Here, have a cookie!

I never indulged in tantrums as a child.  My mother had a way of just looking at us that told us that was not a wise choice, not if we expected to live to see another day.  As a result of that upbringing, and because I never had children of my own, I tend to look on people dealing with screaming children in stores with a jaundiced eye.  Here, have a cookie I've heard some desperate parent say in a cajoling tone.  One should never under estimate the effectiveness of a sweet treat to calm a fractious angry child, and turn tears into smiles.  The same thing goes for quilters.

I bundled up to go out this morning.  It's gotten even colder.  First there was the garbage that had to go out.  With no respite in the weather until Monday or Tuesday (we're supposed to get back up above freezing), I was not willing to live with it in the house.  Lucas has a strong attraction for plastic bags, especially those containing smelly garbage - a remnant of his life as a stray, no doubt.  More urgent, I was out of coffee.  I pulled on my winter boots for the first time since last winter, shrugged into my winter coat (sheesh they're heavy), and while digging in the pockets for my mittens, found $20 in the pocket!  That bit of good fortune would have been sufficient to make my day.  But wait - it gets better.

I stopped by the mailbox on the way out the door, flipped through the advertisements and the bills - then came across three parcel pick-up notices.  Three.  I stared at them, blinking in confusion.  Three?  What the heck had I ordered?  and more to the point, why hadn't the Postie buzzed my apartment to deliver them when he dropped off the notices?! Somewhat confused, but with a light heart now leaping with joy, I made my way to the Postal counter at the convenience store two blocks from my apartment, not noticing the cold, or the wind, and not even feeling annoyed with the Postie who had obviously had my parcel all along, but didn't bother to ring my buzzer (probably under the mistaken notion that I was at work and not at home).  The first parcel had the black tonal I ordered, plus a few other fabrics I had forgotten about completely.  The black with grey and the grey are both Kaufman fabrics, the black tonal is from Kansas Troubles by Moda.

And, then the rest of the package contains fabrics I added to the order to fill up the USPS envelope (it's the same shipping price whether the envelope is half full or jam packed, so definitely cost effective to add a few other items - the rationalization of a fabric addict) - the Timeless Treasures celery green tonal because I don't have any of that happy colour in my stash, the Sandy Gervais Burnt Orange (plus a fat quarter to make up for the fact that the yardage was short) because I can't resist a gorgeous orange, and a cream neutral (another Kaufman) because one can never have too many neutrals. 

I made a pot of fresh coffee and turned my attention to the next two parcels.  I now knew what was in them - Kaufman fusions - from a sale I found in a wonderful new-to-me online shop Craft Town Fabrics in Indiana.  They have Kaufman fusions on sale for $7.48 / yard, whereas those same fabrics (if you can find them) are over $20 / metre here.

I did exercise some restraint (though it may not be immediately apparent) by restricting my purchases in the most part to colours I have little of, buying 1/2 yards instead of yards for at least half of them, and 1 yard instead of 2 for the rest, well... except for one of the oranges and the neutral.  This is my early Christmas present to myself, a luxurious indulgence, and I should add that I did go a full 18 months without buying a new fabric.

Now I have a stack of fabric to iron and fold.  I am persnickety about folding my fabrics so that they all fit nicely in my stash.  I don't pre-wash.  For years I belonged to a swap group that insisted on unwashed fabrics, so my stash is 95% unwashed, and at $4 to wash and dry a load of fabric, it's going to stay that way.  When I participate in a swap that requires washed fabrics, or work on a project that is using the last of my pre-washed stash, I will toss the fabrics I need into the laundry.  But I've learned from experience, that I can mix strips of pre-washed and unwashed fabrics without trouble.  I wouldn't do that if the fabric pieces were large, but when dealing with small pieces it doesn't seem to have any adverse effect.

In walking back to my apartment, I noticed my Filipino neighbours have kept their drapes drawn to minimize cold drafts from the windows and feel great sympathy for their struggle with the cold.  It all comes down to preference.  I would rather deal with a colder apartment if I can have bright daylight, than be warm in the dark without daylight for days.  Besides, I find ironing is a good way to get warm.  I leave you with a couple of pics of my windows and the winter sparkle art between the double glass panes by Jack Frost.


My dining room view.

And my bedroom.

Quirky about my fabric

Are you quirky about your fabric?  Gotta fold it just so?

I'm quirky about mine, and I admit it.  I have very particular ways I like to fold my fat quarters, and my yardage.  (Did I say like?  I should have said have to.)  I bought some fabrics last weekend and it has been sitting in a pile on my kitchen table waiting to be put away, which can't be done until it's refolded the right way.

First I iron it to remove the creases (they are always in the wrong place), then I hold the fabric up to the windows (this step requires bright daylight) to see if I can spot any manufacturer flaws or strange staining (it's rare but it happens).  Then assuming all is fine, I square it, fold it, iron in the new crease, square it again and fold it a second time, and iron in the second crease.  That's when I know if I've been the victim of a badly folded bit of cloth.  This is a pic of my worst off-cut in this batch of new fabric after squaring.

