Originally Posted by JoanneS

Great timing, because I just finished packing! For the first time in YEARS, I'm not sending boxes via UPS. I'm sort of cheating, because DH gave us both new suitcases for Christmas that are about TWICE as big as the old ones. We travel on Southwest, so we can check BOTH of them, so I'll be packing twice as much stuff as usual - hurrah.

Seriously, though, I've been doing this for about 10 years, and am finally pretty organized. I have sewing rooms, stashes and machines at both houses - and I used JoAnn coupons to buy as much as possible for them. I bought a fabulous Pfaff Creative Sensation this winter, which my dealer is shipping to my spring,summer,fall home. That's where I do the majority of my quilting & embroidery. I piece tops in my snowbird home and take them to the other home for quilting. I'm so lucky to have a great dealer in Tucson - lots of creative classes - including several 2 day Sit N Sews with well-known teachers. This year we had Sue Hausmann TWICE! and Steve Wilson of Anita Goodesign. And John Deer of John Deer designs. I go to these every year, learn a lot, have fun and buy stuff at discounted prices. 3/4 of what I'm taking in my suitcases is what I bought for my hobby! I don't have to pack clothes, because we have seasonal clothes in each house.

In each house, I always have a box labeled 'CT' or 'AZ' for the other house, and I put things in it as the months progress, so I don't forget to take them when I leave. I also write notes to myself about what I don't want to forget. It USUALLY works.

I have bought duplicates of some of my favorite quilt books at Bookman's, a great used book store in Tucson. You might be able to do that via Amazon or Ebay. Or you could copy pages you want to use instead of hauling the entire book back and forth.

During the year, I copy pages in my quilting magazines on my printer that I might use in the 'other' house.

I have printers & computers in both houses, and I carry a laptop & a portable hard drive back & forth. I back up quilt stuff and pictures on the PHD. Thank goodness - because we've had both desk tops die in the past year!