Fabric Friday ~ New To Me

 Hey Quilty Friends!  The last week I've been up to my ears in fabric sorting and making plans to use up some unloved fabrics for charity quilts and then this happens.  I promise you, I was not shopping for fabric.  Sure, everyday I take a walk around my favorite online shops, but it's just window shopping.  

A few days ago I got a private message on Facebook from a quilter named Judy.  We met about 4 yrs ago at a quilt guild trunk show.   She too has been sorting and purging her fabrics when she stumbled upon a bunch of Lakehouse Drygoods, She remembered me saying how much I loved them.  

She offered them to me at a price I could not refuse.  Sight unseen I jumped on the deal and met with her a few days later.  Let me tell you, the angels sang as I opened the bag.  I've seen these online and they never look as bright and happy as they did in the bag.

There were more prints than what is shown here.  My friend/neighbor Judy(not the same Judy that sold me the fabric) came along with me on this fabric run.  She too loves bright and happy fabrics so I gave her some of the duplicates and a few others that she loved.  There was also some I thought I would have a hard using in my quilts.  They looked more 30's reproduction, which is her quilting style.

I  love all the blues in the picture above and below.  Well that yellow plaid doesn't really do much for me but the rest are screaming to be used.   Sigh...no time for designing right now.  There's still much to be done in the Studio.  

The fabric sorting is going well. I've manage to sort and store all the backings and yardage.  A few more pieces have been added to the charity box. 

 Tomorrows plan 

1. sort through a couple boxes of fat quarters

 2. sort scraps by color and store them in the proper bins.  

It would be nice to never need to do this again.  Is it possible?  Are you the type of quilter who can keep it organized as you go? 

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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~ Home Again and Playing ~

Howdy Sweet Quilting Friends!  Today I'm doing what I do best, making a HUGE fun mess.  Pulling fabric is the best part of quilting, don't you think?  I'm digging deep into the stash to find my most loved pieces of out of print Lakehouse Drygoods fabrics.  Some of these I forgot I owned.  My original plan for this quilt was to work only from the scrap bins.  But there just isn't enough variety of prints and scale of prints.  I'll use what I can from the scrap bins then supplement with the larger pieces.  In the picture below all but the solid yellow is Lakehouse Drygoods.  The solid will be the background fabric, well at least that's the plan as of right now.

The pattern I'm using is called Home Again by Erin Russek.  It's a free block of the month.  You can read more about on Erin's blog One Piece At a Time here and here.

Not all the fabrics in the scrap bins are Lakehouse prints.  There's a little of everything from Moda to Walmart fabrics.  

The birds are giving me a little trouble.  I can't decide on the perfect combination of prints.  A little more digging might be in order.  Before you know it I'll have every fabric out of the cabinet.  This is how most quilters work fabric magic.  For those of you who struggle to match fabric here's the secret...Play with your fabric a lot.  And then pull more fabric and play a little more.  Then if needed go shopping for more!

Maybe the fabrics in my little test bird is a better option for color?  Well I'm going to be here for a little while longer.

After I make a plan for the center Medallion block I can move onto the smaller blocks. Aren't they just the cutest!   See you in a few days with the results!

Just a little reminder that you can still gt 20% off you entire purchase at The Purple Hobbies website using the code PodunkPrettiesJan20  

Offer ends February 29, 2020.   Make sure when adding the code to your shopping cart that you click APPLY.  You can see my review of the BladeSaver Thread cutter here.  And the Third hand Binding Folder Clip here.

50% OFF Sweet Sixteen PDF pattern 

expires 2-15-2020

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~ Lakehouse Drygoods Fabric Look a likes ~

 As you all know I'm a sucker for bright and happy quilts. Many of my quilts feature fabrics that are by a fabric company that is longer in business, LakeHouse Drygoods.  LakeHouse Drygoods was owned by two wonderfully talented ladies, Pam Vieira- Mcginnis of Pam Kitty Morning Blog and Holly Holderman that seems to have stopped all activity on social media.  These fabrics can still be found if you search hard, dig deep in the internet and your purse.  Every once in a while a print will pop up on Etsy or Ebay that I don't have in my stash.  So what can you do if you love these brights but can't find them, or more often for me, can't afford the out of print fabrics?  The answer is simple, find a look a like!  Pictured below on the left is Backyard Roses by Nadra Ridgeway for Riley Blake.  It too is a few years old but you can still find some fat quarters and yardage for sale if you're willing to search.  Nadra is still designing so keep an eye out for her up coming lines.

Nadra's current line on the market is Mon Bleau Jardin.  With a quick google search I found a fat quarter bundle on Etsy.  There was also some yardage and smaller precuts.  This is one I don't have in my stash so if you want it you better get it quick before I change my mind...LOL!

Some of Nadra's past lines that you can search for are Bloom and Bliss.  I have a few of these but not the whole line.  The trick to searching is to do it often.   Doing a  Google search will bring up those who paid Google to be at the top of the list, so dig deep in Google.  Which means going to more than just the first page of the search.  I once found Lakehouse on Pg. 16 of Google search, a little shop in Ohio, $4.50 a yard!  I bought almost all of it!

Arbor Blossoms is another great line by Nadra.  Sadly I have none.  Good luck with the search and dig deep.  In my quick search for writing this blog post I found very little in the first two pages of a Google search.  A little yardage but no precuts.

Another excellent look a like choice is Flower Sugar by Lecien.  Any Flower Sugar you find would work great.  It's easier to find than some of the fabrics I've mentioned.  Etsy and Ebay both have quite a few.  The downside of Lecien fabric is it's from Japan so the price can be a little higher sometimes, especially when it's new.  Playing the waiting game of letting the prices fall is a risky game.  I've missed out on many great fabrics by playing the odds.  All lines of Flower Sugar play well with Lakehouse Drygoods.  I was gifted a small bundle of these last year.  They are even more precious to me than the Lakehouse because I have so few in the stash.  The bundle below is still available in several online stores.  The first one that came up in my search was Fat Quarter Shop.

