Fab{ric}ulous

The sewing machine joins what the scissors have cut asunder, plus whatever else comes in its path. –Mason Cooley

I didn't wait very long after Mr. Bug told me he'd gotten a job to do a little fabric shopping . And let me tell you, it was fab{ric}ulous! And I managed to keep it under control. Everything you see here was bought on sale.

I won a Tweet Tweet Charm pack in Marg's giveaway a month or so ago {thank you Marg ! You totally rock!} and when it arrived, I immediately thought, baby quilt! I decided to do another stacked coins quilt like Cozy Posies and so I looked through the charm pack to see what I liked for sashings and borders. Then I went on-line to see what was available. I found exactly what I was looking for on sale for $6 a yard. Of course, the shipping cancelled some of that out, but I came out at least $1.50 ahead of what I would have paid in the shops, which is great since the one shop I saw it in around here didn't have what I wanted.

My next move was for solids. JoAnn's had a big sale on Kona Cotton and all their other quilter's solids last weekend. Everything was 40% off and I had an extra 25% off total purchase {they're doing that again in a couple of weeks ; I've already staked out the batting situation and I'm going to take full advantage}. I got a pretty mauve to go with the Tweet Tweet, and then I got a solid to go with my Chubby Stars quilt, which stalled in the fabric purchasing stages due to lack of funding. This absolutely gorgeous solid is called Banana Cream and it will be the main background. I still need to get a solid for the star points, but at least I can start piecing the four-patches for the chains now. I might have to give up the hours between 1:00 and 6:00 am, but who needs sleep anyway ?

I fiddled with my layout and added a chain border all around it {thanks for the inspiration, Karen}, and I'm still really excited about this quilt. My only problem is not enough time. Oh, and I have to find the perfect sort of khaki colored fabric to match the leaves on the roses for the star points. It is a really tricky color. It isn't quite tan and it isn't quite green and it is definitely not gray and I can't find anything that matches it anywhere. Well, I've only been to three stores. I guess I'll have to try a few more shops. That's not such a bad thing.

While I was in the solids, I picked up a bit of Kona Cotton in Chocolate for the back of the Metro Blues quilt. I've given up on coming up with a good name for the quilt and have decided to just call it Metro Blues for now, although P's suggestion of Chocolate in the City is still a contender. This is another quilt where my only problem with it is not enough time to work on it .

And last is this little bit of fabulousness. What ? You don't think that a tan fabric with little tan circles on it is fabulous? Just wait. This little beauty is the foundation for the biggest polka-dot project in the history of polka-dots. It is going to be awesome. And it is on the official list, which means that once I finish Mr. Bug's T-Shirt Memory Quilt {which I'll update you on in a day or so}, I can work on making something amazing out of a little bit of tan fabric.

All told, I brought home 13¾ yards and I'm ready to start using it!

A Happy Story

Man is fond of counting his troubles, but he does not count his joys. If he counted them up as he ought to, he would see that every lot has enough happiness provided for it. –Fyodor Dostoevsky

I picked Grace up from her week at the spa. We've been busy —>.

When I went to the shop to pick Grace up, I went in the back door. They keep it propped open in the summer for better air flow. Using the back door just seems like a bad thing to do to me. The workers can't see the back door from the front counter. I could pick up as many bolts of fabric as I could carry and be out that back door before anyone noticed I'd made off with them. It just seems so sneaky to me, so I usually walk around to the front. But for some reason, I went in the back door that day. Maybe because it was hot outside and the back door was close to the car. Maybe it was because it had been 12 days since Grace and I made anything together and I was anxious to get her home. Or maybe it was kismet. But it was probably because it was hot outside and the back door was close to the car.

As I stepped into the shop, I found myself face to face with the clearance table. And we all know how much I love a great deal {or if you don't, I'm telling you now, I love to find a bargain!}. I looked down and some pretty red and black fabrics right on the bottom shelf caught my eye. One of them was a coordinate of the pretty City Sparkler Roses I've picked for my Chubby Stars Quilt. It wasn't one of the coordinates I'm going to use in my quilt, but my heart rate picked up just a little because while I was there to pick up my machine, I was also going to pick up some more of the Rose fabric I'd seen on that nearly full bolt when I dropped Grace off {I even brought coupons }, and if the coordinate was on the clearance rack, then perhaps the Roses were there as well. I moved down the row of fabrics, willing the bolt of Roses to be there. I'd almost reached the end of the red and black section and was starting to feel a little let down when there that nearly full bolt of Roses was, hiding behind the clearance sign. This time I did swallow my gum. It was 25% off AND I had a coupon for an additional 15% off any one cut of clearance fabric up to 6 yards. I only needed 5. I did a little happy dance right there in the store {luckily none of the workers could see me from the front counter}. Even though it wasn't a 50% off coupon or even really a 40% off coupon, it felt like it .

As if that wasn't enough, today as I was working out the links for this post, I noticed that the City Sparklers coordinate I am going to use in my quilt is on sale for 40% at an on-line shop and their original price was lower than the LQS had the City Sparkler fabrics marked, so it is almost on sale for 50% off too. Unfortunately, I'll probably spend more on shipping than on the ½ yard cut of fabric that I need .

I guess that was more like three happy stories.

