Chattanooga Shopping

I had a great time in Chattanooga, at the quilt show and shopping at Spool. I didn't buy a lot-mostly just added some fat quarters to my new "brights" stash for some future scrappy quilts.

These are mostly Lily Ashbury and Bonnie and Camile-both by Moda. My new favorite colors these days are orange, yellow and lime green. It's a far cry from Civil War reproduction fabrics, but I love them! I picked up these FQs at Spool.

At the show I bought these ten FQs of Block Party by Sandy Gervais. Again, I am loving these brights and only need small amounts for the scrap quilts I have in mind.

On our way home we stopped at Intown Quilters in Decatur and I picked up these three fabrics. The middle and right ones are Tula Pink's new line, Eden. I'm not sure what the other fabric is. 

At the show I also got 20 needles for my HQ Sweet 16 and two chalk pencils for marking quilts and a sharpener. At Spool I picked up the cute bag pattern, a luggage tag and license plate.

This is the least amount of money I have ever spent at a quilt show. And I'm good with that.  I have everything I could possibly need, so anything I pick up is just icing on the cake.

Doing the happy dance 'cause I was having fun with friends!

Free Fabric!

I love my local quilt shop, A Scarlet Thread! The owners, Ken and Karen Taylor, have created an atmosphere where shopping is so much fun. Their employees, who they call their "quilt divas", are warm, welcoming, friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. They cater to their customer's every whim. There are several times I have mentioned something new on the quilt market and they either (a) already have it in the store (b) have it ordered and it's on its way or (c) get it in stock because I mentioned it. What more could you ask for in a quilt shop? How about FREE FABRIC? 

Last week was A Scarlet Thread's 9th birthday. In those nine years they have been in three locations and each has gotten bigger and even better, but has never lost the personal touch they are known for. They celebrated with three days of "Buy 9 yards, get 9 yards free"! Who could possibly pass that up???

Not this girl! I need more fabric like I need another hole in my head, but I could not let this opportunity go by without taking advantage of it.

I had no idea what I was going to buy when I walked in the door, but I don't ever have to look hard to find something I "need" for my stash. Since I am so drawn to polka dots these days, I picked out grey, yellow, red and blue dots and got a yard of each. I found a terrific green that would be wonderful in my new "brights" stash. Two Kim Diehl fabrics, two neutrals and three Kansas Troubles rounded out my purchases. I bought four yards of two of the KT to use for backings. Two of the bolts I bought had a small amount left after my one yard purchase, so I went ahead and bought it too. My total yardage ended up being 18 3/4 yards. 

I had done some rough math at home before I left. The fabrics were approximately $12/yard and I was going to be paying for nine yards. That's rouhly $108 + tax. Plus I was getting nine more yards for free! Sweet!!! To make it all even better, I had a $100 gift certificate from my mother-in-law to spend! 

So, with tax and after my gift certificate, I spent a grand total of $28.30 for 18 3/4 yards of fabric!! Win-win!! I am a happy camper.  :)

Disclaimer-The opinions expressed in this blog post are mine. A Scarlet Thread has not sponsored this post or paid me in any way for writing this. 

Fabric! Glorious Fabric!

I LOVE FABRIC!! I love the colors, the texture, the feel of it as my hand glides over it! It is an addiction-and I've got it bad! And I think this is an excellent theme song for me!

All of my recent inspiration from blog reading got me digging through my scrap bag. I sorted everything by color and pulled out all of the fabrics I thought might work in a low volume quilt. Next I went through three cabinets of stash fabrics. I get distracted easily (maybe a little ADD?) So, instead of focusing on low volume fabrics, I was weeding out old fabrics that I know I will never use in a quilt. Some of them said to me "what were you thinking when you bought me?" Other fabrics I have no recollection of ever purchasing!!

These fabrics didn't make the cut. Out with the old and in with the new. I'm going to let them hang in the closet for a while and then I'll go through them again--but I think they are going to end up in someone else's stash before long.

While going thru all of my fabrics I noticed a recurring theme--polka dots. I really do love them and had no idea I had collected so many thru the years. I decided to stack them all together and use them all in a future quilt. Aren't they cute?

After all  of the sorting and folding and ditching, it was time to do some shopping! My first stop is always my favorite quilt shop (A Scarlet Thread in McDonough, GA). This time I was hunting for lots of low volume fabrics. 

I think I was pretty successful. I can't wait to cut into them and get started!!

Next I went to Tiny Stitches quilt shop in Marietta, GA and found these 12 fat quarters. They are going to work nicely.

After that I hit the internet, where I quickly lost focus! I ordered anything and everything that appealed to me at the moment. Dangerous!!

These fabrics came from Burkholder's Fabrics in Denver, PA. I have shopped in their brick and mortar store and love it there. Their internet prices are great, their shipping costs are low, and, best of all-their selection is awesome!! So, I ordered some low-volume, some black and white and one French General that caught my eye. 

I found a new-to-me website, Bloomerie Fabrics, that has REALLY cute fabrics!! Her website just makes you happy to be there. I ordered these eight fabrics and will use a few of them in my low-volume quilt. The rest are just hanging in my stash.

Fat Quarter Shop is always a great place to shop online. I bought these Kim Diehl fabrics and split my order with my friend Pam. We each now have a fat quarter-perfect for a Kim Diehl applique quilt. 

Every day Fat Quarter Shop has a 24 hour flash sale. It starts at 10:00am central time, and runs until the next day at the same time or until the fabric sells out!! And some days it does. :) My daughter and I couldn't pass these up! 

I still wasn't finished shopping, though! It's like I'm fighting some kind of addiction. One I don't want to kick either!! I went to two quilt shops with my friend Judy last Thursday and I picked up several fat quarters for different projects.

I think I'm finished shopping for a while (I did order six yards from Fat Quarter Shop's 24 hour flash sale yesterday!! Four of the yards were to back a quilt, and at $5.38/yard, I just couldn't pass it up. 

I'm completely ready to start some new quilts. I have several other projects I need to finish up and then I am going to dig into these new fabrics!!

Happy fabric shopping!!