The lure of the BOM

"Hello, I'm the Calico Quilter and I'm addicted to Block of the Month quilts."

"Hello, Calico."

That's what should be happening right now, if there were a twelve step program for overcommitted quilters. Here I am trying to clean up unfinished projects, and what do I do this morning? Innocently, I start a search for free block of the month projects. (How's that for delusion?) What do I find? This.
It's cute and it's free and it would look great made in my collection of batiks. (What else am I going to do with them? Stare at them? Build a shrine for them? I have been too leery of cutting into them. This will force me to look at them as just another fabric - another, gulp, expensive fabric.).

So off I go to the printer for a copy of the fabric requirements, and to the stash closet, to pull the yardage and create a project box, all the while mentally kicking myself and saying "You have no business committing to another BOM. You know how much time it ended up taking last year."

"But," I answered myself sweetly, "that was because I made two of each of them and I'm only going to make one of this one."

"Yes, but this is not the only one you're going to make, I just know it. You've already been skulking around BlockCentral to see if they've posted their 2009 BOM. Besides, you're going to do Quiltville's mystery quilt, and that starts tomorrow."

"This BOM doesn't start until January 15th."

"Completely beside the point. And, didn't I see you printing out the fabric requirements for that other mystery quilt?"

"But it's a small quilt, it will be quick to complete. They said one day if you're a fast sewer. That's for January 1st."

"What about taking the Christmas tree down on January 1st?"

"But it's so pretty. Can't we enjoy it for a while longer?"

"You're hopeless, completely hopeless."

You see? I need to be rescued from myself.

Waiting for BlockCentral

First, I must tell you that I am a pathologically punctual person. I am the first arrival at every party (I've even driven around the block to kill time so that I won't arrive too early), the one who gets to the doctor's office at least 15 minutes before my appointment - regardless of how long I know I will end up waiting, the person you will see pacing circles around the food court if you're 5 minutes late meeting me at the mall. I think I inherited this trait from the grandfather I never knew, who passed away before I was born. Mom tells of him getting dressed far too early to go to his Lodge meeting, and pacing up and down the back sidewalk until time to leave. This SOOOO sounds like me.

Anyway, that trait is why the following bugs me so much: BlockCentral hasn't posted its BOM June block yet, and it's the 17th. OK, it's just one block, but I'm working on a lot of projects, including four BOM's, so I like to keep up.

Really keep up. Come to think of it, can they post July's block early?

Keeping my Block of the Month projects organized

Last month, I sorted and stored my quilt patterns, ideas, and quilt magazine clippings into notebooks classified by block style. I bought extra three ring binders and also created notebooks to keep my Block of the Month projects organized. I purchased heavy clear plastic sheet protectors at the office supply store, one per block for each project, and stored them into the notebooks. As I receive each new month's instructions, I will print the pages and insert them in a sheet protector in that project's notebook. After the block is sewn, I will fold it neatly and insert it into the sheet protector with the block istructions. When all the blocks are completed, they will be protected, clean and all in one place, ready for assembly.