Addict

Do you find yourself trolling fabric web sites in anticipation of your next score? Do you pine for the mailman to bring you that next hit of fabric bliss? Do you hoard certain fabrics knowing that it could be your last taste of that line?

Welcome to Fabric-holics Anonymous. Only I'm not so anonymous. You might remember my after-Fourth-of-July posting of a few new fabric acquisitions...it hasn't ended there. As many of you can understand, money is a bit tight for us right now so I am now reliant on gift cards and Etsy sales. I keep a separate bank account for Etsy transactions, and everything I sell goes into this account for replenishment of sewing necessities. That account is now depleted so I guess I better get to work filling my Etsy store!

Z&S Fabrics was having a "clear out the store" sale as their orders from Market are starting to roll in. I got this order for under $15 including shipping!

From bottom up, half yard cuts of: Prints Charming's Two Young Street for Marcus Brothers, Jackii Jones's Nearsighted for Marcus Brothers, Rosemarie Lavin's Mambo for Windham, Kathy Hall's Mid-Century Modern for Andover, Anna Griffin's Mackenzie Christmas for Windham

And when I was writing the post about this Orla Kielly-like fabric I discovered the rest of the line. OH MY! I found it at Rainbow Fabrics.

Apples and Apple Trees for Timeless Treasures

And.....

Home Sewing is Easy for Alexander Henry
....for a project to be revealed later!

And lucky for this addict, I won a gift certificate from Kathy at Pink Chalk Fabrics for choosing a selected fabric combo. Now I need to decide, do I put that GC toward the fabric I need to make new curtains for the dining room, or do I buy some of my selected combo...or some Summer Soiree??

But lest you believe I sit in piles of raw fat quarters, I *did* actually make a little something for myself.


Pattern: Wide Leg Lounge Pants from Amy Butler's In Stitches

Fabric: Route 66 for Alexander Henry

Result: Not love...I might take out the drawstring and do some elastic. The pants have a low rise and tend to loosen and droop the longer they're on...I think I should have made a "lounge dress" instead!

The day after....

The party is over...the dishes washed and put away...but Jaxon's new gifts cover the living room floor and I didn't have the heart to take down the decorations. So the dining room remains in this state.

I have a lot to tell you, but I am going to dole out it all out slowly...so stay tuned for some new fabric, a couple of finished projects, a bloggy friends meet up, and info on the scrappy Christmas block swap.

I'll leave you with the birthday boy in his new shirt...already out of date as he is now 3 years old and 3 days!

The right way to celebrate independence....

....is to buy fabric!

The last of my birthday JoAnn gift cards....

All from the clearance rack...a microsuede from the home dec dept., and flowers, stripes, and fruit

And *most* of my FatQuarterShop.com gift cards from Mother's Day...

Half yards of "Apple" From Timeless Treasures (reminded me of Orla Kiely), and two prints from "Wildwood" From Free Spirit

A fat quarter pack of Jewel Tones from Michael Miller

Two charm packs and two one yard cuts of "Have a Sheri Berry Holiday" from Northcott (I had a hard time deciding between that and this)

I couldn't help myself when it came to the Christmas fabric...good thing I am going to be organizing a scrappy Christmas block swap!

And another way to celebrate independence:

With the cutest boy in the U.S.!

Then and Now

Today is our eighth anniversary...sometimes it seems it has gone so fast and sometimes it seems eight isn't a big enough number!

Here we are then....


And now....


I made my honey some lemon bars.


I made *me* a dress (from this free pattern).


Notes on pattern...the cut is very generous. If I make this one again I will cut the top to small/medium (and I am a 37 bust). The elastic thread didn't like me much at first...it worked much better when I stretched a bit when I wound the bobbin. Also, I added an inch and a half to the length, and then cut off four inches when I hemmed -- it's got plenty of length!

I'll try to get a shot of me wearing it soon...perhaps when we celebrate our anniversary this weekend. It's so nice that we get fireworks for our celebration...forget that "other" national holiday!

Thanks to those who showed interest in a Christmas block swap. I'll start organizing after Jaxon's birthday next week.

Woot. I did it.

What was I waiting for? Why was I so afraid of free motion quilting?

I finally took the plunge.


Yes, this is the front. But those of you who preferred the sashing, don't despair....


