Some Jo-Ann Fabrics Bounty

I have been hanging around on a sewing forum and learning a lot from the talented seamstresses there. These ladies are awesome. At first I was quite intimidated by their skill but they are so willing to share their knowledge and very encouraging. Because of their influence I am now becoming a much more discerning fabric shopper. I've been buying quite a bit of my fabric online but this is such a tactile hobby and I love to feel the fabrics while I shop. Thankfully there are some nice things to be had at Jo-Anns if you know what you are looking for. I bought the following last week while they were 40% off.

This is a linen/ rayon blend with embroidery and sequins. It will become a dress.

This is a rayon shirting. I like wild prints.

This is another linen/rayon blend. It is purple with a black cast and has a woven texture. I plan to use this for my dress fitting class.

And last is a cotton/rayon jersey knit that is reversible.

JA's also had Vogue patterns on sale for $3.99. I bought these.

If only JoAnn's would stock more nice fabrics instead of so much polyester garbage. I'd also like them to stock silk organza and cotton batiste. Even imperial batiste would be welcome. A girl can dream.

My Lame Black Friday Shopping

I admit it. I'm not much of a Black Friday shopper. I wasn't even going to participate but there were a few things I had on my "wants list" and it is hard to resist 50-75% off. First on the wants list: Doll Shoes. You heard me right. American Girl doll shoes, to be specific. Long story short: I was given a bunch (like 30) patterns to sew 18" doll clothes, I wish to sew some doll dresses, I bought a used AG doll to use as a model, she came with tennis shoes, you cannot wear tennis shoes with nice dresses. Thus I need some fancy doll shoes. Someone told me Artco had the type of shoes I was seeking and I happened to have 2 coupons in my possession. Both were for today. The 50% off coupon was for before 9am and the 40% coupon was for after. Wanting to use both coupons on the same visit I had to time my arrival at a few minutes before 9. I barely made it. I ran in with just 2 minutes to spare, asked the lady at the counter to point me in the direction of said shoes, and made it to the checkout counter in the nick of time. Once she rang me up it was after 9 and I could use the second coupon. All that to get 50 and 40% off of $4.99 doll shoes. I'm just that cheap. The white espadrilles are awful damn cute.

Next stop, JoAnn Fabrics. A place sane sewists avoid like the plague on Black Friday. However, I wanted some heat resistant fabric to make pot holders and I also heard their flannel was going to be 75% off. What a zoo. I pulled a number for the cutting counter as soon as I walked in. They were on number F80. My number was G61. It was going to be a while. The good news was the desired heat proof fabric was not on sale which meant I could use my 50% off coupon. Good thing, since the regular price is $14.99 per yard. I bought 2 yards.

Over the next couple of hours I had plenty of time to browse through the stacks of flannel fabrics. The selection kept changing as people would get their choices cut and those bolts made their way back onto the sales floor. I settled on 3 yards of the sewing themed flannel (how could I resist the hand crank machines???) and 1 yard each of the red chocolates and the brown/teal heart print. The latter two are intended for some girly pipe bags.

I still had lots of browsing time so I looked through the Butterick patterns which were 99 cents each. I decided I needed more bag patterns.

After being trapped in JoAnn's for 2 hours I was finally free to return home with my bounty. That was the extent of my Black Friday shopping. I know. Lame. I didn't even spend $40.

