BOTH quilts with blue yarn (I want the pom-pom effect) - that maybe I want to combine them - as in putting all the big blocks in the center and basket weave a border all around! Maybe/maybe not - have to think on this more - but mostly =- have to get both finished as far as I can go!

Did have a wonderful time yesterday though digging in all that fabric - sorted (sorta) out my block bin - and discovered I REALLY do NOT like sizing the blocks - PLUS - the block bin is NOT my scrap willy-nilly bin for odds and ends I don't want to size down. Attended to this yesterday - so that is somewhat straight. It was amazing though - that the block bin - for being as full as it was - after I pulled all the blocks for the project I started with - and then after I pulled all the blocks for the blocks for the basket weave - is a LOT LOT LOT smaller! Actually almost reasonable again!

Then I really made history (at least in my family) I actually PUT EVERYTHING AWAY where it goes! Yay! Go me! So this morning was NOT a horrifically frightening mess to walk into! AND I have lot of blocks that I sewed on yesterday that have to be pressed (hence my "running away" for a few!)

At any rate - today - am finishing up writing on a couple of modules, cleaning my house, doing my poor laundry, and cooking up a storm for this week (soups, bread). If I have time today - still have to do some garden work - won't get it all done - but will definitely get SOME done! And am having to think about WHEN I'm going to diet - and HOW I'm going to diet with my crazy schedule and all.

Did talk to - and actually visited with Nathan yesterday for a short time - he came to pick up his mail - and arrived before I had finished sorting it all out. We talked and he also did some fixits on the dryer outlets. Sadly though I will have to get a new dryer - the one here is ancient - plus does NOT fit any of the plugins for current day 220.

Also chatted briefly with Wendy this AM - will talk more with her later today hopefully! I called early - mostly because I really hate to interrupt their family time in the PM. But had forgotten that they had company this week! My bad!

That's it for now - more later!

Whoa - it just turned lovely and sunny with a tiny breeze mixed in! Just gorgeous out! Now I want to go out and play in the garden!

This week (and last) in retrospect......

YAY me! So far - shiny sink almost every night this week~ and 15 minutes de-cluttering as well! Can't say as much about movement though! Although with the advent of a/c being put in - I can breathe easier - and actually walk with ENERGY! So maybe that counts for something!

Something else this past week - I've talked about it before - how I spend too much money (and take in too many empty calories) doing the fast food inhale! (a la McD. and Taco B., etc.). I've tried to cut out completely all fast food intake but it was amazing the number of times I "forgot" my lunch.

So I decided to give myself permission explicitly to eat out. BUT there are several changes. First I can eat out ONCE a week ONLY. Second it is at a nice sit-down restaurant and while not costly - it will cost more than a fast food "meal". Third I have to EARN it before I can do it - which means that is the ONLY meal I eat out in a week - no breakfasts, snacks, dinners, etc. out other than the one earned.

What this means is that this week for not eating out - at least 5 out of 7 days (and this includes munchies at the deli in the grocery store, junk food at the gas station counter) - I will get to eat out NEXT week. At a planned and specific place - and probably will invite a co worker to share with me. I do have a cost limit though (lunch is cheaper) and $10 is my limit.

The following week is snack time out - and this place I have probably chosen - the Italian bakery with all the cannoli and baklava - that I pass on my way home ($5-$8 limit). Week after that is for dinner out ($20 limit) and the one after that is Breakfast (probably about $5 - but may be as high as $10, depending on whether or not I order "Dutch Baby" or not.)

True - I'm spending money - BUT figure it this way - 5 days a week of $10 a day x 4 weeks - and you have at least $200 a month. Consider that as opposed to $48 a month. Yup - this way wins! PLUS the money saved from that will get moved in the bank over to a special "save it" account with my first planned purchase being a new stove! Or at least PART of that will go there. Another (larger) part will go towards a new furnace for my apartment! The immediate gratification part - well, I'm eating that part! LOL!

