I Hate Decisions! Help!

So, I'm building this quilt.

The top is done.

Yeah me!  

But then I decided it needs a border....I think..

These are my three choices.

I can't decide which (if any) I should use!

No border

Border 1 - this fabric isn't in the quilt anywhere, but it goes nicely with the other greens.

border 2 - solid red

or border 3 - leaves on cream

What would you choose?

Help! I Can't Decide!

I just spent the last 2 hours browsing for fabric online.  Generally I start at Fat Quarter Shop and then see if I can beat the price elsewhere.  I like their pictures of the collections.

What was I shopping for?  I'm doing a totally wonderful trade with a knitting friend of mine, Maiya.

She blogs at Maiya knits. Mayhem ensues.

I'm making her an advent calendar and she's knitting a few gifts for me.

I hate picking fabric for other people!  What if they don't like it?

I've decided to use a charm pack, I figured that would give me the most variety at the least cost.

She asked for something fun and funky - she's got two little boys.  

Not a lot of options out there.

I looked at Santa's Little Helpers

but her kids are afraid of sock monkeys.  don't laugh, mine are too.

After searching more I've narrowed it down....

Flurry

which I love, but I'm not sure it's "fun" enough...

O' Tinsel Tree

which I can't find in charm packs - I'd have to buy a layer cake... (oh darn)

and

Ready Set Snow

What do you think?

Are there other fun and funky collections I've missed?

More Fabric Shopping

I spent the last of my gift card at the my LQS. 

*sigh*

so sad.

I walked around for about 1/2 hour before deciding.

it was a very blissful child-free 30 minutes.

What did I buy?

A yard of green plume (40% off!) and a pattern. 

I've always admired this quilt whenever I see it, but I'm not one to spend $9 on a pattern.

But since I was supposed to buy things I normally wouldn't....

now I need to finish a quilt so I can rationalize starting a new one!

Twelve Pounds of Fabric

When the box arrived I weighed it.  It was just over 12 lbs with the box.

I went back and re-read the description. 

 

"12 Pound Fabric Grab Bag

Each grab bag is a 12 pound box of assorted fabric pieces"

 

Okay, so I can't get grumpy.  The description doesn't specify 12 lbs of fabric, but a 12 lb box of fabric.

 

Ready for details? 

 

 

Here are all 124 pieces of fabric. 

A total of over 27 yards. (and I was really conservative in my measuring)

Which averages out to about $ 2.45 /yd.

 

Totally worth it.

 

Details?

there were only 7 pieces that were not WOF.

the smallest of these was 5"x11"

 

There was one 2 1/2" strip, everything else was wider.

There was a good variety of widths, 4" and 13" were the most common.

The longest piece was 20".

There were 3 or 4 that had tiny flaws.

 

 

 

These are sorted by width, with the biggest pieces in the upper right corner.

Totally yummy fabrics.

 

 

These three rows are sorted by style. 

 

Row One

• Batiks - the bottom one is a gorgeous weeping tree print.
• Next are the holiday fabrics.  There was a total over just over 1 yd of 12 Days of Christmas white snowflakes.  Happiness!!!  That's enough to use with the other bits I've been hording.

 Row Two

• 1920 reproductions!  I love these and were very happy to see them.
• Civil War reproductions!  I've ALWAYS wanted to play with these...now I can!  One of the prints is 110" wide.  hmmm, what to do...

 

Row Three

• Solids - Two are 110" wide.  lovely variety of colors.
• 5 prints from The Butterfly Garden Collection.  That was the most of one fabric line I received.

And then, there were these 7 pieces.

The only non-"quilting cottons."

three holiday flannels and two others...

Favorites?

Solids!  Can't have too much of these.  Totally love the greens.

 

Sunkissed  - Words on white and yellow!

CENTRAL PARK!!! - have I mentioned how much I adore Kate Spain? 

Would I buy it next year?

Absolutely.

At under $2.50/yd it is a very cost-effective way to restock fabrics.

They are all current designer prints, nothing was uber thin or ugly.

Friday Night Sew In Results

...or lack there of.

Yup.  I did not do I single bit of sewing last night. 

I had it all planned.  It was gonna be great.

Redboxed 3 movies for the kids.

The Last Airbender, How to Train Your Dragon and Inkheart.

(Inkheart is a great family movie.

It doesn't hurt that Brendan Frazier is easy on the eyes.)

Half way through the movie, Muffin asked if she can bring her blankie out.

(She's 5, which means that her blankie needs to live on her bed, and she can have it at bedtime.)

I looked up from the dishes and saw that she was flushed.

Warning signs.

*sigh*

sick kiddo.

Yup.  no sewing.

I can't listen for her with the sewing machine running.

all my plans washed away.

