Frugal Friday With Marsha -- Let's Talk Coupons

It's been a long time since I've done a Frugal Friday post.  I hope to make them more regular again.
This week I want to talk about coupons!



Are you using coupons to help save on your grocery and household item spending?

I used to be what my children called a "coupon queen".  When the TV show Extreme Couponing first came on, my children kept telling me that I needed to be on the show.
Well, if you watched the show and you know me, you know that I was never able to stock pile even a tenth of what those people on the show did!  Actually, I wouldn't want to either.  If I had that kind of stock pile, the majority of it would be given to family and friends and to charity, not stored up on shelf after shelf in my house.

As of late I've really slacked off on using coupons.  Every Friday I make sure to add the Dillon's (Kroger) Friday Freebie to my shoppers card, but that's been about the extent of my couponing.  I'm sad to say that!  It's time for me to really get back to the "business" of using coupons.

There are lots of ways to get grocery coupons:
*Buy a Sunday newspaper for the inserts.  If there are enough coupons in the inserts for items we use then I go to our local news office on Monday where they allow us to buy 5 Sunday papers for $6.  Check if your local news office also might offer this deal.

*Print coupons from your computer.  Printable grocery coupons are all over the place.  There are even websites such as swagbucks, inboxdollars, and mypoints where you earn points for printing and using them!

*Store coupons.  Many stores offer store coupons, either in the store, or they will send them to you in the mail.  Get on every mailing list you can if the store offers them as if these coupons are for name brand products, the store coupon can be combined with a manufacturer's coupon.   Many stores offers coupons on their brands of products which saves you even more.

*Ask a friend to save them for you.  Lots of people don't care to take the time to use coupons, but still get them in their newspaper or otherwise.  It doesn't hurt to ask them if they would mind saving them for you.

Here is a picture of my coupon binder along with a huge stack of coupons that need to be cut and filed inside.

If you are looking for deals, simply search for what you are looking for online.  You will be amazed at the search results.  Search Facebook for coupon and deal groups.  Find good deal blogs to follow.  It's amazing the deals you will see that you would have missed out on if these wonderful people weren't out there finding them for us.

I hope my post was an inspiration to you to get out there and start saving money with grocery coupons.  I know I'm ready to get the ones I do have now out and get to cutting and sorting!

For more motivation for myself, I am including a picture from one of my many good coupon shopping trips.  I was able to get everything in the picture and only pay $10.44!

Disney Palace Pets Art Studio

Learn how to draw and paint 19 of the Disney's Princesses Palace Pets with this art studio!

The book that comes with it is 128 pages with illustrations step-by-step for drawing your favorite Palace Pets such as Sultan, Bayou, Lily, Meadow, and 15 others.  After the drawing instruction pages are blank pages for you to draw the Palace Pet.

Also included in the set:
3 watercolor paints
2 paintbrushes
Pallete
drawing pencil
7 colored pencils
fine-line marker
kneaded eraser
sharpener

The 3 granddaughters have had a great time trying to learn how to draw the Palace Pets.  They wouldn't let me take a picture of their work and they think it's not "good enough", but they are still working on it.  I will try to "sneak" in a picture or two later.

If you have a little artist in your life, this will make the perfect gift!

WIP Wednesday -- Quilt Retreat Report

I loved being at the quilt retreat and having that dedicated sewing time, as always!

I have my black and white with a little red quilt that I've only worked on at the retreats.  I was in hopes of having enough black and white to finish both the front and back this time, but no such luck.  I still need to make 29 more blocks to have enough to finish the top then more for the backing as well.
The first picture is my rows so far on the front, half of them put together.  The second picture is what I have for the backing so far.

Finished sewing together the halves on the design on the Lexington quilt top, now just need to figure out the borders.

I also finished sewing together the halves on my colorful quilt top and also have to figure out what I am doing for the borders on it as it's smaller than I want it to be.

I also was able to get 2 more rows put on the Arkansas Crossroads quilt top.

One kind lady who cane to the retreat had cleaned out one of her sewing closets and had items on a shelf for us to take as we wished.  I took some 10 inch  and 5 inch squares of fabrics as well as cotton batting in both sizes as well.   Once home this prompted me to at least get a good start, with what I already had prepared,, to making more sets of the microwave hotpads.

If I could get this much work done at home each week, I would be elated!!
I need to go check out the soscrappy blog.  It's my understanding that there will be no color for November and December, and that instead these are the 2 months to work on making quilts out of the blocks we have made throughout the year.  Since I didn't keep up each month, and because I didn't start the string quilt blocks until August, I plan to pick a color for this month from a month that I missed.

I also need to get really busy figuring out, and making, Christmas gifts!!

UFO's:

Rectangle quilt
challenge wall hanging
Hexagon quilt
Emerald Island Fusique table runner
Five and Dime quilt
Brown half square triangle table runner
2 sets of doll blanket, pillows, bed and rug
Wall hanging for quilt guild
yo-yo's that need to be made into projects
black and white rail fence quilt
Arkansas Crossroads scrap quilt
T-shirt latchhook rug
Charming Stars quilt
Special crocheted prayer shawl
Fall Squares table topper
Crazy colored quilt with the five and dime blocks
Rainbow colored string quilt
St. Patricks yo-yo table topper/runner
Lexington quilt
? Fabric boxes for Christmas gifts
? sets of microwave hotpads

I link up with the following blogs:

Today I am highlighting more books that I have for sale on half.com.  These are all cooking related.'

Find Your 31 SB Collector Bill Today Only!

Happy Halloween! Swagbucks is offering a one day only shot at finding a 31 SB Collector's Bill, which can be found by using their search engine.  What better way to earn free gift cards than searching the web through Swagbucks as part of your everyday life? 

