Diary of a Mad Fabri-Holic

A Purple Letter Day

Yesterday my mailbox was chock full of delicious goodness.  It was almost too  much to take-- ALMOST.

Do you know the fabulous Pink Chalk Fabrics?  They're an amazing store, selling the choicest quilting fabrics, most adorable patterns (which ship for free if the only thing ordered), and an superlative collection of solids.  In fact, they have a monthly Solids Club.  Yum.  It's in its 3rd month now, and it is fantastic- I get the FQs and they are a great stash builder. They have a great weekely email newsletter- and if you read it and/or comment on the corresponding blog post, you get entered into a drawing for the prize of the week.

The universe knows me well- I have entered many times, but finally won last week.  And guess what I won?

That would be a bundle of 8 FQs from the newest Kaffe Fassett spring 2011 designs.

And they just happen to be in my favorite color family.

But wait, there's more.

The April shipment from the Cookie A sock club arrived as well!  I restrained myself for a few seconds...

And, boy, was I rewarded.

Purple! Not just purple- Lorna's Laces Purple!  And not just any Lorna's Laces- a brand new yarn not yet available to the public.  It's not even named yet.  It is a superwash wool/nylon/special trademarked nasa invented temperature regulating fiber blend...  There's one little snag- there was only supposed to be ONE skein in my shipment.  There is a club option where you can order 2 skeins per shipment- but I didn't pay for that one.  I decided to do the right thing and protect my karma, so I emailed Cookie and am waiting to hear what I should do with the extra skein.  It sounds like this happened to a few folks during some sort of shipping mix up...I am really hoping the extra skein gets to stay with me, as I am already very emotionally attached to it.

ETA- sadly, they want it back.  I am doing the right thing.  Karma, take note!

Sensory overload, and going overboard (again.)

Wow, what a Saturday I had. I took me until last night to get the photos I needed for this post good to go, if that gives you any indication!

This past Thurs-Sun was the 3rd annual Denver National Quilt Festival, and my second year going.  If anything this year was even better than last.  (Except that I didn't get to meet up with Deb or Fran this year...  But I did go with Charlotte from my quilt group, and run into several old friends).  There are so many amazing quilts to view, between the actual competition entries and the various shows, that it's darn near overwhelming.  To share the experience with all y'all, I took a few (131) photos...  If you want to see some of the most amazing eye candy ever, go here.

And prepare to be amazed. I have details on some but not all of the quilts in my own files- feel free to ask if you want more info. The most efficient way would probably be to leave a comment on the actual flickr page of the quilt you're interested in.

In the interest of brevity, I'm only going to show my absolute favorite piece right here. Meet Pat, Quilting Goddess.

She's amazing! There are close up detail shots in the Flickr set... you've got to check her out!

And of course, there were also vendors- though less than last year.  This year had more quilts to admire than things to buy, wehich, judging by how much I bought anyway, was probably a damn good thing!

I started with this lovely African basket, intended to hold knitting WIPs at home.

It was empty when I bought it. but not for long! It made a great shopping basket! See?

Gulp! Here's the majority of the contents.

And my favorite pile of half-yards from the day:

I also bought 2 patterns and- a hat. A fabulous hat. The best hat ever. Made from recycled men's suits and ties.  And some X-rated fabric.  I kid you not.  Click here if you dare, but not if you are easily offended.  For a hint as to the content, a portion of the proceeds goes to prostate cancer reserach...  2 of those are for me, one for a friend.  And I made certain to get the store's ordering info, if anyone wants some.  Just let me know- I left the card at home, but can email you the details later.  Now, to keep haunting the mailbox for my Doll quilt Swap 3 piece! 

I'm turning into a brand-name ho.

Is anybody besides me seriously overwhelmed by all the amazing quilt fabric designers out there right now?  The fresh sensibility, large scales, fabulous colors, retro inspired but throughly modern prints?  Just when I'd finally recovered from discovering Amy Butler, then Heather Ross, then Denyse Schmidt, then Anna Maria Horner, then Heather Bailey, (and let's not forget my years long love affair with the man himself, Kaffe), along comes... Joel Dewberry.

I mean, come on designers, slow down.  You're killing me here. It's been years since I've felt as much burning desire to race out and buy buy BUY tons of fabric with no projects planned. And yet now, I have no self control.  And you've even turned me into a matchy-matchy gal.   What's up with that?  When I worked at the store, I used to scoff at folks that would only make quilts from one fabric line- where's the fun in that?  It's like letting someone else tell you exactly what to do with your projects!  (Of course, in fairness to me, many of these designers weren't out yet when I worked at the store- I quit 4 years ago almost to the day.  And- even if they were- my sweet lovely store caters to a different client.  Example: they have Freschcut right now, and in the words of the manager- "I can't give this stuff away!"  WHAT? Really?  I'll take it all, Kari.  Anything to help a friend!)

And yet, look at me now.  That photo up above of the luscious Aviary is not the only single-line stash in my house right now. There's Bohemian, and Chocolat, Freshcut, Utopia, Jane's Paradise Garden, and Urban Gardens.  I mean, I've even devoted an entire shelf on that monster bookcase to "designer collections," as I am calling them (Though, maybe I should just call it the Free Spirit/Westminster shelf- I seem to be personally keeping them in business).  Lately, I've been having problems mixing them up with other fabrics, save for batiks- I can always throw in a batik (or twelve)!  It's like, once I see them all together, I can't separate them in my head.  I'm debating reshuffling the stash storage, and mixing even these beauties up BY COLOR ONLY, to help me see then as individual pieces rather than parts of a whole.

Some of you asked for it, so here's some more photos of my recent Stash Enhancement endeavors.

The Kaffes purchased on sale for $6.99/yard:   

(Insert several colors of shot cottons there too.  I seem to have forgotten to add them to the photo.  D'oh.)

Jungle fabrics for new curtains for Princess Girl:

Heather Ross yummies, also on sale for $6.99/yard:

And finally, the WRONG piece of Kaffe Fasset Bekah- this is about 3/4 of a yard viewed here, to give you an idea of scale:

Here's my problem- I'm not sure I'll be willing to return it!  When I spoke to the store, they said they'd send me what they had left of the actual piece I ordered- which is .25 yard less than I wanted :-(  They also want me to return this piece.  But, it's been sitting on my sewing table for several days, and I hear it whispering to me.  "Sam...I want to live here.  You've got such a nice stash. The perfect home for a piece like me.  I've made friends here already- I'm even sort of seeing that aboriginal dot in cobalt blue. Don't send me back to that store.  Who knows who will buy me, of if they'll be as nice to me as you are?" In case you are wondering, it was supposed to be THIS colorway.

Okay, back to the real world.  My father and The Hubby are at home staining our deck a lovely new shade.  Last night my folks babysat again so The Hubby and I could get a Bourne fix- it was fabulous!  If you liked the first 2, I say, get thee to a theater! tonight, we grill out, and tomorrow, the Firehouse Quilt Show with the whole fam-damily.  Man, I need a nap.  And some sewing time.  I also bought this for The Hubby's bag.  Time to start it!