Online Fabric Shopping

This post ended up being much longer than expected. If you just want to read about online fabric shopping skip down below the picture. If you want to know why I haven't been sewing this week please continue.

I haven't gotten much sewing done this week. Mostly because of a mouse. Tuesday morning I woke up at six to workout. I started the workout and what do I hear in the corner? Yep... a mouse. Of course I ran up two flights of stairs, not stopping to put down my weights (at least they were only 5 lbs each) and wake up my husband. He was able to catch the mouse and my 6 year old insisted on taking him to the park to let him go. I saw no signs of another mouse and finished my workout.

During Sesame Street I was upstairs putting my 5 months old down for a nap. My 3 year old was downstairs watching Sesame Street when I heard a shriek and then him yelling "It's alive!" Yes, a mouse had ran right through the center of the family room. It ran through again as I was going over to rescue him. Chaos ensued. I called my dad who came over. We couldn't find the mouse and my dad and I set out for the store to buy mouse traps and D-con.

You may be wondering what this has to do with sewing and online fabric shopping. Well, I'll tell you. After a through search of the premises to look for mouse entries ( I had asked my three year old if he saw the mouse come through a crack in the door. He told me yes. Since I wasn't quite sure if he was just being agreeable I asked if he came through a crack or if he opened the door and walked in. He's quite sure the mouse opened the door and just waltzed right in. ) my husband decided the entry is in my laundry room which doubles as my sewing room. I have been avoiding the room ever since. He sealed up the possible entry. Last night two more mice were caught as we innocently slept. Hopefully there aren't any more and we are done with this. Most of my fabric is up away from mice or in sealed bins, but I do have two cupboards on the floor. I may have my husband take a look in there on Saturday and possibly move the bins.... just to be safe. I've never considered myself afraid of mice before. If we are outside and I see a mouse it's no big deal. However, I do not like them and their germs in my house!

Now, if you are still reading, this is where the online fabric shopping comes in. About the only thing I've done with fabric this week is to buy some online. Lately I have not really liked what I'm seeing at my local fabric shop. It's a nice store and used to be my favorite shop, but I think my taste and their buyer's taste have evolved away from each other. I'm just not feeling motivated. When I go to other shops I love what I'm seeing, but not at this one. Since it's really the only shop in my area I've turned to online shopping. I bought the fabric above from quiltshops.com I love that I can type in the name of a fabric line and see what shops have it available and also the price. I can usually find a great sale! I also ordered from American Quilting in Orem this week. I needed the wool to make a stocking for my new little one for Christmas. It's cheaper to buy the wool in the kit than to buy it separately because then I can buy just what I need instead of having to buy larger cuts for just a small little applique piece.

In the past I've ordered from Fat Quarter Shop and Hancock's. I still like to visit shops and see all the inspiration out there, however I just haven't been impressed with the ones near me lately. I'm really liking online fabric shopping for two main reasons. First, it's much easier than taking 3 kids to the quilt shop. Second, I can usually find exactly what I want, even discontinued fabric, on sale. Where do you like to shop online?

Another Jelly Roll Project

I've actually been working on this quilt for a few weeks now. I've just done several other things in the process. This is Black Diamonds by American Jane. One of the stars is easy to see, but there are two other stars on either side of it. I'm loving the fabric as well, which is Snippets by American Jane. The black is just a random black with white dots that I can't remember what line it's from right now. These are the first four rows. There are 18. This is not quite a quarter finished. When I make quilts I like to do a block or two completely finished before I start chaining. This time I'm doing a row. Piecing blocks is my favorite part but I don't love sewing rows together. Since you can't see the patter until you sew rows together I decided to do this a row at a time. I chain a row and then sew it to the others. Hopefully that will make sewing the rows together more exciting!

A few people asked where I got the Rock-a-Bye Rhymes fabric. I'll tell you a little secret. I love looking for fabric on using this site:


http://www.quiltshops.com/

That way you can see which shops have the fabric you are looking for and then compare prices. I saw this fabric going for $16.99 a yard but was able to find it for something like $6.00 at a place having a sale. The site is great for discontinued fabric!

Oh! FRABIC!

Do all little boys love fabric this much? I started quilting when my little Caleb was not quite 2 years old. I started because I needed a quilt for his big boy bed and couldn't find one I liked. I've been addicted ever since. Not long after I started and before I finished his quilt I was invited by a girl in my ward to be in a shoo fly swap. I also signed up for a row of the month class. I only bought a little fabric at a time for Caleb's quilt. That's when it started. During my search for the perfect fabric for his quilt. He would see us pull up at The Quilting Cottage ( before I discovered Broadbent's) and he would say in a frustrated voice "Oh! Frabic!" It took awhile to convince him that we love fabric. I'm still working on that one.

A couple weeks ago my dad came over and we were going to take some branches we'd pruned from our yard to the dump. On our way out to the truck Jake started to stink. I took him back in, but he wasn't quite finished yet. When Caleb decided it was taking too long he told my dad it must be because I was looking at fabric and they better come in to and get me or I'd never come out. Apparently he thinks everything that takes a long time must have to do with me and fabric.

Yesterday I picked Caleb up at the bus stop after kindergarten. He asked where we were going. I told him I needed to go to Home Depot to get some floor cleaner. On our way into Home Depot he asked if we had anywhere else to go. I told him there was a quilting store across the street, Threads of Time. I promised we'd be quick. The whining began. He suddenly had to go to the bathroom and needed to go home to do it. He wanted to know why I wasn't waiting until Saturday to go fabric shopping when he could stay home with Dad. He told me from now on I should only go on Saturdays.

Well.... Threads of Time is closing. I was quite disappointed to see that since there are not many quilt stores around here. However, as I was looking one of the other shoppers asked one of the workers where she was going to work when the shop closes. She said that one of the other workers is going to open a shop in Farmington! I'm so excited! One close to me! I hope it opens soon.......

Threads of Time didn't have what I was looking for. I had to go over to Quilter's Haven, which is one of my favorite stores. I needed more 30's fabric for my flower quilt. I thought I had tons of scraps, but I feel like I needed a few more since I don't want to do green, aqua or yellow flowers since the centers are all yellow and the stems are aqua. Caleb chippered up at Quilter's Haven. Really, how can you be grumpy there? The boys love the ramp on the side of the store. We were also quick as promised.

When the new quilt shop comes to Farmington I will hopefully be able to get there and back and do everything else I need to do during the time Caleb is at kindergarten. That way he won't have to use the word "fabric" to describe something frustrating.