Merry Christmas to all ... and to all a good night!

Oh, dear, I knew I hadn't felt good this fall.  I caught a respiratory virus the middle of October and I just kept getting it back everytime I felt better.  Then today I saw my last blog post was the first of November. Oh, dear! Sorry for the silent treatment!

It's obviously been a low-key two months.  We continue to have stellar sunrise and sunsets here.  Winter is the best for those, other than during seasonal monsoons!!  But it's been a dry fall-winter, and they just keep coming and coming!  DH has been headed out for golf the last 4-5 weekends, because you know, it could be the last chance for golf til spring!!  

My Christmas letter for you!

 Happy Holidays from the Boyds!

December sunsets on the Oregon coast are the B*E*S*T!  Here’s a view from our deck.  Wish you were here.

We’ve had an exciting year with a new member joining out family.  A&J2 have a new little boy, K.  At 8 months, he’s a great sitter, but needs a little work on his ‘dismount’!

D, being 2, is w-a-a-ay too busy to pay much attention to K.  He loves matchbox cars and ribbons!  He pretends the ribbons are snake monsters! What a great imagination!  Life is busy for A&J2!

P is 7, in first grade and loving it. I asked her if she had new friends and she explained to me that there were 28 in her class – all new friends, of course!  Did you know 1^st graders write book reports now???

M is 5 and in preschool.  He loves Legos, doing puzzles (he’s still a whiz) and riding his bike.  It’s so much fun to see the G-kids growing and learning.  We love this time!

When we’re not visiting the kids, Rick’s golfing and bowling; I’m quilting and going to water aerobics, but there’s a lot of walking the Coastal Trail and whale watching mixed in too.  After 5 years on the coast, it feels like we have ‘grown into’ our retirement – and we love it.

Wishing you and yours the best in 2014

Of course, the names have been shortened to protect the innocent (?) But, because I'm not limited to a 1/2 page of paper - here are the family photos that we couldn't decide on!!

D & K getting to know each other!

M & P hanging out in the kitchen.

Last night's sunset.  No wonder we don't get much done in the evening!!

Happy New Year to all!

Need a quick home-made baby gift?? Receiving blankets to the rescue!

An online friend lamented that she just heard a good friend is having grand-twins due in November.  She has to make quilts, but two in that time frame????  Here's my advise - based on experience, of course!!

Make a set of flannel receiving blankets for each newborn for the shower or new baby presents - thus, buying you time to make a crib quilt.

For one blanket(although I usually buy enough to make at least 2.)  I buy 1 1/3 yards of two flannels (front and back) - JoAnn's flannels are pretty darn cute and usually on sale or coupon-eligible!  Prewash.   (Empty dryer lint-catcher often!!) 

Layer right sides together; smooth or press.  Trim top edge with rotary cutter.  Fold down that edge diagonally. Mark with your ruler where to cut to make a square blanket.  Cut.  If you're making two, repeat and cut the second one at the same time.  Your edges are already together and the flannels are sticking to each other, easy, peasey!

Sew each pair of flannels together, leaving an opening to turn.  Turn - I found that a wooden knitting needle is great for creating edges and turning the corners.  Slip stitch the opening closed.  I top-stitch starting in one corner all the way around on the edge.  Then arbitrarily pick a place easy to follow to top-stitch again inside 4-6 inches away from edge.  On my Janome I follow the place where the free-arm splits.  Wherever, find a mark/guide/line on your machine that's easy for you to line up consistently. This second top-stitching seems to keep the blanket from getting too wonky - just a simple shake out of the dryer lines everything up again.

On my card I write:  Enjoy these blankets:  Wash and dry with cottons  - perfect for swaddling, tummy time or protection from those really big burps!

These blankies are simple and easy.  But they're a big hit every time.  And used too!!

When I'm "on my game" I have a few blankies stockpiled ready for the happy news!!

Enjoy!  doni @ Oregon coast

Oh NO !! NOT Winter settling in yet - please not???

I'm not ready!!  After all, I live with a golfer!  Or in the rainy season a grumpy bear pacing thru our too little space!!  And no, I won't tell you his description of me!!  But it's time to make a plan for the winter.  Quilting is a good hobby - indoors in bad weather, anywhere in good!  It's just a case of getting organized - in my mind - so I don't just sit and moss over!!


I've been quilting for 39 years (I started just before my son was born - so easy to keep track) but that number awes me!!  I was really active at the beginning - but I find I'm slowing down.  It doesn't seem possible I would do less after retiring???  What's up with that!  

