Have my cake and eat it too.

I am really bad about wanting that. I so badly want to get to do something, while at the same time do something else that is mutually exclusive.

For example, I want to eat root beer floats, made with creamy blue bell ice cream, but I also want to lose weight. Ain't happening.

Another example is to be able to compromise on things with the kid, but still be able to tell her when to go to bed. Well, actually, that one is happening. But making the occasional compromise makes her think she can strike a deal on anything.

But, the one that comes up the most is wanting to use a beautiful piece of fabric and also wanting to save it for another project.

I faced that one last night. I want to make a small quilt I saw in a magazine as a practice piece for some really fancy quilting. I need the practice and the fancy quilting is exactly what I want to get better at, and this project is the ideal opportunity. It's made of four 12 inch blocks and you quilt a beautiful feather on each block and then do the background quilting around it to fill the whole space in with very intricate work. It's a pattern I got a few years ago and as I started to work more and more on the fancy work, it's something I remembered and wanted to do. But, the magazine got lost in the chaos of the sewing room and just recently resurfaced when I was poking around for a quilting magazine that takes me more than 10 minutes to flip through and toss to the side (out of boredom, but that's a rant for another blog post.) Anyway, there's plenty of space I can fill in that $5 quilt I assembled this weekend so I want to practice my free motion and then get that one in the machine.

So, I pulled out an off white and a beige and cut out my 12 1/2" squares. As I was cutting the beige piece, I realized that all that tight quilting is going to overdraw any print there is to the fabric, so basically, that beautiful piece of fabric is going to be wasted.

Then, the angel on the other shoulder reminded me that if I quit work and did nothing but sew, I'd never, ever, ever, not in a million stitches use up all the fabric I have stored.

So, I need to get over it!

But, it's still a shame to waste something pretty. Maybe I'll make my practice quilt using a green. I have lots more green fabric than beige and I can use an ugly print because all that's going to be left of the fabric is a color.

Or, I could just get over it and use what I already have cut. But, then I won't get to save that for another project.

Maybe I've just figured out why so many quilters have so much stash stored away. We all want to eat cake...just not our pretty cake.

Take care and have a great Monday. I'm working my rear end off trying to make up for last Friday off. But, hey, it had to be done. Nobody wants a crazy man running around with sharp scissors and if I didn't take time off, that's exactly what I'd be.

Lane