Frugal Friday With Marsha -- Staying Busy

Yet another week that has been one activity or thing to do right after another!  Today is definitely no exception as it's my mother's payday, my grandson, Jacob's, 9th birthday, and I have to go get the rummage sale set up at church.

Has it been a frugal week for me?  Not really. 

I made another trip to Dodge City to stay a couple of days with my hubby.  Of course that is eating out except the free breakfast from the motel.  I did get smart though and brought a bagel, cream cheese, margarine, a muffin, and yogurt up to the room from the breakfast room.  Those made great snacks throughout the day.  We lost $98 this week at the casino. 

Nope nope nope, going to the casino is not a frugal thing to do.  I am well aware of that, and as I told hubby, I am glad that we don't have one real close to home.   It is a treat to be able to go, and I'm proud of us for not staying until all of the allotted amount for the trip was gone. 

This week, for some reason, they chose to give my hubby the honeymoon suite (they actually call it the executive suite) at the motel. (Best Western Plus)   That was such a delight having a hot tub right there in our room!!  Every time we get in one we both say the same thing-- "we really need one of these at home". 


Back to the rummage sale at church.  I have been trying to find boxes of rummage sale stuff in our garage to take to it.  That's been a challenge, and I've not been able to find much, because our garage is so jam packed full of stuff.  The stuff will NOT come back to our house.   Here's hoping too, that more people from church will bring in things for the sale.  I will know when I go this evening to put things out.


Before I forget, here is today's Friday Freebie from Kroger:

Free CORE Hydration Drink for Kroger & Affiliates


I've not had much of a chance this week to send off for freebies, but here is a list of the ones that I want to check out when I do find the time:

Free Sample of Bvlgari Omnia Pink Sapphire Fragrance

Free Samples of Astroglide Lubricant

Free Subscription to Woman's Day Magazine

Free American Farmland Trust 35th Anniversary Lapel Pin

Free Sample of ProSoap Water-Activated Hand Cleaner

Free Subscription to LEGO Life Magazine

Free Sample of L’Oreal Pure-Sugar Grapeseed Scrub

Lots of goodies to check on!


Hoping that this next week isn't near as wild with me being away from home and that I have more to report.

In the meantime, if you have posted anything that has to do with being frugal, simple living, saving money etc, please do link up.

WIP Wednesday -- Is There Progress?

I missed posting last week.  I didn't mean to miss, just totally forgot.  I was in Dodge City with my hubby.....which is where I am heading again for a couple of days......pretty much right after I get this written.

The week before I mostly worked on getting tissue box covers and pin cushion/scrap bags made.  I needed to complete them to turn in at guild for the boutique booth in June.

I made a total of 4 of the pin cushion scrap bags, but forgot to take a picture except of this one that I made for myself.

Here are the 3 tissue covers that I made to turn in.   I do plan on these being what I make this year for the adults on my Christmas list.

I went to "get r' done" at the quilt shop and now my Charming Stars quilt is ready to have the binding sewn on.

I got the flannel out that I had bought on the bus trip and got a little more done on the 2 rag quilts that I am making.  Once again they are at a stand still until I run across more flannel.

That's it for me.  I link up with the following blogs, so check them out as well. Lots of things being made and inspiration to be had.



Jo's Country Junction:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

KatieMae Quilts for BOM weekly linky.  https://www.katiemaequilts.com/blog/

WIP Wednesday --Bus Trip Report

As you know, I didn't post last Wednesday because I was on a bus trip with my quilt guild last Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday was our trip to Lincoln, NE and on the way we shop hopped at 3 different quilt shops-- No Place Like Home in Minneapolis, KS, Sew Country in Belleville, KS, and The Quilt Basket in York, NE.    That was loads of fun for me and I found lots of goodies that I needed.  Nope, I did not buy anything just because I liked it, and only bought things that I will use right away on current projects.
I shared a picture of those purchases in my Frugal Friday post last week if you are interested.

We stayed at Comfort Suites for the night.  Those are very nice rooms....made me wish I could just live there!   In the morning after our free breakfast, we loaded on to the bus and headed to the International Quilt Study Center and Museum there in Lincoln, NE.

I took tons of pictures at the museum.  It was hard to just choose a few to share in my post.

International Quilt Study Center and Museum -- Lincoln, NE

One of the flat storage units.

This is all buttons!  I took another close up picture of one square of it.  You know, thinking of yet another project just doing one square with all the buttons I've accumulated.

The Ken Burns Collection.  I actually hadn't heard of this man until going to the museum.  Where have I been??

Part of the Ken Burns collection.

Part of the Ken Burns collection.

On the bus on Tuesday, I worked on getting some hexagons made, after not working on them for well over a year.  I got a total of 15 done.

On the way home Wednesday, I just couldn't motivate myself to work on more hexagons, so I pulled out the plastic canvas that was already in my bag and worked on the blocks.  Some of these I made on the bus, and a few more after I got home.

I was very motivated once I got back home Wednesday evening to get to work!!  I got out my table, pressed all the fabrics I bought, and cut them for their perspective projects.  (I didn't take a picture of that).
One thing I bought was the back ground fabric to go with the Kitty Kitty charm pack I had purchased from the Missouri Star Quilt Co.   I actually got the whole top made with the exception of the sashing which I still need to buy.