But my body doesn't last as long!  Good old arthritis and dimming eye sight.  And I'm pickier??? If a project isn't going right - it goes straight into time-out!!  How long it's there - well, who knows!!  

My UFO project is "Birds of a Feather" by Barb Adams and Alma Allen???? The date embroidered on my top is 2007 so was probably started as a BOM in 2005 or earlier.  It's been in time-out since I moved to Oregon (almost 6 years)  Oh, it comes out with each new UFO challenge to be registered!  I'm just not happy with the handquilting.  AND let's be honest, fusible machine blanket stitch applique - well, it doesn't seem to be wearing as well as I hoped - and I haven't even used it yet!!  BUT I'm shaming myself into finishing it THIS YEAR!!!  It's out by the couch and I got a new LED light from IKEA last month.  It seems to give me enough light to quilt by, and doesn't blind my DH while we watch tv.  AND I've quilted on it for 3 nights now - that's geometrically more attention than the poor UFO has had since, well, I don't want to say when!!

Quilted Moose in Gretna NE set it up as a BOM, using Jo Morton fabrics!!  Ooooo!!  Debbie Roberts has the best eye for putting together kits and long term projects.  It's a gift!!  Seriously, I don't even like applique!!  And I bought into it!!  I made it my own - when don't I??  And changed the layout, designed a signature block, redid the border and block layout.  It really deserves to be finished, doesn't it???

Why isn't it finished??  I've lost a little of my mojo!  AAACK!  I've said it out loud!!  

In my 37 years of this obsession - errr - hobby, I've had a few dry spells and found my way out of one of them by picking up a baggie of scraps and deciding to just finish that baggie - what could I make with it?  Now it WAS a gallon baggie ... filled with 'beach' fabrics I'd picked up at garage sales, guild flea markets and etc.  I ended up making 3 baby quilts from it.  And of course, I added stash fabrics to it as I went. Even ended up with a pint size baggie of scraps left!!  Good Grief!!  I love the quilt I made for my latest GC arrival and it was so much fun to give the parents a few tops to pick from!!  What a concept!  

But you know what that means???  Who can even count the number of quilts in our stashes???  Who even has the time to do the math!!!

I love quilting while I'm actively doing it.  So why is it like pulling teeth to get myself into the sewing room to work on something not so inspiring??  We live in a small condo, the kind that if a project is spread out, it looks out of control??  Or it seems like that to me.  

My small sewing room is more of a staging area and DH sleeps in there in the middle of the night - he has insomnia and often is just getting back to sleep when I'm getting up for water aerobics.  He has a better chance of falling to sleep if he's not in the midst of the preparations to get a non-morning person out the door!!  That bed is the only uncovered flat surface AND it has to be cleared every day!!!  AAACK!

Moving on to the other problem, of course, is to get the projects quilted.  My body isn't really built to machine quilt - or as I like to call it, wrestle alligators thru the harp of my machine.  I even got certified on my LQS's long arm and worked on that off and on for over a year.  Not the best - I seemed to make the owner nervous about the machine not working right.  And it seemed that I broke the thread way too much.  She assured me it wasn't my fault, I was always following someone who had messed with the tension ... but so maddening when you're just learning and it's not going right. Felt like a klutz!  You probably need to work on a longarm every week, not just monthly ... but that's not happening.  I never even got good enough to do the type of work I like to do!!  Bummer!

So, enough of celebrating the "Why aren't I quilting more" problem!?!  My plan of attack this year is to make cuddle quilts.  If I'm taking a class, I'm planning on making it into a baby quilt.  

Last week, I found a picture on Pinterest that fascinated me - so I'm reproducing it (twice). One cuddle quilt for the Brookings Quilt Guild and one for my Newport guild. It's simple - and I love quilts that the piecing does all the work.  Not one for all the open spaces for clever quilting - I want my patchwork to shine!  This has grey "happy blocks".  I'm not a fan of grey but figured I probably had enough in my stash to do this!  AND I DID, of course!!  The alternate block is a bright 5 pt star on a white background.  Simple and I should be able to quilt it with my walking foot.  I'll keep you posted!

