I can hear you asking,

just what is March on the military channel. You are anxious to know, now aren't you? Well, it is World War II War in the Pacific month. Now you know!! That's my dad's war so it is always interesting to me and Pacific battles are less frequently shown.

As you may remember, when last we met, my sewing maching had to go visit the shop. Look at how empty it's space is. And was for 12 whole days! Yes, those are mouse pads. Freebie ones. I keep them under the machine to tamp down vibration. I think it works really well, especially when machine quilting. So what did I do with myself for those 12 days? Well, Mr THQ finished making a cabinet from found drawers and other found pieces of wood. So I re-arranged the dining room a bit to find a new home for it. Didn't he do a great job? Everything is found and the paint is all original. It doesn't all match but we didn't want to decide if it needed to be painted until we saw what it looked like just as it was. What do you think? Kind of shabby chic prim.

I did lots of sorting of recipes. That project is ongoing so I don't have any organized anything to show you yet. I had cut out recipes stashed just everywhere. Now they are all in one place but I am still culling duplicates and trying to make myself throw away recipes for things I know I will NEVER make. Do you do that -- save recipes for things you know you won't make? I come by this habit naturally -- my mom did the same thing. In fact, lots of the recipes are ones from newspapers where she lived and I did not. And lots and lots in her handwriting. Written on just anything that was handy.

I also did quite a bit of cutting. Here are 3 quilts all cut out ready to be sewn. Two of them are from the fat quarter quilt book series since I have been really working those. I still have quite a few fat quarters left to use up though. And I remembered to make myself notes as to what quilt the fabrics are for. I have one plastic box with cut pieces that I have no idea what they are supposed to make. All darks so I must not have finished cutting all the pieces. Maybe someday I will figure it out. It's kind of like putting something away in a "special" place. That's for sure a way to never find it again!

Finally the call came that she was all fixed and ready to go. Isn't this a happy sight? It sure is to me. I had been trying to sew and quilt on the weekends less obsessively so I suppose it is a good thing that I managed to occupy myself so well while she was gone. But, boy, oh, boy am I happy to be able to sew again. Sewed a few blocks, then had to test on the machine quilting. You might recall I pin basted until there were no pins left so I had plenty available to practice on.

And here is my first finish for 2010. Not very big, but an original, and finished in February. I think it came out kind of cute. My intention was for a summery table top quilt and I think that goal was met. Not my usual colours, but it is good to get out of the rut occasionally. And it used up that lemon fabric that I have had for YEARS and YEARS.

You will notice a recurring theme and that is using things up. I really want to use up stash this year. Don't want to get crazy about it but it really is time for some of this fabric to become quilts. Really, it is.