My beautiful pile of Riley Blake fabric thanks to a birthday contribution from my grandparents. I see the Christmas fabric becoming a pillow, runner, maybe even a throw - though probably not all by this Christmas!

Also, I did a quick mockup of the circle quilt in my nursery fabrics and it looked so good I've already started cutting out fabric! We'll see how much progress I can make since it's a pretty busy week, but I don't think I'll be able to wait to work on it, it's going to be so cool. Thanks for all the input!!

Labels: fabric

The lack of posting here is directly related to the lack of crafting going on at my house. But the arrival of this fabric in the mail is good motivation to finish up my other quilting projects so I can start on this new project! I have five in-progress quilts and I hope to finish up as many as I can before we go on vacation in mid-July. We'll see if that's overly ambitious!!

Labels: fabric, wip

The blankie kits are ready to go in the mail! One boy set and two neutrals. I hope you like my choices, ladies! Tutorial will be written over the weekend if all goes to plan.

Labels: fabric, giveaway

...with my rotary cutter!

Finished cutting the squares for the next set of nine patches.



Cut all the strips for the quilt along.



Cut the strips to bind the Wedding Quilt.



And ended up with a pleasing little pile of colorful scraps.



Now for some quality time with my sewing machine!

Labels: fabric, sewing, wip

The quilt in our guest room is one I bought at Target when we first moved into our house. It was cheap, and I liked the colors, but I am definitely not attached to it! This morning I pulled out these fabrics to start a new quilt. I think I'm going to use Dana's quilt along to do this quilt - assuming I make progress on the other two unfinished quilts I have going right now!

One more day to enter the May Day Giveaway! Good luck!

Labels: fabric, wip

It is so easy when I'm browsing online to see a new must-have fabric collection and it's on its way to my house before I know it. All the fabric above is the result of compulsive, early 2009 fabric shopping. But between a desire to actually use some of the gorgeous fabric in my stash and a lack of room on my shelves, I have avoided buying fabric online for over two months! The only fabric I've bought in person is this spring fabric which is specifically for more pleated purses. It's a small accomplishment, but a step towards keeping my New Year's resolution!

Labels: fabric

I picked up some more fabric for pleated bags - I haven't forgotten I promised a tutorial! This was part of the motivation for cleaning up my stash - I should have been able to find fabric on hand for the tutorial but I couldn't resist these combos from Hobby Lobby! On sale, too.

The tutorial will be worked tomorrow while I'm still a temporary bachelorette (Pete is in Las Vegas with some friends from college). A perfect Sunday to lock myself in my craft room and sew all day!

Labels: fabric, wip

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway this week! I didn't expect that many entries - definitely a comment record for this site. See?



Without further ado, the random number generator had chosen the winners!

Pink & Purple Bundle - Meital
Blue & Green Bundle - Shirley
Red, Orange, & Yellow Bundle - Nova

Congratulations! Watch for an email from me to get your contact info.

Labels: fabric, giveaway

I spent some time in my craft room this weekend cleaning out my fabric shelves. I have realized lately that I pass over the same fabrics often when looking through my supplies - they are very nice fabrics, just picked up before I really got a feel for my style.



Since this just happens to be my 600th post (yikes!) it seemed like a good time for a giveaway! I have three color-coordinated piles here that I will be sending to three commenters, chosen at random.


Pinks & Purples


Blues & Greens


Reds/Yellows/Oranges

Sizes range from small scraps to over half a yard. To enter, just leave a comment telling me your favorite color! Entry will be closed Friday 3/20 at 9pm CST. Spread the work and good luck!!

Updated: Entries are closed! Winners will be posted momentarily... Good luck!

Labels: fabric, giveaway

I have the 2nd try baby quilt to work on, my flutterby top to baste and quilt, and I just joined another swap, but now that I have a plan I couldn't resist cutting into all my pretty blue & green fabric for the wedding quilt. Happy Friday!

Labels: fabric, wip

I sometimes get so wrapped up in what I'm doing for a swap that I forget I'm going to get something back... And what a treat I received for the Celebrating Handmade swap!



First, this super sweet kitty doll. My kitten Addie especially loves her - I caught Addie trying to pick up the doll and carry her off, a tricky endeavor since the doll is as big as she is!



And also this adorable softie bus. Both of these are from Kathryn.



I've started getting my fat quarters in for the Sew, Mama, Sew swap, too, and it is so fun to keep getting little packages in the mail.

Labels: fabric, sewing, swaps

Alternate title: More Stacks



I'm sure you are all hoping for some finished projects, like the purse pattern I keep promising or an actual quilt... But this pile of filing is taunting me. It must be organized so I can pay my taxes. And there was weeding to be done in the yard (and gorgeous weather for it). And chicken salad to be made. And later - hopefully some sewing!



In other news, just before the quilting disaster I agreed to do a commissioned quilt for a friend to give as a wedding gift. Ha! Funny timing. At least the fabric-choosing is going well!

Labels: fabric, homework

This has turned into one of those weeks where everything gets booked up and I have no crafting time, but I did still manage to get my fat quarters together for the Sew, Mama, Sew swap. It will be fun to get eight little packets back in the mail!

Labels: fabric, swaps

Some day my flutterby quilt will be finished but in the meantime I couldn't resist starting to cut fabric for another AmandaJean quilt pattern. Can't wait to see this one come together!

Labels: fabric, wip

I have all the fabric cut out for my Flutterby quilt. My goodness this is a lot of tiny squares.



Big squares, too.



