I fell off the fabric wagon again. Hugely!

On January 1 this year, I lost a good quilting friend. John died very unexpectedly. He left behind his wife, Martha, and a small but well stocked quilt shop, Digital Quiltz. Today Martha decided to sell much of her stock to the ladies and gentlemen of the quilt guilds she and John belonged to. As one friend described it, the shopping trip was bittersweet. We got fantastic savings and spent hours talking to friends, but we had to lose a friend to do it.

With hundreds of bolts to choose from, I would normally go wild. This time I was determined to buy backing fabric and thread only. One problem with finishing so many quilt tops is that I need the material to back them with! I love the look of pieced backings, and I have pieced several of my own, but I hate to use my gorgeous special fabrics on the back where they won't be seen.

I kept it to nine fabrics, but I bought the rest of the bolt of all but two of them. This is a great photo of the greens. I especially love the one on the left! I had to share one yard each with a couple of friends, but I got the rest. All 11 1/2 yards! 

This is a better photo of the red. This will be the backing for the Red Sea quilt top I finished this week.

 I got enough of the greens and the blue for a queen sized backing each. Aren't they luscious?

I loved the blue/green batik top right, but I only bought three yards of it. Several of us wanted it, so we shared it out. A friend's husband ferried it between the cutting tables so that we could all get what we wanted. Isn't that sweet? I'm going to send him some farm fresh eggs as a thanks this Thursday when I see his wife at Busy Bees.

This black/grey/white fabric is probably my favorite. I bought the rest of the bolt of it as well. Just looking at it is really getting my creative juices flowing! The blue/purple stripe on the left is gorgeous as well. I bought four yards of it, but again, had to share with others, including the woman who was doing the cutting! Sigh.

Don't you just love this bright orange cosmos fabric? This will be the back for the harvest-colored Turning Twenty I also finished this week. Seven new backing fabrics and two already assigned. I may have to resort to pieced backings again soon if I continue to finish UFOs at this rate! : )

By the way, I also bought 75 Mettler size 60 threads today. Did I say that I've fallen for applique after I said that I never would? Now I'm set for life on the thread front.

I don't know if I'll have anything to post tomorrow. I'll be grading papers so that the students will let me back into the classroom on Monday. It's been a good week off.

'Til later...

Debbi