Sunday, April 26, 2015

Fabric Frenzy for April


It pays to have good friends! With good fabric! With good fabric they want to give you!
A great big thank you to quiltswissy for cleaning out her studio and gifting me with this Precious Poodle Piece.

It is joining it's canine peeps in the pet fabric drawer.

In the interest of Karma, she has a love of Swiss mountain dogs and basset hounds, so if any of you have those fabrics to repurpose...



Now on to my lack of resolve, my accidental fabric purchases.

There is "no room at the Inn" (or fabric drawers)  and yet, when Craftsy sent me notice of clearance I went, "just to look"      And this is what arrived in my mailbox last week...
Hee hee! Look at this mailing pouch! I can't throw it away! So cute it's like another gift.
It held this:
and this:
A honeycomb of hexies, and a little pack of gorgeous textures fabric, and a not shown packet for my friend Mary's birthday. I don't know if I can wait til August to send it to her.
I don't usually buy precuts. First of all, if they are all from one line of fabric, they are likely too matchy for me. Second of all, they are difficult (not impossible) to prewash.

At this point, let me make a plea for prewashing. It's not about running colors although that's valid.
It is ALL about the CHEMICALS in fabric manufacturing. You may not smell them like I do, you may not have skin irritation like my friend Robin does, but sew and press those unwashed pieces and all the chemicals are now flowing up to your brain. After a lifetime of that, you might find yourself sensitive too.

Anyway, there are some fabric lines I can't resist, and I have been eyeing hexie precuts for a year now. The low clearnce  prices at Craftsy pushed me over the edge! I am pretty excited about all my purchases!!

All the possibilities!
Love these fabrics and it will be tons of fun to mindlessly sew these together! Maybe with white ones, maybe with a floral border even. Happy, fresh, and what more can you ask of cotton??
linking to Mollie Sparkles Sunday Stash



15 comments:

Lucy | Charm About You said...

Love those 30's playtime prints! I always wash my quilts when I've finished making them, I never thought about the chemicals as I'm sewing with them.

~Diana said...

The poodle print is beyond awesome :) What a wonderful friend!

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

Oh oh! I didn't wash the poodles!

Angie said...

Adorable poodle print! I stopped pre-washing several years ago, but you make a good point about all the fabric-treatment chemicals. I do wash quilts when they're finished, but maybe I should re-think pre-washing and be kind to myself.

LA Paylor said...

no problem, they can jump in the bath with Cole!
LeeAnna

memmens said...

That's fantastic to have a pet fabric drawer! I'm with you on the fabric chemicals, I might blame my behaviour on them!

Snowcatcher said...

Like Christmas!!! What a great bunch of fun you got in the mail! The poodle print is too cute, too.

I'm with you on the pre-washing. I got into the habit when I was making more clothes than quilts precisely because the fabric was going to be next to my skin or my kids' skin. I hadn't thought about it with quilting, although that goes next to the skin, too, and you are absolutely right.

Mari said...

I have had good luck washing precuts in a mesh lingerie bag. Worth a try! I've done charms with no problem, so the hexies should be fine.

Colleen said...

I'm not a pre-washer, I reasoned that I would never get around to sewing anything if I did. Presently I don't smell anything when I am working with fabrics but you do raise a valid point about sensitivities developing. What are you going to make with the hexagons ? I bought the hex n more ruler recently at a Craftsy sale - I have to stay away from their sale section ! I've been fooling around with the ruler on my own because it came with cutting instructions only. I'm a little sad that there was no starter project
Colleen @ piecemakerquilts.wordpress.com

AlidaP said...

Nice fabric! And you raise good points about pre-washing your fabric... maybe one day I will become better in that :)

Joanne said...

Hi LeeAnna,
Internet fabric shopping can be such fun!
Have fun creating!
Take care,
Joanne

Beth @ Cooking Up Quilts said...

Love those 30s Playtime prints! I used them in a disappearing nine patch that is adorable. Have fun with your new fabric, you got such great things! And thanks for linking up to MCM, I appreciate it. :)

Kaja said...

Great stash. Sometimes it's just got to be done.

Maria said...

Love that poodle fabric!

Ruth said...

We have a real Basset hound but no basset fabric - must do something about that! A lovely gift!