Stitch from Stash Update for March

The math is a little more intense that usual but here goes.

Stitch from Stash Update March 2015

March Budget: $70.09 

Added: $30.00 Gift Card

Added Bonus from work: $63.10

Spent: $103.96 on two HAED material packs and one Dimensions Kit

Carryover into April: $59.23

April Budget: $84.23

Okay, so maybe it isn't really that much of a story, but here it is. Traditionally, any occasional overtime funds or rare bonuses that I earn at work have been guilt-free crafty spending. So when I received a small bonus for doing really good last year, I shuffled it into my SFS budget. (It was actually $100 award, but the government somehow feels entitled to a cut of my hard work, so I only added the actual net amount that I received after taxes.) According to official SFS rules, that means that I am not permitted to participate in any giveaways for this month, but I'm comfortable with that. 

Heading my way sometime in the next couple of weeks are the floss only material packs for Asiria and Innocence. 

And also, this Dimensions kit that I was drooling over a while ago, completing my set of four seasonal fantasy kits.

If I save up the rest of my stitching budget until June, I will have enough money to get another material kit. I have discovered that I vastly prefer to have someone else acquire all the thread and organize it for me. My stitchbows in a binder still somehow feel too cumbersome and disorganized and if HAED sets up the material pack, all the thread will be from the same lots and I won't have to worry about being short in one color or matching lots. 

The biggest problem that I always had with kits is the thread tangle, and I've managed to overcome that with Library Kittens by putting each color in its own Floss-away bag. This system is also working great for Gandalf, so I will probably eventually convert all my WIPs to using the bags.

As far as my quilt SFS, I went over my budget by approximately $20. BUT, that is because for some reason, I started counting background and backing fabric which were originally exceptions. Since I'm not really sure where I'm going with my quilting SFS, I'm just going to attempt to keep to a $25 budget and continue to track my spending.