A Little Quilt Project In Progress
- At April 10, 2014
- By Kelly
- In Fabrics, Quilts
- 2
I had to check to make sure it was okay to share this, and it is!
Windham Fabrics put out a call for people to make 18″ square quilts to decorate their space at Quilt Market. My fabrics came yesterday!
Hello Beautiful! Rome in the Spring! How can you not love that?
The main print is larger than I expected to have for a small quilt. Hmmmm. Time to play with these fabrics and see what looks good!
Perhaps a scrapbook page look? The florals are smaller pieces, so I thought I might use them to make triangles over the corners of the “photos”.
I need to introduce them all to the iron and then play with them some more. I could use the white for background, but I like the words if I am going for a scrapbook theme. Then the white can be the edge of the photos. Things look better on the brown background words than the green. I may end up leaving the green words out if I go this route.
Not sure about binding yet, either…
What would you do with these?
Kelly
Fabric Shopping
- At March 31, 2014
- By Kelly
- In Fabrics
- 9
Yesterday, I went to the fabric store.
My husband decided to come along. We walked in, he said, “Okay, see you in an hour.” I gave him a funny look. He said, “What? How long do you think it will take?” Ummmm. That picture above? That’s one aisle of fabric. There are about 12 like that just for cotton wovens. The whole place is 30,000 square feet. I am not even sure how I got a picture without a person in it because it was really busy there yesterday. There was a basketball game on, so my husband decided to wait in the car. I thought that was a fine idea.
Anyway, I went there looking for some small scale repro print cotton wovens for a quilt square swap and some fabric to line a summer dress. I picked up these:
I haven’t decided if those are the ones I want to go with for the swap. I need four. Zoe is already making plans for the one on the left.
These also made their way into my basket:
The blue is for something summery for Zoe. Blue is a good color for her and it is a really happy print. The other two? I have no idea. Sometimes things just want to come home with me.
After I had been in there for an hour, I decided it was probably a good idea to cut the fabrics I had so far. I was standing in the checkout line when I got a text from my husband. “Just making sure you didn’t get lost.” I guess the basketball game was wrapping up. Good thing I did not go looking for those dress lining fabrics, he would have sent in a search team!
Of course, that means I will have to go back because I really do need that dress lining.
Happy Sewing!
Kelly
Sewing From the Fabric Stash
- At March 10, 2014
- By Kelly
- In Fabrics, Sewing for Me
- 5
This fabric is sitting on my cutting table.
The trouble is, I am having a hard time deciding what to make with it. I was originally thinking it would make a good top, perhaps Jalie 3132?
Then I remembered I do not usually wear printed tops. But maybe that is only because I do not own any printed tops? So, if I had one, would I wear it? Hmmmmm, not really sure.
The fabric has been sitting her for a couple days now. I was thinking it could be a good skirt fabric. A contrasting solid colored yoga waist would be nice. Long or short? I just cannot decide!
What would you make? Shirt? Long skirt? Shorter skirt?
Help!
Kelly
ps – Be sure to stop by tomorrow, there will be something exciting here!
End of the Local Fabric Shop
- At March 07, 2014
- By Kelly
- In Fabrics
- 3
There was a fabric store near the office I used to work in many years ago. I found it quite by accident; it was tucked into an industrial park.
When my daughter was born, I decided to make cloth diapers for her. We made many trips to the store over the years, as the sewing of diapers later became the sewing of clothes and other things. The ladies who worked there would comment on how cute she was or how big she was getting. Later I went there with her younger brother and they would still ask how Zoe was doing, if she was at school, and so on.
I bought a lot of fabric there. They used to have overruns from Carters children’s clothing lines, piles and piles of knits, quilter’s cottons, dress fabrics, fleece, home dec, pretty much anything you might want.
Over the last few years, some areas of their stock has dwindled. Children’s knit prints have been less plentiful and the quality of the fabrics that were offered was not as good as it was in the past. I ran into the owner shortly after the store closing was announced and he was quick to put blame on the new health care laws. That seemed odd since most of the employees were only part time – a fact I had heard them complain about on various occasions. (Yes, it is possible I spent too much time there…) My guess is the health care requirements, if they applied, were the final straw for a business that was on the decline for the last few years. But that is only a guess.
Now customers are left watching as sections of the store empty and fixtures disappear. The wall shelving in this picture used to be full of quilter’s cottons, and the shelves extended across all of the wall that is now visible to the left and all the way to the door. The pile of unwanted fleece for a New York sports team is a tiny fraction of what used to be available here.
This thread display holds only a few stragglers now, and what remains of the notions wall is looking bleak. I don’t know if I will go back again. The advertising says they are bringing in remaining inventory from the warehouse to the few stores that have not closed, but it is pretty sad at this point. Employees say the stores are expected to close at the end of the month.
Goodbye Mill End, I’ll miss you.
Kelly
Fabrics from Japan
- At February 24, 2014
- By Kelly
- In Fabrics
- 1
My husband travels with some frequency to Taipei and Tokyo. A few months ago, he was in Tokyo and left me a voicemail saying, “I’m at a fabric store, what do you want?” Oh. my. gosh. Anything. Bring me anything. He sent me pictures while he was there.
He said shopping there was too overwhelming. He didn’t know what to choose.
He returned from that trip with nothing for me. I was soooo sad.
But, a few weeks ago, he was in Tokyo again with a little extra time. He was very brave, shopping on a national holiday there. The store was more busy than usual. I was chatting with him while he was waiting to get the fabric cut. He messaged me – “I’ve been here for 20 minutes and I just realized, this is just the line for cutting fabric! There’s another whole long line for paying for it!”
He persevered and brought me two things.
This is on my favorite:
Check it out!
Now, this second one, I’m a little stumped on. He chose it because he wanted something Japanese.
This fabric is lighter than the Snoopy fabric. The Snoopy fabric feels like a nice weight quilter’s cotton. This one is much finer, perhaps linen? I have no idea what to make with it.
Also, earning bonus points, he asked his coworkers what is printed on the fabric. It’s names of fish in Japanese! Ha! He said they did look at him a bit strangely when he pulled out his phone at dinner and asked them to translate the words on the fabric he had bought for his wife.
So, what would you make with fabric covered in fish names? I’m stumped and I have 2 meters of it!