....maybe *this* is the front! I didn't want to purchase any fabric for this project and I didn't have enough to back two quilts...so now I have a "reversible" quilt.

The FMQ wasn't bad at all *except*:
1. I kept reading how fatiguing it is...but it's hard to believe how tired my shoulders were!
2. Logically I understand why this would take so much thread. But I was still shocked that 8 bobbins weren't enough.

The key to the whole hand speed vs. machine speed ratio for me seems to be music. If I got too focused on quilting I would mess up, but if I was bopping around to upbeat music (put Michael Jackson into Pandora, you won't be sorry. MJ, Stevie, Marvin Gaye, Prince, and even Queen and the Beatles!!) I wouldn't get overly stressed about what I was doing. I think margaritas would have a similar effect. I will test this and let you know.

Speaking of messing up, I had one major faux pas.


HMMMM....Where'd that crease come from? I didn't baste well, most of my safety pins are tied up in half done quilts, and I didn't feel like hand basting. I paid for it (plus I think I should try starting in the middle instead of the edge, but I liked hiding the beginning of my quilting in the binding). I'm not pulling all the quilting out to fix this -- I'm leaving it as a badge of honor on my first FMQ quilt! More pictures coming when I finish the binding.


Also, I tried Angry Chicken's Iced Tea concentrate this week and I am in love. Super fast, super easy, and super good! This is one family bag of decaf black tea and two bags of blueberry tea. Yummy! I do a ratio of one glassful of ice, two thirds full of water and topped off with concentrate.

And lastly, I've been thinking about organizing a Christmas in August swap/modified round robin. I love Christmas fabrics, I love scrappy quilts...what could be better than putting them together?!? I thought each participant could make six (or 12?) scrappy Christmas blocks (maybe based on Oh, Fransson's scrappy starling tutorial) and send a block or two to each participant (more planning inserted here). Then we would each end up with 12 Christmas blocks in a variety of different fabrics without having to buy a ton of fabric. Then we would have plenty of time to assemble, quilt, and bind before the holidays! Would anyone be interested?

Poodles and Pop

I got a bug in my bonnet for a new skirt and dug the biggest piece of fabric I could find out of my stash. I had bought a pattern a few weeks ago that included a petticoat for a dress I have, and decided to take this costume poodle skirt and make it into work wear!


It took a lot of fabric, I had to piece the yardage I had to make it work.



I've also made a decision about my Old Red Barn Quilt-Along quilt, which you should see the results of later today or tomorrow!

I want to end with a little mourning for Michael Jackson. Michael was a big part of my childhood; "Thriller" was the first album I bought (I can still do the Vincent Price "rap" from start to finish), and I was also the proud owner of "Bad" on vinyl. When my college radio station did an 80s retrospective, they knew to come to me to borrow "HIStory."

He was a talented man, better equipped to deal with the stage than he was the rest of his life. I think of him as two people, the musician of the late 60s-early 90s, and the man who couldn't deal with celebrity, who also seemed to be trying to change himself into someone else.

This is the Michael Jackson I choose to remember, singing my favorite of all of his hits:

Help! I need somebody.....

....to love. Wait, I'm getting my Beatles and Queen mixed up. I *really* need some help deciding how to proceed with my Old Red Barn Quilt-Along blocks. Yes, I am still behind.

I attempted to lay out all the blocks today. Not easy to do with a nervous old golden retriever and an active almost-three-year-old. Forty-two 12.5" blocks make a big quilt! I think regardless of how I decide to assemble the blocks I am going to make two smaller lap quilts rather than one big quilt. But should I butt all the squares up against one another:


Or make 4 block squares and add sashings?


Thoughts?

Also, Courtney and I have been eyeing this retro baseball-themed fabric for our baseball-themed swap -- and The Fabric Shopper is doing a giveaway. Wish me luck, and let me know if you see this in any online shops!

Cleveland Rocks!

We spent the weekend in Cleveland celebrating my dad's retirement (36 years teaching middle school). My dad is a huge Indians fan so we hit up a baseball game and spent the next day at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. Jaxon wasn't thrilled by the game, too loud, and didn't "get" the hall of fame...but he sure enjoyed the waterfront!



I also delivered this custom order to my sister to give to a woman at work who just had a baby.


Now it's back to grading. I'll come up for air on Wednesday!