So if you are wondering where the Joy went?  Wondering how to get busy again and love it. I guess I'm encouraging you to go into the sewing space, pick a baggie, box or crate of something that looks interesting and just mull it over.  What does it want to be??  They say that working just 15 minutes a day in your space will get that mojo going.  Give it a try - what do we have to lose??  Pinterest, facebook, email will be there when we're done!!!  So will the laundry, dishes and housework!  

I adore designing and gathering [and buying] fabrics and making those design choices.  Quilting and binding, not so much fun!!  A fellow Stashbuster allows herself to design/start a new project after finishing two UFOs!!  I'm not very good at delayed reward systems!  But surely a little carrot and a stick never hurt either!!

Let's report back next week!!

Back to life as we know it!!

This fall has truly been a whirlwind!  I was gone from the coast THREE weeks!  It was WAY TOO LONG! and of course, it went really fast too!!

First we went up for Miss P's birthday and L&J's vow renewals.  Then I headed to Nebraska for my fall trip to see Mom.  I managed a side trip there to Des Moines for the AQS show - awesome!!  It was a whole lot of fun.  I have many pictures I need to put on the blog - soon, I promise, soon!!  Home from three weeks away - you can't imagine the to-do list, even in a small condo!!

We were home five whole days ... then over to see A&J2, Mr D and Mr K, then back up to Portland to babysit for 5 days while L&J went to Vegas for their actual anniversary.  Miss P and Mr M were fabulous.

The very first day the question of when mom and dad were coming back came up many times!  So I made a chart.  NOTE:  this works very well!!  If you find yourself babysitting for more than overnight, I highly recommend it.  I simply took a piece of art paper, folded it in 6 columns.  Labeled the columns with SMTWTF.  At bedtime each day, we sat at the kitchen table, listed things that we had done that day, and both kids "X"ed the bottom of it.  One day down!!  Example:

Sunday
timed bike races in circle
Connect 4 tournament
went to Dollar Store
Spaghetti for dinner
... and on until you fill the column

We looked at it every day, counted the blank spaces until mom and dad got home, it did go pretty fast!  And when mom and dad got home, we gave them the chart and they got to see what we did every day!  Win-win!!  Miss P is in 1st grade ... the very first thing written on the chart by her - on Sunday - was on Friday's space she wrote, "Papa and Nana gone!!!"  I think the "or else" was implied!!

We had such a good time, but we were all ready for mom and dad to come home!!  5 and 7 yr olds just need to get back to their regular lives, with mommy and daddy and their dogs!!!  And 61 yr olds need that too!!!

We got home Friday night.  Saturday DH left for his month golf/poker game/watch sports on TV until your eyes bug out weekend!!  I enjoyed getting back to life as I know it and then .... Mr M's cold attacked me!!  DH had gotten it while we were still up there.  I'm always hopeful that I'll miss getting it when DH comes down with it first ... but I always DO get it!  Poop!  This is such a busy week too.

I subscribe to "Ripples" - you can too!!  Click here to subscribe  I met this young man when I was working at the University.  He gives a dynamic program.  I've been getting his weekly emails for  - oh, my goodness, 6 years now.  All have been good inspiration, but sometimes there's one that really hits home ... today's did.

Today's "ponder" quote:

Once you have decided you want the present moment to be your friend, it is up to you to make the first move:

Become friendly toward it, welcome it no matter in what disguise it comes, and soon you will see the results. Life becomes friendly toward you; people become helpful, circumstances cooperative.

One decision changes your entire reality. But that one decision you have to make again and again--until it becomes natural to live in such a way.
-Eckhart Tolle

Go make friends with the present - whether you have a bad cold or not - and be prepared to make the same decision tomorrow too!! ... and the day after that!!  Yep, that's the step I always forget!

Pennant Banner Tute

Well, we were going to a party in September.  Miss P's 7th birthday and the next day -  her parents' wedding vow renewal. My DD mentioned oh-so-long-ago that she loved the old fashioned pennants and wouldn't they be great at a large party!!  Since the vow renewal was supposed to be at a barn ... weather eventually changed our plans.  I thought pennants might be used to guide us into the correct spot.  So, here we start.  I went with solids for their punch.  Bought a big selection [let's face it, every one of my projects seems to start with buying a big selection of fabrics!!!]

Here they are on the cutting counter - aka kitchen counter.  I over-stack always - but usually get thru them all. I cut 10 inch squares.  You could start with a Layer Cake, if you wanted!

Believe it not - I threw away these strings!!  I know, shocking!!

