Stash Report and other Weighty Matters

Here is something I found on Facebook that I was pretty sure you would enjoy.  I shared it on my own Facebook page with the comment that they had left out the fabric one buys after enduring a mammogram...always an annual excuse to buy fabric in my book.  (Checking the rule book now.  Yep, right there on page 42.)

But I was very bad this week and I can't use my annual mammogram as an excuse.  My numbers are definitely going in the wrong direction.  On the positive side, it was all marked down.  I went into a local quilt shop because I had a coupon to buy one yard and get the second yard at half off.  Well, obviously, I wouldn't want to lose that half yard of free fabric, now would I?  Besides, I'm light on grays in my stash, so clearly I needed it.  Anyone knows that.  I'm pretty sure my life depended on it too.  I was feeling a little faint, so it was pretty much an emergency.

And this particular quilt shop has a great remnant bin.  I can't walk into the store without rifling through the remnant bin, and I always find something, or more than one something, that I like.  And, hey, it's 25% off, so it would be just crazy to pass it by, wouldn't it?  In fact, I noticed I was feeling a little, shall we say, jittery.  Who knows what might have happened if I hadn't given into the urge?

Oh yes, and then, I was just minding my own business and reading my email when I saw that one of the online shops had fat quarter bundles on sale.  Well, I'm always up for a good fat quarter bundle.  (See Fun Fact Friday Freebie.)  But this one was so cute that it went directly into my own stash.  You know how much I love polka dots.

You would have done the same thing, right?  So what's the bad news?  That's what you really want to know.  You probably stayed up all night wondering, I'll bet.

Fabric Used:  1 1/2 yards

Fabric Used in 2012: 113 1/2 yards

Fabric Purchased:  7 1/2 yards

Total Fabric Purchased in 2012:  92 3/4 yards

Net Used in 2012:  20 3/4 yards

Still some room for the quilt shops I plan to visit on our upcoming trip.  (Less than two weeks now!)

On today's agenda are a few little things.  I don't know if I'll get a chance to sew or not, but I'm definitely going to try.  First, though, Erik and I went to the Farmer's Market yesterday.  I ended up purchasing five pounds of Italian prune plums.

I have a tree, but it's showing every indication of breaking my heart again this year.  It has a lot of plums, but they shrivel and fall off the tree without every really ripening.  I think the tree is just too dry, although we've given it a lot of water.  In any case, I decided that this was my year for plum chutney since I've been holding onto my recipe for more than 20 years.  It's time, don't you think?  So that's what's on the agenda for today.

And then there are my darlings.  I think I have enough for another batch of sauce, and so that's what will probably happen tomorrow.  I need to weigh them.  My small-batch recipe takes 16 pounds of tomatoes.  If I don't have enough now, I will by tomorrow because they are ripening like crazy in the greenhouse.  

Oh, and look at this!  The indigo rose tomato has taken on a new hue.  It feels just slightly softer too.  It's still too hard to be ripe, but I think it's very close.  Can't wait to taste this baby.  This is the first tomato to appear on the plant, and there are dozens more.

Yesterday I finally started my NewFO for August.  I'm making a free pattern from Debbie Mumm I found on the internet.  It's called "Mumm's the Word" and it was created to celebrate 25 years of quilting.

Yesterday, I made the three house blocks.  

How are you doing on your NewFO projects?  Linky party goes up this coming Friday, August 31st.

And just to update you on the cat-tle, Gracie continues her vigil in the basement looking askance at her tiny tormentor  

even when he's paying no attention to her whatsoever.

So with that, I'm off.  Miles to go before I sleep.