I have a place to retire to

It looks like I will be retiring to Trumann Arkansas this year.  Things are slowly falling into place. 

The house needs work done on it but the landlord says it will be done by the time I get down there.

I am thinking of renting out a storage unit up here for a couple of months so that I can start to move out things and then on moving day, I won't have to go up and down stairs so much.  Just in the thinking stage right now. 

I will be packing up my sewing projects and just keeping out the sewing machine but almost everything can get put into storage for a couple of months.  That will make it easier to load up on the Penske truck as well as make it easier to maneuver around the apartment on moving day,

What do you think?

SCORE!

I went to Goodwill after work to pick up something and scored some craft things.  They had both quilting and cross stitch so I was totally happy to get them all for $1.99 each.  Some of them were originally a little over $10.

The first picture is of the quilting kits.  They are kits and are small little projects. 

The second picture is of the cross stitch kits.  Nothing is really large to do but I couldn't resist. 

I will keep one or two things but then send the rest to my friend Deb to put in a drawing for group giveaways.  I love sending her stuff for that.  :) 

I have to get back to stitching my cross stitch quilt block.  I can't work on other things until I get the current block done.  That's it.  Work on one block.  Finish one block.  Then move on to another block.  I wonder if this is going to work.  LOL

I hope everybody has a great night/day.

Keep on crafting everybody.

Hello, my name is Bonni and I'm a shopoholic

I was going to post I'm a quilt materialoholic but that just didn't look right.  I got my income tax return recently and while I need to save most of it to help move or get a new place when I retire, I knew I would have to keep some of it to just spend.  Get it out of my system because that is what I use my income tax return for....to spend.  It's my "big ticket spending" usually but not this year. 

I didn't spend it all willy nilly.  I ordered some more slacks for work since they were on sale for 50% off.  I picked out a couple of items that I've been looking at and they too were on sale.  In fact I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some material for quilting since they were on sale too.

You might recognize some of these fabrics since I have used them in projects before.  Between them all, I paid either $3 a yard up to $5.99 a yard.  Some time I will fold them to fit the area they will be stored in.

I have taken a few more stitches on my cross stitch quilt blocks.  I have three packages of the blocks with 6 blocks in each one.  Tomorrow I should finish the 3rd block in package 1.  I'm debating if I want to put sashing in between the blocks or not.  It will make it larger which would be nice.  I believe I have enough blocks to make it a twin size but I'll see after laying it all out.  If I did, it would probably be a dark blue since the blocks are all done in three different shades of blue.

Then I took a short nap.  I mean I laid down and thought I'd snooze for about 30 minutes to an hour.  I got up after 15 minutes and couldn't go back.  So what do you do when your nap time or down time is interrupted?  I made spaghetti.  :)  I will eat that both today and tomorrow.  I might make lentils tomorrow.  I might make mashed potatoes.  I will probably make both.  LOL.

Time to get off the blog and the internet before it tempts me to spend more money.

I hope everybody had a great Valentine's Day yesterday and a great day today.

Until next time....Keep crafting.

What? I skipped January?

Oops.  Didn't mean not to post.  I was in the slumps during January.  So much is going on in my life right now that I can barely keep up.  I'm not even sure I am keeping up but I will tell myself that I am keeping up.  All of that translates to losing my crafting Mojo.  I know that it was there because I liked to look at other peoples creations but I had no desire or drive to work on anything myself.  That also meant I didn't even want to post here.  I'm sorry and want to say a big THANK YOU for those of you who are sticking with me.

I'm not sure if Mo or Jo is back but at least one of them is.  I decided to fall back to cross stitch.  It is one of my favorite crafts and I always fall back to it when I feel like the world is spinning fast around me.  I think it is because I can be creative and I can take it with me.  I took my stamped cross stitch quilt blocks to work and managed to work a little bit on them.  I have three packages with 6 blocks in each package.  I'm almost done with my third block in the first package. 

I will probably take the quilt blocks with me to work and work on it during the lunch hour.  That is if I find a good place to work on it.  Once I start a new block it goes pretty quickly.  But that isn't the only cross stitch I will be working on.  

I needed a break from the complex Heaven and Earth Designs and ran across this pattern years ago.  I finished getting the supplies today so will be starting it.  I love Delft patterns so will love working on this.  It doesn't have many colors which will compensate for the French Knots it calls for.  I know how to do French Knots, but after a year or two of doing candlewicking, I'm not as fond of them as I used to be.

I think if I post how the steps I'm taking to work on this, it might help.  Plus a friend wondered where and how to start so perhaps it will help them too.  Just keep in mind that I am not an expert.  This might not be the traditional way or the right way but it IS the way I do things.   First of all I gathered up my floss, Aida cloth, and enlarged the pattern.  I will be doing this on 16 Aida count with probably two strands of floss, doing a full cross.  I don't want the original to get destroyed so I can mark off the stitches when I make them.  Then comes step 2 which is where I am today.

Step 2 is preparing my Aida cloth.  I don't press it or anything.  I suppose I should but I'm lazy.  What is important is that you take steps to stop the fraying of the edges.  There are products that you can use (like Fray Check) along the edge.  When it dries it leaves the edge a bit stiff like if you starched it but it doesn't fray.  You can serge along it.  You can put tape (masking tape, painters tape, etc.) all around it to stop fraying.  That is one of my most used methods.  Sometimes when you take off the tape, you might pull some of the threads off too.  Another way to help stop fraying I borrowed from quilting.  When I do quilting and put on binding, I use the double fold method.  I use a similar method to either put fabric around my Aida cloth, a good use for leftover bits of binding, or fold the Aida cloth over twice and baste it.  This is the method I am using on this project.

I am using white DMC floss (three stands) because I have a cone of it so will not run out any time soon  Maybe even not in my lifetime.  I am using three strands so it will be strong and hold it in place.    When I get to my next step I'll take pictures and post here.

Eventually I will get my quilting Mojo back.  I forgot I had ordered some Happy Planner fabric until it arrived.  It is lovely and I'm keeping it safe until I figure out what I want to use it for.  There are

various ways to prepare your fabric. 

That's it for now.  I took time out to make a quick spinach, mushroom, and feta cheese salad but now it is time for me to get back to basting the Aida cloth.

I hope everybody has a great weekend.  I'll try to write more often.  Thanks for reading it.

HUGS!