My DD loves polka dots and I found this ribbon by the spool at WalMart!!  So gathered a few different colors to make the string connecting the pennants. They're sitting on top of my 10" squares.

Each spool was 9 feet of ribbon.  Instead of making a 30 foot string, which might be too big for the space, or too small, I made 7 - 8 ft sections that could be easily connected together [or taken apart] as needed.  I have to say, it worked out great when it was time to put them up.

Oops, rainbow alert!!  It was a beautiful sight, a great excuse to pause in my sweat shop!!

Okay - back to work.  Fold the squares diagonally, I finger-pressed the points.  And feed them thru the machine until you don't think you can stand it any more!!  Take a break and sew some more.  I warned you it was a sweatshop!!

They add up and eventually you come to the end.  I made way more than I thought I was making.  Math is NOT my strong point.  I used 1/2 yard cuts of fabric, cut as many 10" squares as I could.

When you cut the chain apart, clip that itty-bitty point on the sharp end of the pennant.  You'll be glad that you did when you start to turn all these blessed pennants!!  Honest! 

I found a wooden knitting needle absolutely the best turning tool I've ever found.  The right length, the right sharpness.  All those pennants - 35 feet worth - turned and I never shoved thru the point!!  It was a miracle!!

Time to press.  Notice the large triangle on top.  We're going to cut that off.  Press them as straight as you can!

The drawback of making multicolored pennants is that you have to have ALL the pennants made before you can even start sewing them together.  After all, you don't want all the same colors together do you??

Here's where I found that purple and yellow would be a good addition. Back to the store, sigh!!

 Time to trim.  Start by lining up the pennant on the cutting mat grid.  Always start at the same measurement, then you'll be less likely to cut any too short!  No, don't ask me how I know this.  Sigh!

In theory, these are all the exact same size.  In practice, there are little differences. Try to get your measurements off the shortest pennant you have.  It will keep you from starting all over again.

Voila!!  Only a gazillion more to cut!!  But, really after they are trimmed and laid out in the order you want, the rest is a cake-walk ...easy as pie ... all downhill from here!!!  The hardest part is OVER!

Lay the pennants out on the ribbon.  No need to create a seam allowance - the ribbon won't shred along the edges and the open edges of the pennants will be inside!  Needle down makes it easy to space the pennants consistently. Time to sew and sew, and sew!! I gave myself a 6-8 inches of ribbon before and after the last pennant to create the loop that will connect them together to hang.  Worked out great!!

After you've connected all the pennants to the ribbon, turn it over and sew the other side of the ribbon down over the top of the pennant.  I created loops at each end to hang or connect each segment to the next as needed. The polka dots were stiff, but I finger-pressed the ones in the middle before sewing them and I didn't have to fight the ribbon to stay where I placed it.

I used twist ties to connect the sections temporarily.  They were sturdy and not very noticeable.  And we were able to take them apart when we wanted shorter sections!

Festive aren't they!!  Ready for a party!

Ta-da!!  I loved the look of them.  And I have enough to make at least another 20 feet of pennant banner.  I told you I'm not so good at math!  Now would it have been easier to go to a swimming pool supply site and order pennants?  Oh, yeah!!  Did I think of that earlier??  Nope!!  But I'm happy with them.  I gave them to my DD in a large shoebox.  I accordion folded the pennants to keep them from getting too wrinkled.  Included twist ties for convenience.  I think they were a big hit!  Hopefully, I'll see them again at the next party!!

Shop til you drop ... before my big trip!

Last weekend (alright, it was a month ago now!!  There are issues with working in blogspot on the Ipad ... still working on it!!) we had an 'emergency quilt shop hop'!!  Because I'm not traveling enough this week!!  U and I had not been to the Merrill Quilt Shop and P offered to take us!  What a gal!!  It's a long way from the coast to anywhere ... but especially to Merrill.  So we headed across the mountains to Ashland, where we visited the three quilt shops there and stayed overnight.  We had Chipotle for lunch, Yogurt Hut for an afternoon refresher, and Mexican again for dinner.  Ole!!

                              

First stop was the newest quilt shop in Ashland.  Sew Creative.  The gals there were so very nice.  And it's a very interesting store - lots of wool and interesting projects.

Here is their famous guard dog!!

We fell in love with this scrap quilt.  Bento Box with the HST - kind of like my "Bento Box meets Broken Dishes" [aka Sliced Bread ] pattern on the internet, finished last year.  But a much more dynamic setting!

