Saturday, July 28, 2012

Where are you Christmas!?




Let me start by telling how much I love thrift stores. They are my go-to stores for books. I find no need to buy a book at regular price, or new. You can get the same exact book at a thrift store for way cheap. Sometimes I find some really awesome things. Yesterday was one of those days. I found a 46 year old Pinocchio book with beautiful illustrations, two perfect condition (the covers don't even seem like they have been opened!) hard cover Hardy Boys books, a super cool Disney comic book that was first published in 1945, and probably the coolest Sherlock Holmes book I've ever found. How much did I get all of these for? $1.50. I consider yesterday a very very productive day:)




   I also found The Grinch soundtrack! Which makes me say, Christmas, Where are you? Please come soon, I cant wait for all of the holiday cheer to come into my life. There is just something about Christmas that makes me happy 24/7. The snow outside makes quilts more common inside in every home. The fire place crackling and the Bing Crosby throughout the house are the greatest sounds to my ears. The home cooking and hot coca are a couple of amazing things too. But most of all its the feeling of family and of all of the great memories Christmas brings. I remember watching all of the classic Christmas movies with my mom curled up on the couch. I remember watching A Christmas Vacation 20 billion times a season. I remember watching the Grinch every time it came on TV (Count it this year because it happens WAY more than you would think!) I also remember our marathon watching of A Christmas Story on Christmas day. I remember hanging all of the Barbie ornaments on my grandmother's tree. I remember taking each one out of its box and marveling at the beauty of it. She collected them, a new one every year, now I'm beginning to. Just like her. Listening to the Grinch soundtrack makes me just want it to be November now because for some reason when you pull up to a stop light in the middle of summer, let alone during the hottest temperatures of the year, listening to Christmas music, you get really really weird looks from the people in the car next to you. If it were up to me, there would be a Christmas channel on the radio year round.

On another note, if you were wondering about the beautiful blocks in the background of the book pictures, that is the not-so-Christmas project I am working on right now. Some beautiful 25 patch blocks of my Good Fortune fabric. After these are finished, I will be ready for some Christmas sewing. My birthday is next week, and I got a whole bunch of sale Christmas fabric for myself. None of it matches each other, but I'm thinking a huge quilt of all mix matched Christmas fabric would be amazing. And gorgeous. Who else is ready for Christmas? And all of the holiday cheer to come back into people's lives?

Monday, July 9, 2012

Fabric

 When I first began quilting, I thought the only places to buy fabric was Hancock's or Joann's. I thought $6.99 a yard was expensive. I waited until I got my coupons for the month and went to buy one single cut of fabric (at 40% off of course). There were the occasional times where I splurged and bought a yard of fabric at $8.99. But to  spend that much, that cut of fabric had to be the coolest thing ever. I was introduced into designer fabric when I started reading quilting blogs. Today, I could see a 2" swatch of fabric and tell you who designed it and what collection it is from. I can tell you the specific names of every 1001 peeps fabrics and many others. Of course, I blame this obsession on the bloggers of blog land. They have introduced me to the most beautiful part of quilting. Every piece of fabric I have ever bought or will buy in the future, is bought for a reason. It makes me smile. It makes me fall in love. I can see hundreds of fabrics and my eyes will go immediately to one bolt. I fall for it. Fabric brings out memories and feelings that other stuff can't. There's something about a cut of vintage fabric that makes me think of my grandmother. There's something about big bright florals that make me think of her gardens, more beautiful than anything. I pick up a fabric, feel it and my mind wonders. It goes to places I never knew before I began quilting. I find myself at work sometimes just thinking about fabric and how to cut it and what it would look like if I did this block or that block. All of the fabric in my sewing room mean so much to me, each one for different reasons. Trying to explain the feeling of finding that fabric that could almost make you cry it's so beautiful, is impossible to explain to anyone I know. I don't know any other quilters my age. I tried to explain it to my mother the other day and the looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I am. Amy Butler makes me fall in love every time I look at something of hers. I can't pass up a Kate Spain Christmas line. When I get my hands on out of print fabrics or hard to find lines, I feel like I have won the lottery.I will hold it, feel it, hug it. I wont stop looking at it or thinking about it for days, maybe even weeks. Now, I don't mind spending $10.99 on a yard of fabric. I don't mind splurging on a line that makes me smile at the thought of it. I guess you could call me somewhat of a fabric snob, but I still love going to Hancock's or Joann's and finding those awesome deals on beautiful fabric (with no designer name on the selvage).

Does anyone else feel like this or am I the only one?