Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Happy Valentine's Day!

If I had thought to bring the cord for my camera I could share a photo of the lovely roses my sweetie bought for me. He knows I'm not a big fan of red ones, much prefering the other shades. So he sent a dozen long stemmed in an assortment of yellow, white, pink, and coral. Just beautiful. Thank you, David. :-)

Ya'll will be happy to know that I've already come up with a plan for the lovely fabrics that followed me home last week. I pulled a purple from my stash to go with them (see at least I'm busting a LITTLE stash. LOL!) and I'll be using them to make a card-tricks quilt. I've wanted to do one for a long time just never quite got around to it. The pink print will be the background and sashing (so the "cards" will float.) The lt red and the purple will be on opposite sides with the green and blue on the other sides. Now I have to see if I can find something in my stash for the borders. If not I'll think of something. I have a few other things I'm working to get finished up on during the upcoming 3 day weekend and then I can start on my cards.

A few of you commented on my self-imposed 30yd penalty. This is a deal I've made with myself. If I buy fabric that I do not have an immediate need for then for every 1 yd I buy I must give away or immediately (within a month) use 3 yds. So 10 yds in = 30 yds. must go out. Gotta reduce the stash somehow this year. LOL! With that in mind I've boxed up some UFOs to send to LindaJ along with some stuff that is suitable for backings for kids quilts and a few other odds/ends I thought she might be able to use for WTIL. Ironically several of the pieces were purchased with WTIL in mind way back in 1999-2000 when I was a member of their Yahoo group.

Our local Hancocks fabrics is closing. :-( I hate that as I always liked them better than JoAnns. I had to pick up some cream for the center of my siggie blocks (bought white last week. Didn't read the instructions!) so I went to check them out. They've just started the close-out sale so are at 20-40% off on their fabric. Mostly 20%. I bought the remainder of a bolt (8-1/2 yds) of Kona Ivory. On sale for 20% off, plus another 10% for puchasing the last of the bolt. I figured since I didn't have a nice cream in my stash I could justify the purchase. I'm thinking I should probably go back and get a bolt of muslin for Heartstings foundations before they get picked over. Ya'll would be proud of me. As tempting as it was I didn't even look thru the other fabric. Just picked up my cream and a few asst. quilt books (at 20% off). And since I have a Hancocks's credit card that paid rewards until last month and I had a stack of the $10 coupons I'd not used that have to be used this month. My purchases were almost free. AND I have a few more coupons left that I still need to redeem that I had left at home. I'll use those to get the bolt of muslin. So that will be free too. Doesn't count toward fabric purchased if it's free does it?????

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

woooo...I thought I was the Linda J to be on the receiving end of goodies...then realized you have another Linda J in mind!!
Lucky you for the flowers...we just got SNOW!

Elaine Adair said...

Stay strong! and since it's zero here in Nebraska, Stay warm in Texas!

Cynthia said...

i'm glad i don't live anywhere near Hancocks or i would have spent too much money on fabrics that i probably don't even need LOL

Lois R. said...

Nancy, sounds like you need a 12 step program, huh? (wink and smile) Stay strong! Unfortunately, my fabric diet is financially imposed. I stay away from the fabric stores because I HAVE to!

The bluebonnets are beautiful!

PS. Thanks for commenting the other day. I know you stop by and read often, but I tend to forget you're out there if you don't comment. Thanks for the visit.

Samantha said...

Hooray for nearly free shopping AND lovely roses!

Alycia~Quiltygirl said...

I like that the purchases were basically free - I think that always makes shopping so much more fun! I love your choices of Colors!

Finn said...

Hi Nancy, what a lovely gift from David..*VBS* Still sweethearts after all these years..you are a lucky lady.
What a great plan, your 30 yards dealie...LOL. I know Linda J can sure put that stuff to good use. And what a good feeling it is to be helping.
Love your bluebell fabric!! I have some sring blocks to send for your birthday, wanna email me with an addy? Or is it posted somewhere? Hugs, Finn

McIrish Annie said...

We had a store like Hancocks which recently closed leaving us only with Joannes ( not a big fan of their fabric). We also had a LQS recently close so we are down to just 2 in a 20 mile radius! :(

I think you are doing a fabulous job on your self imposed fabric diet!!

Vicky said...

Okay, I've pondered this -- the muslin is for foundation and the Kona is for helping to stash bust your other fabrics. So even if they weren't almost FREE, they wouldn't count! (bg)

See, if we try hard enough, we can rationalize anything!

Happy Valentine's Day! Your sweetie is a keeper!

Oh, can you resend your addy to me? I can't find it and I cleaned out emails the other night. Need to get those two blocks off to you.

(Hugs)

Carole said...

Happy valentine's day! Sorry I'm a bit late. My laptop was confiscated by my 9 yr old daughter! lol Glad to read it was wonderful.

Michele Bilyeu said...

Now Nancy, dear one, you need some help here. First, there is the well known 'Fabric Diet'...we have all been there, yo yo'ed, given up, tried again. Then there is your now famous '30 yd. penalty.' Very clever, actually. Could possibly even work for some people. NOW, you try to tell us that some fabric "followed you home." Well thank goodness! I finally 'get it.' That's how that the stash bunny sneaks all that fabric into our sewing rooms...all those little baby bunnies in training, carrying all that little stash in their baskets...just 'following us home.' I guess we just need to take their little baskets away. HA!

sewprimitive karen said...

Great shopping, Nancy! And I admire your vow regarding 1 yard in: 3 yards go out the door.

Susan said...

Oh, there's one in Phoenix that's closing, too. Is the whole system shutting down, I wonder?

Your card tricks sounds like a great plan, and I like your 30 yard penalty, too. =) But the fun thing is, I don't have 30 yards here! Or I don't think I do - no room. I won't say how many of my yards live at my best friend's house in CA, though!

We'll be moving into the Uvalde/Crystal City area, west of San Antonio on the 2nd of March. I will be happy to be out of this stupid wind!

swooze said...

I need to develop a stash reduction plan. For now I am working on UFO reduction! Do you come up for the Dallas show?

Unknown said...

Just happened upon your blog and thought I'd let you know, (just in case you don't) that if you have a quilt guild members card you can also use that at Hancocks with coupons and receive another 10% off your total purchase price. I like to use it when they have a 40 or 50% off coupon for buying my Kona, add another 10% and the total cost on a bolt is so small.

Linda