The very helpful staff - with gals this cute and energetic, you know it's going to be a fun visit!

Love all the wool and embroidery projects out and about to tempt us.

Especially this one!!  Birds ... they're everywhere, they're everywhere!!!

Awesome quilting!

On to one of my favorite stores ... Quiltz in Ashland! Believe it or not, all three stores in Ashland are within walking distance of each other!!  Even on very hot days!  Yes girls, I do have to take your picture!

Quilts is always so clean and airy!  Great selection of fabrics.  What's not to like!

Needlework and embroidery supplies, if they don't have it, you probably don't really need it!

Here we are at Fabric of Vision - right off  Ashland's Plaza - the town square.This tiny little space really packs a punch.  I always find something I H*A*V*E to have here.  Lots of unusual fabrics to draw you in.

A place for a weary  shopper to rest! In front of their VERY FULL Notions wall. If I can't find it anywhere else, I find it here!

Monday, we traveled to Tater Patch Quilts in Merrill. Hey, gals!!  Thanks for letting me take pictures!!

This store is fabulous - two floors, umpteen quilt samples hanging everywhere.  Definitely worth the trip. Don't miss the basement sales room. Spend some time looking around ... if you dare!!!  LOL!

In Oregon the mountains are never out of our eyesight - isn't this a wonderful quilt technique.  Dividing a large [beautiful landscape] into 8 panels.  Just Fabulous.

Funny how this advice doesn't touch on the restorative value of shop-hops!!! What a shame!!

Yep, even the bathroom is quilt-y and entertaining!

So many quilts, so little time!

So, ladies, if you need a tour director for shop hops, I highly recommend Ms Pand me to lay it out.  We had a great time, although the heat did take it out of us "Coastal Peeps"  In fact, I hate to mention it, but someone even skipped our book club that night!!!  We need to build up endurance for shop hops!! You can use fabric stuffed in bags for dumb-bells!!  You'll be glad you did!! LOL!

UFO Finished!! Whoo-hooo!!

Retiring to the Coast was definitely the right move.  That being said - Holiday decorating was always one of my favorite things to do.  Well, in a small condo - if you add one thing, it looks like the whole place exploded and needs to be fixed!!

Christmas seems kind-of glum.  It IS the rainy season by then, that doesn't help!  And our condo is too small for a Christmas tree.  But last year I added a greenery/lights swag to our mantel and I loved it, but it needed new stockings now!!

I finished "Beach Nana" and "Beach Papa" stockings last year and they traveled with us to our family Christmas celebration.  Finally - the grands' stockings are done too!!  Even one for the newest addition born in April!!

I'm in the UFO challenge in Stashbusters Online and believe me, that list moves at the speed of light.  Well, I'm -momentarily at least- at the bottom of the list.  Now for a celebratory hot chocolate!!  Ho, Ho, Ho!!!

Makes me smile everytime!!

Bummer, Dude!!

Soooo, let's talk about the Newport Show

It's a month later ... if I don't get to it now - when??  I AM trying to be better about blogging again.  This year has been pretty bleak in frequency of posts.  It wasn't because I wasn't having fun ... trust me!!

My good friend R was the featured quilter this year and boy, she did a bang-up job of it!!  She has such a variety of techniques and style in her quilts and her winning personality completes the package.  She had a lot of quilts in her personal exhibit and two out in the show - one of which won a ribbon!!  Excellent!!

This is one of R's quilt.  It was a BOM from the Newport local Quilt store.  It was designed by one of our guild members and it's an awesome quilt.

Patchwork of the Cross, have you seen one of these up close and personal yet??  There's only so many ways to say "Stunning!"  S, who is in the Friday Bayshore Group hand pieced and hand quilted this.  She worked on it for years and it was so much fun to watch her progress.  I noticed that the Omaha store Sew Many Quilts is offering this pattern in a BOM club. The quilt is designed by mainly fussy cutting wild and crazy large prints ... imagination required.  Great Job, S!! 

Here's a close up of a few of the blocks.  Each one turns out so very different, it's fascinating to study.

I have one of these racks.  Anyone doing trio projects now??  I got it because a friend here in Brookings has an awesome machine embroidery trio of Christmas.  We're negotiating for her to make me the set.  I'd like to also make a trio - 3 different panels with a common element - like "A River Runs Thru It" only smaller!  So what has anyone else done???  Fess up!

