A little stash building

I took advantage of the no shipping a few weeks ago at Sew Sisters.  I found lots on sale and added some prints from Tula Pink's Slow and Steady line and then a few others fun prints.  I took a picute of the selvages if anyone is interested.  The Anna Maria Horner print is such a wonderful low volume option.  And there is just something wonderful about the Bear Essentials prints from P and B Textiles.

Sew Sisters has new fabrics added to their clearance section and an awesome deal on Aurifil basic threads (white, grey and natural) if you need any. 33.3% off but only in January.

Workshop coming up

I am going to a Katie Pedersen next month and I picked my fabric for the class.  I think it is quite awesome.  Cannot wait.

Organizing solids... it needed to be done.

I have been on a bit of a drawer tidying bender this summer.  From Husband's t-shirts to the kitchen junk drawer, I have tidied it.  It has been awesome and left me feeling virtuous beyond all measure.  Then I read a post by Very Kerry Berry where she talked about her organization and inventory of her solids stash.  Oh my goodness.  I got right on that.  I organized, folded, identified and inventoried the whole mess.  What this told me is that I really like buying certain colours.  Kona Crocus and Kona Ash for one thing.  I have several lengths of Kona Bahama Blue and Kona Ruby was another one that I seem to like buying.  Good grief.  I also realized how close some of the colours are as I tried to identify Kona Silver and Shadow.  Seriously.  So where did this leave me?  I am right out of Kona Berry (a favourite). I couldn't find Kona Curry which I was sure I had until I realized I had pulled it for something.  Crisis averted.  I think that now that I have a list with the colours and quantities on the computer, I will be much smarter about what I think I need.  I feel so much better now.   I did organize and inventory my non-Kona solids as well.  And I keep the whites and almost whites in another location just in case you wondered.

And if you are still with me, Sew Sisters has Tula Pink's extra wide backing fabric in stock.  It is apparently gorgeous.  Check it out.  And I will be placing a Sew Sisters order shortly to take care of my Kona Berry problem.

Summer fun

EEP!  Milk glass!  I just returned from a road trip to Alberta to visit our daughter and our son-in-law.  They understand my obsession with milk glass and picked this set up for me a month or so ago.  Oh my goodness.  So awesome!

I have lots of pictures of my trip and will get those organized soonish but how about a vintage sheet?  I found this one with mum last week.  It is in excellent shape and really vibrant.  And I think it was only $2.  Thrift store score!

And don't these awesome socks look great on the sheet?  Our neighbour's mom knit these for me and a pair for Husband.  His are much more sedate.  Love them!

Even in the land of big trucks and wild animals, daughter and I found a great little quilt shop.  She loves to pick out fabric for me to buy.  There was a sale and the fat quarters were $2.  ANd I found a great black and white print.

And this beauty at another quilt shop on my way home!

Fabric Friday

How fun is this?  It is an Aunt Grace print from Marcus fabrics and I now have almost 8 metres of it.  I did not plan on it but I went to check out a funky fabric store on my way home from work.  Overseas Fabric in Abbotsford.  Seriously fun.  Warehouse like with scads of brilliant coloured silks and satins and bling.  Lots of bling.  But they also have some quilting cotton and some really quirky extra wide quilt backing.  And deals.  Lots of deals.  And there may have been some bargaining too.  Just saying. So what started out as, oh, I will take 3 metres, please, became something different.  It went a little bit like, 3 metres?  Let's see how much is left on the bolt?  Oh-7 metres or so?  How about you take it all for $25.  I didn't stand a chance.  So it is mine.  All mine.  Happy Friday!

Sunday Stash

Creative Stitches in Abbotsford has come and gone. My fabulous guild had an awesome display of modern quilts and we did a little stage show and demo... all you ever needed to know about Modern Quilting.  It was a lot of fun.  I did a little shopping too.  A lovely large cone of Aurifil and some fat quarters including some great linen.  Who doesn't need a sewing goat on fabric?  And did you notice the wee charms!

Here is a link to some of the quilts that were on display... Robert Kaufman Challenge!

Sunday Stash

I took advantage of a sale a while ago at Sew Sisters and added some interesting fabrics to to the stash.  There are some wonderful selections from Carolyn Friedlander's Doe line for Robert Kaufman on the right and some other texty low volume choices on the left.  I just haven't remembered to blog about them.  I have been pretty preoccupied lately with work and family.  It is all good, I just have a different assignment at work and no sooner did we have our son's wedding in January but our daughter is also getting married.  We are over the moon delighted.  Wedding plans are full steam ahead!

Today I finished quilting a small baby quilt and will finish up the binding here in a minute.  The very empty design wall is beckoning but without a clear idea what to start next, it is staying empty until next weekend.  I do have the Aviatrix pattern on my table though and overflowing scrap bins for a possible scrappy version like Cynthia's.

