Bob Bob Bobbin Along...

Sometimes I hate making bobbins. They always run out at the most inopportune times and I don't have one of those machines that warns me when my bobbin is getting low. I do most of my piecing with grey thread, and when I make a bobbin, I tend to make 3 or 4, but I still have to stop to change them.... sigh. Sometimes it's not a big deal. Unfortunately a lot of my work is chain piecing and I can sew 40 or 50 items without bobbin thread before I realize I've run out. That's a pain in the ass at the best of times... but when you're paper piecing, it's a LOT worse... your paper is already perforated and sometimes a second time through actually separates the sections.

So... what brought this up was that I'm preparing for the New Year's Day Mystery at Quiltbug. This is a paper-pieced mystery and, yeah, I did about half of the pieces without bobbin thread. Sigh.

My mood wasn't enhanced by the fact that we'd just gotten back from about 16 hours of driving in 2 days. (Up to see my DMIL and DFIL for the holiday). It was a lovely visit but OH, that drive! We usually stay a few days when we go, but this time we drove up on the 24th and back on the 25th... bleah!

On an up note, we are looking forward to seeing Avatar at the IMAX tonight. That should be good.

We've been invited to a couple of NYE parties... one is gonna be a drunken brawl, the other is a Wii Party. I think we'll make a short appearance at the brawl and then go play Wii. Games are more our style than TML (too much liquor). I guess I won't be doing any NYE mysteries... just NYD.

It's going to be a busy few months after that... I've got so many quilty commitments: The new longarm, Road to California in January, Machine Quilter's Conference in February, Glendale Quilt Show in March... and potentially a retreat in April. In addition, I'm hosting my minigroup in January and hosting a mini-sew-in for them in February in my home. I have to finish two quilts for an upcoming show... one of which is partially done... the other isn't even started yet. HELP! The more I think about how much I've gotta do, the more that little nagging sense of panic starts to set in. But sometimes it's that panic that motivates too...

I hope I don't motivate myself into an asylum...

Today I am grateful for owning a reliable car (and a husband who helps me keep it that way - mostly by nagging a bit, but it works), for CalTrans, for the I5, for good friends and good health, and especially for a new year with all the new hope and new possibilities that it could bring.