I hink the best bargain I found for sewing was over 3 yards of a lovely large rayon check fabric. I simply hemmed it and turned it into a tablecloth for spring. It was $1!

Another find - not associated with quilting - was an applebox full of yarn: teal, fuscia, brown, black, and some white. There was also a few skeins of sweater yarn. I used everything but the sweater yarn to crochet a REALLY long (7 foot) stripey sofa blanket last winter. My husband loves it. Our calico has figured out that if she sits on it, she can have all 7 feet to herself and not have to share with the people. :-o

Quilting-wise, I found some really great notions, velvets, lace, and obscure patterns at an estate sale. I got 5 yards of lace for $3, 6 yards of plush velvet (the really high quality rayon kind) for $5 and a box of assorted notions like binding, hem tape, uphosltery needles, etc. for $1. My husband couldn't believe it when I walked in saying I wasn't going to buy anything and I blew a $10 bill. :)

Norah, Your sewing room sounds awesome. I have a very small sewing room but hopefully will be able to switch it to a larger room soon.

I love garage sales, I bought 4 sewing mac hines, lots of patterns, and sewing notions. At the thrift store I got a sewing machine and some good quilt books amd mags. At the church sale I got old blankets to put in quilts. alady from a missionary church give me old holey jeans for quilts. wow it is a lot when I write it down. fun finding bargins.

Hi everyone . The best garage sale item I've gotten is a 48"x72" homemade cutting table. It has drawers on each end & is a folding table. It is wonderful & I got it for $25!!! I've had it since Aug. & I've gotten my moneys worth out of it already. It's perfect. I also found some sewing notions for $1 the same day at a different stop. I don't usually go to sales but they had a subdivision sale that Sat. & I had a ball. This is the first time I've been on this quilting board. I had just started using the live chat. So hello to all, I've enjoyed reading all of your listings.

Peggy, your comment that you have a spare berom with guests that stay until spring had me wince. That is just too long!! Then you said the quests were not human and I had to agree that anyone who stayed that long was monstrous. Then you said they were a bug and I had to laugh - it took me that long to realize you weren't talking about mooching house guests. It made me laugh.

I don't think that any of us can beat your travel trailer sewing room. That sounds great.

Garage sales, church rummage sales, and thrift stores are where I have obtained most of my large stash of fabric. When word got out that I make quilts, friends started bringing me sacks and boxes of their scraps. One young woman must have given me her whole stash. While helping her pack up her stuff to move to her new husband's home, the woman's mother saw a stack of fabric that the younger woman had bought for crafts that were never even begun. The mother said, " Either take that stuff with you, or give it away. You are not leaving it here!" Well, she elected to give it away, and I was the lucky recipient.

My husband's not so sure about the "lucky" part. He took a look at the stacks of boxes of fabric in my sewing room and said, "Enough already." Now I only go to the garage sales within walking distance, That way, I get my daily exercise and can only buy what I can carry home.

There has to be some way to if not get rid of the bugs totally to at least tame them a bit. Maybe you could teach them some tricks :-o . Have you done any research on organic bug repellants I've found Wikipedia very useful in many different areas and about.com seems quite usefull as well! I lived for a time in the migration path of moths and I know what you mean. I think I'd rather have had lady bugs myself. Moths leave a mess on the walls.!yuk

Lady bugs leave messes, too. and to add to the mess, the things STINK! They absolutely smell awful. If you smash one or something! It is awful.
They get in the tiniest spaces, and if one gets in, a thousand or two get in. They get under the siding on houses and "hide". THey seem to just be able to squeeze right through solid walls. They turn up in even the most sealed-in places!
They are truly an awful pest. I would take the stinkers over the wasps. I'd probably take the moths over the stinkers, though. If you suck the stinkers up in a vacuum, it makes the whole house smell like lady bugs from the vacuum blowing!
We don't have them too bad, here. My Mom gets them worse!

really I had no Idea that lady bugs were such stinkers. I'm going to do a little research and see if someone has a secret lady bug repellant. :?:

Hi Becky i lived in FT Wayne Ind. for 6 yrs.i was bonn in MT. Bayou Miss.raised in Oklahoma City, Okla.and husb was relocated to FT Wayne and i love it there so now we're back in Okla. City.

Annette