I am really trying to not get sucked into the Pinterest vortex of backyard wedding ideas.  Just saying.  

Oakshott... seriously drool worthy

Last weekend, Sunday to be precise, I ordered a fat eights bundle of Oakshott Colourshots from the UK.  On Tuesday, a Fedex truck pulled up to the house and delivered my fabric.  Seriously.  Now, in case, you didn't know, I live on the west coast of Canada.  That is service.  Seriously.  I had emailed back and forth with Michaeal, the owner, to inquire about the Twelve Trees pattern.  Michael sent the pattern along as a freebie and included a gift voucher and 2 sample packs showing all the colours of the colourshots range.  Seriously.  That is service.

And the fabric is gorgeous.  Drool worthy.  Intense colours and  the cross weave gives such a sheen to the fabric.  Yummy.

We have been having incredibly lovely weather.  Little bits of rain and then warm sunny days.  My roses are still going for it.  I took these pictures yesterday and today.  The red roses are HUGE.

Liberty and Linen

My kids treated me to some Liberty from Purl Soho for my birthday.  Our daughter wanted me to come up with something quilty that I would feel far too guilty to buy myself.  No brainer.  How about some Liberty?  So I picked out this rainbow bundle of 20 fat 1/8ths.  Fabulous!  Then our son had me pick out some more.  Why not?  I picked out a fat quarter bundle and a scrap pack.  I feel very spoiled.  Very spoiled.

Mum was off to Europe recently and brought me back some linen from Estonia.  Have a look!

Other than that I have finished all the blocks for this one but I haven't taken a picture because my sewing room is in the middle of being painted!  EEEK!

Busy at work starting up the school year in full force.  It is a good busy though.  Really good busy!

Fabric enabler warning...

My buddy Cynthia designs fabric for Robert Kaufman.  This is her new line called Sewing Studio.  I just love it.  I ordered it from Hawthorne Threads and I am sure we will see it popping up at other online shops.  It is awesome.  Cynthia is just super with text and I love the sewing machines.  Check it out.  Lindsay from Hawthorne Threads has added some of the line to her Lindsay's picks.  Just saying.  She has taste!


More fabric news.  Sew Sisters, a sponsor of mine, is having a Kona sale.  Oh yes they are.  Starting September 24 to 30.  $6.99 a metre. Sew Sisters also has lots of new great stuff in their clearance section.  Check it out.  You will thank me.  Happy Shopping!

Fall is coming

First of all.  Sunflowers.  What a fabulous thing.  Husband always plants sunflowers.  We have them grow along the wood shed and they feed all sorts of chickadees and other critters.  This year the seeds did not exactly work as promised as we usually plant Giant Russians and that is what the seed packet promised but this year we got giant sunflowers but branching ones without the giant flowers.  But man,  they are tall.  This one is over 11 feet.  Seriously.

Let's talk about fabric.  I have been crushing on the latest Eclectic Elements  by Tim Holtz and when my quilt guild buddy, Cathy, who owns Steam Trunk Craft Works, spread the word that she had them in stock, I was on it.  The fabric arrived super fast and was all wrapped up and lovely with the sweet little charm added.  So fun! Love the clock faces.  Fabric happy!

Just a bit of fabric for a Monday...

I was doing a little shopping at one of my sponsors the other day.  And today a lovely package of fabric goodness arrived from the Fabric Spot.    I was experiencing some buyer's regret after my Oregon trip to Sisters.  I did not get any of the Mustang Canvas when I was fabric shopping so I had to fix that and Fabric Spot has a whole lot of Cotton and Steel going on.  I love that Mustang print!  I also picked out a few other Cotton and Steel  fat quarters including Hatbox Tiger Stripes in Orange, and Homebody Button Jar in Aqua.  I selected some more Kona Parchment as it goes so nicely with linen.  I was surprised by the scale of the Button Jar.  Just so you know, the buttons are big and with lots of negative space.  I had this idea the buttons would be smaller.  It is lovely though.  I also had to get a metre of Fox Field Vintage Stars because it is beautiful.    There you have it.  Fabric happiness.

Fabric Enabler...

I have to say that I have a thing for Suzuko Koseki fabric for Yuwa.  It is not something we see a lot of in Canada but thanks to Rita at Red Pepper Quilts, I have found Miss Matatabi fabrics on Etsy.  Frances has a lovely selection of Yuwa fabrics and her prices are very reasonable.  I thought I would share that little bit of fabric goodness as I just recently received a nice little package all the way from Japan.

