spring cleaning?

I am sure you have all seen this, the new Denyse Schmidt collection at Joann Fabrics. This was my first cut at the collection, I have since purchased some more... as recently as today...; got to love the 50% off coupons.

To make room I did some cleaning of my stash and came up with this stack ... over 2 feet high... and that is after I culled out the 10 fabrics that I used for the Vintage Juki Spring quilt. Some is over 10 years old, fabrics that I had when we moved to Texas, and some are more recent that I know I will never use because they are, uhm, ugly.

Then, since I had some extra room... I picked up these today... Love those bunnies... but the best part about this stack is that it averaged $3.30 a yard for the 16 yards. The top one is Michael Miller Crib Print, I got 5.5 yards and I think it will be great for a quilt back.... more to come on that over the weekend!

Winner!

Have you been following the Cross Country Christmas blog hop? I have and have been enjoying the great projects and stories from these designers from around the country. Yesterday I found more to enjoy! I was notified that I was the winner of the 100 Quilt Block magazine from Pat Sloan's site!

This fabric is just eye candy at this point, gathered for a project that I vetoed. (executive decisions in a management chain of 1?) I am sure you will see these turn up again in the new year.

yard sale anyone?

After my recent fabric shopping sprees in the warehouse districts I decided I really had enough random stash and need to limit my fabric purchases to things required for a specific project if and only if I was unable to meet that need from said stash.


Well, that all sounds good, till you meet up with a yard sale while taking the kids to school that has BOXES of fabric.... 25 cents a piece (not yard), holiday for 50 cents, and notions for 5 cents!


This is my haul... nothing smaller than 2 yards...there is 8 yards of the holly print ... 5 yards of the Santa.. the small green flower is a backing and is super wide, and there is 4 yards... so all this fabric was $3.50.... total! And I got 20 of the vintage rick rack for me ($1 total) and 18 mixed with bias tape to send to my mom. So much for good intentions!

County Fair

I warned him! I told my husband that the reason we did not have coffee was that Sam's Club, where I get the Starbucks, is too close to the freeway for me to not be tempted to jump on and be at the fabric discount stores 15 min later... but he wanted coffee and this is some of the goodness I also came home with .... only a yard of the pear but 4 yds of the raisin! Did I mention it was $3 a yard?

This is the 54" 'canvas'. It is about the weight of Kona cotton, so not really heavy. What should I do with it?

New stash ... machines fixed!

My vintage sewing machines are back and running like a dream!
And, I got to visit my fabric nirvana as well. Thanks to those who weighed in on determining how much to buy when encountering wonderful prices!

These are my new purchases made at the warehouses I discovered. The top selections were is a big pile marked $2 yd, must buy whole piece. The lower rt piece is 2yds and is a Kaufman print. I think it will be added to the wonky fence rail selections.

As happy as the $2's made me... these are the ones that put me over the moon! I spotted the Sandi Henderson prints in a pile of swatches by the desk and asked about them since they were not on the floor. When I asked the manager said to go get those from the back for me :) :) :) all $5 yd. This was where your advise on yardage helped! Thanks!!!

Wonky Fence Rail

Nap Time Quilter is doing a tutorial and quilt along for her Gratitude Quilt which she showcased in the Bloggers Quilt Festival.

Just a note, if you have not checked out the Festival, it is time well spent. I try to look at 10-15 a day and may be done before the spring Fest is upon us as there are 683 entries!

Sorry, back on topic... this is my preliminary pull for the quilt along, what do you think? I know it is similar to her example, but I have a hard time thinking out of the box till I get a feel for a quilt. First time for me on a pattern is about mechanics, and this will be my first try at wonky, at least on purpose :)

Stash Augmentation

On my trip into Dallas last week to see the sewing machine doctor I had a chance to again peruse the fabric shops in the import district. There are about 6 of them that are in loading dock warehouses and one that is a store front. This time I asked a few questions to find out exactly what these shops were. The bolt ends had some good names on them, but... I know they sell cheap knock off hand bags in the area and I did not want to be taken in by forgery Dewberry. What I found is that these are distributors and in one case they had racks of fabric still in plastic that had just come back for the Houston show. I didn't see any cotton fabric over $5 yard. The ones I got were all $3-5. I cant wait for next week when my sewing machines are fixed and I have an excuse to go back!

So, when you find a deal and are augmenting your stash, what quantities do you buy in? I got a couple 1/2 yards, but mostly full yards, and 2 yards of the grey and the off white (a Joel Dewberry print) because they were only $3. I got a yard of the green damask the first trip and bought the remaining 1 3/4 they had when I went back again :) I see it as borders on a bright quilt and maybe backing for a baby quilt. I need a strategy for my trip next week.... lots of little 1/2 yards, or bigger cuts of those that I love?