Fabric Friday: February 13

It's Friday again; wahoo!! I've been busy sewing my second daughter's quilt, and I just couldn't resist working on a pattern I came up with. I can honestly say I never expected to make patterns, so when this idea came to me, I was not only pretty excited, but anxious to try it out. And, I have to say, I have a newfound appreciation for pattern writers! I'm still working out kinks on the best way to put it together, but I think I'll probably make a tutorial for it. More on that later.

And, I have exciting news! Fat Quarter Shop hosted a Cotton + Steel Remix Giveaway on their blog. And thanks to voters, the remix I put together on Pinterest won! Thank you, thank you if you took the time to vote for me! I may or may not be stalking my mailman today...but, you can bet you'll see some fun things with Cotton + Steel coming up soon; I'm brainstorming lots of ideas now. And I think some of them will end up as minis...my sewing room needs some inspiration on the walls. :-)

But for now, it's time for Fabric Friday! This week, I have a bundle with red. I love red so much; but  I don't often use it in quilts. It just doesn't happen for some reason. I buy reds with great hopes, but they often just sit. This bundle was inspired by a fat quarter I got for Christmas. Our daughters are still very young (ages 5 and 2) but we still try to involve them in gift giving. So, for birthdays and Christmas, we help the children buy small gifts for each other and for us. My husband can often use help in picking gifts for me...so I suggested that he let the girls pick out a fat quarter each for me. It's small, not expensive, and something I'd like more than, say, a cheap lotion with the Eiffel Tower on it from Walmart. Just sayin'. He was nervous, but I really didn't think it would be that hard. I mean, fabric. Just love, right? I showed him my stash and described what designer fabric was. I took him to a store I knew had a decent selection of designer fat quarters out and told him where to look for bolts of designer fabric so he'd have an idea of what to look for, and I told him to avoid the more traditional prints on the color wall. I tried to be encouraging without controlling. Really, I figured it would be fun to see what the girls would pick and to incorporate that into my stash.

I really didn't think it would be hard, I really didn't! And they aren't terrible, they really aren't, they just aren't really my style. Well, one is close enough. It's a grayish taupe polka dot. Not micro dot, but small.

And then this red...which I do really like...has suns on it, which is a motif I really like...but it's not really the same style as, oh...98% of my stash? So, my goal was to put together a bundle that used it, so I might be inspired to create with it. And really, the whole point was to get fabric that I wouldn't normally purchase myself, so it worked pretty well for that! :-)

Only problem is, I don't have many reds this deep. So, it's a small stack today. :-) I had a few yellows that would work with it, but I liked this one best, and then this gray was a great neutral with them.

So, top to bottom: Miss Kate by Bonnie and Camille, Funky Fruit Daisy by The Henley Studio, and my red fat quarter doesn't have the designer info selvage. I know, I know, you were all dying to know what it was... ;-)
 

And, happy valentine's day tomorrow! If you haven't seen it yet, check out Simple Simon and Co.; she has a great new tradition she is introducing with her family this year. Love it! I actually really hate valentine's day, but this tradition just might make it tolerable. :-)