Monday Stash #174 – Magic
For those of you not wearing heels, I’m just keeping you on your toes by being a day late for Sunday Stash! Technically, I think it is still Sunday in some parts of the world, so some might say I’m still in the clear. Regardless, I’m here now, and that’s all that matters, right? Let the fabric sharing begin!
This week I wanted to show you the second half of my purchases from the Intrepid Thread and San Francisco. I always go to Intrepid Thread expecting to buy very little, and end up leaving with my arms full. Julie must have a magic spell placed around the building that induces hypnotic shopping when you enter! Or is that just me watching too many Vampire Diaries and The Originals episodes? Seriously addicted, y’all! Anyway, speaking of magic spells, all of this fabric fits right into that category. (<–See what I did there?) Above is a fat quarter from Utopia–love tone on tone–and a fat quarter from Carkai with threads of gold running through it. Rumpelstiltskin? This is also my only purchase from Carkai due to my fabric buying manifesto.
Okay, I also bought two yards of Essex Yarn Dyed Metallic in Ebony and Fog. Despite what you might expect, it actually feels softer than the traditional Essex Yarn Dyed fabrics. I know they wash up really well, so I’m dying to use this to see how it compares. I’m thinking of mixing them with their non-metallic counterparts to give a very subtle shimmer here and there. Two yards is generally my max for stashing basic fabrics, that is unless I know it is destined for the back of a quilt. Plus, with a basic, you can generally always buy more, although watch out for different dye lots! Even though the picture doesn’t capture it clearly (I used the flash to help), they really sparkle!
Finally, this last piece was a total surprise. On Castro Street there is a shop called Cliff’s Variety; when they say “variety,” they mean every bit of every bob! You can buy tupperware, light bulbs, party supplies, wigs, and fabric (oh, and 12 shades of glitter). Can you even imagine what I was like in there? I almost bought one of the tents they had for sale just so I could take up residence! Perusing the fabric remnant basket–be still my heart–I found a yard+ of this magical unicorn print. No idea how it will be used, but if you ask me, no unicorn deserves to be put in the sale basket! It needed rescuing! I also saw Bonnie & Camille’s Vintage Modern fat quarters on their shelves, and I told the sales clerk, “You know these OOP fabrics are worth more than $2.50 each.” When I got the who is this crazy guy look, I just left it alone!
Well, and that’s this week’s wrap up of another stash frenzy. I hope you were able to find some fabrics to welcome into your stash as well!
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What a variety of stashing – that metallic yarn dye is awesome, I’m not a shiny, glittery type of person (although I was wearing shiny silver slides 5 minutes ago on the school run!) but that is gorgeous fabric. Cliff’s Variety sounds like heaven – good job it’s not round the corner from me
Beautiful!! I love Carkai and those linens look amazing. The unicorns are adorable and remind me of my 80s childhood!!
Oh I just bought some of the shimmery Essex for a quilt for my granddaughter. Haven’t gotten it yet so I am glad to hear it’s a good one! I love the Intrepid Thread too, hoping to get a chance to duck in before they change their model! Have a great week!
I like the stash manifesto! In the few years I’ve been quilting I have been getting a lot better about refining the things I like out of a collection, and so rarely want to get entire collection bundles anymore. There are only so many dollars I can spend on fabrics without the husbeast starting to gripe, and I realized along the way that often I don’t care for some of the prints, or only like (some of) one color way. I’d rather stuff I really like, versus future destash piles taking up space and making me faintly unhappy to look at.
Or some collections are just so large (Moda and the 40+ SKU collections comes to mind) that I’d be a pauper if I got whole collections regularly. If I do really like one, then sometimes charm packs or a jelly roll are an economic way to get them all.
I did, though, get an entire Carkai bundle, but that’s because I do love what Carolyn is doing.
Pick’n’mix is an approach making me a lot happier. And even then I try to keep projects in mind when I get stuff. I do want to use what I have, not let it languish. That’s just sad.
Essex Yarn Dyed Metallic! Wow… how do you find these sparkly gems!
I got to feel those Essex metallics at Sewtopia and they ARE nice! You’ll wish you had purchased more, manifesto or not!
So sad thst The Intrepid Thread is closing its store front. Thank goodness on line shop will remain open.
I think my magic only works on you š Kiss!