I have a crick in my neck from leaning over my cutting table! Now we're off to a work party - dressing up, dancing, free dinner... Good weekend, so far!

Labels: fabric, wip

I knew I had accumulated a fabric stash for a reason. I am making a bag for a friend to give to his sister, and he really wanted it to be black and white with red after seeing this bag.



I planned to just use the same fabrics, since I couldn't justify buying new fabric when I had plenty on hand. Then I found I had already done just that!



Great, now I have no hope of resisting pretty fabric!

Labels: fabric

Whenever I'm confronted with an overwhelming selection, I usually freeze and can't decide on anything. So you can imagine how I felt when I saw this:





I think this might have been my favorite booth, wonderful little treasures, all arranged by color:




Nifty Thrifty Dry Goods

After all that, I came home with a limited selection of goodies. One of the local quilt shops that was devastated by hurricane Ike washed/ironed all of their flooded fabric and was selling it for $4/yard.



I couldn't resist this colorway of Flutterby to make a throw quilt for our living room. (After the holidays.)



And finally, I had to grab these two fat quarters in honor of our Westie at a booth full of wonderful reproduction prints. The holiday print will be a throw pillow for the couch.



Oh! If you're into cross stitch, check out this website. The site is a little hard to navigate but check here for some great samplers. Their booth was full of stitched samples I was drooling over. Of course the two I picked to take home were out of stock. I'll order them and get to work. (After the holidays.)

Labels: fabric, quilting

My office building is still closed, a reminder that there is much worse damage out there from Ike than my fallen fence. To stay out of the way we haven't ventured too far from home - less than three miles from my house is (was?) the Kemah Boardwalk, and I've heard the wood of the boardwalk is all gone, the ferris wheel is tipped, and sailboats are washed up on the access roads. It is tempting to go see the damage, but how can you be a tourist to the suffering of others?

Instead we fixed our fence, helped our neighbors when needed, got our shutters down, and tried to put our house back in order after frantically moving things upstairs to avoid potential floodwaters. With that work complete, and work still closed, I moved on to putzing.



I finished a project that was abandoned during our evacuation, chose fabric for two new quilt projects, did a few random neglected chores, and cuddled the kitten - who is now named Addie for no particular reason other than we liked it (Pete thought of it because of how easily she is distracted, like she has ADD).



Now that the repair work is done around our house, if work is still closed tomorrow I think I'll go see if I can help, distributing ice and ready meals or just putting together care packages for our friends that are still without power. It just didn't feel right treating this afternoon like a vacation day when so many are still trying to put things back together.

(Edited to add: Last night would have been Night 28 for my no tech nights. I think the events of the weekend earned me a quiet night with a little TV on Monday!)

Labels: 52 nights, fabric, me, wip

This is a momentous occasion. I actually cut up some of my Anna Maria Horner fabric!!



And I only bought it a week or so ago. Usually fabric like this would sit on my shelf as eye candy for a very long time.



For example, also in this picture, is a little bit of Amy Butler fabric I've had pretty much since I started sewing. And I'm actually using it!



Is it strange to be proud of myself for this?

Labels: fabric, wip

With hundreds of upholstery samples?



My in-laws came over on Sunday and my mother-in-law was toting several bags full of these upholstery samples. A coworker picked these up when a local furniture store was going out of business and has had them hanging in her closet for a couple years. Can you imagine? There are some really fun fabrics here (and some that I can't believe ever saw the light of day) and I have a few ideas to make use of them.



My first project was a quick little zipper pouch. I can put my wallet/phone/keys in here to grab when running into the store or out to lunch.





The inside is turquoise with pockets edged in the outer fabric - sorry for the crummy photo!



If you suddenly had hundreds of ~12x12" pieces of fabric, what would you do?

P.S. - I did finish the pink project but since we are currently riding out Tropical Storm Edouard, the light is pretty low for taking pictures!

52 Nights Update - Night 23 - Finished the pouch above, made dinner, and, um, watch Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. *cough* Oh well, I enjoyed myself! And today I get a bonus day - Tropical Storm days are our equivalent to snow days, I guess - no work for me today!

Labels: 52 nights, bags, fabric, sewing

Ever since I had the chance to visit Liberty when I was in London, I have regretted not picking up some of their fantastic fabric. It was so expensive, and though it would have been a fantastic souvenir to actually buy it in the Liberty store, I left empty handed.



Luckily Marisa linked to a great store with a wide selection of Liberty available as affordable fat quarters, so I was able to correct my "mistake."


The lovely turquoise fabric is a recent purchase from here.

I'm so bad about hoarding fabric, not actually using my "nice" fabric, I hope I can actually use these!



In the grand scheme of life it's a small regret to not buy fabric on a business trip, but it still brings me joy to have these gorgeous prints as a reminder of London!

Labels: fabric

On a whim, I dedicated February "No New Supplies" month... It was, for the most part, a success. I had to buy a zipper for the Mommy Bag, and while at JoAnns to get it I grabbed a couple cottons that were on sale. But that was my only slip! No beads, no online fabric orders.

Of course, now that it's March....

I just had to take advantage of Sally's tag sale.




Click to see those adorable pandas better!

And then Jessica posted about some new Repro Depot fabric, and I had to have it but it was lonely in my shopping cart...




Can you believe how precious those clouds are??

Apparently my February restraint was not enough to break my shopping habits... It did force me to use some fabric I was hoarding - I have a really hard time cutting into my favorites - so I might try this again, maybe every other month?

Labels: fabric