Say Yes

...to the Dress, that is. I love that show! I haven't seen it since before I got married, though- over a year and a half ago! But today, I discovered there's a whole season of it waiting for me on Netflix! And I'm now 8 episodes through it already. I think I love that show so much because it is completely opposite from me- when Tim proposed, we had way too many deadlines to meet. He was deploying, my dad was dying, and family schedules on top of that meant we had only 6 weeks! I went to one dress store, and the girl I worked with wanted to help, but unfortunately/luckily (?) I am small enough around and in height that even if the dress I wanted could have come in in time, it would have needed altering which would have put it  at least two weeks late. So my dress shopping consisted of an impromptu trip to White House Black Market with Tim(he didn't peek, though), randomly pointing at two white sundresses, and within 2 minutes deciding one of them would work. Don't get me wrong, I loved my dress for its practicality, and I used a coupon and saved $25! It fit, it was comfortable, and perfect for the setting...

But, I must confess, there is a small part of me that wishes I had done the big extravagant event of dress shopping. Sigh. Funny side note-- can you see that ATV in the background? We had to stop the ceremony about halfway through as it passed, and I couldn't help but snicker. I love that ATV for keeping us all grounded. Another funny thing I'll never forget is the way the sand squeaked on the beach. It had rained all morning, so when you squashed your foot down right, you could make it squeak. Needless to say, I spent our first five minutes married acting like a 5-year-old!

While I watched those 8 episodes, I played with my Go some more.

 My random scraps-- smaller than a fat quarter but not strips or or any other easy to use shape-- used to occupy both of these plastic bins... now they're down to one!

 And look at those stacks! 5" charms, 4.5" squares, 2.5" squares and hst's.... it's time to stop cutting and start sewing! Some of these fabrics I had been saving... I don't know for what! They were the ones too pretty to cut up. I kept reminding myself that they are being squandered living in a box, and deserve to become even more beautiful in a scrap quilt.

Matt Lauer agrees. He's feeling much better, and has even more energy (80 lbs of puppy running full tilt, and somehow the lamp hasn't been broken despite what seems to be a new morning ritual of knocking into it!). How can you say no to that face? He likes it when I'm not in my cave sewing, which is the other reason I love the Go since I can carry it out to the living room to be with the kids and not worry about them eating my projects or pins!

I have batting again!

HOORAY! I was able to go get 4 yards of batting- I had been OUT since finishing Christmas presents- the casserole carrier had used up the last odd piece. It was on sale at JoAnn's thank goodness, so I got 4 yards.... which should last for about 6 projects since I've been working on smaller things. Which means, it should last until February, unless I go on a finishing binge... :)
And, I might have found a couple clearance fabrics that needed to come home with me.... no worries, though, because three of them are destined to be part of my next purse.

The thing I'm most excited about is that I got three new quilting magazines- I love looking through them for inspiration! They are the three I would love a subscription to (Hey, Husband, still want a Valentine's gift idea?) since I buy these three every month.

And the last things I got from JoAnn are three plastic bins to start sorting scraps even more. Let's hope this helps!

All of this was packed into a single bag that USED to be big enough. Not anymore... so hopefully, having the scraps semi-sorted like this will make it easier to make scrappy blocks. Call me out on it if you don't see some scrappy goodness within a few weeks... please? Thanks!

Tonight's cooking adventure: I separated and de-tipped raw chicken wings. I'm one step closer to being less squeamish, and on the way to sticky chicken wings for dinner!

Oh yeah- we had an earthquake this morning.... about 20 miles from where we live. Scared the bejeebers out of me until I figured out what it was. I wish I could blame it for the mess in my sewing room.... but that's been there for days now, and Tim has seen it at its worst.... haha. I did conclude I could never live in Cali- I could never get used to the earth shaking like that!

Like scraps of Christmas...

I just went through a bag of scraps that Sally sent home with me last Tuesday... It was a mixture of a Mary Poppins bag, and scraps of Christmas! I couldn't believe how beautiful some of these little pieces are!!! I have to make something out of them... but what? There's a wide variety of sizes of craps, from strings to small triangles to chunks as big as a fat quarter.... ooo, the possibilities!

So, here's what else I've done today:

 The cat quilt center is DONE....

And here are the first 3 letters!!! It will eventually read "Crazy Cat Lady"... it's a family joke with my MIL.

I didn't get any entire projects done tonight, but I think finishing the cat quilt center counts as good progress. Besides, I also spent 1.5 hours helping Mom piece, the middle of the day running errands with her and my aunt, and then dinner with the grandparents... I think my level of productivity is acceptable.

Tomorrow is the hospice walk, so I know I'll be pretty busy at least until late afternoon.

Look who is also enjoying a fabric scrap???

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