And then the HIDDEN consideration - if I pack my lunches, etc. I can pack HEALTHY stuff - and who knows, I may lose some weight! Or at the least be living a healthier lifestyle!~

Other things - have re-designed the Architecture module for learning - almost done - not totally - should finish today. Tomorrow I return to the pre-history folders. New books have arrived - WOW! Although this kind of got me into trouble ordering these this last time - I'm glad I did. However I do think that book buying is going on my intermediate savings list! But then I have all (I hope) that I need for this coming year of learning! And God knows I don't need any more quilting pattern books! Oy vey!

Garden - LOTS of misses - especially where the birds swooped down and did target practice on the new veggies (squirrels helped! wiped out ALL my cucumbers, melons! Ugh!) Beans are blooming - while I need to "fill in" the many bird smacked spots in the beds! Am starting to think in terms of intermediary spending goals of a few permanent beds this fall - ones I can't walk down!

Allergens are still doing their thing - I didn't realize how much they affected me until the a/c was in - and it was like a tight band was removed from around my lungs!

Am cleaning - and de-cluttering this house as I go. Sort of a Fly-lady de-clutter session combined with spring housecleaning on a babystep by babystep basis! Add to that son and I have discussed re-doing the bathroom and pantry so that I can not only have my pantry but also have some better organization for my stuff there! That also is on my list for this fall IF POSSIBLE! Son and I will be doing the deconstruction and he and a friend of his will be involved in the reconstruction part (except for plumbing in the bathroom which desperately needs working on). And as much as I dislike painting - I CAN paint it!

I'm cooking quite a bit - sort of the once a month stuff - keeping in mind that I have NO oven to speak of. And then freezing meal sized portions for later useage.

Quilting - ummm - yeah! Some wild bee zapped me - it must have! I put up the shelving for non-quilting fabrics - and really did a good job cleaning behind everything - and all the shelving etc. - and put stuff back on shelves WHERE IT GOES. What WASN'T done - all the stuff in the middle of the floor (fabrics, LOTS of fabrics! Unsorted fabrics! Sigh!), that on chairs and the cutting table (fabric remnants that NEED to be sliced and diced and put AWAY). And that room is HOT! (Of course with the a/c and a strategically placed fan or two - or 3 or 4 - it wouldn't be for long!) At any rate - that's my excuse and I'm considering it!

That's it for the moment at least! Who knows - with the thunder and lightening storm outside I might even figure out how to download my camera onto my puter, clean things up a LOT and upload photos onto my blog. Of course, the question then comes - do I get RID of the cartoonies or not. I actually enjoy them - and worked hard to earn each one (except for those gifted to me for my birthday! and those in the "anyone can have this" bin)

Odds and ends..........

Urrrrgh!!! I COULD have chosen a better cartoony last post - but I didn't!

Have done SOME quilting - but haven't finished a whole lot. More on this this week. Was PETRIFIED I would become queen of UFOs! - which I probably deserve at this point!

Actually have been a bit down this week - not really sure why! This is NOT a good thing - because I tend to go nuts and SHOP! I did manage to stay away from quilting fabric (putting together my last set of fabric shelves and struggling in SWEATY hot weather - then discovering that I had the shelves on upside down may have been a deciding factor!!!!)

And I didn't start another quilt either! I did write down the quilts I want to start on a piece of paper (which I promptly lost!).

Um - what I did (ok Wendy - you KNEW this was coming!) was to go online "just to see, mind you" some of the books for homeschooling - particularly history books. (OK _ Wendy I can hear you laughing! Just don't fall off the chair!) NOT telling you how much I bought - just that it was a bunch - but I DID delete one humongous amount! and should have a really good selection on ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, not that what I had was any slouch either! Now to read them..........

Honestly - I am at the point I would LOVE to just stay home! NOT work, but to stay home and read, quilt, and do other good stuff. Not that this is going to happen in the very near future! 'though it would be nice!

Weather here - was beastly hot a couple nights ago. I don't like to use my a/c (not that it's in or anything!) Now it's back to downright chilly! Don't know what it drops to - but it is soooooooooo lovely! Although my kitties will wake me up when they climb up to cuddle next to me and get warm!

Had eye dr. appt today - eye pressure still high - borderline actually - checkup again in 6 mos - and if there is no change they will do some sort of xray or whatever!

That's about it for now - except to update my lists. More tomorrow