things I should not be allowed to do

I should not be allowed to browse quilting blogs or online fabric stores anytime after 9pm. All my inspired creative energy has nowhere to go, because I can't start a real project this late. Now it is midnight and I can't sleep because I am making quilts in my head - also because my husband is pacing around muttering Latin verb forms, but that isn't the issue here, or an issue at all, I merely mentioned it for atmosphere. Anyway.  Ideally I would break out a sketchbook at this point, and if I can find one I will start doing that again. It is funny to me that I am drawn to bright color as much as interesting construction, when my own sewing has been the same brown/blue/brown/green palettes lately (ok, ok, so my current quilt is gold/maroon/white/brown, but still).

Resolution: next project, no brown. My grandmother looked at a few of my quilts and said "how about you try some pastels next time?"  I don't know if I will go that far, but I think she is right about my, er, tendencies.

I am also in awe of the fabric stashes owned by most quilters/semi-professional sewers. I do not have a lot of fabric, I just try to keep it all in a very small place, which makes the collection look larger than it is. My fabric is stacked as tightly as biscuit dough in one of those cardboard can thingies, which is why it sometimes explodes across the living room - luckily fabric shrapnel is more cozy than dangerous, and easier to vacuum.
Not having enough fabric is like realizing that you only have two colors of paint - and they somehow always  combine to make brown.

Resolution: don't be afraid to buy fabric without a specific project in mind. I probably won't stick to this resolution because of cash-flow concerns, but I really should invest in a broader range of quilting cottons (and linen, and flannel, ahhhh). I also need to dye and/or print more of my own yardage, and not be afraid to cut it up.

I don't have this stash problem with yarn, I can wait to buy it until I have a project in mind with no qualms at all. If this means that I am not a true knitter, so be it. I still have the problem of what to do with the odd half-skeins I happen to own, in colors I don't wear or weights that I don't like working with - like lumpy chartreuse lace weight (true story) or the bits of painfully thin brown chenille that somehow migrated to me from Megan. I think the sheer force of her hatred drove several hundred yards into my (comparatively) loving embrace. Maybe I need to get back to my crazy crocheting roots and just do one big stash-busting scumble project...or maybe not.