Pimp My Stash - And A Give Away

      So I got home last night to my latest box of goodies from The Fat Quarter Shop. This is the second box I have bought of mystery fabric from the Fat Quarter Shop but this is not the only location I have bought "mystery" bundles from. It's ok to say that I have issues when it comes to mystery bundles. I have been sucked in by fat quarter bundles, scrap bundles, but this is the first time I have been wamboozled by the pound. I do enjoy the fabric from this site and the mystery boxes are the same awesome quality. It doesn't hurt that the 12 pounds of fabric is 20-25 yards of fabric. At $56 dollars for the bundle plus $10 shipping it works out to about $3.00 a yard. Where else can you get quilt shop quality fabrics for this price??? This is what came in the mail for me. The box contains pieces that are WOF, some pieces as small as an eighths of a yard to upwards of almost a yard long.

         On the quilting front I finished up this quilt for Elizabeth's new foster baby. I started with rag quilts when I started quilting. I can crank out flannel rag quilts pretty quickly at this point and I can snip the seams while I am traveling. I finished the seem snipping and washed it at the hotel. I intended the quilt to have the owl print along the diagonal when I laid it out. Somehow when I sewed it together the dark pink ended up in that spot. Who knows what happened. I shouldn't sew when I'm drunk (kidding). I think I was just really tired and mixed up the rows. Which is how two of the owl prints ended up next to each other on the raggy side. Oh well it turned out cute and will be comfy.

     Finally I spent the day trying to clean and reorganize my sewing room. I had great plans of getting sooooo much done today. I never get as much done as I planned. While I was folding fabric I was seeing that I have so much fabric. It is definitely time for a fabric diet. With that in mind I am also sponsoring a give away to help slim my stash and pimp yours. To participate become a follower and leave a comment as to what areas your stash needs some help. Do you have a project in mind that you need fabrics for, so you have a big lack of one color in your collection, are you in desperate need of dots? Leave a short description of what you need  to pimp your stash (particular color/solids/favorite designer/novelty prints/christmas) and I will pick out a stack of fabric and send it off to the winner. Leave your comment before Tuesday night (9/4/12). Happy labor day weekend one and all!

White knuckles and sweaty palms from hanging on too tight

      Granted I am a little late posting this, but I have been recuperating from an awesome weekend of adventuring. Last Friday I flew in as usual to the Milwaukee airport, Papa Peach picked me up at the airport and we drove from the airport to the ferry terminal and shuffled off to Michigan. If you haven't had the opportunity to ride the ferry across lake Michigan add it to your bucket list. We took the Lake Express, which may not be the cheapest way to get to Michigan from Wisconsin but you don't have to drive through Chicago! (Twice). My husband is a former navy sailor and was greatly comforted by his return to the water. We took our car on the ferry since the rental car location at the ferry terminal is not open when the last ferry arrives (dumb dumb dumb). We were able to watch the sunset from the rear of the ship and try out our sea legs. The ride on the way there was a little rough but as long as you remained sitting it was pretty relaxing.

View from the back of the boat, Milwaukee off in the distance

     As an added bonus Papa Peach brought my new books that came in the mail. I am now the proud owner of Sewn Toy Tales and The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. I can't wait to join the QAL for The Farmer's Wife at Fussy Cut. I look forward to becoming a Farmer's Wife soon!
       We got to Muskegon and drove to Grand Rapids late Friday night. Saturday morning we met up with a group of fellow quilters at Queen Bee Quilt Shop. Carin from Margaret's Hope Chest organized an end of summer work party to put together the amazing amount of blocks she had collected for quilts. We had 15+ ladies show up and over 1000 blocks donated. Amanda Jean from Crazy Mom Quilts was among the attendees and brought some quilts from her book. I was able to snag a copy of her book while we were there. We sewed and sewed and ended up with some pretty snazzy looking quilts if I do say myself. There was a reporter there from the paper, quilter's from all over, and lots of machines humming. Here are some of the charity quilts that we made, and I didn't just pick them because they were the ones that used the blocks I made. So many seams to snip. I was happy to have my Rag Scissors with me, worth every penny.

Carin peeking over the blue rag quilt

Pink Rag Quilt

        Upon arriving home I had lots of goodies in my mailbox. This box of fabric from Fat Quarter Shop (12 pounds of fabric for $56 bucks). It turns out to be 20-25 yards of fabric for 56 dollars which is less than three dollars a yard. I was really happy with the selection. Mostly all quilting cottons, well known designers (Tula Pink, Moda, Riley Blake, Michael Miller, Hoffmann). I liked it so much that I ordered a second box. Bad Bad Bad.....I keep telling myself I will use some of the goodies for charity quilts and not just become a tragic tale on an upcoming episode of hoarders.

Look what the fabric fairies left at my door

Some of my favorite fabrics from the mystery box

There were one or two fabrics that I didn't love. This one of possessed kittens takes the cake. Thank you Michael Miller, what were you thinking?????? Anyone want to swap for some cross eyed demon kittens???