Sunday Stash #243 – The first 33 minutes at Gotham Quilts.

Last week I was recollecting about collecting fabric from a rooftop in New York City. This week, darlings, I’ll regale you with the tales of speed shopping through Gotham Quilts while on our way to the theatre. It was New York City in five days so every minute had to count for something. That meant that anytime Mr. Sparkles and I were on a mission somewhere, it was imperative to throw in a fabric destination for particular efficiency. Of course we were running late to see Patti Lupone and Christine Ebersole in War Paint, so my time at Gotham Quilts was limited to only one hour. It’s amazing how quickly I can turn a fabric shop inside out and upside down to find exactly the things I can’t live without.

Have you seen Jennifer Sampou’s shimmery, new range, Shimmer On? It’s all my buzz words in one range: blenders, graphic, metallic, tonal, geometric, and there’s a hint of floral for the rest of you! I literally had Gotham Quilts on my itinerary solely for the purpose of buying bolt after bolt of Shimmer On. I know so many of you are like, where does he put all this fabric? Okay, truth tea, I didn’t buy the full bolt, but I did buy yardage which is completely not the norm for me. (I’m a half-yard type of gal). But y’all. These are so good. Like, slap a hairlip on yo momma, good.

I’m especially enamoured with the Metallic Pewter Ombre and the Metallic Stone Ombre pieces–the ones with circles. I haven’t unfolded them for these photos, but they go from a mottled dark to light in the middle. This makes them amazing for borders (if you’re into that sort of thing) or typical application will give you lots of light and shade in one project. I love when fabric gives me shade! Ow!

Are you Lady Gaga over this selvage yet? How good is all that metallic going to look in my one-of-these-days-selvage projects? Plus, those polyhedrons: diamonds, gems, rocks, pyramids? Who cares. They’re so much better than your typical circles. Why are companies even still printing circles on selvages? Get it together people, you owe it to your selvage loving fabric friends to keep those design juices flowing all the way to the edge of the fabric. It really is a missed opportunity, otherwise.

Okay, so I’m about a half hour into my Gotham Quilt speed shopping adventure, and I’ve only fondled the Jennifer Sampou prints. Mr. Sparkles is hanging tight in the boyfriend chair (He gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars. e.g. Could have been more comfortable, and more amenities would have been appreciated. A more thorough examination about that in future weeks). There’s another lady in the shop casually perusing the Shimmer On fabrics as well for a quilt she is making with/for her daughter. They’re kind of taking up the whole shop so I offer some advice on what they should really be buying for their project. More an effort to move them along than anything else, but, hey, I also love to share my design opinion here and there. Obvs. They couldn’t have cared less. They both kind of looked at me with that, “You’re a man. What would you know?”-look. This is maybe hard to explain to my female readers, but my men quilters, I know you feel me. Sometimes it’s subtle, but an arched eyebrow can say so much!

Sidebar: Florals usually aren’t for me, but throw some metallic on it, and I’m completely game. I think I’d even wallpaper my house in this teal and silver number. Here’s the link to the Robert Kaufman website so you can see them in all their glory! TDF. Sidebar over.

So anyway, mother daughter finally left. (They picked the wrong fabric, so good luck to them). That’s when I really got to explore the rest of the shop, from Alexander Henry bolts, to Alison Glass fat quarters. I turned that place upside down in about twenty-seven minutes as Mr. Sparkles is frantically starting to become nervous that we will be late for the show. Ye of little faith. Never doubt a professional. Now, I’ll show you all the rest of them, but that’s next week!

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