I'm a traveling nurse and I carry 3 sewing machines and 2 boxes of "current" projects with me everywhere I go - of course all the rulers and threads go with me! Clothes are optional !!!

We just got back to Washington from Arizona. We have homes in both places (although our AZ home is much smaller than our WA home), so I have sewing machines in both homes so don't have to haul those. I decided I'm tired of hauling rulers back and forth so have doubled up on a couple of the larger ones. The biggest problem is fabric. It's gotten so expensive I hate to have to buy it whenever I need it. We have a plane and when we were packing it, we were getting a little too close to the weight limit, so a friend who is coming back to WA from AZ later than us said they would bring a couple of my tubs of fabric with them, thank heaven. Part of the issue I had this trip was that I and a group of my friend here at QB that do round robin quilts made a bunch of quilt tops for a kids camp here in Washington so I had about 10 quilt tops to bring home so I could quilt them in the next couple of months and get them to the camp this summer. Isn't that awesome that this great group helped me make charity quilts?

I think in the fall I will do as mentioned above by several people and plan a few projects and precut them. That should help a lot. It's impossible to figure out what you might possibly need in a six month stretch of time if you don't preplan, so guess I'll see how that works. Don't want to complain too much as I know how lucky we are to be able to get away from the cold here in Washington every winter.

LOTS.......usually bring along what I think I might need (and we all know how much we NEED).......and then when I get here, seems as though I need what I didn't bring along........so there goes the well laid plan.

I have more fabric going home with me than I brought down..but I do have mats and some notions that I leave in Florida until next winter.

there's no winning at this sewing game!!!!!

OMG, we just got back after 3 months in Poinciana, FL (Kissimmee). I'm still not done unpacking. Didn't get to practice my FMQ as much as I wanted to. This time, I took scraps, my light-weight machine, some rulers, and thread. I never even got to use my rulers. Also took more clothes than I needed but there's always the possibility that I may need them (you know how that is).

No one has yet mentioned the OTHER weird stuff we need to haul back and forth. Like 2 laptops, scanner, and printer (large), 2 waffle irons, mid-size food processor, etc. One year DH brought a bench grinder to sharpen his scissors.

Printers are so cheap, we just have one in each place. I got my Canon all-in-one for $79 and it works great. I do have to haul my laptop back and forth. It's always a mess with DH's computer stuff, cause he uses one of my old laptops in AZ and has a desktop here and it's always hard to coordinate what he needs when we change places. I am sure glad to just haul my laptop back and forth and not have to deal with that. Slowly but surely we are getting all the stuff we need in AZ from garage sales and thrift shops for the kitchen.

I was really paying attention to this thread. I went to Florida for 2 weeks in March and woohooooo Most people who go there buy souviners but me..........hmmmmmmmmmmm I bought those PLUS a mobile!!! OMG I'm so excited. It's in Sarasota. So I guess I can only do a month a year til I retire - then I'll join the Snowbird group!!!!

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!

I bring projects that I need to be forced to finish....... as well as my featherweight and basic tools. That leaves plenty of room for the fabric I buy while down there!!

Just spent my first winter (2 months) in the motor home traveling in Jan/Feb. i took my sewing machine and enough strips to make a kind sized log cabin. funny thing was that I had such a good time seeing the country that I never took out my sewing machine--even once! I will bring it along next year, but want to just keep a simple project--if I chose to sew. I keep the more complicated patterns for when I am home.