I used some of my Christmas money to buy some new fabrics. Are you surprised?
The second row dot fabrics will be a tote bag. I love the color combination. I thought the orange was more of a salmony orange, but the lighting in the store wasn’t that good and I found out it was a more pure orange. That is ok. I still think the color combo looks good.
I may use them to try the scaled down AMH MTT. I still haven’t tried the scaled down version. I have a rule to use good fabric for new projects in case it comes out well, but I decide not to make the pattern again (remember the Sweet Harmony bag?) Thus, I am wondering whether I want to use good fabric and possibly screw it up or fabric I don’t care that much about and have it come out really well.
Julie took me to a store called Hart’s. What an awesome store! They had one of the largest selections of quilt fabrics I have seen in a long time. The quilt fabric selection was HUGE! Julie said she hadn’t been there in a while because of a bad experience when her kids were little. We were pleased that the service was excellent!
Hart’s also has an upholstery section. They had lots of wonderful upholstery fabric, trims and laminated cotton. The selection of laminated cottons and oilcloth was more extensive than I have seen anywhere. Some of their laminated cottons were so soft they were almost like non-laminated cottons.
The Cal fabric, from Beverly’s, will be for some pillowcases. That is all I can say right now as I am contemplating whether they will be gifts. Yes, I am planning ahead. Stay tuned.
The red dot fabric (top row, third from the left) was the gift wrapping on my gift from Julie. I don’t remember seeing those dots and the wrapping she did looked like that form of Japanese wrapping, whose name I can’t remember right now.
I can’t wait to see the finished tote bag. I love bags anyway and those fabrics will make a great one. So very pretty and cheerful.
thanks, Ruth. I haven’t had a chance to work on the one I started at the retreat again, but perhaps this weekend. I’ll definitely show the dot bag when I get to that, too. Thanks for reading!
Glad you liked Harts and found some good new dots. The Japanese folding technique is called Furoshiki. Here’s an official Japanese government guide (they’re trying to encourage eco-friendly wrapping on a country-wide level!) http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/11/how_to_use_furoshiki_clot.html
Yes, it was a wonderful surprise and we’ll have to go there again. I think I can think up some bag projects for that laminated cotton.
Thanks for finding the name of the Japanese wrapping technique. I hadn’t had a chance to look. Was I ahead of the curve with my gift bags? 😉