And then take a look at this little piece of awesomeness.  My buddy Cynthia has a new fabric line with Robert Kaufman called Sewing Studio.  I love this and cannot wait to find it in a fabric store!!!  Take a look!
And Cynthia has giveaways all this week over at her blog.  Just saying!  And it involves fabric!!!!

More fabric news... one of my sponsors, the lovely Karen at Fabric Spot has all sorts of Cotton and Steel.  You have to go have a look.  Love it! Here and here and here... and here and here.  Did I get it all?

Sisters Part 3: Did I mention the fabric?

Well... I did have the foresight to take an extra bag in the bottom of the fairly small suitcase I took for the fabric purchases.  I just had this feeling that I might need it.  The first fabric stop was at Portland's Fabric Depot. This is a HUGE warehouse type store that lives in what was most likely a former grocery store.  Did I mention it was huge?  Really big.  And then they had an outdoor clearance area.  I went there first.

I was pretty focused in my shopping there.  I had a list.  I wanted a few Kona solids... parchment and stone.  Little bit boring but they play well with linen, low volume fabrics and some Anna Maria Horner... cone flowers.  Not bad.  Only a few other things found their way into the buggy.  I found the pink stripes, and the seriously awesome airmail fabric and the Dear Stella white and black zig zag print in the clearance area.  Nice!

The next day we hit the Stitchin' Post in Sisters.  This store is beautiful.  Really, really lovely.  It is owned by Jean Wells...

And they had some Cotton and Steel.  Eep!  I bought some.  Oh yes I did!  Not all of what they had is on the shelf because some of my quilting peeps were carting around the bolts in their arms. 

But I also added a few more low volume options and some Echino glasses.  Cotton and Steel has great selvages, just saying.

We also hit B.J.'s quilt shop in Bend which was right across the street from a Jo-Ann's.  Yep.  B.J.'s has a cooler of iced bottled water at their front door.  So appreciated that but the store itself was super crowded with another bus group.  It was a bit frenetic.  I did however, find the chicken wire low volume fabric there and bought the rest of a bolt of Children at Play paper airplane fabric for baby quilt backs etc. And in case I ever need to make a paper hat or paper airplane, I can refer to the fabric.  You never know!

Then I ventured across the street to Jo-Ann's.  They had an awesome selection of DS Quilts by Denyse Schmidt and it was all on sale.  Oh happy day!  Darlene and I were in Denyse heaven.  Lot's of half yards except for the orange check because I took the rest of the bolt for a super good deal.  Happy day!

Our last fabric stop was at Bayside Quilting in Olympia.  By this time, I think I was shopped out.  Can that really happen?  Anyway, I found some quilting news text fabric and some nurse text fabric.  They asked to come home with me and I could not say no!

Look at all the low volume stuff playing together.  Love it!!!

Sunday Stash and some thrifty finds

I did manage to hit a fabric store on the weekend and there was a sale.  I picked up the Windham ginghams and the blue dots at 50% off.  Thank you.  I will take that.  And the Tula Pink from her Neptune line was 30% off so it came home with me.  The low volume fabric is a fat quarter of something but I needed it.  I am always trying to add to my low volume stash.  I tend to use it up as fast as I bring it home.

I met a bunch of my guild buddies for coffee on Friday and managed to find some fun stuff at a church garage sale and then I found the fridgie at a thrift store cheap!  The vintage tablecloth is HUGE and lovely and then the wee dress on the hanger is really a clothespin bag.  25 cents.  It is now filled with cloth pins.  Imagine taking the time to make such a cute thing!  I guess anything to make laundry more fun!  Have a happy rest of your day!

Warning: Beautiful fabric alert

I ordered some lovelies from  Fabricspot.  Oh, yes I did.  I have to say that the Anna Maria Horner echinacea print had to be seen to be fully appreciated.  The colours are intense and vibrant.  So gorgeous.  I am going to have to pick up more of this line.  Then there is the low volume text print from the Littlest line called Heartfelt Snow.  And Denyse Schmidt's Chicopee paislye in lime and red.  I think I may have scooped the last of the Chicopee in lime.  Sorry.  I really like it so I don't feel too guilty.

And what about the glasses?  So darn funky.  Fox and Houndstooth glasses and 2 fat quarters of Junk Drawer from Cosmo Cricket.  Classic.

There you have it... my picks from a recent little shopping trip online at Fabricspot.  Check it out.

Friday Fabric and stuff

 Husband made me these for mother's day.  I have to admit that I was a bit of a nag about it.  But a nice nag.  I had some reject yard and metre sticks hanging about and I showed him a picture and before you knew it, these lovelies showed up on my sewing table. Seriously awesome.

Then I became somewhat obsessed with Yuwa macaron fabric. And then some other fabrics just happened end up in my shopping cart.  Yum.  Happy weekend!