Less than 1 inch on both ends of yardage is acceptable, since they usually cut a metre plus an inch or two. The worst one I ever had was an American fat quarter that needed two inches trimmed off both sides!  A fat quarter minus 4 inches is no longer a fat quarter.  What's the difference between an American FQ and a Canadian FQ?  We sell our fabric by the metre - approx 39 inches, so our FQs are a bit bigger.  Anyway 4 inches off a FQ of any nationality is shameful.  I bought it from an online store based in the USA and sent them a complaining email. They sent me an apology and a complimentary fat quarter to make amends. I still buy from them five years later.   I love good customer service.
But I digress... Then I take my 6" wide ruler and flip the fabric around it, then slide out the ruler.  Nice and tidy.  All my folded fabric the exact same size.

If there's a bit left over as I'm flipping the fabric around the ruler, I cut a strip from it.

I used to cut a few strips: 2.5", 2" and 1.5" because I like strip piecing and have a few dozen scrappy patterns I want to make that use strips.  But....ahem....those strip bins are a little on the full side right now.  Alright, they're overflowing!  So, now I just cut out a 3.5" strip and only if the folded fabric has a bit to fold over.  I figure a 3.5" strip or strip remnant can be further subcut into 2" + 1.5", or a 2.5" + a string. I really need to stop blogging about organizing and get productive and start making quilts (plural) to use up my strips because I've also got a large bin on wheels full of scraps and trimmings that need to be tamed into whatever size can be cut from them.

If the yardage is more than 3 metres/yards, I fold it on my 8.5" ruler.  I can tell at a glance based on the width of the folded fabric if the yardage is enough for a backing or not.

When I bought my Ikea wardrobe and basket organizers, I found that each basket could hold three stacks of of the 6" folded fabric (two side by side and one cross ways), or it will hold one stack of 8.5" + one stack of 6" with room for fat quarters. Serendipity! It was as if I had been prepping my fabrics and folding it this way for years for just this storage unit.  Things don't usually work out this neatly for me.  I didn't think to measure when I bought the storage unit either.
Here are those yummy new fabrics again - the 3.5" strips I cut from them.

I have this gorgeous orchid and it has been in bloom for 30 days now.  30 days!  You want to know the secret?  I haven't watered it the whole time it's been in bloom.  I've been ignoring it as I got the stash reorganized.  The last time it bloomed, I fussed over it, watered it, fertilized it... and the blooms rotted and fell off in less than a week!

Now I think there is a lesson in this for me.  Don't obsess or fuss if you want to enjoy the flowers.

Sore Feet and Empty Wallet

Did you a hear a thud out there in blog land?  Feel the ground shake a little?  Hear the rattle of cups and saucers in your cupboards?  That was me, falling off the no-buy-fabric wagon.

And Wowee did it feel great!

I haven't bought a smidge of fabric in over a year, so I felt dizzy and giddy in the fabric stores (yes, plural). I had noticed I had little yellow and orange in my stash, during my recent reorganization. I've grown very fond of the sunshine colours in the past couple of years - it takes so little of it to brighten up a quilt. And I found the turquoise fabric in the sale bin, so bought the last of it - almost 5 metres.  I came home with 12.5 metres and none of it floral! If you poked around in my fabrics for a while, you'd understand how remarkable that is.

So, I haven't trimmed any HSTs today and I haven't touched the 9 patches.  I had to shimmy past the crumb quilt hanging in the doorway of my bedroom to get down the hall with my purchases.  I hung the quilt top there as an reminder and insentive to finish putting together the backing and binding.

I pieced the last of the crumb blocks into a strip with some blue fabric to add to the backing and found two fabrics in stash to piece together in strips for the backing.  I've had both of these forever and being able to get rid of them in a backing is exciting.  I'll still have enough of the solid colonial blue to back another quilt, unfortunately.

We went to Walmart today.  I haven't been to Walmart since they stopped selling fabric and batting and am not likely to return any time soon.  I picked up a ball of cotton knitting yarn to make some new dish cloths and two larger crochet hooks - the big one because I've been tempted to try crocheting fabric strips to make a rag rug.  It's just a thought....

I found a 10 metre bundle of irregular white flannel on sale for $2 per metre.

A quilter on the Stashbuster Yahoo Group recently posted that she had used flannel as a quilt batting for a light-weight summer quilt. At $2 per metre, I thought it definitely worth a try. It's a freaking mystery to me how quilt batting can have nearly doubled in price, at the same time as our dollar has climbed to par with the US dollar..... can anyone say gouge?

Queen size batts are now $70. Ouch! Luckily I still have some batting from my purchase of an entire bolt (at a half price sale). I'm eager to try the flannel. Even if I find it too thin and have to use two layers, it's a bargain at the price. I've been advised to wash it in hot water and dry it at high heat a couple of times before using it in a quilt.

My feet are aching and I'm still full from brunch (ten hours after eating).  I may just go through some quilt magazines from the relative comfort of my chair and get back to sewing tomorrow.