A little bit of this and a little bit of that and a lot of overwhelmed

I have overcommitted. It's just that simple. Unfortunately, I thrive in an overcommitted situation. But, I don't enjoy it anymore. So, I'm trying to handle it differently, first by trying not to overcommit and second by trying to remain calm when I do.

Priority list:

-finish baby quilt

-quilt and bind church youth group raffle quilt

-finish curtains

-move out of and then into house...again!

-line up details to teach machine quilting class

-get ready for a business trip

-keep the chaos at work down to a minimum and try to enjoy being the expert instead of being annoyed at all the extra questions

-keep making jubilee blocks

But, before I get to work on any of that, I want to thank my friend Suzanne for this gift that came in the mail yesterday. Thanks so much Suzanne!!

Does the machine in that picture look like anybody we know?

I think it's an Eldredge or National, just like my Natalie Scarbrough. Or, maybe it's just a machine, waiting to be collected...aren't all vintage machines either collected or waiting to be collected? Thanks again. I have just the spot to hang it in.

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This next picture is the only thing I don't like about paper piecing. The waste. This whole pile is from one of the mariner's compass blocks. I tried and couldn't get even an inch and a half square out of any of it. I don't even know if it would be big enough for crumb piecing.

I am usually so frugal with my stash, but the only thing I can justify about this is that I have cut my waste down to just this. And, of course, there are strips left that will work their way into the scrap user's system. the only thing I could do with this is shred it and use it in pictorial quilting and I am not going there right now.

I wanted to show what was in pocket this morning. Those 8 olive green buttons have been in there since Monday when I cut them off the curtains. They've moved from one pair of pants to the next, until this morning, when I finally took them out. I'm going to miss those buttons. They made me feel like I had a little jingle in my pocket.

Who won yesterday's books??? Well, I had a flaw in my instructions, so I'm not going to get very specific on this one about how many entrants and which number drawn in case I misunderstood anyone's interest. I went with folks that didn't say they didn't want to be included (sorry about the double negative) and the random number selected made the winner Patricia O. in Canada!! Patricia, I know you read my blog every day, so shoot me your snail mail address and I'll get these posted.

And, here are the next three books. I don't hear very much from Nancy Zieman anymore, but when I was learning to quilt, she was very active, writing and teaching. I enjoyed both these quilting books very much. One is about machine quilting and is titled "Quilt it Quick" and the other is vintage patterns and is appropriately called "Very Easy Vintage Quilts".

And, you're laughing at the Complete Idiot's Guide to Quilting. That's fine. But, remember I'm self taught and I had to start somewhere and for a beginner, this book is packed with useful information. A lot of it is the basics, but it's a great resource for the basics. There are some patterns, and lots of instruction. And, I'll leave the bookmarks in it so you can see what the last thing I looked up was. It must have been important for me to bookmark it.

This is a giveaway for my followers, so please don't spread the word. It increases the chances that one of my followers that reads every day will win. This will correct yesterday's mistake; if you're interested, leave a comment and say specifically that you're interested in the books. If you don't say, then I won't consider you. I love comments and want everybody that doesn't need books to still comment without being worried that they'll win. If more than one person is interested, I'll random number generate for a winner again. You have to comment by 10am tomorrow. If you can help with postage, you'll have my return address when you get the books and that will make it easier to give away more books (and then maybe some stash?)

Everybody have a great Friday. My long list of priorities is glad that tomorrow is supposed to be rainy and wet. It limits what I can accomplish, which hopefully will make it easier to focus on what I need to accomplish.

Lane