Did I Take A Break?

No, I really didn't take a break, but I haven't had enough brain-thoughts to get anything posted since Monday, yikes!  I've continued to work on Celtic Solstice having two rows sewn completely together and the rest in two block segments which are pinned  to make half of each row.  I'd like to get the top finished by tomorrow to take when I meet with my friend Panda now that she's back from her trip. 

I hate to admit, but I'm itching to work on something else.  I have a new start to find for the NewFO Challenge (Barbara at Cat Patches) and a new start to find from one of my many books for Let's Book It (Sharon at Vrooman's Quilts).  I would also like to make progress on some of the 2013 NewFOs, not to mention some of my years older UFO's of which at least one, maybe more, were started over ten years ago.  I would really like more than one finish in 2014.

Today is busy though, as most seem to be lately, yet I'm dragging my heels.  I think I've reached the point of knowing that there are way too many things that I've put off that I now must tend to and that's keeping me from sewing and from even focusing well.

Nick has his piano lesson this afternoon which eats up an hour and a half of my day, I have to plan and prepare dinner, and tonight is a guest speaker at quilt guild, and I haven't been in months and months, but really would like to hear the speaker.  She's been here before and I really enjoyed her last time.  I wish I could feel comfortable spending the money to take her class which is scheduled on Saturday, but such things are no longer in the budget...at least not without feeling guilty if I were to take part. I have her pattern/book, so maybe I'll ease my regrets of not being able to go to class by starting that as one of those two projects I mentioned.  Yes, that's what I'll do, yay...one less thing on my mind :)

Wonder Clips

 My daughter sent these to me for Christmas.  My daughter says they're wonderful.  I think I agree.

 The red is so wonder-fully vibrant, and they come in this really nice flip-top plastic case.

 A few shown singly so that you can see them better.  Such a simple design, yet so effective, and easy to use.

As I took the blocks off the design wall I did so in order, labeling them with row/block# and then clipped them together.  Oh yes, way easier than trying to pin them and more secure than just stacking all the blocks.

Callie and Raven thought they made quite a nice resting spot after they were grouped together.  Actually, I think at this point I had already sewn them into sets of two but still clipped together by row.  The clips hold nicely and firmly.

The clips came in container of 50, but in checking at Amazon.com they are available in packs of 10 and 100, and also in a larger size which comes in green.  It appears there is no other color choice.  For those who work with yarns, I noticed that there are also clips for crochet and knitting and they're purple!   I also noticed that they are a bit on the pricey side, and currently showing to be price-slashed you might say, but then, skeptic that I am, that may just be a marketing ploy to make you think you're getting a really good deal so that you'll stock up on them.  I wonder how many one needs to completely clip the binding on a large quilt?  I suppose if you don't have enough, you can do one side at a time.