A Broken Promise

I promised myself that I would not become like my mother and hoard fabric.  Up until now, I've done pretty well; at least in the whole yardage category.  I admit to bins full of wool blazers, wool and cashmere sweaters, or men's shirts meant to be turned into either purses, hats, and aprons.  Now that I think of it, I also have a stash of upholstery fabrics.  Okay, you've got me--I've failed miserably at un-stashing.

When I saw a quilt posted on a friend's wall I followed the link and found Marybeth at http://www.cambridgelane.com/.  We've since formed a friendship and gone to places like the Georgia Quilt Show.

This friendship led to meeting Anita Heady who opened Sewcial Studio in April http://www.headyfiberarts.com/.

Since then my love of fabrics has been re-kindled.  Anita has so many great quality fabrics that my promise will definitely stay broken.  If I'm not careful, I'll be moving the contents of her store to my stash.

Here's a panel I bought yesterday.

My first thought was to use it for a new comforter for my bed and add more fabric around it to make it the right size.  But then after I brought it home I'm wondering if I'll just make a wall hanging out of it.

Which is leading to my newest passion - modern quilting.  I've loved quilts for a long time but the exact measuring and fitting each piece together drove me to distraction.  There's even an art to crazy quilting.  So far, I've only made crib quilts.  They're a size I can handle.

Now with my new friend Marybeth and her longarm quilting machine I can make any size.

I was also inspired yesterday by my trip to Washington, Georgia to see the Quilts of Gee's Bend.  There was only a sampling at the Fitzpatrick Hotel but it really whetted my appetite for seeing  more and making my own.

I'm eying my stashes of shirts, blazers and sweaters in a new light.