Another good friend in Newport  won so many ribbons this year.  She won more ribbons than the number of quilts she entered!!! All different styles of quilts, she is so-o very talented.  She is the one who embroidered the seashore embroideries for this quilt.  

You may remember my "If ever you live by the ocean ..." challenge quilt from the "Stay Robin here in Brookings.  I love how her machine embroideries frame my borders.  So fun.  

Oh - a side note: I wondered if I'd ever feel at home out here and the answer is "YES!"  5 1/2 yrs later, 3 1/2 yrs in Brookings -- I feel like this is home.  It's a milestone of sorts!! I was amazed this born and bred Nebraskan would love it out here so-o much!!

The gardening club in Waldport commissioned this giant quilt.  I love that they hung it with the doorway in the center corner - it gives it so much depth.  It's a lovely quilt with little surprises tucked here and there.  Just the way I like projects!!

This was one of the patterns I bought. Annabelle's Quilt by Blue Canoe Designs. The quilt pictured on the pattern itself was "ehh!" but when I saw it made in scrap with loads of shirtings .... whole different story!  Made my heart go pitter-pat, I'm telling you!!

A close-up - do you see what I mean??  Seriously, it's truly a miracle that I haven't started this one yet!  Only due to the dedication I have to the Houses BOM, because I'm truly itching to start stitching this one! [and others!!!]

A sneak preview - this is our raffle quilt for next year!!  It's awesome and I'm hoping that I am going to win it!!  Along with every other member of guild!  The applique lighthouses were based on pictures handed to the members that volunteered.  I helped paper piece the Storm at Sea blocks ... but those gals really made the quilt!!  Can't wait to see it quilted ... and at home on my bed!!!

A glimpse into my sewing room/ Quilting staging area/ Quilt Cave ... whatever it's called, it's usually a mess!

It all started with returning the antique library card catalog back to my daughter. [I'm happy to say it's their new big screen tv stand and looks awesome!]  So things had to be cleared out, stored, found new homes and rearranged!!  Ladies, it took weeks!!! :) I handled everything quilt-y I own at least twice!!

I returned from my daughters with my Ethan Allen lingerie chest.  I moved my IKEA Expedit bookcase out of the closet in the sewing room; and the lingerie chest fits right next to it.  I bought canvas containers from IKEA that were designed to fit the bookcase.  Although I was disappointed in the colors offered right now, I'm thrilled with how much they hold.  They seem pretty sturdy and time will tell, I guess.

My friend K in Waldport is so-o very organized.  We were looking for a pattern she was sure she had and she showed me how well her system worked!  She letters each container.  Then she writes a master inventory for each ..  i.e. Box A has baby girl quilt; Lori Smith Log cabin kit, Jungle Boogie UFO.  I'm still getting used to writing it down, remembering I wrote it down, and looking it up before destroying the entire room looking for it!!  You know how it can be!!

I brought in all containers out in the storage closet - so everything quilt-y is now in the sewing room. [Oh, except for all my stash in Expedit bookcases in the dining room!!!  But there was no expectation of them fitting into the sewing room!!!]  Just like Prego spaghetti sauce "It's IN there!"  [Does anyone else remember those commercials?]  

I built a milkcrate and board bookcase in the closet to help me organize that storage area.  Our local Ace Hardware could not be more helpful. The mill cut my purchased boards in half so they would fit in my car!  That was too easy.

Starting on the top shelf of the closet - Box of Christmas fabric decorations, long basket of interfacing, pellon and freezer paper.  LandsEnd tote bag of, well, tote bags!!, basket of gallon ziplocks of cut squares, shoeboxes of cut strips.

Top shelf of the bookcase: basket of scraps with a backing on top, quilting stencils hung behind, 2 small canvas boxes of sewing misc.  wood basket of quilt framing supplies - c-clamps, pins, basting spray.

1st row of cubbies:  UFOs, UFOs, and probably more UFOs - but at least they are all out where I can find them [most of the time]

Rest of cubbies - UFOs - you see the theme.  There's favorite scraps "too little to use, too big to throw away" that I'm using for mini log cabins, there's a stash of selvedges, more UFOs, more scraps, Fabric Post Card supplies and one very big milk crate of children's books - for when the grands are here. 

Now that's just one corner of the room and just one glimpse of how much you can collect over 38 years of quilting!!  Even if you DO downsize and move to Oregon and then move again to another condo in Oregon!  Oh, MY!!

Go ahead and laugh!!  Someday this may happen to you!!!