Fabric Confessions

Yes, yes.  I've done it. 
And it's all me.  Nobody else. 
Just me.  Alone. 
I'm responsible. (But not at all sorry.)

I've had an obsession with text fabric for several months. I was good. I did what every good quilter does when she becomes obsessed with fabric: I shopped my stash. I found these there. The problem is that they do not match in any way. Well, the green, red and blackish gray are all from the same line.  

No, I needed some real text fabric in neutrals to mix things up. In the fall I ordered these 10" square (layer cakes) pieces from a Facebook site for people who are destashing. What can a girl do with a few (12) layer cakes and fewer random pieces?

So after my birthday last month I returned to Facebook. I'm not sure when I placed the order or the exact day that the package arrived, so the yardage will go on this month's accounting. 

Eclectic Elements by Tim Holtz

Besides, I have more yardage to claim, anyway. This is to-die-for fabric! It's Eclectic Elements by Tim Holtz and absolutely amazing. The design includes old maps, charts, graphs, birds, bugs, flora, etc. The colors are mostly muted grays, browns and beiges with a touch of deep blues and greens.  

The fabric must have been made especially for me.  Check out the bugs on the Entomology pattern. All of the fabrics are beautiful and I'd love yards and yards of each piece in the collection, but I had to control myself. I finally decided to get the four pieces that have the most text, drawings, and charts. 

Of course, I was in Hancock's for a reason: I needed fabric! I have two commissioned quilts that need starting and not enough green in yardage for the projects. So two large pieces of green came home. 


And then I saw this! It's a bit washed out in the photo, but the squares are postcards with beautiful hand-written addresses and stamps. The moment I saw it, I thought of Jenclair and her month of letters.  The link is for the last of her posts on the subject, but once you're there, it's easy to navigate around. Check out her days of art ready for snail mail.

Of course, a small piece came home. It will fit perfectly in the whole text fabric project....whatever that means!



The last thing that I picked up was a yard of insulated fleece to make potholders and such. My potholders are a horrible mess. Richard has used them as a spoon rest when frying food. That is going to have to stop!

I'm thinking that potholders will make good road projects when we go on a trip this summer. Surely they'll also make nice Christmas gifts as well. 

So here are the original stash fabrics with some of the new items along side them. I believe I have enough different fabrics to blend in all of them in a project. 

These are the many text fabrics that I bought recently. They definitely will all blend.

The blue in the feather and the blue from one of the layer cakes match perfectly. I love the indigo, inky feel.

I think they will work well with the blues from the original palette.

And one of my other favorite pieces, from the stash, is this Walmart fabric that I got a couple of years ago.  Do you see some inky blue in this? Hmm, do I have a color story going yet?

And here they all are. Neatly folded and stacked and waiting for a project and time.  But aren't we all?