Sunday, February 8, 2015

KEEPING UP THE FRUGAL (2/8/15)...

It has been a really bad, really crazy week here at the cottage.  More than I can go into right now.  Suffice it to say, I have been totally overwhelmed physically and emotionally and haven't been concentrating on "frugal" as much as I would like.  But I have accomplished a little bit.

I'm still doing the usual frugal things that have become a habit (turning off lights, quick showers, free toiletries, etc.).  Unfortunately, I haven't had the time to really "think" frugal...though some "making do" was definitely frugal in nature.  

Friday night a local shop was running a Quilter's UFO sew in.  The cost was only $5, which would be returned in the form of a gift card, and included dinner and snacks.  That was FRUGAL!  It was a sew-in from 6:00 PM to 11:30 PM.  Dear Hubby volunteered to take me and pick me up since he knows I usually turn into a pumpkin around 9:00, lol. 


I pulled out the FREE travel bag and matching toiletry case (not shown) that I got as a gift with an order from Woman Within.  I LOVE it.  The toiletry case holds all of my "notions" and there is still plenty of room for all kinds of fabric, etc.  


I took all of my "already cut" HSTs  (half-square triangles) in containers left over from takeout food.  I consider them FREE as most people would probably just toss them into the trash.  It was a great way to keep all of my HSTs separated and stacked right side of fabric facing up. 


By 10:00 PM I had finished the HST blocks (36) necessary to complete one "large block" of the quilt.  I even got some of them sewn together into rows.  My row markers are a pattern for "tea tags" that I found online.  The pattern was FREE and I printed out a bunch of them on a single sheet of card stock, cut them out, and used a hole punch to make an opening I could pin through.  They work GREAT to keep similar looking rows organized!

But, by ten o'clock I was BEAT.  I hurt too bad to continue and was so horribly fatigued I was glad Dear Hubby was picking me up.  I called him and asked him to come right away instead of at the end of the sew-in at 11:30. Bummer.  I was really having FUN and hated to leave.  Dang body...

One thing I DID forget to take with me? A thread catcher!  CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?  I sell the pattern for my Collapsible Craft Container on Craftsy...and I forgot to bring one with me to class! 


I got a few parts of the thread catcher sewn together today, but my hands are shaking too bad to continue.  I should have it completed before the next sew-in and will store it in my purple toiletry bag permanently!  I used stash fabric and old index cards to cut out the hexie papers.  They will never show, so it doesn't matter if they have writing on them.  I use magazine inserts and junk mail to make them, too.  Frugal. 

Yesterday Dear Hubby and I did some shopping at Target.  They had Tide on sale and it is the type of laundry detergent I usually use.  In addition to the good price, they were giving away a free Target gift card with the purchase of two.  Now that J is living here we will go through Tide even faster, so buying two was no problem.  Dear Hubby also picked up the tax program he needs to do our taxes.  That also had a free Target gift card with purchase.  So, I came home with much needed items, at good prices, and two $5 Target gift cards.  I'd say that is frugal, lol. 

I know there were a few other frugal things that I did over the past week, but my mind is too overloaded to remember them all.  No matter.  As long as I am TRYING to "frugal" I'm ahead of the game!

Toodles...





2 comments:

  1. I so wish that we had those kind of get togethers here. I think that having the support of others can help a person with their craft.

    Good work on the gift cards. Free money is great.

    God bless.

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    Replies
    1. Jackie, if you don't have a store that has those get-togethers for customers, do you have a quilt guild anywhere near you? I met several women at the sew-in who are members of the quilt guild at the 4H center down the road from my folks. One of the women even gave me her name and phone number and email addy so we can keep in touch. The guild is meeting next Friday and, God willing, I will go to pay my dues and join. It will be SO nice to get together with fellow quilters once a month...if not more, lol. It really IS my sanity...

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