In a completely separate and unrelated matter, today is a very special day for Mrs. P over at Quilting in My Pyjamas. Well, it is actually tomorrow in Australia and when it gets to be tomorrow here it will have been her yesterday, which goes to show that Einstein may just have known what he was talking about. I figure that as of the time this posts, it will be about 5:30 am her time on September 21 {I think that she lives 15½ times zones ahead of me, because whenever we chat it is about 30 minutes later than I think it will be}, which is about the time she starts her day. So, head over there and send her some lovely birthday wishes. She'll be turning 21, in case you want to know, which makes her the youngest grandmother in the history of ever.

Happy Birthday Mrs. P.

Thanks for making the blogisphere a happier and funnier place. I ♥ you.

Chubby Stars Quilt Along: Fabric Audition

One's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions. –Oliver Wendell Holmes


Yesterday, I took Grace to the dealer/LQS where I bought her for her tune-up and while I was there, I had to go and stroke the bolts of fabric {you know you do it too}. Guess what I found? An entire bolt of the floral fabric I picked as the focus for my Chubby Stars quilt. I almost swallowed my gum. Guess what else? It had the name of the fabric on it {City Sparkler Roses by Exclusively Quilters}. I picked up the bolt and held it next to some Mellow Yellow Hunky Dory Spots {Chez Moi for Moda}. The light yellow background was the same color as the dark yellow flowers in the Roses fabric. I was in love.

I haven't committed any cash to it yet, because I wanted to see if there were any coordinates to the City Sparklers Roses. My new favorite LQS {was #2, but has just moved to spot #1} didn't seem to have any, so I did a quick Quilt Shops.com search when I got home and hit the jackpot.

What do you think? City Sparkler Roses, Hunky Dory Spots and City Sparkler Bouquets on Red:

And just for fun: City Sparkler Roses, City Sparkler Stylized Floral and City Sparkler Tone-on-Tone Floral:

The tricky thing about on-line shopping is that you never know exactly the scale of the fabrics until they arrive. I'm thinking that the Stylized Floral is probably a bit smaller than it looks in the picture. Just tossing around ideas here.

I briefly considered getting enough of the Roses to complete the snowball blocks. But, I've grown attached to the quirky, somewhat scrappy layout in the last week. I was feeling all proud of myself for making do with what was available. I'm not sure how I feel about more being available . I'm going to do a border of chain blocks that completes the chains {like this, thanks, Karen, for the inspiration!}, and will probably do a 2" border outside of that with the Roses. I'll probably do the binding in it as well, and am considering getting enough of it for the back.

I've done a good amount of browsing for solids. I've found the perfect pale yellow for the background. It is the lightest shade of yellow, almost ivory. I haven't been able to find a good shade of Khaki grey yet, and I might have to go with black for the star points.

This project has been really stretching my mind lately .

The Chubby Stars Quilt Along

Red, white, black, and gray always go together. -Frank Chimero


I have quilt projects to last me the next five years. At least. All of them are quilt projects that I love and intend to finish. But sometimes things come together in such a way that it can only be mean one thing. Another quilt project. Here's how it happened this time.

My sweet friend, Wanda, has been cleaning out her stash. She sent me a box full of goodies and told me to do what I like with them. There were quite a few fabric treasures in there {some of which will end up as bloggy giveaways -- not because they aren't great, but because I'm just one girl with a million projects already and because want to share the love}. There was one piece of fabric in particular that really caught my eye. I knew it needed an extra special project to show it off. I wondered if it would be pretty in another snowball quilt. I'll be finished with my second snowball quilt along quilt eventually {that seems to be the only project that gets any sort of regular attention} and I've been thinking of ways to continue the snowball fun. The fabric went in the definitely keeping pile and thoughts of different things I could do with it settled in the to be arranged file in the back of my mind.

This weekend I was introduced to Tracey of traceyjay quilts. I enjoyed her blog immensely. While I was there, I noticed that she was just starting a quilt along. I was really impressed by her thoroughness. She'd compiled a chart of yardage needed for different quilt sizes and made up a little layout sheet for coloring in. And she already had a pretty sample worked up. But, I said to myself, I don't need another project. I left her blog, a new follower, and then went about my business. Somewhere between lunch and laundry, Tracey's Chubby Stars quilt along met up with that fabulous floral fabric Wanda sent me and an idea was born.

I pulled the fabric, threw it in to wash and had it pressed and cut before bedtime. I only had about ¾ of a yard to work with, so I decided to make my quilt a little smaller than even the smallest of quilts Tracey included on her chart. I'm going with a 5 x 7 layout, which is 40" x 56" before borders. Even reducing the size, I don't have quite enough fabric for all of the snowball blocks. I decided that I could live with that because I didn't want to make the quilt any smaller than 5 x 7.

While I was planning this project out in my head, I decided to use Kona Cottons in Coal and Ash for the star points and background in the chain blocks. I happen to have a bit of Kona in Coal on hand, so I put it with the floral fabric, but it was off. The grey in the leaves is a khakishh-grey. I also noticed that there are the palest of yellow in the accent flowers. So, I am hoping that I can find a nice khaki grey for the star points and a pretty pale yellow for the background. I've got enough of the floral fabric to do roughly a third of the chain pieces and I hope to find a couple of pretty florals in red and yellow to fill in the empty snowball blocks and finish off the chains.

I used Tracey's coloring sheet and fiddled around with the floral blocks. I don't know if I'm set on this layout. I'll definitely play with it when I get to my blocks. In any case, this is definitely a quilt I'm going to love.