My fabric buying rules

I don't buy fabric full price. I can't. I'm unemployed, fresh out of school, applying to any job I can find that fits my skill set. Some people might consider buying fabric a little irresponsible at this point in my life. I consider it my link with sanity. Literally, on some days sewing and playing with fabric is the only thing keeping me from getting very upset with my job search.

So I have a couple fabric buying guidelines [keep in mind that I do 95% of my buying online]:

I will only buy if it's on sale or I have a coupon. Obviously, this leads to some sadness. I wanted some Echo SO bad when it came out, but of course it's been flying off the shelves and there probably won't be any left to go on sale.

Also, my coupons have to be good. So saying I can have $5 or $10 off a $100 purchase just doesn't work for me. Unfortunately. I can't afford to buy that much fabric at once. So I'd rather have a "20% off your total purchase" coupon. 

I also try to take advantage of free shipping when possible!

The one exception I have to my fabric buying rules is that if I am already purchasing sale items at a shop, sometimes I will throw in something I really want that's not on sale. Shhh, don't tell my budget. I don't do it often, just every once in a while!

I got this stack from Wondrous Wovens after I saw someone else's fabric laid out on Flickr. She had gotten the gray Front Row print from Silent Cinema and I immediately went to look because those are my favorite prints. The gray was sold out, but I got these other 3 colors for $3.95 a yard each and then I got the Across the Pond print for $5 a yard. So even though I had to pay shipping it still made this a cheap purchase!

I bought this stack yesterday at Joann's. I buy all my Kona white there, and stock up on solids if they have a good selection that week. It's closer than the one modern[ish] LQS I have around here. Anyways, Konas are 25% off this week, plus they're running a military special for President's Day that gives ID holders an extra 20% off, including sale items. That brought the solids to about $4.80 a yard. I got that purple linen blend to use for a SchoolhouseTunic [already 30%] off for $5.60 a yard, and the turquoise twill for a dress for $7.27 a yard after all the discounts.

So I don't know if I'm just nosy parker, but I always want to know how people buy fabric, which is why I decided to write this post. Yes, I'd love to have a big fabric stash. Yes, there are some fabrics that I won't be able to buy. But sometimes I'm glad that I probably only have 20 yards of fabric on hand around here. I'm afraid I'd be overwhelmed to have enough fabric to run my own shop just out of my stash. I don't even think I like that many prints out there to do that!

So do you have rules for buying fabric? Do you buy on a budget, on a whim, on your emotional mood that day? Do you wish your stash was larger or smaller?

Mustaches.

Happy day-after-Valentines! Poor February 15th never gets any lovin'.

While yet another Wednesday has rolled around [seriously, this year is already flying by!], I'm afraid I do not have too too much to show for it. This past week has been a crazy mash-up of changing my schedule for my boyfriend's new job [I like to make him breakfast and stuff], being responsible for $3500+ worth of Girl Scout cookies, cookie booths and Girl Scout meetings, etc...

But I have had one solid day of sewing, and I worked to finish my For the Love of solids big item. I've decided to leave the quilting as is, without adding any more to it, because I would hate for it all to be overwhelming. Today's plan is to take the last few steps to turn it into a pillow cover.

I also finished my small item for the swap [the deadline isn't until March, so I feel very pleased with myself that I'm so ahead of the game!]. 

The cross-stitch was so well-received that I took my pencil-and-graph-paper-scribbles and used a professional cross-stitch program to turn it into a pattern. I included the DMC floss numbers that I used, as well as a page of basic cross-stitch instructions and tips that I have for this specific pattern. I think it's an excellent pattern for a beginner and has a younger feel to it. So it is posted for sale in my Etsy shop for $3, which gets you a photo of my finished product, the pattern and stitch key, tips, and basic cross-stitch instructions, all in PDF form via email. [I like to download it to my phone and stitch at coffeehouses]. So consider getting one for yourself for your fabric stash/wall decoration, or for a friend with cheeky humor!

Ok, does anyone else think of Tom Selleck when they think of mustaches? Just me? Alright.

We were doing this at 11 pm, hence the bad lighting.