For those of you who are wondering what Collector's Bills are, I’m here to explain:

It’s simple. Search the web through the Swagbucks search on Monday, October 31st, and when you get a search win, you may get the special Collector’s Bill valued at 31 SB! Good luck!

If you aren't already a member of Swagbucks, just click HERE and start getting your swag on today!

WIP Wednesday -- Two Tops Worked On

I did manage to get the 5 string quilt blocks done in yellow and orange for the soscrappy colors for October.

I took the colorful 5 and dime and ripped the blocks and rows apart.  I hadn't squared them up before putting them together and knew it had to be done.  In the meantime I also finished making the rest of the blocks, got them all squared up and rows sewn.  I just need to sew the 2 halves together and decide what I am going to do for a border.

I also finished sewing together all of the blocks for the Lexington quilt  and just need to sew the 2 halves together on it too.  I need to find the fabrics for the borders on it too.

I did work more on the little doll rugs until I ran out of thin strips for making them.  I won't share those anymore, but did also work on more of the beds too.

I have a quilt retreat this weekend with Cottonwood Quilt Shop and have my things packed to work on there.  I can't wait until next Wednesday to share what I get done there.


UFO's:

Rectangle quilt
challenge wall hanging
Hexagon quilt
Emerald Island Fusique table runner
Five and Dime quilt
Brown half square triangle table runner
2 sets of doll blanket, pillows, bed and rug
Wall hanging for quilt guild
yo-yo's that need to be made into projects
black and white rail fence quilt
Arkansas Crossroads scrap quilt
T-shirt latchhook rug
Charming Stars quilt
Special crocheted prayer shawl
Fall Squares table topper
Crazy colored quilt with the five and dime blocks
Rainbow colored string quilt
St. Patricks yo-yo table topper/runner
Lexington quilt
? Fabric boxes for Christmas gifts

I link up with the following blogs:

And, here are some more of the books I have listed for sale on half.com:

WIP Wednesday -- Still Plugging Away

I've been pleased with myself that I've not lost my motivation to stay busy on my projects.
I finished the colorful locker hook rug this past week as well as one of the fashion doll bed sets.  I have the doll set just listed in my etsy shop and will get the rug listed soon.

In the meantime, here are the things that I worked on this past week:

I put together several of the blocks for the Lexington quilt top.

I have more of the fashion doll bedding sets in the works:

I at least got a start on the yellow and orange string quilt blocks for the color of the month with the soscrappy blog.

And, at sit n' sew I got enough blocks completed for another row on the Arkansas Crossroads quilt.

UFO's:

Rectangle quilt
challenge wall hanging
Hexagon quilt
Emerald Island Fusique table runner
Five and Dime quilt
Brown half square triangle table runner
? sets of doll blanket, pillows, bed and rug
Wall hanging for quilt guild
yo-yo's that need to be made into projects
black and white rail fence quilt
Arkansas Crossroads scrap quilt
T-shirt latchhook rug
Rainbow colored locker hook rug
Charming Stars quilt
Special crocheted prayer shawl
Fall Squares table topper
Crazy colored quilt with the five and dime blocks
Rainbow colored string quilt
Christmas yo-yo table topper/runner
St. Patricks yo-yo table topper/runner
Lexington quilt
? Fabric boxes for Christmas gifts

I link up with the following blogs:

Here are a few more of the books that I have on sale at half.com

WIP Wednesday -- On Thursday Again

I had a brain slippage when I got out of bed yesterday morning.  It wasn't until noon when I realized it was Wednesday and I had put up another blog post instead of this one.

I have still been working away when I can on my projects.  What you won't see pictured are the selvage strips I am still gathering to start a selvage rug, the thin strips I added to my doll rug bag,  and numerous other strips and squares for future projects.
You also won't see any progress on yellow for this months color with the soscrappy blog color challenge.   I did get my back squares and batting squares cut and hope to have those blocks made by next Wednesday.

I finished the Christmas yo-yo table runner, which will be listed in my etsy shop once I am done with this post.

I worked more on the doll rugs for the bedding sets, and I also got to work on getting some of the pillows done for the sets as well.

I found the last 3 colors for the lockerhook rug that I a working on and got them sewn and ready to finish up the rug.

On the quilt shop hop each shop gave us pattern for a disappearing block.  I only seen 2 that I really wanted to make, so I did just that.  I like them!  One is disappearing 4 patch and the other is a disappearing 9 patch.  In the meantime, I seen a blog last week where she made fabric boxes for a quick homemade gift.  That got me thinking about Christmas and I plan now to make some of the boxes.

Also on the shop hop I bought a postcard pattern.  I needed something inexpensive to buy to spin their prize wheel, on which I won a spool of 100% cotton thread.  The pattern I chose uses 2 1/2 inch strips.  You guessed it, I just couldn't wait to start on it since I already had a stack of strips cut.  The pattern is called Lexington and I hope that by next week I will have have at least one of the blocks out together for it.

UFO's:

Rectangle quilt
challenge wall hanging
Hexagon quilt
Emerald Island Fusique table runner
Five and Dime quilt
Brown half square triangle table runner
? sets of doll blanket, pillows, bed and rug
Wall hanging for quilt guild
yo-yo's that need to be made into projects
black and white rail fence quilt
Arkansas Crossroads scrap quilt
T-shirt latchhook rug
Rainbow colored locker hook rug
Charming Stars quilt
Special crocheted prayer shawl
Fall Squares table topper
Crazy colored quilt with the five and dime blocks
Rainbow colored string quilt
Christmas yo-yo table topper/runner
St. Patricks yo-yo table topper/runner
Lexington quilt
? Fabric boxes for Christmas gifts

I am too late to link up with the blogs this week, but I hope you will check them out:

Here are a few more of the book I have for sale on half.com that may be of interest to you: