nilla-- you are welcome at any time and all the time! misery loves company, the more the merrier, and we have strength in numbers! i refuse to organize! the only way i can justify to myself getting new stuff is to not know how much i have of the old stuff! seriously, i am trying to shop my stash only. i know in august i will be spending money on fabric for a kingsize star quilt for my son and ddil. i know he would be happy with sewn together dishtowels, but she will want something more decorative i'm sure. she doesn't know what colors she wants because she doesn't have any color schemes-- with the exception of the baby's room being pink. it is a new and different world, and i'n trying to find my place in it~ she had seen a scenic quilt and thought she wanted that. but when i showed her a star quilt she became ecstatic, which is what i thought she was talking about to begin with. but the last laugh is on me since i have never done a star quilt. but as a wise, not so old woman told me, nanci, it's all hst's. lol, she's right!!

And here I am again, showing up with the hang-dog look because I ordered more fabric. It started with a DP9 from bald eagle squares for my BIL who loves those birds but I didn't have enough. So I found a panel (and a pillow panel and another panel because I couldn't decide) and then I looked at their new arrivals. Wouldn't you know it that they just got some Peanuts fabric in. OH THE SHAME OF IT. But I just kept putting stuff in my basket. It felt so good. Even paying wasn't painful. I truly am in trouble.

I'm beginning to think we don't suffer from insanity, we enjoy every minute. So far this weekend, I have been good. Considering I havn't been to a garage sale or to a fabric store not quite sure how much credit I can take.

Martina, do you have enough eagle fabric? Sounds like you must all set. I haven't been to the store for my 1/2 yard of red. I'm not brave enough to go in with such a good sale yet.

what store? where?

sales? Discounts? Coupons? Lets go nancia!!

Boy are you my kind of people! I've been better being on this thread. But better isn't perfect. But I think twice or even three times before I buy something. And more times than the past, I don't buy. Thanks for the help and increased awareness of my buying habits.

I went fabric shopping yesterday, my last time without thinking carefully about how much I really "need" to buy. Surprise, I went over my monthly budget by about 20$ in a matter of a few hours, but I'm pretty sure I have the fabrics I need for any projects I will work on between now and Christmas so I'm satisfied.

I'm in a fabric moratorium starting now!

I was asked this week to make a quilt for my best friend's niece, who is due to be born Thanksgiving. Well I have enough materials to make a car seat quilt like I made for my boyfriend's nephew, ironically out of the same fabric line. I fear that I don't have enough matching for the additional items she's asked me to make last night. I recently got this book, Adorable Animal Applique (http://www.anniescatalog.com/detail.html?prod_id=100528), and she's asked me to make a lot of the safari items in the book. This means shopping! I haven't even started looking yet. You all know by now that's dangerous for me.

I spent yesterday looking for a new sewing machine. Mine has started skipping stitches, and the trip to the doctor didn't help it. It'll be 22 years old this winter, so it's done its duty. I think I've narrowed it down to 2 machines:

Singer 9960 Quantum Stylist (http://www.amazon.com/SINGER-9960-Qu...dp/B004RDH7Y8/)

Brother SE400 (http://www.amazon.com/Brother-SE400-...dp/B003AVMZA4/)

They both have their benefits, and part of me wants the ability to do small embroidery projects without having to rely on my boyfriend's best friend's wife. Of course, because she has an embroidery machine, he says I don't need one. However, because it does embroidery, you only get 23 actual decorative stitches, which I actually use when I make placemats and mug rugs. The Singer has 600 stitches, but over half of them are the 5 fonts for the monogramming function and 13 are automatic buttonholes, which I won't use enough to say so. Neither have a large throat though. I don't want a $1000 machine, and haven't found one that they give the price for online below that price that I like. Our local "sewing center" (we don't have a LQS) sells machines, and anytime you go in there for anything (including the time I went in there for some buttons to match something I already had), they try to sell you a machine, which drives me nuts. I only go in there for them to work on my machine or something specific. They specialize in embroidery machines, machine repair, and machine consumables (needles, bulbs, etc.), so they don't have much in the way of quilting supplies & fabrics. Anyway, that's where I'm at, leaning toward the Singer unless something else catches my eye.

I have seen lots of bad comments on the Singer machine recently. Not sure if it was this forum or another one. There seems to be a 6 month life span with this machine if I remember correctly. May be worth doing a bit more research for you.

As for the safari patches - I'd have to go shopping for those too. Not too much animal print in my stash. Have you checked Keepsakequilting.com? They usually have animal type prints - a bit pricey but a nice selection.