Fabric-Buying Window Is Too Short!

Sherry-

Be assured you are not alone in this fabric buying complusion. ;-) A great many of us have far more fabric than we'll ever be able to use up- including me. Soon you'll get to the point where you start finding fabrics in your stash and asking yourself "what on earth was I thinking when I bought *that* one???" Your tastes will change over time and what was utterly delicious when you bought it will no longer appeal to you as much. And sometimes the *that one* turns out to be the perfect fabric for a certain project years later. Or you will discover just a little piece of it works out just right for a zinger or fussy cut. Or the reverse side is interesting or it's perfect for a squishie or hug block.

Keep on buying what makes you happy because it *will* sell out if you don't grab it when you have the chance- you are sooo right about that. Just remember to buy food and pay the electric bill *before* you hit the fabric stores!

Leslie & The Furbabies > Since I've started quilting, I have turned into a compulsive fabric

That brings me to another question. What in the world is a fussy cut? I've seen that phrase in some of the quilting books but don't have a clue what it means! And what's a zinger?

Sherry

That's 2 questions. Now you owe everybody a fussy cut zinger.

Thanks for clearing that up. I thought a zinger was a bigger thing than it really is.

Debra in VA

Buy the whey, wha cha mean you ore spelling challenged? I tink U spelt ever thang purdy good. Purrhaps your not az challenged az ya tink. (LOL) :-D

I think some of the fabric at the Princeton shop is at least 20 years old. It used to be said that the owner had as much fabric at home as she did in the shop. She would purchase one bolt for the store and one bolt for herself. I don't know if that is true. I do know it is the place I go if I am looking for something old. If you send them a swatch they will get back to you eventually. I haven't been there for several years but I doubt things have changed much. The store only has fabric, no made-up samples, classes or anything except rows and rows and rows of fabric.

If you are looking for a nice day in the mid-west Princeton is a good place to visit. There is another quilt shop in the center of town which is more of a regular quilt shop with made-up samples, classes, kits, etc. There are also many antique malls great for browsing. Across the street from Old Time Quilters' Heaven is a great restaurant. Writing this has me feeling a road trip is coming. It is about a two hour drive for me but if the day is pretty my husband enjoys the trip.

Back to work. . .

Susan

I haved found that if I want something that I can't purchase yet, I can write down the Manufacturer and name of the pattern, then later look it up on the internet. I have started to keep a salvedge from my material along with a small swatch so if I need/want more I can find it. I know, it takes a bit of time, but not as much as you think. I just tape or glue this to a piece of paper. When I have a page full, I slip it into a sheet protector to keep them all safe, and put into a notebook. Voila!

Then, someone gave me the the marvelous idea to tape/glue a swatch of the materials used to the pattern when I make a quilt. I have started doing it, and have even gone through some of my scraps and found pieces to put on my old patterns. Really, it doesn't take more then a minute, and I now have all this really great information. Too bad I threw away the selveges from a lot of my fabric - Oh well, it is better to have started then wish I had.

Or sometimes serendipity just bops you on the nose.

When the 2004 Hoffman challange fabric came out, I saw it and immediately wanted to pair it with the 2001 challenge fabric for a quilt kiri wants me to make her (still undone, but all the fabric is assembled!). I couldn't find the 2001 fabric anywhere. I searched by name, manufacturer and evrything I could think of. I posted my lament here, and while nobody here had it in their stash, a lady from Sylvia's Quilt and Sew, a quilt shop in I think one of the Dakotas?, saw it and emailed me to tell me that they still had some. So I got both fabrics and a couple of coordinates because I whined about it here.

That same quilt-to-be must be charmed, because when I was looking for a nice dark wood grain for backgrounds, I couldn't find that either. The fad for it seemed to have passed. Then I looked on ebay and found just exactly the right thing in an ebay shop and snatched up all 5 yards.

So sometimes out of print prints can turn up. You just have to seek, and maybe piss and moan a bit.

NightMist didn't grab 5 yards to have extra. It's a king sized quilt.