AVQ Fabric Sale

Friday July 16th, I went to my guild's fabric sale – over 10,000 yards of 100% quilting cotton for $3/yd. I really do not need more fabric and yet I had to support my guild's fund raiser, right?  My husband, Frank, came with me for companionship and his packhorse capabilities. Before we go to quilt or craft shows I always tell him what my goals are to get and what items to avoid. He is a pretty eagle-eyed shopper.

FABRIC
This time I told him no more kits; I have a backlog. I also asked for his intervention with no more novelties; every novelty fabric is another quilt. Exceptions might be prints in a large enough yardage to be used as backings. I was looking for mainly solids, even precuts in an assortment of solids. In that area all I found was 1½  yards of a solid orange and 2 yards of a mini-check that could be used as  graphic sashings or borders.

I used to have a dress in a drop-from-the-shoulders-frock-type style in the barnyard print, shown on the left, that Frank fondly called my bumpkin dress - as in country bumpkin. He brought me this roll of 3 yards and urged I buy it for nostalgia sake. He also found a 3 yard roll of the pale blue swirls on the right. Both can work as a backing.

I came across a bin of flannel and found four ½ yard pieces that will work great for burp cloths. Three out of the four will even go with fat quarters and ½ yard pieces I already have in my stash drawer of flannels. Two fat quarters make a burp cloth and I will use the pattern from my post dated 6/18/14.

Near the racks of hanging panels I found a bin of ornament panels. My kids were born in the 1980's when these panels were prevalent in the fabric stores. I would insert a ribbon loop at the top, sew and turn them, and the kids would help me stuff them. At the holidays, in addition to those we placed on the tree, we would have a sufficient surplus to hang many of them from curtain tension rods in windows and doorways. This next photo is of the grandkids in Thanksgiving of 2018 decorating our stairs with the same stuffed ornaments their mom did.

At 50¢ each, I bought eight of these panels: three houses, two calico toys, two nativity, and one gilded gold. I already have the Home for the Holidays made up from decades ago and they turned out really cute back then. I bought three more panels of those which will yield twenty-four (3x8) more stuffed houses. I already have the calico ornaments made up but still I bought two more panels which will yield twenty (2x10) more ornaments. The nativity scene I have never seen before. Each makes a scene of eight figures so there are sixteen more ornaments. The final panel has gold gilded ornament in deep green and red tones, also unseen before by me. When I unfolded the panel I noticed that someone had snipped off one of the squares but it will still yield the front and back of thirteen. Total: 24 + 20 +16 + 13 = 63 + an extra diamond that says Merry Christmas.

Yes, I know I said no more kits. But I found this kit for a 56"x56" Paddington Bear quilt. It does not have the pattern included but I was able to buy the pattern on eBay when I got home. Why is this an exception to my no more kits restriction? Because at the last AVQ fabric sale in September/October 2020, which I did not attend, my friend Mary Ann found and set aside for my purchase a Paddington bear quilt kit in a tin. I have it sewn and sandwiched, awaiting FMQ, and planned to gift it to my daughter's sister-in-law who is due in late September or early October. She just found out she is having twin boys. What luck to come upon another Paddington Bear quilt kit, similar but not exactly alike, which will be perfect for a second baby! Each have square panels for the blocks like for a cloth book. They even have the same striped fabric in common.  Although the one from the last sale measures 48"x48" and the one from this sale measure 56"x56", I can easily leave off one or more borders totaling 4", on the second one so the sizes match.

 

That's it for the potentially practical purchases. I did not, however, get away scott free on novelties! I caved and bought two ½ yard pieces of this funky chicken print novelty. Too discontinuous for a pillowcase, too small for a backing, too large a print for sashings – if not for it's unabashed cuteness it would be totally useless. I just liked it and it only totaled $3. Maybe for a pillow...?

 

PATTERNS:

I bought two old patterns that seemed interesting. One is a pieced version that imitates the intricate appliqué work of a Hawaiian quilt.  The other is from 2004 and introduces a "new" technique. I was curious. It looks like those blue flowers are about 12" tall. Just one would make a striking pillow. I read a cute statement somewhere suggesting that "pillows are stuffed animals for adults".

TOOLS:
I came across this set of craft scissors from Lakeshore. I have very artistic granddaughters who will love these. The names of the blades are amusing. Some shapes are understandable; others not so much.

Six colors on the left from pink to pale green:

     Volcano, Dragon Back, Jigsaw, Large Pinking, Majestic, Large Scallop

Six colors on the right from medium green to pale blue:

     Bat Wings, Cloud, Imperial, Cracker, Rockies, Small Wave 

 

And as for my husband who came along... he only bought two plastic triangle rulers for his garage. Though maybe I can attribute the purchase of the bumpkin dress fabric to him.

Those who were at the sale when we were there and don't remember my husband, may possibly remember the closeups of the front and the back of his shirt.