Thursday, August 31, 2006

The Last Day of August


This is the finished one hour quilt -- I had to throw it over the porch railing lengthwise to get the picture. Guess those lighter blue squares do stand out -- but I still like it. I like it enough to keep for myself, but I may give it as a Christmas gift.

This is the last day of August. Also it would have been my dad's 89th birthday -- he died 13 years ago. He was a great dad and I miss him, but only have one regret and that is that he didn't get to see our log home being built -- he would have loved to have been here for that. He spent all the years of his retirement taking care of my mom, who had Alzheimer's, but he never complained once. Now that was true love -- it was a long haul. Happy Birthday, Dad.

On to the saga of the car: Service Manager calls me today to tell me they have to order parts -- that indeed the transmission is leaking. Good news is that they will be paying for this fix, bad news is, because of the holiday the parts probably won't be there until Tuesday, so I will be without a car. I could borrow one from the dealer if I needed transportation, but we have Bill's truck, so really don't need it. That said -- you know I normally wouldn't need the car this whole time, but as soon as he said it wouldn't be ready today I thought of all kinds of places I wanted to go! vbg Then I decided I could just as well spend the entire four days + quilting and catching up on things around the house -- it's all in the attitude! I did have Bill drive me to the bank to pay our real estate taxes that are due tomorrow and hopefully that will be the extent of "having" to go anywhere.

So - back to the end of August. I can't remember if I finished any ufo's other than the 1 hour quilt this month -- don't think I did. I have been working on Briana's Christmas gift -- the twin quilt with all the appliqued flower blocks. I did buy fabric, so not very good on the No Fabric Challenge. I did make 3 baby quilts and used stash for two of them.

For September through December I've decided to give myself a "Quilting Budget" of $50 a month. This will include anything quilty -- including books, which is my downfall. If I have to, I can borrow from the next month, but I really would rather save up for something from month to month. I am going to keep track of every penny. This is just a fun challenge for myself -- I'm not going to make myself crazy with it!

Gratitudes:
1. The car is not going to cost us anything -- yippee!
2. A beautiful late summer day with a nice breeze.
3. Cleaning the house so that I can have 4 free days to sew.

14 comments :

Hedgehog said...

That's so funny! I was just thinking of setting myself a $50 limit - and want to save some from that to have a queen top sent out. :) Good luck to us both!

Doodlebug Gail said...

I love how your quilt turned out. It has been so nice to watch everyone's progress and to see all the different fabrics.

Happy Birthday to your Dad ..... did you have cake in his honor?

Quilts And Pieces said...

Oh Joanne it turned out beautiful! I really love it!

Melanie said...

Your quilt turned out beautiful. You did an awesomejob. The borders really bring out the colors. I like the monthly budget idea for quilt spending.
Melanie

quiltpixie said...

I didn't do the no buy challenge, but set myself a $40 limit for August. It was a great way to go! I could still get the "really need/want" but I did cut down the trip to the fabric store when I had nothing better to do on lunch hour and stuff as I'd remember that I had no money left to spend :-) I'd caution about borrowing money from the month to come -- let yourself "save money" from one month to the next to allow for bigger purchases if you need...

Silverthimble said...

I think the bright blue bits sparkle on this quilt like stars in the clear night sky. I love them. I like your idea of a quilting budget. Much more practical that a quilt fabric fast!

Evelyn aka Starfishy said...

Happy birthday to your Dad - it sounds like he was a very caring person.

I like the blue bits of sparkle in your quilt - go ahead and keep it for yourself if you like it! I like Jeanne's idea of having seasonal quilts and rotating them - I have to work on that plan!

Cheers!

Evelyn

McIrish Annie said...

Joanne, i'm with you. My dh wanted to go to new hampshire for the weekend but with ernesto sending rain our way, i have convinced him to hang out at home.

He doesn't know that my secret agenda is to get the house cleaned on Saturday ( which I want him to help with)*vwg* and quilt sunday and monday, (I don't need his help with that)*vbs*.

hope both of our weekends are productive quilty-wise.

Eileen said...

Have a great weekend, Joanne. Glad the car won't cost anything and that you can get in some quality quilty time.

Libby said...

Good luck with the auto repair. It is difficult to be without wheels even when you really don't need them.
I really like your 1 hour quilt -- who am I kidding, I really like them all *s*

Bonnie said...

Your one-hour quilt looks great. I love that punch of light blue. It gives it a sparkle. Good job!

Mary Johnson said...

I think this is one of my favorite versions. Mine is going to be all pink so it won't be as interesting but I'll get to do the 1 hour quilt AND make a quilt for Quilt Pink.

Shelina said...

I like your quilt. The blue adds sparkle.
Happy birthday to your Dad.
Glad that your car won't cost you any bucks. More money for quilting. I do that too - I hardly go anywhere, but when the car is not available, that's when I want to go everywhere.
Quiltpixie had a budget for herself. I think that works better than cold turkey.

MARCIE said...

Your Shoo Fly quilt turned out great! I like using two colors in the borders. All your applique flowers are great also. Nice going!