Fabric Paradise

Today I enjoyed a short road trip with my dear friend Lorrie to Creston, Iowa - our destination was Quilts & Other Notions...one of my favorite Iowa quilt shops. This wonderful shop (about an hour from Des Moines) is a quilter's dream - filled floor to ceiling with bolts and bolts and bolts of fabric...there is an amazing selection of notions (of course), trims and laces by the yard, and all sorts of threads and fibers...along with books, patterns, machine embroidery designs, and even some great gifts! This is my go-to shop when I am searching for that special fabric or if I need a little inspiration....the entire staff is extremely friendly and helpful...and I must mention they have the best sewing machine tech around (I wouldn't trust my fancy machines with anyone else). Today, I actually had a list....looking for some lining fabric for one of my upcoming classes...and particular fabrics for my Etsy shop items....and after you see the photos of this shop, you will see why I had no problem finding everything I needed/wanted (and then some!). As Lorrie learned today, the first visit to this shop can be a bit overwhelming...and it can do some major damage to your bank account, as it is extremely easy to fill a shopping cart...you can easily walk the entire shop several times and not see everything...

My main reason for the trip today was to pick-up more fabric from the line The Sew It Book Collection by The Vintage Workshop, Amy Barrickman for RedRooster fabrics...I have been making project bags from the border fabric in this line for my Etsy shop and haven't been able to keep them in stock (this fabric is long retired)...the last time I visited, I knew they had some left in stock - and sure enough I found exactly what I wanted today....and of course, I purchased all they had left! I also picked up a bolt of fabric to use for class kits....and a bolt for lining some project bags...plus a bag of five 1-yard coordinating cuts, some Blackbird Designs hand-dyed rick rack, a couple charm packs, some DMC floss...and a great "ruler" fabric that I thought would be perfect to use for some upcoming projects. Mission accomplished!

The next couple days I will be 100% focused on preparing for my rapidly approaching teaching trip - a week from Friday, I will be headed to New York to spend a few days with the Buffalo Chapter EGA. I am finishing up a few tiny details and will be shipping all the class materials to the coordinator this week. I am also getting ready to start a new cross stitch model...it is going to be a BUSY month!