A sign of getting old is when a good price on vitamins and supplements makes you *gasp*.

Fish-burps: $6.99! at Shoppers

I was sad when I didn't get a lip balm in my race kit. I was happy when Julia gave me hers. I was sad when I knocked it into the sewer. I was happy when I bought a new one.

Something I never use: $2.99 at Shoppers

I don't often do before-after posts. Why? Who the heck knows because my whole life is a before-after project.

Sadly, I am yet again the vulture circling someone else's adventurous, moving-forward life, and received a heap of treasures from a destashing Julia this afternoon.

Destash: $0, Julia's crap

Art yet unmade: $0, a good Friday night

I think IKEA mattresses are like dogs. For every person year they age seven.

It's time to put mine one down. (That or I'm getting incredibly old).

New mattress: $ugh, I'd rather spend money on beads

Rattan headboard: $0, roadside find

I didn't even know I wanted a rather substantial fake cactus until I saw this one beaming rays of sweat heavenly trash picking light at me on the side of the road. I was scared to touch it. I really was.

Fabric: $2.50/m at Fabricland

Plant I cannot kill: $0, roadside find

There's a lot of genius out there. But, man oh man, I want to meet the person who figured out how to make owls and kitties out of the same drawing. I also want to meet the person who figured out that putting them on a Kleenex box was the best way to service this genius.

Tissues: $.99/box

Ideas I wish I had: $millions

All right, if I'm going to think about the quilt, talk about the quilt, obsess and hoard, I may as well just give in and blog about the quilt. Again. Again again.

Though I'm not prone to optimism, I did have the joyful thought that all my screw ups on this quilt are simply fodder for my next: a ticker tape concoction inspired by Laura's post here.

Half empty scrap bin: $0, one quilt's loss

Half full scrap bin: $0, another's gain.

Sorry for the anaemic blog of late. I've been consumed with mangling $400 worth of fabric in an effort to produce something that resembles a quilt top.

Tonight I hit the wall. It was going so pride-inducing well, I was being as meticulous as my soul & DNA could allow, I was pinning and pressing, and measuring three times on everything, then the divine quilting powers gave me a severe ego check when I was working on pulling together the fifth and final mega-block for the top.

First we have this (yeah, I have spooky good eyesight and quilt with a 40w ambiance at night):

Made a block finish 1/2" short. You'll see when it's unveiled in all it's 1700+ piece glory why 1/2" is a serious miscalculation.

Then we have this:

Boo hoo!!!! Sniff sniff pout. I had propped my brandnewprocuredjustforthisproject OmniGrid on my desk chair to get it out of the way . . . and then sat on it. I was so proud of my new toy. I loved it. Now I broke it and am very sad. Very.

humourless blog: $0, same price as always

If you've ever spent 12 minutes behind a sewing machine you know that Kenny Rogers's 'Gambler' was written about quilting.

You've got to know when to hold 'em

Know when to fold 'em

Know when to walk away

Know when to run

Knowing when to run: $0

Seam ripper for all other occasions: $1 at Dollarama

Wish I was sleepin' like this crafty girl right now. Have a bit of insomnia, so I have more than a bit of time to internet.

Don't worry, I'm not going to turn this into a crazy cat lady blog. I'll drag ass tomorrow and snap shots of about 37 new treasures for ya.

If those Chilean miners were under three miles of craft supplies, I would have sent Fattie down to burrow them out. Cat has never met a basket she couldn't empty for the sake of a good snooze.

Sleep: $0, but worth about $40 bucks to me right now

And sometimes I just like really expensive things.

Kati tea brewing system: $18 at Write Impressions

Spectacular will be taken to new heights with the unveiling of my masterpiece. (This is another project).

I'm crafting the most phenomenal quilt of textile lusciousness, complete with buttoned and beaded ornamentation, ribbon sewing, more that 40 different fabrics. It's OFF the HOOK.

Until then, me & Fattie are keeping it all under wraps, close to our chests in metaphorical and literal senses.

Cat helping: $0, always free, never solicited

So I may have accidentally broiled our ritual Friday night pizza. In my defense the knob had no markers. And in my defense I was interrupted from my sewing mania to cook it.

Okay, broiling pizza is indefensible.

Sharpie fix: $0, engineered by engineer father

Pizza: $3.99 of still edible