Sunday Stash #247 – Finding My Way Back

Sometimes you need to take a break and not tell anyone where you’re going, or even that you’re going for that matter! So that’s what I did: No big announcements, no plans for a comeback album, and no surprise reveals. For the past month I’ve just been, well, let’s say, doing other things. It’s hard to say where that time went. Lord knows nothing productive really came from it, and I’m still stumbling through my perfectionist personality to reconcile with that. Yet, it needed to happen. I had to walk away in order to see what was missing. A lot of behavioural changes are still in the works, and I may discuss them, or I may just action them. So for now after all that diversion, I’m ready to make some time for happy sewing in my life again.

When I left you last year, it was Sunday Stash #246, and I was just about to unveil all my goodies from A&E Fabrics in Pensacola, Florida. I’ve got fifty-nine fabrics ready to splash out over the next five weeks. That’s a lot of fabric, y’all. If I laid them bare all in one go, you’d think I was being showy, and you’d probably get fabric fatigue! Instead, each of the five posts will feature ten to twelve fabrics which is a bit more digestible.

I probably wouldn’t have gone as sparkle-wild as I did, but I was invited by the Pensacola Modern Quilt Guild to present a lecture to their group. As compensation, the owner of A&E Fabrics gave me a little fabric cash to spend in her shop. Use it or lose it, I like to say. (I mean, I could have saved part of it for my next trip, but puh-lease, as if that was ever going to happen!) Anyhoo, when I arrived fashionably late to give my lecture, I had a bit of a fan club waiting for me. Damn girls, you be taking fashion to the next level! If you want a full account of the experience, you’ll need to check out my feature article in Textile Fibre Forum’s #129 March 2018 issue. It’s a little bop of a story!

But about this first round of fabrics! Okay, so that top picture is Art Gallery Pure Elements solids. Those were the only two colours they had left in the shop. I bought the rest of the bolts! Why yes, yes I did! Pure Elements are still my favourite solids because of their silkiness, and I even love using them for cushion / quilt backings.

Now hold up! Can we stop a full minute and admire the textural prints in the next photo? Are you as excited by them as me? Do they look familiar? Seriously, I can barely even talk about it. They’re Robert Kaufman digital prints of Vincent Van Gogh’s painting Garden of the Asylum. You put these in a quilt and you’ve got some serious art theory concepts to talk about. Right up my dark twisted alley. They read like ombres, but have built in texture which is just one of those things that make you go mmm, mmm, mmmmm.

Finally, for our first dip into the A&E Fabric extravaganza, these are prints from Tokyo Milk’s Neptune & the Mermaid. Talk about some polarising fabric! I don’t normally do the traditional floral bits, but you throw in some blue goldfish, and I am down for it hard. I mean, the fantasy of it all is a surrealist’s wet dream! I’m so surprised because people who I thought would love this want nothing to do with it. Personally, I would sashay down the runway wearing blue goldfish hot pants. Throw in some men wearing one-piece swimming cossies while diving into bubbles and you’ve got a Las Vegas theatrical show ready to go. I threw in some coordinating Kona solids to flush it all out as well! So tell me, how are you feeling about this Tokyo Milk release?

I had better stop there before I get my own fabric fatigue happening. I’m actually doing some sewing today, and I really need to keep that at the top of my free-time priority list. I hope all of you had a sparkling fab silly season, and I can’t wait to be spending a bit more time with all of you through my quilt finishes, fabric purchases, and general crafty escapades!

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