The first step is admitting you have a problem.....

Lots has been going on during the last few weeks. I have been back at the homestead and have been stitching up a storm. Mostly due to my new fancy present from Papa Peach for our 3rd wedding anniversary and Christmas.

Although the 3rd anniversary is the leather anniversary and this is hardly leather I love it....and I can sew leather with it. He also got me a new leather purse to replace my badly worn out purse. We tried unsuccessfully to get the machine before Christmas. I originally was looking at the Janome 6600P. Could not get my hands on one before Christmas, they were sold out everywhere. I took it as a sign that I did not need a new machine. Papa Peach was not to be deterred. He was passing out my number to shops all over town to call when the machines came back in stock. Two Fridays ago I got a call that the machine was back in stock. We didn't have time to go to the shop before I headed off to Michigan last week. When I got back Papa Peach shuttled me to the store and it turned out that they were having a floor model sale. The 7700 included the table but the 6600 did not. They had just put the 7700 out on the floor less than a week ago. So it was barely used. Still a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a sewing machine. It was actually more expensive than my 1st car. But I do love it and it makes everything so much easier and I spend lot of time stitching. (There was a lot of justification to get this to the house!!!) I went with a Janome vs a Bernina due to the price of accessories. Bernina is krazy when it comes to buying accessories or replacement parts.

Since then I have been sewing and sewing and sewing. Making serious progress on Megan's baby quilt. I have finished the backing, done the quilting and attached the binding to the back. I just need to get the binding tacked to the from. Here is a picture of it in my fancy new sewing room with my fancy new machine.

Another thing that has happened is that I annexed our sitting room to become my new sewing room. I used to use my office as an office/craft room. But it got to the point where there was too much fabric and I was tired of swapping out the Bernina with the laptop. We kicked the furniture out of this room and replaced it wit my new sewing machine and table, old fabric cabinet and old dining room table for cutting. Papa Peach also made me this fabric design wall (which was supposed to be my Christmas present). My office is still not being used as an office, just a fabric storage location until I can get some folding/sorting/organizing done.

The quilt on the new design wall is a purple and grey quilt for my oldest step daughter Ellie. I am hoping to have it finished before she heads off to college in the fall. We made some miscalculations on the design wall and will be making two smaller 4'x4' design walls for the room as well.

Over the weekend we decided to get off of our bums and go for a bike ride. It being Wisconsin it is not often that we are given that opportunity in January. But the weather was "warm", I was feeling mega fluffy and I had not yet given up on my personal diet resolutions. We ended up biking a few miles on a trail in a town a couple miles away. After our short, nippy bike ride we found a quilt shop. This particular shop was going out of business since the woman was retiring and was open by appointment only. I made an appointment to come back the next day in the hopes of buying some fabric storage furniture. I instead bought this.....

I don't know if you can appreciate what a shameful amount of fabric that is......By my count its over 60 yards. The blue and white stripe on the bottom is an entire bolt. (The first bolt I have ever bought) I was in such a fabric frenzy and the prices were 60% off. The bolt was clearance and then 60% off!!!! She also had some notions and patterns as well as finished quilts. She had a one yard minimum and still a pretty good selection. Oh well........If you are in the area and would like to buy up some goodies she is open til the end of January by appointment only. The name of the shop is the Backyard Quilt Shop.

This morning I got an email that I was the winner of one of the traveling stash boxes. Box #6 will be coming my way and I will be filling it with some of my newly found goodies. Last but not least don't forget that I have a give away going on check here if you want to win 100 pieces of candy. I am linking up to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.