And later this month they have new Flower Sugar line coming out!  Woohoo!  Look at this cutie bundle!  Did you know you can sign up to be notified when it comes in stock on the Fat Quarter Shop website?  By signing up for the in stock notification you are NOT required to purchase them.  They will send you an email with a link to the product.  At that time you can buy it or not the choice is yours.  Click here if you would like to give this feature a try on Fat Quarter Shop Website.

I saved the best for last.  Why is it the best?  Because it's still pretty easy to find.  So I ordered a bundle this morning!   Hand Picked by Tammie Green for Riley Blake.  I found several different sites with this in stock.  Mine was order from a shop on Etsy.  It was the last bundle, but I found another good buy on Missouri Star Quilt.  

Before ending this blog post I want to address online shopping vs local quilt shop shopping.  By all means support your local shop.  I purchase locally whenever possible.  The issue I have is the local quilt shops around me don't carry what I want or need.  Recently I went in one of the local shops asking for a specific Lori Holt fabric. I was told they didn't carry it and it would be best if I ordered it online because they tried the Lori Holt thing and it didn't work for them.  Really?  You're turning down my business?!  

Here's the other issue.  Quilt shops buy what's hot, what's trendy and what will sell fast.  My color pallet isn't the trend, or so they say.  If this were true why do so many ask where I find these amazing lines of fabric?  And why do they sell out so quickly online?  So I buy my fabric where it's available and for me it's online more often than not.

My latest pattern using Lakehouse Drygoods and few of the mention above is Bluebirds and Blossoms.  This little quilt was an inspirational piece designed when I needed a break from the work side of designing.  All of the applique fabrics were small bits from the scrap bin.  It finishes at 

24 x 24.  The pattern is available in my shop as both a PDF instant download and a mailed paper copy.  Click here to go to my shop.

#pamkitty #pamkittyplayswell #lakehousedrygoodslookalikes #prettyfabric #lakehousedrygoods

#podunkpretties

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~ 15 Minutes of Cleaning ~

It's that time again, time to pull out my two favorite little boxes of fabrics.  These two boxes of  fabric have produced some really cute projects over the years.  I'm not quite sure how but the amount of fabric in them seems to multiply.   So this morning I decided to do a 15 minute cleanup of the boxes before tackling anything else.

 Several pieces of odd and not so cute fabric were tucked into my cute mini stash, so those have been removed and this is what is left.  Looks like my 15 minute plan could take a tad bit longer.  That's okay, I can play with cute fabric all day.  

With the odd and not so cute fabrics removed I can now see there has been some progress.  These were stuffed to the brim about 3 years ago.  So if my calculations are correct it will only take about 9 more years to use up all these fabrics!....LOL!

Now it's time to sort through the smaller scraps from the boxes.  I know some of you see this as trash but I see it as pretty little applique and string quilt blocks.  If I can put a stitch in it, I keep it.  Well to tell the truth even if I can't, I still keep it for making rope rugs.

 Oh this heaven, so much color.....sigh.....cleanup has come to a screeching halt.  Yep it's playtime!  A little project to let the creative juices flow.  This is what quilting is all about.  I'm in my zone...this is going to be a fun day!

And so it begins with a little added piece of cherry fabric pulled from the large scraps bins.   What's a quilt without cherries in it somewhere? I mean really, did you think I could leave out the most important part, CHERRIES!   

The 15 minutes of cleaning turned into an hour, and I now have a bigger mess than when I started.  But it's a fun mess that will end with a cute little quilt.  Am I the only one that gets inspired when cleaning?

#15minutecleanup #lakehousedrygoods #podunkpretties

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~ Love is in the Air ~

Yes it's true, my little ole heart is going pitter-pat.  Flying by the seat of my pants with this quilt design has let the creativity flow.  The design layout has changed several times, I think it might be finished evolving.   

It all started with this little 5.5" Dresden Block.   You would think by its tiny size that it was a pain to make, but really it wasn't. If you can make a normal 12" block you can make this.

Fussy cutting is fairly new to me.  In the past I would avoid it at all cost.  It just seemed so tedious.  Well what was I thinking?  The fussy cutting has taken the simple design from the cutesy little ...awe...   To a big WOW!  

As usual there's a few quilty rules being broken.  Fusible and turned edge applique techniques are used in this project.   I'm sure that makes some ruler maker cringe.   The Dresden's and all the circles are turned edge. Turning the edges of the circles is the only way to get them perfectly round...at least for ME to get them close to perfect.

There's a few more final touches to make before sharing the entire 24" block.  See you in a few days for the big reveal! 

Before leaving I want to give a big Hillbilly Hollar to Aunt Em's Soap.  This Mint soap has changed the look and feel of my skin.  It has the most amazing cent that you can't find at Walmart and it's gentle enough to use on my entire body.  Since I started using this a few months ago I no longer need to moisturize, the constant itchy skin is gone   It's priced higher than the yukky store bought stuff but it last so much longer, and I don't need to buy any products to repair the dry skin as with the other soaps. I think I'm actually saving money!  And to put the icing on the cake Em is a quilter and uses her tiny little scraps for packaging.  That's my kind of gal...use it up and re-purpose.  You can find Em's quilt an soap shop by clicking here.  Make sure you hop over to her quilt blog,  Em's Scrapbag, she always stitching up a scrappy beauty.

~  Lea Anne ~

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