Frugal Friday

It's Friday once again, seems like yesterday it was Friday and I was telling you about being close to the finish line with all of my quilt projects.  Well, in total disregard to my frustrations working on the Entwined border for my best friends quilt, I confess I finally discovered the error and why it just wouldn't come together.  It takes much longer for me to clue in to my own silly mistakes, but clue in I finally did.  The border must be divisible evenly by 3 and my dimensions just were not so divisible.  I wasn't willing to change the center and add more fabric sash to make it so because in my eye it would not have looked right, so, finally in defeat of my own personal challenge I abandoned that border idea and will keep the pieced borders for another quilt which will have the correct dimensions for the border.  Instead I put plain borders on this quilt and if you ask me it looks 100% better than what I thought it looked like with the entwined border.  Looking back I can now see the planned border made the quilt extra busy and took away from the center Irish Chain design, now with the plain borders, the center speaks for itself and the top looks decent and more polished.  Finally it is with the Long Arm Quilter now and once it is quilted and returned to me I will snap a picture of it and let you see the finished quilt.  I wasted two whole days on this challenge and in the end had to admit defeat.  All is not lost however, I still have the pieced borders and the top looks so much better.  Have you ever had to abandon an idea for a piecing project? If you have, what did you do about it?  Did you abandon the idea or did you make it to the finish line? 27 sleeps until I board that airplane and head off on my vacation, can you tell I am beginning to get excited?  There are still so very many appointments and chores that need doing before I leave, at least that is what my TO DO LIST shows me, not as much crossed of as I once anticipated.  Isn't that always the way of it though?  My fellow Lions Club members and I were to take the Retirement Home residents out boating and a visit to the Kenney Inn at Jones Falls for ice cream and picture taking, 

but, due to the extreme heat conditions of yesterday we have postponed it to take place on a more suitable day when it isn't near as hot.  If that should happen before my vacation date arrives I will gladly post pictures, I know appointments were switched around to accommodate this trip by some of the seniors, but it simply cannot be helped, better we don't have to deal with heat stroke or heart problems while out on the water, better to wait until the weather is cooler and much safer.
I ordered the June Taylor "Shape Cut" ruler and cannot wait for it to arrive at my local quilt store.  I see what I do when using only the Omni grid 12 X 6 ruler and it isn't pretty, some of my cuts are great, but some still have a wow in them and that irritates me as I am sure it would you, and having the perfect cuts would speed up the piecing process as well, don't you think?  So hurry up delivery person, I really would love to have that cutting device.
Since I am taking all those quilts with me to Holland and these are all finally finished, I thought seeing as I will have late evenings and early mornings time to myself without a huge project still left undone, I would make some seat belt and car seat belt covers.  Seems like a nifty little gift to throw in with the quilts.  I made these last year for the vendors market during the Lyndhurst Turkey Fair and sold out completely.  I enjoy going each September and regrettably I will miss the beautiful Quilt Show this year. These are such a neat project, small enough to do quickly and nice enough to give away without taking up much space in the suitcase.  We have some awesome quilters in our region. 
As for frugality, well this being the end of the week, and a Friday, it seems like the right time to declare fabric buying off limits for me.  When I saw what remains of my stash I just had to make myself a promise not to buy another bit of fabric, not one piece for any reason whatsoever until this is gone, more than likely it will take 3 to 5 years give or take a few months to use it up, but, then there are the bins with scraps in them too, who knows how long this will take, but, if I want a new sewing machine and a Tin Lizzie frugal is what I will have to be.  I will have to make a HUGE SIGN that says "NO MORE FABRIC PURCHASES"!  Well it's a resolution of sorts, help me stick to it PLEASE?  If I don't I won't fit into the sewing room anymore!  
For the moment, thanks for stopping by, here is hoping I hear from some of you, sometimes I wonder about who it is that visits, why not say hello and allow me to get to know you better.  No matter where you live in this beautiful planet keep cool, stay safe and enjoy the upcoming weekend, I know I will.