And finally, to hopefully bring a smile to your Wednesday, my other fabric project this week was to help my little sister make some valentines. She's editor of her school paper, and likes to keep morale up [they often stay late into the night when the paper goes to press] by giving her staff food. So she found an idea on Pinterest for lollipops made into superheroes. The original photo used cardstock and printed templates for capes and masks. I said, pffffftttt, we can use fabric scraps! So she raided my scrap bins and cut the pieces to size and I cut a little slit to slide the fabric up the stick and then hot glued the front to sort of look like the cape was tied around the superhero's "neck". I also burned my fingers a bunch, but that part is not in the instructions. Then we tied black ribbon to be the "masks". At home she added "Have a super day" to finish these little cuties up!

And now, to finish my non-sewing WIP of the day...laundry. Ew.

[Go to Lee's to check out the other WIP posts. No laundry over there.]


**Edited: I'm also linking up at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday since my hoop art was a finish! And, because I like to keep it real, I didn't finish the laundry. In fact, there's piles of clean laundry that need to be folded/hung up and I've been avoiding eye contact with them. I thiiink that if you do that long enough then the laundry fairy rolls around and takes care of it, yes?

Tasty Tuesday

Tasty fabric of course!

Domestic Bliss

Dear Mr. Claus [zomg, how cute! retro Christmas here I come!]

Michael Miller Cotton Couture [these have a beautiful feel to them]

 

You've Been Jingled [clearly I'm in trouble this Christmas season...]

 

Fly a Kite

Seaside [I need to live in a cottage with a quilt of this on my bed]

More Seaside [I also want all the stripes in the collection!]

Summersville [oook so I want most of the other prints too]

Salt Air [I couldn't find an image of it by itself, but I want the print at top left]

Oh, be still my heart. And my wallet. My birthday is in March? Before most of these will be out. Poo. Can I move my birthday?

**Pictures came from the Fat Quarter Shop [as indicated at the bottom right of photos], the manufacturer websites, and the Summersville photo has the link to the store!

Simply Solids

The top is done! Whoo! I had considered making this a mini quilt instead of a pillow, but my spray baste went crazy and left spotting on the backing. Quilting karma? User error? Oh well.

So this is a design of my own creation, if you'll remember. As such, I was making it all up as I went along. This led to some definite problems. First of all, my initial template was messed up. Once all the blue shapes were all pieced together I sewed them into columns of 4. This was a mistake. I wanted the gray portions to be a single piece for each column, but this made it much, much more difficult to sew. Why do I always make it harder on myself?!

I naively thought that since it was just zig-zagged straight lines that I was sewing that it would be easy. After all, I've sewn curves. And I'm still alive. Pins didn't help so I abandoned them in favor of wrangling the fabric myself.

I prevailed and finished the top, pressing out as many wrinkles as possible. The wrinkles were mostly in the gray sections where the diamond tips met. Sigh...

I quilted straight lines in the skinny white spaces with white thread and then quilted diamonds in the gray space with gray thread. I was really unsure of what I wanted to do in the gray spaces; it was an area with excellent potential for a quilting motif! I might go back and add small diamonds in a turquoise thread. Because I'm wild like that.

It's a shame this will be a pillow because the quilting looks pretty cool on the back!

Next time that I make this [and I hope there will be a next time because I really like the design] I plan to piece in rows instead of columns. So each blue shape will be accompanied by a bottom half of a diamond and a top half [it will look like an hourglass]. Hopefully this will alleviate the wrinkling.

Now I just have to actually create the pillow and finish up my mustache cross stitch and this For The Love of Solids package will be ready to send out. Good thing too, because the Pillow Talk Swap is really underway and my next design is even more complicated than this. Clearly I've lost my mind :P

I'm linking up with all sorts of people today: Sew Modern Monday at Canoe Ridge Creations, Manic Monday at SewHappyGeek, and Fabric Tuesday at Quilt Story. Great places that you should check out! :)

These are a few of my favorite things [from the past week]

Puppies who love you unequivocally, even when you can only visit sometimes. 

Lil smokies in a blanket for the Superbowl yum!

Friends who find out you loved this portable printer and mail it to you

Vintage Pyrex at a new antique place in town [nope, I didn't buy it]

Little sister got into UF and I couldn't be more proud. Go Gators!

Changed the sheets and brought out my beautiful fluffy comforter.

We interrupt this message for an important announcement.

Chili.

Yes, folks, you heard right. It's chili day!

I LOVE chili. With Fritos. And sour cream. And lots of cheese.

I've become a bit of a chili fiend as an adult because I can count on one hand the number of times I ate regular chili growing up. My mom doesn't like it, so we always had a white chicken chili. Sad day. Now that I feed myself I've gone a little crazy.

I'm here to share the secrets of my chili. Brace yourselves.

There is no secret. Or recipe. Or plan of any kind.

I do follow a couple rules though, so I guess we can call this somewhat of a recipe.

1 lb-ish ground beef [the super lean kind. So I can be super lean, duh. And drain the meat!]

at least 2 cans of beans [this time around I used 1 can red kidney and 1 can spicy chili - drain them!]

some form of tomato something [I vary between cans of diced tomatoes or tomato paste, or whatever I might have on hand that resembles a tomato...this go-round I used diced tomatoes with onions and green peppers that I got on sale last month]

Chili packet [I bounce around brands, mainly because we keep looking for something that is in between the spice level of McCormick, but not as hot as 2 Alarm]

Shake in some garlic powder [or fresh garlic, yum!]

Chop up some fresh green pepper and onion, probably between 1/2 and a whole of each of them [you can chop the rest and freeze it and use it in pastas, omlettes, or your next round of chili]

Throw in some more chili powder if you like a little spice

Next: If you've been lazily reading this post, pay attention, as these are important items!

Yep, that's right, hot sauce and beer are imperative for chili around here. I prefer adding hot sauce over lots more chili powder because I like that it gives a depth of heat to the chili without being spicy. And the beer. Please include it. And not Bud Light [not that there's anything wrong with that], but go for a good imported beer. Beck's is excellent. I've also used Heineken. I bet the Oktoberfest beer, Warsteiner, is probably delicious.

So shake in some hot sauce [less is better, because you can always add more] and between 1/3 and 1/2 can of Beck's [as you can see, the can is larger than a normal can, so take that into consideration].

Also important, cook your ground beef, then throw it and all the other ingredients into a crockpot [my method of choice] or a large pot. Let cook at least 8 hours if on the stove, and at least 5 hrs on high or 8 on low in the crockpot.

Keep an eye on it so you can add more beer if necessary to your desired soupiness, but I usually don't add any more because the veggies give off liquid while cooking.

Now, while my chili is cooking and my mouth is watering, I must get back to my sewing.

Smorgasbord in my brain.

Dear Internet,

Please stop being so awesome because my brain is on overload.

Love,

Rebecca

Seriously, my brain is buzzing with ideas. I can't help it. I read about a contest or challenge, not because I'm seeking them out, but because bloggers that I read daily are mentioning them or hosting them, and I think of an idea. And then I can't get that idea out.of.my.head.

1. Tangerine Tango Challenge - the idea wouldn't leave me alone; thankfully it just needs binding though

2. The Modern Mini Challenge - instantaneous plans involving either clamshells or diamonds; maybe I should make 2 minis?

3. Sew, Mama, Sew's True Love contest - creating my own paper piecing pattern; the idea was actually my second, after I discarded the first for being too easy/expected

4. fabric? must. stash. cross-stitch idea - had to draw it out and make it once it took hold in my little brain

5. Moda Bakeshop's sewing version of Chopped? - love it; buckles have been on my brain since I read about it

The point of this is: Heaven forbid I even get a job at this point. All I want to do is sew until my ideas come to fruition. But more exciting contests keep popping up! More ideas! I don't even do it for the chance to win a prize, although that would be nifty. I do it because I feel compelled to compete and challenge myself. 

Oh, and I know you're reading through this and thinking that I should probably just get some brain self-control and that you really just wanted to see the interlocking stars quilt that I said I'd be showing today. Well, sadly, Florida weather is awful today. It's not always sunshine, and today is particularly dreary. So no photos of the full quilt. But I have a consolation prize! Sort of. Not really.

Apologies for the crappy photo, I told you today's weather was bad.

You see that fantastic fabric right there? Well, it's awful to quilt over. I couldn't see my stitches at all. I thought I was doing fine, and then when my bobbin ran out I turned the quilt over to see this:

Also, I'm apparently not so good at large stippling.

Devastating. Nothing I can do about it now, but man does it show up so well on that solid backing. I was quite aggravated, because I've never looped over my stitches before when stippling. First time for everything?

On a final note, they started announcing Sewing Summit teachers today. Attending the Sewing Summit was one of my goals for 2012. Apparently registration starts in March. Anyone thinking of going? I think I'd want a friend to bolster my courage, and if I'm going to take a leap and attend a sewing conference, I might as well take another leap and think about rooming with someone I've never met in person.

Now I need a nap. I'm sure you do too after reading all that.