Change of Plans

I was feeling lazy, grubby, and uninspired (and my hair was pretty bedraggled, in need of a shampoo). I was going to punt going to my second Saturday of the Month Amador Valley Quilters guild September meeting. Spending a week dutifully adding binding, labels, and hanging sleeves can lead to a decline in enthusiasm. See my previous post. But I had four block-of-the-month blocks I needed to turn in and about a 3" stack of magazines I wanted to drop off at the exchange table. In keeping with my goals and struggles to declutter and pare down, I did want to get these items out of my sewing room. I confessed to my husband I was going to sneak in late, surreptitiously drop off the items, miss most of the business part of the meeting, and be prepared to duck out early if I was not smitten with the speaker. To accomplish this I would try to blend into the audience unnoticed.

Then my friend texted me, cheerily asking if I would like to ride with her. She reminded me that there was a social and a fabric sale an hour before the start of the meeting. Dang! I'd forgotten. I was generally trying to have less volume in the house but it is always fun to just look. And a social might be a nice opportunity to sit and chat. I said yes. Then I scurried to jump in the shower, wash my hair, and change to some less grungy clothes. I did not look as good as Rapunzel from Tangled but ... whatever.

At the social I had a good time, ate a few too many sweets, and talked so much my mouth was a bit dry. And I did buy a few items. Fortunately the sale was run as a mystery, lots of brown bags labeled with extremely discounted prices and just a hint at what was inside such as "paisley and friends" or "pansies". I figured I had enough mystery bags in my sewing room, contents unknown or temporarily forgotten, so I did not need to add to them, no matter how little they cost. 

I did however buy a sealed box for $2 enticingly labeled with "feel me" and I thought I could add that to my stash for future burp cloths. 

After purchasing it, I peeked inside. It contained two fat quarters of a black "cabin in the woods" themed flannel, two fat quarters of a red flannel, and 1½ yards of a neutral beige flannel. All were appropriate for burp cloths. I could snazz up the beige flannel by pairing it with some brighter, busier print ½ yard pieces from my stash or I could match it with the red and black options already enclosed. But there were 2½ yards of flannel there for $2 - enough for five burp cloths ... enough for eight burp cloths once I pair it with brights I already have in my stash. Not bad! There was also an odd shaped section of floral blue/peach flannel yardage which was double width and ~½ yard long. That may just find itself re-gifted on a giveaway table at my other guild. No picture of the floral flannel. I may want to remain anonymous with that one.  

I also picked up two patterns that were labeled as free, but I was a big spender and donated $1 for them. I have a penchant for United States flag patterns. I liked the way those Ohio Stars were camouflaged in among the red and white flying geese stripes. They also cleverly help fool the eye into thinking it knows which direction those flying geese are really flying! The other pattern gave me an idea on how to use border prints. This opened my mind up. A border print or broad stripe does not have to run parallel to the borders. Cutting it across the stripe can give a pleasing twist, also. Another perk is that no one needs to turn his head sideways to view the critters or text in the borders, something that bugged me a bit. The central blocks were intricate enough to be interesting, too.

Once in the meeting I retrieved a packet of 20 blocks that I had won from a previous month's block of the month. Here are four laid out to show the secondary pattern that forms with the bright batiks and white on white background.

During the meeting, the drawing for September's block of the month was held and the winner was announced ... lucky me, again. I now have 16 adorable striped pumpkin blocks. I definitely went home with more than I came with!

After the meeting, I was invited to join my friend and three other guild members for an early dinner. I accepted. My quick and dirty plan to zip out for about an hour turned into a lovely afternoon from noon to after 5:00 pm. I was glad I went. I end with a quote from Mark Twain.

Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do
 than by the ones you did do.

Updating this post to link to Let's Bee Social #194.