Want My Leftovers?!

First of all, I want to wish my good friend Eileen over at My Quilting Porch a very happy birthday! I hope you're having a wonderful day, Eileen!

I'm posting early today because I wanted to tell you a little bit about Nancy's swap--sign-ups end tomorrow, so if you're interested, pop right on over there--HERE. Nancy's hostessing a scrap swap. You can see what she has to say, but basically you fill a shoebox full of your old scraps and send them off. Of course, you get a shoebox of someone else's scraps in return. It's a great way to "get rid" of fabrics you know you won't want to put into another quilt and/or expand your selection of scrappy goodness! In fact, if you're interested in making my scrappy star quilt, this might be a nice way to get some extra variety in your scraps!

Here's my stack all waiting to be packaged up--problem is, I don't seem to have a shoebox! I'll have to see what I can rummage up that's about the right size, although I have to tell you, I think I have more scraps here than would fit in a regular shoebox.

I was feeling a bit under the weather today--just cramps and related symptoms from which I'm sure I'll recover in a day or so. Anyway, I decided to stay home today and take it easy. Which you might think would make for another really boring blog post, but I actually enjoyed my day for the most part. After all, who doesn't like a day that includes time for a nice nap and some quality relaxation?!

This morning, I got a good way toward being caught up on my blog reading--which is how I came across Nancy's swap. I'm glad I did, too! I've looked in to see what many of you have been up to, and I've seen some inspirational quilt projects and read several stories about your summer vacations.

I finished looking through my old magazines and I have a big pile to take to the office tomorrow to share with the other two quilters I work with.

I finished the book I was reading and started another.

And, most ambitious of all, I sorted out my scrap drawers! I have two scrap drawers--Thimbleberries and non-Thimbleberries. I'm making a mini quilt for a swap with my online Thimbleberries group, so it seemed like a good time to organize that basket again. A few years ago, Hubby--for reasons still unclear to me--offered to sort the bin into colors. I didn't think it would be helpful at the time, but I agreed--after all, it was one way to keep him occupied and not bothering me! But truly it was a huge help! Over time, the color system fell to the wayside, but I resurrected it today.

First of all, I sorted all the fabric into color piles and threw out the scraps that were really too small to be easily useable--you know those 2" squares you save from a project but likely never use again? I hate throwing them out, but--really!--it's not like I don't have plenty more where those came from! So here's my nicely sorted bin when I finished:

Then there's the other bin that I also sorted a bit, but I didn't arrange these by color. I just tossed out the pieces that were too small and pulled out some of the fabrics I wanted to swap. Maybe I'll have to put Hubby to work on this one. At least it was fun seeing what's there though! And I found a yummy scrap of fabric that really needs to be made into something. Sometimes just sorting scraps can be inspiring!

And, because it was a pretty nice day out, I took a little stroll out back to check on the pumpkins--

and tomatoes--

The other day, I counted four or five pumpkins out there, but Hubby said there are more small ones starting. I wish I had more time and energy for a vegetable garden--not to mention a nice flower cutting garden!--but I'd have to find something to give up to make the time, and I'm just not willing to do that. So, for the time being, easy maintenance pumpkins and tomatoes do the trick for me!

After the insanely cleaning-compulsive weekend I had, it's been nice to just relax today and smell the pumpkins. Thanks for looking in on me!