Be careful what you don't wish for

For years off and on, I have been thinking of purchasing an embroidery sewing machine.  First I think it'll be so much fun to have one and then I think about how much it will cost in ratio to how much I would actually use it, and lastly I think about where I would put yet another sewing machine since years ago we moved from a 2-story house into a new double-wide mobile home planning for retirement (yes, I was only 36 at the time and hubby was 41, but he does construction for a living and absolutely did not want to think about having to use those stairs in his old age).  

A few months ago the subject came up again while I was teasing my hubby about another gun purchase in comparison to my hobbies and he said he knew what I was going to get for Mother's Day this year.  I guessed what he was thinking, and I finally put my foot down and said that I no longer wanted an embroidery machine until I retire and actually have time to use it.  He then came up with an alternative to the sewing machine...

This is what I got for Mother's Day!!! At least that was the excuse he used to validate the purchase.

 

Don't get me wrong - I love riding quads.  We had one already and my older son has one, but there are 4 of us in the family counting another teenage son.  My husband thought that if we had 1 more quad that we could spend time riding together as a family.  So far, we have ventured out once and had a great day spending time together.  This upcoming weekend here's an open house at an off-road park and we'll be heading there for a day of riding with my cute butterfly helmet for protection. Of course, there will be a quilty traveling project for the road trip to and from! 

Re-thinking a project

Have you ever started a project thinking you were happy with the fabric choices only to discover down the road that well, maybe you are not as happy with them as you thought you were before??   The next dilemma is then - do I keep on going with my choices hoping that I will be happy in the end or do I change up my choices so that I want to keep working on this project? 

I posted about this  My Portable Project not too long ago.  I love working on it, really I do, but the gray background that I chose was nagging at me.  I kept thinking it would be wonderful, but at the same time I was thinking maybe it was a little depressing and sad looking.  After much thinking on this, I decided to swap out the gray for a cream tone-on-tone print to perk up the quilt a little bit.  I am glad I chose now to change background colors with only a little ripping or unpicking to do. 

Usually I am pretty good with my fabric choices, but this time I just could not see finishing the project unless I changed it out.  I wonder how many people have unfinished projects because they are not happy with the fabrics in them.  Has this ever happened to you?

On a side note, this is a picture of a purse I finished about a month ago.  The pattern is a Lazy Girl Design.  It is called the Towne Purse and it went together fairly quickly in an evening.  The thing that surprised me the most about carrying it is that it is so much lighter than carrying my leather purse.  I love it!  You can find the pattern here -Lazy Girl Designs

I have a confession... I am a fabric addict

You know there's a problem of having too much fabric when you know you bought fabric to back a quilt but you can't find it in your house anywhere.   Actually, I have two projects that I am working on that I can't find the fabric for.  The first is a wedding quilt.  I am to the point where I am ready to get the backing together and then get everything layered for quilting (hand or machine? still undetermined), but my backing fabric that I bought is not quite long enough, so I thought I would piece an insert to get to the correct length.  Problem is - I can't for the life of me figure out where I stashed the extra material from piecing the quilt together. ugh...  I have searched high and low to no avail.

I decided to give myself a break from the stress of that problem to move onto a simpler project.  I have a few smaller quilts that need backing, batting, and then quilted.  I pulled a quilt top out that I knew I had bought fabric for the backing and low and behold - I can't find the fabric again!  I have searched and searched, all but one spot, but that will have to wait until later in the day.  I have to move about 8 sewing machines to get to the bin.

At this point, I am almost convinced that the extra fabrics from these two projects are hiding out together.  I have too much fabric to keep in one closet, thus the multiple locations, which then leads to days like this.  

Wanna know something else??  I was actually thinking about visiting a local quilt shop later today to see what was new.  I think I will put that idea on hold for a while longer.  I have enough problems keeping track of the fabrics I have in the house already.