Back From Vegas

   Saturday morning (we woke up at 3 am) we flew to Las Vegas to attend the West Coast Pipe Show. We arrived at the Palace Station Hotel in plenty of time to unpack before the show started at 10 am. I have more then enough pipes so was mainly interested in purchasing tobacco. We pipe smokers in Washington State are at a disadvantage because it is a felony to order pipe tobacco through the mail or package services. That's right, the brilliant (?) powers-that-be have deemed it a felony to mail order pipe tobacco. Having marijuana mailed to your home is a misdemeanor. Go figure. Is it any wonder I am anxious for the husbeast to retire so we can move somewhere a bit less stifling? But I digress. Back to the pipe show where I am furiously making my way up and down the aisles looking for my favorite tobacco, Butera Kingfisher. I notice a lone tin of Orlik Golden Sliced but I was on a mission. A failed mission. There was precious little tobacco to be had and none of it was Kingfisher. Sadness. Then I remembered that tin of Orliks. Back around I went, trying to remember where I had seen it. I searched and searched, to no avail. Someone else had claimed that prize. I didn't come away empty handed. I purchased 2 tins of Virgina-Perique blends from a vendor I was unfamiliar with. I also nabbed 8 tins of Molto Dolce from Sutliffe. I am not much of an aromatic smoker, but when I get the urge this is the tobacco I reach for. Once I was finished shopping I could focus on the real reason I was there. Drinking, smoking, and schmoozing. We spent a good deal of time (and money) at Jack's Irish Pub. The highlight of the trip happened quite by accident. We headed out to dinner Saturday night with the Guss Brothers (Matt & Jon). They know their Indian food and the conversation kept me in stitches. Free entertainment. Eat your heart out, Louie Anderson (he was headlining at the hotel). Sunday evening we headed out to the strip (God, I hate that place) to make our pilgrimage to Bouchon at the Venetian. We had eaten there 4 years ago and had fond memories. This time I chose poorly. I ordered off the specials menu and my veal was just so-so. The husbeast's "tower of seafood" looked fabulous, though. Kind of made me wish I didn't find oysters disgusting. Monday our flight didn't leave until 6pm so we hung around the hotel, killing time. I was glad we did because I got a chance to meet Carol, Bob Taylor's wife. All in all it was a pleasant experience. I enjoyed the company and the show but I probably will not return because of the awful state of our hotel room. My husband booked us into the Courtyard to save a bit of money. We had stayed in the Courtyard 4 years ago and found it to be fine. I do not require a fancy room because I don't intend to spend much time in there. I do, however, require it to be CLEAN. If I wanted a room full of dust I could've stayed home and saved my money. If I am PAYING for a room I expect it to be vacuumed. Our room was horrible. Look at this dust. This doesn't build up overnight. It takes months.

Under the heater/air conditioner.

On the valance over the curtain.

   No, I did not ask for another room. The same maids clean all of the Courtyard rooms. I knew the hotel wouldn't move us to the Tower. Friends had found fault with their Tower room and the hotel offered to move them.....to the Courtyard.

   We arrived back home around 9 pm Monday evening. Dead tired. It's been nearly 3 days and I'm still draggin' my wagon. Today I got the craving for some quinoa salad. I love the stuff from Costco but it is rather pricey. I decided to try to make my own. The toughest part was finding the quinoa. I had to visit Marlene's. The salad turned out delicious.

   I am back on my health kick, again, and am going to drag the husbeast along. I am mentioning it here so I'll have witnesses and be forced to stick with it. I am getting way too fat for my comfort. It would be nice to be able to fit into one of my dresses for the Pipe Club Dinner in January.

   I've been doing a little wheeling & dealing since my return. I had found this OOP vintage Raggedy Ann sewing pattern at a thrift shop for $.59.

It is now on its way to Australia for $25 plus postage. I also traded a pound of henna for vintage fabric.

1 3/4 yards of this lovely Chinese print.

3 yards of this knit. 

It's 60" wide with a border down one side.

And 2 yards of this canvas with a Pennsylvania Dutch feel.

I don't know what I'll make with it but I like it better than that henna. Payday I'll order up some better quality henna from Mehandi.com.

Well, I'm Still Alive.

I bought more fabric today and the husbeast didn't shoot me. In fact he chauffeured me over to JoAnn's and waiting patiently in the car while I shopped. I had a 50% off coupon and wanted to pick up a copy of the book, 'Successful Serging'. I had already purchased 'The Complete Serger Handbook' from Amazon when I  ordered the serger. Both of these books received rave reviews. I'm sure they'll be a huge help.

JoAnn's is having 60% off all their flannel so I had to make one last swing through that aisle. I'm enjoying sewing myself pajamas and can always use more.

I came home and promptly signed up for the online Craftsy.com course, 'Beginner Serging'. I am determined to master the serger. Speaking of the devil, here is my new Brother 1034D.

More Fabric Bargains

Today I stopped into a couple of places looking for more inexpensive knit fabric. First I hit Hancock Fabrics over on 38th. This is not my favorite fabric store but they do have good deals once in awhile. Now that I am enjoying sewing these fleece hoodies I have to stop in there and check because they sell a LOT of fleece (for those no-sew blankets, I guess) and they put some nice big pieces of it into a separate remnant pile and mark it at $3 per yard. Even the softer, more expensive fleece. Today I picked up enough of this nice purple fleece to make myself another hoodie. I love purple. I got a little over 2 yards, 64" wide, for $6.50.

