Catching Up

This is the colored pencil roll from Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. This project was fun to make. It is not difficult but it is time consuming. Of course the one in the book is made from all kinds of funky and fun fabrics. Mine is made from my stash, 70s-90s quilting cottons. Well maybe I had a bit of this century in there too! LOL This is part of a gift for my best friend Shelley. It went along with a 12" square graph paper pad for planning quilts. I put together a "get quilting" kit for her with all kinds of goodies in it, but this was the most fun.

The kids thought this was really cool, so I think I will make them one for their crayons. I found a free tutorial that looks really cute. It uses rick rack and since I have some from my Grandma Hopkins, that would be fun.

Right now I am sorting through my fabric stash. I am reorganizing and sorting. This blogger shows a great way to fold your fabrics, which I believe she got from this book, which I want to try and get through our library. It does make the fabric much tidier and I am reorganizing my banker's boxes and trying to slim down my stash! I need to get sewing this year and use up some of my stash so that when it is time to move, I will have less to move!

Catching up is the theme around here though. It seems like everything is behind and in the wrong spot and I have been more exhausted this year than after any other Christmas. Each year we try to keep it really simple, but we can't control everything. Even our anniversary was an exhausting and hectic day and we had a horrible meal out as a family. Doesn't it just get you when you spend extra to eat out and then you get horrible food. We were so hungry for good Mexican food, but the search for a decent Mexican restaurant around here continues.

One thing I am planning to do to refresh this weekend is spend some time breaking in my new Bible (mine is navy). I know it's crazy but I have had teh worst time with my eyes lately and wanted this large print to read at night and at church so that I don't have to concentrate so hard. In all the hectic rush of the last month, I haven't had as much time in the Word as I like to spend and I am feeling weary and hungry.

The Butterfly Shawl awaits me and begs to be finished so that Carissa can get it published. It promises to be beautiful. In the meantime for mindless knitting I have been knitting some garden themed dishcloths. Not very exciting but I am waiting for this migraine to disappear. When it's gone, I will tackle the lace.

Do all of you have a lot of UFOs sitting around? I certainly do, both in quilting, sewing and knitting. I would like to get some of them finished up this year. I hate having them hanging over my head and taking up what precious little storage room I have. How do you keep motivated with your UFOs?