34 Months Until Debt Free

Roger and I are working diligently on becoming debt free.  We have 34 months left until everything is paid off including our mortgage.  We are so committed to getting this done.  As part of my commitment I am limiting myself to $20 per month to spend on quilting. 
Granted I don't need anything at this point in time.  I am sure that I have enough fabric in my stash to keep my sewing for several years.  Just a thought.........I wonder just how long I could go without buying any additional fabric?????.........scary thought to not buy any fabric.  But.....I do have a lot of fabric already purchased.  I learned just how much fabric I have in stash while making the pillowcases for Shriner's.  You really can't tell that I used any fabric from my stash and most of the fabric for the 128 pillowcases came from my stash!  So my goal now is to use what I have for projects and see how much I can depleat from my stash.
Until later....
Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Binding Trick

Here is a tip that I come up with recently.  If your machine has a knee lift you can use it to hold your binding on a roll while you sew it onto a quilt.  It keeps the binding in check and doesn't wind up all over the floor and tangled up.

Give it a try, you'll love it.
Hope you have a great day quilting,
Shelia

Halloween Quilt

I finally got my halloween quilt on my bed.  My cat was sooooo happy to have her favorite quilt to sleep on.

I used the Turning 20 pattern years ago to make this from halloween fabrics that I had collected over the years.  I used the leftover scraps to make matching pillowcases.  It is queen size and so snuggly warm for the fall weather.
Happy Quilting,
Shelia

Pillowcases for Shriner's Hospital Greenville SC--Goal Accomplished and Then Some!!

I am so thrilled to announce that we have exceeded my original goal of making 100 pillowcases for the children of Shriner's Hospital here in Greenville.  We have 128 pillowcases!! 

Thanks to my mother, my bee girls and several of my quilt guild members for helping me accomplish this goal.  The children are going to be so thrilled when they reach into their Christmas stockings and pull out their own special pillowcase.   We have cases with Mickey Mouse, GI Joe, cats, dogs, ducks, baseball, football, hockey, soccer, mice, flowers, geometric designs and so many wonderful bright colors.  It is exciting to see them all.

Hope that you are enjoying the cool fall weather and spending some time quilting.
Happy quilting,
Shelia

Weigh In Time

I weighed on the morning of my surgery and today I stepped back on the scale and to my surprise I have lost 8 1/2 pounds.  YooWhoo!!!  It seemed impossible since everything I ate seemed to be high calorie, ice cream, milk shakes etc.  Oh well, I am tickled pink.  I am sleeping so much better and feel rested. 
I return to work tomorrow and it is going to be a full week. 
I got my president's quilt trimmed, the fabric washed, cut and pressed for the binding.  Hopefully sometime today I can sew the binding onto the quilt and begin whipping it down. 
Hope you have a great week of quilting.
Shelia

Life Is Good!

I finished quilting my president's quilt yesterday right before the bee girls came over to play. 

Now I am trimming up the top so I can put the binding on today.  YooHoo another UFO out of my pile.
I donated another UFO top to our guild's philanthropy last night.  It was a block of the month that I did in 1994 that I couldn't stand looking at any longer.  I just didn't like the quilt or colors that I used back then.  They are going to have it quilted and someone will really love getting it as their habitat for humanity quilt.  So I guess I got two projects out of my UFO pile yesterday.
The bee girls came last night and we had a blast working on projects.  I'm working on completing my cathedral window quilt so it can be in next years quilt show and out of my UFO pile.  It has been my travel project since 2000.  It has been all over the mainland United States, Canada, Hawaii and Carribean.  I have purchased fabrics everywhere for this project and incorporated them into the windows.  I will be glad to see it completed and take up another travel project. 
It is a beautiful day here today, cool breezes with leaves falling off of the trees.  Fall is definately in the air. 
Happy Quilting,
Shelia