New Year-New Craft

As many of you know, I've been a knitter, crocheter, tatter for many years and have in the past five years learned how to spin (still learning) and weave (very basic).  I am motivated this year to develop my spinning and weaving skills to more than just the basics.

However, I have always had a fascination with quilting.  I remember as a young girl watching the older ladies sitting around a large quilting frame in Mrs. Darden's house.  Mrs. Darden was a woman that as a young girl came with her parents to Oklahoma for the land run.  The quilting frame belonged to her mother.  The ladies in the neighborhood would sit around this quilting frame talking,  laughing and gossiping while lovingly hand stitching these beautiful works of art.  I loved watching them hand stitch those quilts.  When Mrs. Darden died, my mother inherited the lovely quilting frame and still has it to this day.  With any luck, mom will remember that I want to inherit the quilting frame as well.

So this year, I decided that I wanted to make a small lap quilt.  I found that Craftsy had a free Quilt Block of the Month class and immediately signed up for it.
  http://blog.craftsy.com/2011/12/craftsy%E2%80%99s-block-of-the-month-with-amy-gibson/

Little did I know that quilting tools are a little expensive let alone how much the cost of cotton had  gone up.  Wow, I really haven't  spent much quality time with my sewing machine in a very long time.   But, being the typical, money conscious working housewife, I started coupon shopping for my tools.   My local thrift shop has lovely cotton fabric in 1/2 yard bundles for as little as $1.99 and if I go on Thursday, I get 25% off with their discount coupon.  Who would have thought that a  thrift store could offer a discount coupon.  Yep, I am cheap woman. 

In addition, I was extremely excited to find that many of the local craft stores offer 50% off coupons for any single item in the store.   First item, self-healing cutting matt.  Thank you A.C. Moore for the 50% off-normally $22.95, mine for only $10.59 including sales tax.  Savings $12.36.  Even better, I got another 50% off coupon at the register for my "next visit". 

So with a little patience, loads of coupon shopping and carefully monitoring my craft budget, I plan on finishing the quilt by the end of the year.  Sure, I could probably go out and buy all the supplies at one time and pay full price; but, I really want to see how much money I can save.  So happy New Year and Happy Crafting to all of you.  Till next time.

P.S.  Yes, I will send photos of progress.
P.S.S.  Yes, I still plan on knitting my adorable hubby a pair of socks for each month of the year-can't give up the knitting addiction totally.

Sister Secrets

When my sister and I were very young mothers we shared secrets. Like all secrets, ours required that we be quick-witted, stealthy, and have above-average smarts.

My sister's secret was hiding the pages of the phone bill before the hubby noticed all of the collect calls. You see, the collect calls were from her sister who was in crisis at the time and no matter what the time of day or night, she accepted those phone calls. As a result, many pages of the phone bill magically disappeared. To this day, I can visualize her dashing home to meet the mailman before her hubby arrived to snatch the bill out of the mail box. I'm sure that eventually we were found out.

Our other secret was our secret crocheting pattern addiction. We had a favorite store that sent out catalogs each month with the cute new patterns. We would save up our money, split the cost, mail in our order (yes this was prior to the internet) and wait for the goodies to arrive. Once that cherished bundle arrived in the mail it was off to the photocopier, the yarn store and then a little quality time with those patterns, the yarn and my sister.

This memory came to me the other day when I stumbled upon one of those bundles of photocopied patterns from long ago. It brought back so many fond memories and the simple pleasure of having a sister to share secrets.

Psst....don't tell.

Thanks to Mom

I have to thank my mom for my addiction to knitting. Little did she know during that Campfire Girl meeting when she had that small group of girls with sharp pointy sticks and yarn, that she would plant the seed of obsession in me.

I remember being so uncoordinated that I held the right needle between my knees and used the left needle to make the stitches. And casting on wasn't a skill I learned until many years later when I took the art back up. It was only one project (house shoes I believe) but it planted a seed that has lasted a lifetime.

It's funny, I don't ever remember seeing my mother knit again. It could have been that the stress of dealing with that many young ladies was too much. Or maybe I just didn't see her knitting. I do remember her crocheting and I seem to recall that one time she told me that knitting made her too tense.

So, thanks mom for giving me a lifetime of enjoyment. Mom, I realize that you probably don't even know what an influence this knitting lesson had on my life. You probably don't know that knitting was my stress reliever when life was knocking me around a bit; you didn't now that knitting allowed me the joy of giving a simple gift to those I loved; knitting got me through the some of the worst days of my life. Knitting is my therapy and I owe my sanity to my little knitting lesson from my mom.

A Stitch A Day Keeps the Doctor Away

Fiber addicts, I mean those of us who have a stash of wool, yarn, etc hidden in the closet, attic and basement, really understand how fiber can keep us healthy.

There is absolutely nothing that can ground you more than a few minutes spent knitting, crocheting, spinning or tatting......you immediately become centered on the project....all outside thoughts seem to disappear and for that short period of time you are only working with the fiber. The tactile sensation of the fiber through your fingers, the smell of the wool all work to bring you back to you true self.

Yep, a stitch a day keeps the doctor away.