Yet More Fabric

I've been a fabric buying fool - but that's what happens when you're out of the country for too long. You get back and there is all this luscious beautiful fabric and you kinda go crazy. Or at least *I* do. This is the fabric I bought at Quilter's Choice in Jupiter, FL. Lots of bright happy colors - living in Florida really does something to my color palette.

I did actually buy some lovely chocolatey brown too, but it just didn't go well in the picture. Have you tried these new mini rotary cutters? I played with one at Joes' house and loved it. I feel like I have so much more control over what I'm cutting when I'm just working on one layer.

These are the fabrics I got from the JaMPatch:

They warned me that this incredible gorgeous purple really needs some careful handling since they were able to dye an easter egg with all the loose dye when they tested it. It's gorgeous and will be worth all the trouble, I'm sure. That yard of fabric at the bottom with the spider is some of Jane Sassaman's Prairie Gothic. Wheee, love it. I'm thinking I'll use some big blocks of it somewhere but it will also be cool in smaller pieces. 

See that fabric second from the upper left corner? Red and cheddar? That's some of Heather Bailey's Bijoux line. I love this colorway in particular and am really tempted to go back and buy more, but figure I need to try using with it first and see how it plays with others.

Now all of you who were worried you were at the wrong blog when you saw repro fabrics in my last post can rest easy - see, it's still me. I can't believe though how hard it is to find gorgeous blues, esp turquoise and cyan. It's been that way for a couple of years now and it's time for those colors to be back "in."

But my, the quality of fabric has improved. I'm amazed at how many soft, saturated fabrics there are. It seems like they are using higher thread counts and what a difference that makes. Yummy.

Nichi asked if I usually buy pre-cut fabric and the answer is no. That's something I've been doing while in Florida and most of my stash is back in Paris. Buying charm packs is a great way to instantly expand your fabric choices.

When Bonnie was visiting me here almost two years ago (eek, was it that long ago?) I had a bit of fabric and she brought some strings and crumbs with her, but we needed more fabric with zing. We got a few fat quarters and a couple of charm packs to help in making Love on a Shoestring Budget. Buying those little packs is a really fast way to get started on a string quilt. You don't need big pieces to play with crumbs.

By the way, threw those 4" blocks (with pinked edges!) into the wash  -- on the hand washables cycle -- along with some other fabrics and they came out fine with hardly any fraying. No need for a net bag or anything else. Yup, gotta get a pinker.

My husband left yesterday to go back to Paris. Sad. I'll be seeing him again in late spring/early summer for at least a visit so we won't be too long without him.

I've been watching tv and hand quilting instead of the many chores I should be doing. It's sooo soothing, but I do recognize that I have to get to work. I said that in my last post and did I do it? Nooooo. What a procrastinator.

I leave you with a pic of Pokey investigating the new fabric: