My (Lack of) Resolve

At the beginning of the year I resolved not to buy more fabric, a resolve which I announced to my daughter and husband.  I was strong for many months, except on the rare occasion when I found fabric in the form of a shirt at the thrift store.  Here and there, now and then, I bought a shirt that I knew would look better in a quilt than on a person.

And then along came the sale at the local quilt shop several weeks ago.  The allure of new fabric is very strong.  My husband drove with me to the shop and ran an errand or two while I looked around.  He knew I went to the shop to buy fabric.  He said not a word about my resolve not to buy fabric.  He's a kind husband.

There was a bag filled with this fabric, plus some smaller pieces. (The photo doesn't do it justice).

They were scraps, probably leftovers from cutting kits at the shop.  They feel luxurious and the colors are luscious.  I have no idea what I'll do with these but I know I'll use them in some wonderful quilt(s).  Maybe a small quilt....

The afternoon of the same day we went to the quilt show in another nearby town.  My husband went along this time, too, since we had errands to run afterward.  He patiently waited while I took my time looking at and photographing the quilts -- after looking at the fabric for sale there.  It seems the quilters buy fabric and decide they don't want it, donate it, and I buy it.  They arrange 10 or 12 pieces into bags by color and price it to sell:  $1.00, $2.00, $2.50.  Who could pass up such great buys, especially a scrap quilter?  The donated pieces are usually shorter but some are as long as a yard and a half.  There were finished and partially finished blocks for sale, too.

These off-white fabrics came home with me.  They were all half yard or less and one was a group of strips of various lengths and widths left over from someone's project.  Not a problem since I'll cut them into smaller sizes or sew them into larger blocks anyway.

The oranges (are those cheddars?) are half yard pieces.  The browns were at least a yard and one was about two yards long.  The center brown was a longer which could become a cute size 2 dress for my granddaughter (think blue piping and buttons).

These reds/roses/corals were all half to quarter yard pieces and two were just 4" wide strips.

And then there were these pieces, many cut and pinned in groups of eight to create . . . what?  A flower?  A circle?

Some fabric had uncut shapes drawn on part of it with pencil, which left some unmarked fabric.

Do you know what these pieces were to become?  One set of cut-outs was pinned but not stitched or ironed.  I almost think it should become a circle but it doesn't look like it's long enough for the ends to meet and lay flat.  If not used for their intended block, could these become stars?  Or could they alternate direction and become a triangular border strip?  Or . . . ?

I was pleased with my purchases.  Some of the reds and lights will go into the quilt I'm currently working on.  The rest will be used elsewhere.

To preface this next bit I want to say that my husband is very supportive of my quilting efforts but not so much of my fabric collection and collecting.  Plus he knows I resolved not to buy more fabric.  When I walked out of the quilt store with a bag he didn't say anything.  But when I walked out of the quilt show with a bag he asked, "What's that?"  "Fabric," I said.  His eyebrows arched just slightly, his eyes went up (but not quite into an eye roll), then he put his hand to his head.  And he said not a word.  I thought all of this fabric for under $20.00 was a great buy (but I didn't tell him how much I paid).

Now, I have to back to picking up my resolve not to buy fabric this year and go back to work on a quilt in progress.

I'm linking this post to Sunday Stash #147 at Molli Sparkles.

Thanks for reading,
Nancy.
 
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