Gas Price Blues

I'm not sure what you guys are used to paying for gas in your neck of the woods, but gas just hit $3.19 a gallon here in Haysville...YIKES!!!! I am seeing a long summer of very little pleasure driving if this keeps up. I am already brainstorming ways to save gas or not have to use the car at all. Luckily although we live in a small town, a lot of what we need is either here in town or on the way to/from work. I've told the boys instead of getting in the car to drive the 1/2 mile to the video store, we are going to brush off the bikes. This could be a good thing--if I don't injure myself trying to ride my bike.....it's been a while. A LONG while. If we had public transportation from Haysville to downtown Wichita (where I work), I would soooo take it. as it stands, I have already had to make decision about the way I shop. I had a 40% off coupon from Michael's Craft stores that was burning a hole in my pocket--they have a quilting book I REALLY want that is $25.00....Instead of making the 15 mile trip into that side of Wichita, I got online and found a used-like new copy on Amazon.com for $12.00. Even with the $3.99 shipping, it was cheaper than running my car to the local store. As much as I like the idea of shopping local, it may not work for me if it not a store in an area I have several other errands...I guess one good thing is that I will be at home a lot more and will have plenty of yarn and fabric from my existing stash to get projects done....One of these projects is a paper pieced quilt from class I took a couple weeks ago. You know, the one that cost me $250 extra because I fell in love with the instructors 1940's Singer featherweight and ended up buying one on eBay....I have posted a picture of two blocks--one completed and one in the process of completion. Paper piecing is tricky at first because you are placing the fabric on one side, then sewing on the paper side. Once the block is completed, you tear away the paper and just have the perfectly formed square. It's really neat, but it was hard for me to grasp at first. The thing I like the best is this method makes perfect use of all those scraps that are too small to use normally....Plus you don't have to be a stickler for matching/coordinating colors....The colors in these blocks are from a quilt I am working on--my first quilt to be precise..