Recently, I’ve been traveling a lot. I’ve become very familiar with the Denver International Airport (DIA). This post is about one of those recent travels and how I got into trouble at a fabric shop that had a ridiculously low price on Moda Grunge.

Mid-November I traveled to Washington State to visit two of my “Quilting Sisters” Judy and Dana. You may remember their names from previous posts including two recent posts (The Tale of Three Tulas, Part I and The Tale of Three Tulas, Part II).

We had a little quilting retreat at Dana’s house and you know when you get a group of quilters together for a long weekend, the chances are high that there will be an outing to a quilt shop or two…

There are NUMEROUS quilt shops in Washington State, so we visited a curated collection of beloved shops selected by Judy and Dana.

The first shop we visited, Calico Creations in Mount Vernon, Washington, did not allow photos inside their shop, so the only photo I have to share is of the outside.

It was a lovely shop but I was well behaved in that shop.

The next shop we visited, Gossypium Quilt Shop in Issaquah, WA. They were photo friendly and the interior was beautiful and inviting.

I bought a couple yards of fabric there and felt proud of how little damage I’d done to my pocketbook.

But then they took me to Annie’s Quilt Shoppe in Shelton, Washington!

Annie’s Quilt Shoppe is home of the $7.99 a yard fabric deals. High quality, major fabric brands at $7.99 a yard (that’s U.S. dollars and for my readers outside the U.S. if you check the conversion to your currency and yards to meters/metres, I think you will all join me in a communal “Wow!”).

I have a secret weakness for Moda Fabrics’ “Grunge” line of fabrics and when I spotted an extensive offering of Grunge fabrics in an extensive palette, I lost my mind and started pulling bolts for cutting.

Hopefully you can see from the photos above that the Grunge line of fabrics are beautiful textured solids. They are printed in Japan and come in 200+ amazing colors, textures, and shadings (according to The Fat Quarter Shop).

We had a delightful time with the store owners as they tag teamed cutting my huge pile of fabric. Here I am with my Quilting Sisters Dana and Judy with the delightful shop owners in the background (who were happy for the large sale but likely quite exhausted from cutting all that yardage):

Forty-five (45) 1 -2 yard cuts later, my pocketbook was damaged but my dream was realized – to have an extensive collection of Moda Grunge fabrics!

I wasn’t the only one who went a little crazy with the $7.99 a yard fabric offerings. For example, my friend Dana bought yardage from this beautiful selection of fabrics:

When I got home I had to make room in new fabric storage area for them. Initially I though I could fit them all in one cubby of my IKEA cubby bookcase:

Alas, they needed two cubbies but I did add in any other Grunge fabric I had already in my collection. In front of the Grunge, I placed my beloved Marcia Derse yardage (see post Fabric Fangirl Frenzy).

We did not spend our entire long weekend together just shopping, we also spent time sewing together (actually I brought knitting), having wonderful meals, and catching up. Long weekends with good friends are wonderful for the spirit!

Postscript

So you might be thinking: “Okay Tierney, that is a lot of fabric shopping, where are your recent posts about making things with fabric?!?!”

Well I have not posted about my current quilting project because it is emotionally difficult. I am finishing up the last quilt my husband who unexpectedly died last December, started; and it is a gift for one of his family members. But once it is complete and that person receives their gift, I will blog about it.

I do have a follow up to my previous post The (Ridiculously Large) Library Stack.

Even more library books came in! So my stack got even larger! It would have been unwieldy to add the additional books to the stack for a photo, so here is a photo of those additional books on their own:

Believe it or not, I’ve made a significant dent in my very large pile of library books. Lots of pots of tea and early mornings browsing through the wonderful books!

One of the cool things about blogging is I feel obligated to complete the projects I write about. Maybe you all do not really care (ha!) but I feel a sense of obligation to finish things or my readers will think I am a…non-finisher (not even sure if that is a proper word).

Here is an update on some projects related to previous blog posts:

The Charming Continues

In my posts What’s on the Design Wall: Rediscovering My “Charms” and What’s on the Design Wall: Pre-cuts Wrangling, I discuss trying to use up my out of control collection of pre-cuts such as charm squares (5 inch pre-cut coordinated squares). Another charm square quilt has been completed – this one I call The Charming Continues. It was pieced by my quilting husband and myself using a couple Moda Basic Grey charm packs and coordinating Moda Basic Grey/Grunge line of fabric. It was long-arm quilted by Betty Anne Guadalupe of Guadalupe Designs. Originally I was going to list it on my Etsy shop but I fell in love with it and it is very happy now in my cozy reading area (where the 370 Craft Books live, see that post…).

The back is fabric from Moda’s Basic Grey line of fabric

In the reading nook waiting for cozy book reading

Right on Target

In a recent post, What’s on the Design Wall: Not What Should Be There, I discuss how at a recent quilt retreat, I began impromptu working on the same quilt another retreat attendee was piecing – the pattern Right on Target. I have now completed piecing the top and now I am deciding whether to use it as a quilt or as a quilted tablecloth. I am going to quilt it myself (just a simple “stitch in the ditch” or “stitch outside the ditch”). I am happy it did not become an UFO (unfinished object) – this can happen to random projects you start on an impromptu basis at a quilt retreat!