Also I've worked more on the plarn bedroll.  As you can see by the picture with my 16 month old granddaughter, Amelia, sitting on it, there is a long way to go yet to reach the 6 foot long.

Last but not least for this week is my Arkansas Crossroads quilt top.  It was sit n' sew at the quilt shop Friday evening.  This is my sit n' sew project and it's seemingly to never end.  This is just me preparing the last of the blocks for sewing together, and I have quite a few yet to go!

I link up with the following blogs.  You will want to check them all out too!



Jo's Country Junction:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

KatieMae Quilts for BOM weekly linky.  https://www.katiemaequilts.com/blog/

WIP Wednesday -- Retreat

I want to start by saying that I won't be posting next Wednesday.  I will be gone on a bus trip with my quilt guild to Lincoln, NE to the National Quilt Museum.  We are doing a mini shop hop on the trip as well, stopping at 3 shops along the way.  My plan is to take my hexagons to work on for the trip.

The retreat was great as always.  I only took the one project to work on, other than making the President's block for guild.
I had thrown in a bag of fabrics left over from another project as well. 
I did make the President's block first, then I took that bag of fabric and did some cutting.

You can see the block in the picture as well as cutting for fabric for making the double towel scarves, strips for a toothbrush rug, 10 inch squares for microwave cozies, and 5 inch squares for future projects.

I really did spend the rest of the retreat time working on my string block quilt.  This is how far I got.  I found that I still need to make 2 purple string blocks before adding anymore to the quilt.  Hopefully I can get that done in the next 2 weeks before I post again!

As far as the rest of the week,  aside from working some in organizing my craft room (very little done), I only worked on making the plastic canvas jingle bell blocks.   I decided that I wanted to make the sets I sell in my Etsy shop a set of 3 instead of 2. 

Looks like that's it for this week.  Happy Sewing and Crafting!

I do link up with the following blogs:



Jo's Country Junction:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

KatieMae Quilts for BOM weekly linky.  https://www.katiemaequilts.com/blog/

WIP Wednesday -- Upcoming Retreat Etc

I'm anticipating the upcoming quilt retreat this Friday and Saturday.  I was just in my sewing/craft room and added a little more fabric to my project bag.  The big bag is totally packed so all I have to do Friday morning is grab the bag, my sewing machine, and my bag of food and go!

I've gotten back to my cleaning and organizing in my sewing room as well.  I cleared one large shelf and have a start of putting the items I have for sale in my Etsy shop on the shelves for easy access when something is ordered.   It's going to be a long process to get my room into the order it should be.

This week I did work on a few things.

I worked more on the plarn bedroll.  I would like to say that when I crochet that big ball of plarn in that it will be done, but I know better.  It will take at least another ball that large, and maybe even another one after that!

According to my pictures, it looks like the only other thing I did this week was get a start on 2 flannel rag quilts.  I cut the rest of the flannel I had, and got a start on sewing rows.  I need more flannel to finish both the larger and smaller quilt.  Rag quilts will always be an ongoing project for me.  As I find flannel at yard sales etc, I will just cut and make.

I did have a finish this week.  I finally finished sewing down the binding on the braid baby quilt and got it put up for sale.

Hopefully next week I will have some nice progress on my rainbow string quilt to show you after working on it at the retreat this weekend.  Past making a President's block for guild, it's the only project I intend to work on this weekend.

I link up with the following blogs.  I hope you will give each of them a visit.



Jo's Country Junction:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

KatieMae Quilts for BOM weekly linky.  https://www.katiemaequilts.com/blog/

WIP Wednesday --Lots Worked On

Does working a little on lots of projects add up to getting a lot done.  It actually adds up to getting nothing "done" 😀😉

We had our member sale this past Monday at guild.  That was loads of fun.  I got some great deals!

One thing I got was 2 yellow fat quarters for $1 each, some black and white (given to me out of a scrap bag that someone else bought), and a whopping 60 x 62 piece of black Kona for just $3 (lots of this still left!).
I got my start on my Sodoku quilt top finally. I bought the pattern 4 or 5 years ago!  It will be added to my "new" list once I get this post done.

I got a good start on making pin cushions.  6 finished ones were donated to the guild to be used as free gifts when someone buys tickets for our opportunity quilt. 

Some more rows added to my plarn bedroll that will be given to a charity that will give it to a homeless person.  This is going to be a long project as I'm nowhere close to the 6 foot long.  You can find a write up and instructions on making plarn bedrolls HERE.

Here's a UFO that's been hanging in it's project bag for a couple of years or so.  I got frustrated while quilting it as the back kept folding over.  I put it in the member sale figuring if someone bought it fine, if not, I would frog stitch and use my 505 spray and try again to finish it.  I got the frog stitching done.  Hopefully will work towards finishing this, this next week.

Lastly, this past week they had "Git R' Done" day at the quilt shop.  I pulled out this Charming Stars quilt that I hadn't worked on for almost a year.  I'm really close now to getting the hand quilting done around the edge.  Of course who knows when I will pull it out again.  Knowing me, it will be at Git R' Done in April.

I hope to get as much done this next week as well.
In the meantime, I link up with these blogs:



Jo's Country Junction:  http://www.joscountryjunction.com/

KatieMae Quilts for BOM weekly linky.  https://www.katiemaequilts.com/blog/