I then found the rest of their clearance, on a table at the back of the store. I unearthed this interesting cotton knit jersey for $1.50 per yard. I like it because the stripes are vertical and have a bit of an organic feel. Just over 2 yards cost me $3.29.

But the bargain of the day was waiting next door at the Goodwill. I found this lovely tube of cotton knit fabric in a soft bubblegum pink. 1.5 yards by 66" for just $1. That's going to be a very affordable shirt.

Sale Fabric!

Do you know what's better than clearance fabric? Clearance fabric.....on sale! Back when I was trying to locate a nice sweatshirt fleece, for making the hoodie, I wound up on the Jo-Ann's web site and it showed a cotton blend fleece with a peace sign print. Be still my heart. When I searched for a local store that stocked it I was directed to the Jo-Ann Fabric on South Hill, Puyallup. I just happened to be heading out that direction to pick up a sewing machine. Once there I found the aisle with the sweatshirt fleece, but all they had were uninspiring solid colors. Bleh! On a hunch I headed back to the clearance area and there it was. Unfortunately when I had the fabric measured it was about 3/4 of a yard too short for the intended project. And instead of the $5.99 per yard price shown on the web site it was $7 per yard. Still, I really liked the print. Then the gal at the cutting counter mentioned that all clearance fabrics would be 50% off on Labor Day. I left the fabric, hoping it would still be there on Monday. Fast forward to yesterday. The husbeast and I had plans to meet friends at The Roadhouse for lunch and beers. Jo-Ann's was just down the road. I was able to stop in there and, woo hoo, there was my peace sign fleece. Now just $3.50 per yard. Come to mama!

While I was waiting for my number to be called at the cutting counter I continued to peruse the clearance aisle. I found this soft, drapey 100% cotton jersey with a crazy batik/tie dye sort of print.

It was $5 per yard.  I came away with 4 1/3 yards of fabric for under $20. You can't beat that. I'll definitely be watching for more of those 50% off clearance sales.

Sorting My Fabric Stash

I have been in "acquisition mode", trying to inexpensively build up a nice fabric stash. Most of this was either free, bartered for, or purchased for $1 to $2 per yard. If I had to pay full price for fabric I would not be able to afford to sew. This is my neatest, tidiest fabric, my larger pieces of 100% cottons.

On a shelf above that trove I have my fat quarter bundles and jelly rolls.

In my big metal pattern file I have mostly cottons separated by themes.

All my solids.

Farm, wine, dogs/cats, bees and bugs, holiday/seasons, quilts/sewing...

Batiks and orientals.

It gets sloppier after that but at least I have it all sorted out by type and now know what I have and where it is. That's half the battle. In the closet I have my collection of pajama flannel, my fleece and corduroys (in the plastic tub.

In a large clear tub I have all my smaller pieces and scraps of quilting fabrics and a couple of smaller quilting kits.

I need 2 or 3 more large totes to contain the following. This is my stash of canvas, linen, chintz, upholstery fabric, etc...

...and this is my collection of juvenile themed fabrics.

That's not all my fabric, either. This dresser is full of gingham, eyelet, knits, satin, velvet....and my stash of 30's reproduction prints.

Now you understand why I needed a larger room.

Cheap Quilting Fabric

I had heard rumors that Tuesday Morning (the store) sometimes had affordable quilting charm packs, fat quarters and jelly rolls. Today I had to go pick up a sewing machine belt from the local sew & vac shop which just happens to be in the same shopping center as Tuesday Morning. I stopped in and, sure enough, I found some goodies. I got this 12 piece fat quarter pack for $6.99 and these jelly rolls for $4.99 each. Score!

First Yard Sale Of 2012

...and man, it was cold. I usually don't hit yard sales in February but it was rumored to have sewing items. Plus it  was right on the way as I headed to Jo-Ann Fabrics to pick up some fabric for a quilt I'll be starting (more on this very soon).

Here is what $35 bought me at Jo-Ann's.

4 yards of white Kona cotton, 3 remnants,

a pattern and needles. 

And here is what $13 bought at the yard sale:

 12 yards of fabric.

A bunch of seam binding, bias tape, lace, rick rack, etc...

Misc. patterns.

And a bag of assorted presser feet, needles and parts.
(See that roach clip in the middle?)

Some free fabric and set of 3 baskets.

Not everything from the yard sale is to my taste (like the Barbie patterns) but they will come in handy for bartering. You gotta love yard sales! May favorite find of the day? This nifty old Dritz thimble. So comfy!