It's been a while since I made my last confession. LOL Here goes, "Bless me QBL (Quilting Blogland) friends, for I have supported my LQS and online stores..."
At the guild meetings, there is always a local vendor. No tax and decent prices abound. My stash is sadly lacking in greys. This summer I picked up these four fat quarters (and I dug, as I am wont to do, for those with the manufacturer on the labels, have always been a label nerd that way) for $3 each. That is very good for Canadian prices, which run around $15-18/metre.
I honestly have no clue where I got these two 1/3 yard, or perhaps metre, cuts. Interesting difference in the greys, no? The bottom one is quite lavender-ish in hue.
At another guild meeting this summer, I won 3 of the prizes (no fabric, drat) one night when there were a
lot of prizes. Up until that meeting I had never won a thing. On my way out of the meeting, I spied this lovely batik fat quarter as the vendor, the lovely Sue, was packing up and well, it would be rude not to purchase something from her since I won a couple of her donated prizes, right? Sadly there is no indication as to whose batik it was and I didn't think to ask.
The same Sue donated this fabric as a prize at the quilting retreat I attended in mid-November. Everyone got two picks at the prize table, which changed content, over the course of the weekend. My first pick I chose a Mason jar of soup mix, the kind that looks pretty with the various layers of lentils, dried peas, pasta, etc. I made it two weeks ago and it was delicious. On my second pick I chose this 1/2 metre of fabric. I could see a tea cosy! Or maybe a charity quilt. I purchased the cute reindeer ornament pattern for $7 from
Pastime Pieces, a shop that I learned about at the retreat. It's in Blenheim, Ontario, not far away at all.
Do you see the 5 exquisite wooden buttons on the fabric? I bought these from a sweet Columbian girl whose sister was also at the retreat, visiting from Columbia. The sister did not speak any English. She was an exquisite seamstress! Their family makes these buttons in Columbia, as well as beautiful crafts, (lots of snowman-themed items!). She had brought a few buttons to sell for 75c each, $1 for the sewing machine as it was larger. Look at the size of the 2 little wooden buttons included in that reindeer pattern! For about half the price of that pattern ($4) I got these 5 buttons!

Another colour I am working hard to improve stock on hand of is the aqua family. At one of the wheelchair charity quilt sewing days, Sue had brought a selection of 1/2 yard cuts and fat quarters as some of the ladies had asked her to. I had requested a piece of this beautiful aqua from Kaufman if she had any left. She did. $5. The vibrant fat quarters below it are also hers and are from the quilting retreat. These have a specific destination, but that's all I'm saying for now. They were $3 each.
You may remember I have been through some angst with my local guild, but I am happy to say that I have met some very sweet, dear friends through the wheelchair charity quilts, and more who aren't members through attending that quilting retreat last month. Sewing alone is fine; you have your setup and your stuff at hand, but sewing with friends, like-minded friends, is at another level. There is an energy that is tangible, a bond, a sharing, a learning and friendly atmosphere that inspires my creativity and soaks into the fibre (pun intended) of my being. I learned about yet another LQS through one of the gals at the retreat,
Sewcraft in Essex. This is where I purchased some of these pieces:
The "Cherie" heads are what's left from makeup bags I sewed for my daughters. I got the "It Girls", on sale for $12/metre, at Sewcraft, and possibly one of those 1/3 yard of greys in the second photo in this post. The solid grey is from
A Stitch in Time in Leamington. I think it is Maywood, but I can't recall, $8.99/metre, though, a good price I thought. The two pinks are 1/4 yard cuts from my Florida LQS, Expert Sewing Studio in Port Charlotte. I picked them up last month. The bottom is "Paradiso" by Kate Spain, and the top is "Best Day Ever" by April Rosenthal. These were US$11.03/yard. This is going to be a quilt from a pattern I won. More later.
Speaking of pink...
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The colours are more intense in person: bright pinks except for the bottom one, and rich royal blues. |
These randomly got stacked together to put away in my plastic drawers after the retreat. I'd taken them for cows' lips and eyes. That odd brown fabric on top just did something when I saw the stack from a side view! I would not have put these together, but I'm thinking they have to get used up and become a pretty quilt all together. As a result, I haven't put them back in their correct colour family drawers.
Now I'm off to make 168 HSTs for one of the borders on Dayna's grad quilt. I must also mention the book I am reading this week that I am just LOVING:
I'm nearly finished it, and it is such a great story. It has made me add several more titles to my "to read" list, which is longer if you can believe it, than my quilts "to be made" list! The protagonist is the owner of a bookstore. I love the way each chapter starts with a note about a good book he has read, A. J.'s brief summary and his thoughts on the book, and why his daughter, who wants to be a writer, should read it.
Linking up with the effervescing
Molli Sparkles for Sunday Stash.