Home, sweet home

I'm back after a trip north to see my Mom. (Just FYI, her condition is little changed since I was there last, though she seems to be less & less connected to what is going on around her, more inside herself.)

As usual, my trip was bracketed with stays with MIL. It had been in the 90s when I left Houston & while I *meant* to put in things like socks & long-sleeved shirts, they did not actually make it into my suitcase. This wasn't a problem until the last few days of my trip when freezing temps were expected. So she & I had a day of shopping & I got myself a few things to see me through. Then we went to an awesomely brilliant, totally fun shop that I had read about in Generation Q magazine: Fabric Recycles! It is a crafters' resale shop! (Houston entrepeneurs, are you paying attention?!?! We need one here!!!) They have everything: thread, yarn, buttons, zippers, patterns, books, trims & a heaping table labeled "Started, Not Finished"-- exactly what it sounds like -- UFOs finding new homes. Oh, & yes, they have fabric, lots of fabric, all measured & neatly bundled & sorted by color. For some reason, that day I was attracted to these old-school, bright calicos. I am thinking about using them in a trendy, modern pattern like wonky crosses or maybe just squares, or triangles, hmm, right or isoseles? With lots of white I think.....

Retail Therapy

I went on something of a bender recently.

Not with vodka or gin, but with shopping. Very clearly, I was 'self-medicating', but, oh well, I'm not going to try to explain or defend it. It made me happy, it gave me pleasure, it didn't damage my liver.

I filled several virtual shopping carts with fabric (there is still one that needs to Proceed to Checkout). And they arrived in an avalanche.

There are the solids for the the Modern Quilt Guild block challenge. (That goofy piece at the bottom was on hand, I really want to try to use it.)



A bunch of pastel solids -- chalky and pale -- for an idea that I have knocking around in my head. I already had the dark gray and butter-colored pieces.



There is the stack of gray-ish neutrals  & a black & white polka dot that would be good background-y fabrics.



More pre-cuts than I need, but I wanted them. And that McCall's patterns print, because it makes me think of my childhood.



I even bought another sewing machine!  Are you trying to tally up what I already own? Let me do that for you: there are the Bernina and the Featherweight, my day-to-day machines; the Singer 99K and Singer 66 Lotus, both hand-crank machines; Mom's old Kenmore, still not in working order; Grandma's old treadle machine, not working either -- needs a belt. Tally: 4 working, 2 not working. So what else could I need, right? Well, in those brief, dark days when I thought the Bernina had croaked, I did some machine shopping. I've always said that my perfect machine would be a Featherweight with a big throat space (there is a name for that space, I can't remember what it is). And guess what, there is such a machine! So I bought it!!! So add a Brother 1500S to my fleet. It has an industrial motor & only sews forwards & backwards. It came with walking foot, quarter-inch foot, free-motion foot & some others. I've not done much with it yet because I don't want to change machines mid-project, but I am nearly done with the Shirts & Slacks & my next quilting project will be my HMQG row robin (seen in this very staged photo).