But...

It wasn't a total loss.

I opened the box that had arrived earlier.

removed the paper and....

12 lbs of fabric.

I ordered this grab bag from The Fat Quarter Shop. 

It was on sale and I had a coupon code!

I hadn't ordered their grab bag before and I was totally stoked and excited to see what happiness had arrived.

The iron doesn't make any noise.

So, I touched, petted, ironed, measured and folded every bit of fabric in the box.

and yes, I am that OCD.

I measured and made a list of every bit in the box.

(I wanted to know how much yardage and my overall price per yard.)

The dryer just buzzed. 

The contents of the box will have to be in another post.

Excited Much?

Is it wrong to be jump-up-and-down, squealing, can't-contain-it excited about a box?

Of course, the twins are here, so I really shouldn't open it until they go home...

I don't think I can wait.

(and, yes.  i did actually squeal.)

What Have You Been Up To?

I've been up to my ears in costumes.

Alice in Wonderland costumes.

lots of masks and unitards with tails and wings. 

Needless to say, not a lot of "fun" sewing has been done.  I have done some bee blocks, and I'm behind again with getting them to their homes.

Over the holidays my sister and a friend each got me a gift card to our local quilt shop. (Which happens to be right next to my sister's salon.)  My sister gave me express instructions to buy things that I found pretty, just to have. 

I've made two trips to the little shop.

Oh My Goodness.

Where do you even start?  The first time I went in I found these:

1 yard of Sunkissed Gray Script and a 1/2 yard of Living Elements - Pink.  The lady at the cutting table was very surprised that they went together so well. 

I told myself that it was perfectly acceptable to spend more than $10 a yard on fabric.  It was still hard to do.  I've decided I need more than a yard of the Gray Script.  I think I love it. No, I know I love it.

Today, I had more time to browse around.  As I wandered around and around the little shop, I kept finding fabrics that I had received from the Fabric Fairy.  It was like a treasure hunt!  I kept smiling to myself and feeling very lucky to know such wonderful people.

I'm still smiling.

Today, I went in for more Sunkissed Gray Script, but instead I found their scrap bin and sale fat quarters.

I got these two fqs. 

Botany!  and 12 Days of Christmas!

Both will go nicely with the first Fabric Fairy package I received.

The scrap bin was great!  I found 9 ounces of nice sized fabric bits.

Three Kona Solids, not sure which ones they are.  (Which is the only bummer thing about buying from the bin, no labels.)

A Kate Spain print, another living elements, and some Pure.

It was a nice trip and put me in a good mood. 

Happiness to you!

Happiness is a bag of scraps

Scraps.

I adore scraps and scrap quilts. 

I also adore organization. 

organizing scraps is like herding cats.

I had been using Bonnie's method, which basically to sort by size.  That worked for a while, but I found myself looking for specific colors more than sizes, so I switched to colors.  It was still a big jumbled mess in the drawers.

I was reading a magazine I had picked up - Sew Scrappy - and they had little tips from quilters on the pages.  Usually the tips aren't overly helpful, but then on page 37 I found it.  Someone who usually buys 1/2 yard cuts (just like me!)   She cuts it into two FQ, saves one, and cuts the other into strips of varying widths.

Doesn't sound overly impressive, does it?

But I got to thinking.

I have too many sizes of my scraps.

I needed to simplify.

My scrappy plan:

New Fabric:

Cut into 2 FQ.

Cut one of them into two 6 1/2" strips and two 2 1/2" strips.

Done! 

6 1/2" gives me plenty to work with and I seem to use a lot of 2 1/2" strips.

 and I still have a whole FQ admire.

What about leftovers and remnants from finished projects?

Cut into the above width strips, (in my world a "strip" is defined as at least 12" long).

Smaller scraps will be cut into:

5" squares (charms)

2 1/2" squares

2" squares

1 1/2" x up to 8 1/2 strips , cut to the nearest half.  (super scrappy log cabin anyone?)

and if I REALLY love the fabric, 1" strings.

I'm still going to sort by color, but everything will be cut and ready to use.  I'll know exactly what sizes I have.

The part I'm not looking forward to is going through what I already have.

Shopping

I went into JoAnn's this morning for 1/2 yard of black lining fabric for The Boy's ring bearer vest.

This is what I came out with

They had restocked their clearance fabric!

I think the bright green will be great for sashing one of my Tic-Tac-Toe quilts.  The mermaid print will make a cute crayon tote.  Aren't the florals cute?  I know exactly what I'm going to do with the daisies!  I can't tell yet...have to wait until tomorrow.  I did get the lining fabric...it's black, not exciting at all.

I also picked up a few basket stuffers for the holiday on Sunday.  All together the total was under $26.  Not bad!