True Stash Report Confessions

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It's been a long time and a lot of quilt shops since I've posted my stash report.  I wonder if I could write a song about that.  Wait a minute...the lyrics are coming to me.  (Strumming my guitar)

♫ ♪ I've got the stash blues
Cause I been needin' me some hues
And I couldn't hardly choose
But a quilter cannot lose
Now it's time to pay my dues
'Cause I've got the stash blues ♪♫

I think its coming along, don't you?  (Thanks to Denise for telling me how to make those musical notes.)

I'm trying to put off my stash report as long as possible.  It's too painful to think about.  I do loves me my new fabrics, however.  The only problem is that I've outgrown the bins I have to store it in.  I use those three-drawer plastic bins, and I'm going to have to add another one.  I think I can squeeze one more into my sewing space.  The trick will be not to buy even more fabric to fill it up.  Nature abhors a fabric vacuum, as I'm sure you know.

So before I get to that, I wanted to thank Vicki Welsh who blogs at Field Trips in Fiber for the beautiful bundle of her hand-dyed fabrics she sent me last month.  I won second place in the Weekly Quilting Gallery Contest with my Checkerboard Flowers quilt.

Thanks to all who voted for my quilt.  Vicki generously donated three fat-eighth bundles of her beautiful hand-dyed fabrics.  Here's a link to Vicki's Etsy Shop so you can see her fabrics.  I chose the Autumn colors.  Aren't these pretty?

She also sent a little sample of Misty Fuse, which is a product I haven't tried before.

Thank you, Vicki!  I love these fabrics and they will definitely be put to good use.

So aside from posting the September NewFO linky party, I haven't blogged in a couple of days.  It was nice to take a few days off.  In that time, I've unpacked the trailer, been to the grocery store, reorganized my sewing room, been to the Farmer's Market with Erik and Mae, and gotten a flu shot.  (You didn't see that last one coming did you?)  I had to go to Safeway to pick up a couple of things, and while I was there, I picked up my annual flu shot while I was at it.  

I didn't used to bother with flu shots, but now I'm old.  Plus, I was a social worker in a hospital ER.  When you work with sick people, you want to avoid getting what they've got at all costs.  And just look at how happy this woman is about getting her flu shot!  It just makes you want to run right out and get your own, doesn't it?

Since I've never had any problems with the flu shot, I just keep getting one every time I get the chance.  I'm telling you, it's the highlight of my year.  Yes, I do have a sad little life, but thanks to the flu shot, I've been fluless for a long time.  Which isn't the same as being clueless.  Which I often am.  Hm.  I wonder if the drug companies have any plans for a clue shot.

At the Farmer's Market yesterday, I picked up some delicata squash.  

It's a relative newcomer in the squash market (new to me, at least), and it's not always easy to find.  And when I do find it, it's often old and wrinkly.  Not that I have a problem with things being old and wrinkly, you understand.  After all, occasionally I have that problem myself.  Have you noticed how tangential I am today?  That's what happens when I don't write a blog post for a few days.  Words just come careening off of me in all directions.  Sometimes it's downright dangerous.

Erik and Mae are coming for dinner today, and I'm going to make a dish with the delicata squash.  I'll do a post about the dish I make to give you an idea what to do with it.  Maybe you'll want to try it.  That will be for later, however.

And speaking of vegetables, I did battle with the tomatoes in the greenhouse yesterday (although I think technically, tomatoes are a fruit).  Erik came up and picked tomatoes a week after we left on our trip.  Then the following week, our neighbor came and picked some more.  Yesterday, I picked these.

Yep, still no shortage of tomatoes.  And there are lots more coming.  The plants had grown so tall they were practically lifting the greenhouse off its foundation.  I really should have taken a picture of them, but I didn't have my camera with me.  It would have meant going inside to get it, but one of the tomato plants had me around the wrist and ankle, and I couldn't get away.  I had to use my light saber to escape, and in all the excitement, I just plain forgot.  You'll have to imagine what it must have looked like.  When all was said and done, I had a pile of tomato clippings about three feet high .  Never let it be said that a quilter was defeated by tomato plants.  And these will not defeat me either.  I'll be making salsa later in the week.  And more salsa next week, I imagine.

Okay, so about that stash report.  Here you go.  Read it and weep.

Fabric Used:  3 1/2 yards

Fabric Used in 2012: 117 yards

Fabric Purchased: 33 yards

Total Fabric Purchased in 2012:  125 3/4 yards

Net Stashed in 2012:  8 3/4 yards

Well, it's not as bad as I thought it might be, but it's the first time this year that I've been on the plus side of the inventory.  I guess there's still plenty of time to get back on the minus side before the end of the year.  Which means it's a good time to get sewing, don't you think?  But first, I'm baking an apple pie for dessert tonight.