Priorities

This past weekend was fun if not relaxing. We had dd's birthday party at our place. It was pretty simple -- some family and a close friend. Hamburgers on the grill, lots of presents, some balloons and cupcakes (and no, I did not make the cupcakes -- I know, bad mommy -- but the local bakery makes yummy ones with butter cream frosting to die for and they are also filled with more of the butter cream, yumm!).

But, for all that it was simple, it was a lot of work. Company coming over -- um, maybe I should make sure my kitchen doesn't look like you could catch some rare food born illness from anything prepared here. Living room -- oh, yeah, vacuum, pick up toys, new slipcover onto the couch. Dining room/other half of kitchen -- yeah, my quilting "studio" (I use the term studio VERY loosely here). All of the bags of fabric I've been purchasing and haven't put away yet. The three projects out on the table. The scraps piling up. Hmmm...yeah, need to get that cleared out of there so we have someplace to put the, I don't know, food or something? *sigh* Not to mention the powder room and needing to scrub the toilet. Needless to say, not much to show for this cleaning frenzy quilt wise -- but it feels good to have some of the necessary cleaning done.

On the plus side, having to clean up and put away all of my quilting goodies did force me to finally go through my "current or soon to be worked on" project bins and decide what realistically is going to be done and what just isn't. The two quilts I had planned for dd before she was born -- not so much. Various other bits and pieces I now am not as interested in -- again, not going to get to. So, fabrics to be re-incorporated back into the stash. Piles of scraps to be sorted in their appropriate bags/bins. New projects put into the bins.

Also as part of this general cleaning frenzy I've come to two conclusions. 1) I am officially declaring the month of June a no-buy month for myself. Unless it is to finish a project already begun (borders, binding, backing, batting) or a necessary notion (rotary cutter blades, needles, thread) I am not. going. to. buy. it. Really. I need to work on the projects I already have fabric for before I can buy more. There -- that didn't hurt as much as I thought. We'll see how long my resolve lasts. 2) I need to prioritize what I want to do/need to do so I get some of it done. I have so many ideas for quilts and a few things I need to finish that it's getting to the point where I don't know which way to turn. I've seen other quilters post lists of goals for the month on their blogs and so I'm going to try it. I can't guarantee everything will get completed, but it will be good for me to set out my goals and try and stick to them. So here it goes, the goals for chez cornfields for the month of June (in no particular order):

• Finish Mom's pillows. Really how late can a Mother's Day present be? Maybe they will be her birthday presents as well? eeeek!
• Make dd's summer dress. Hmmn, doing this while it is still early summer would be a good thing right?
• Make a special request quilted jacket for my goddaugther's birthday. Birthday is at the beginning of July -- so really need to get to work on this one. Also, need to check and see if I have enough muslin -- if not, I'm considering foundation fabric here to be a "notion".
• Start mil's Christmas present quilt. Lots of cutting on this one, so if I get it all cut this month, I should be in good shape. If I manage to get any sewing done, even better.
• Cut background strips for a quilt I'm going to try and do as a leaders/enders project. Also so I can see how much plain white I have left after cutting the strips for goddaugther's jacket.
• Start my own Christmas lap quilt. This one is entirely selfish, but hey! I would like to have a holiday throw.
• Work on Summer Sorbet -- try and get the borders pieced and on. This one may get pushed to next month.
• Practice machine quilting.
• Start cutting for Dick and Jane quilt. This is one where if I don't start it, I will keep on buying fabric since I'm not entirely sure where this one is going. I have the idea for the central area -- but need to "see" it made up. I also have more fabric than I will use for this one already. Enough. Time to start cutting.
• Have my head checked for sanity. No, not really -- but I think this list is starting to go past reasonable into ridiculous. I do need to make a couple of drawstring bags for gifts, but that's it. End of list.

Ok, so there are my goals. In black and white. Or pixels I guess. That is enough for now -- and we will see how well I do for the month. Wish me luck!