Mark's Got It Right!

I am a huge fan of Mark Lipinski. A few days ago I received the latest issue of Quilters Home. I read his Letter from the Editor and started cracking up and smiling and couldn't stop. He writes about getting rid of the fabrics and blocks and things that you don't want that are cluttering up your life and possibly stifling your creativity so you can start the new year right.

That's what I've been doing for almost a year now, but especially the last few months! Back in February (I can't believe it was that long ago) I posted here and here about my vast collection of block sets, mostly from MSN group swaps I was in. I just counted and there were over 70 of them. 70! What was I thinking?

Well, between actually making some tops, and giving/trading a LOT away, I am now down to a workable list of 30. That's 40 sets gone bye-bye. I feel good! I feel refreshed! And thanks to his other idea in the issue of creating a quilting journal, I now have some ideas drawn up for some of them. I will share those in the coming weeks as I get started on making these into tops.

In case you're interested, here's the list of what is left, in no particular order...

Pink/Black/White, Christmas Sampler, Scrappy Tennessee, Scrappy Mini-Bowties, 30's mini bow-ties, Mapleleafs, Fall Sampler, Black & Bright Windmills, Blue & Yellow, Orange & White, Pink & White, Blue & White, Spinning Flowers, Scrappy Cats, Scrappy 9 patches, Butterfly Focus, Wild Focus, Patriotic Sampler, Spring Fling, Batik & Cream, Boxy Stars, Indian Stars, Scrappy Sisters Choice, Daisy Focus, Pink/Brown/Cream, Halloween Sampler, B&W &Bright, Kids Hole in the Barn Door, Kids Buzzards, 30's sampler.

And these are just the blocks. In the last few months, I've also traded away over 15 flat rate boxes of fabrics, and given away several patterns I wasn't going to use.

I think I am ready to start 2009! Thanks Mark!