Stash Report - August 14th

What a difference one week can make.  Last week we took our summer vacation.  My family usually grants me one day of quilt shop hopping no matter where we go for vacation.  My Guy actually enjoys my "shop hop" day because we usually end up in many small towns with very interesting architechture.  It's typically a draw as to who finishes first, me with my shopping or him with his walks around the town with his camera.   Kiddo brings either her DS, cell phone or a book, finds a quite corner and does whatever until we are both done.  This trip she was just thankful for being able to sit in the air conditioning, it was 110 F according to the thermometer in the Jeep.  However,  by the time we hit the third quilt shop, she felt it necessary to follow me around the store and remind me about my fabric budget.   I really do think that large amounts of fabric excrete some type of chemical that affects some of us with the urge to pet it, admire it, buy it and take it home.  I was unable to maintain my resistance and came home with some lovely additions to my stash.


Bright yellows just because I like yellow



I'm pretty much a sucker for butterflies.  All of these pinks are by  Lake House Drygoods

 The yellow and pinks came from the Sewing Boutique in Collinsville, TX.  It's a small store, but the owner, Sue Stinson, has some have some lovely fabrics and is an accomplished quilter. 

Up the road a piece is the Kaleidoscope Quilt Shop in Whitesboro, TX.  I fell in love with the bright colors in Deb Strain's Fresh Flowers for Moda.


I love these brights.

 Down the street from the Kaleidoscope is Lovejoy's with it's old fashioned soda fountain.  It definitely felt good to have a cold old fashioned Dr. Pepper as hot as it was outside.  Kiddo was fascinated that sodas didn't have to come from a can (We counted that as the educational part of our vacation). 

Finally, I picked up a few more batiks for Kiddo's Jigsaw quilt. 


Blues, greens and purples is what she wanted.  She suspended my fabric budget for these. 

 These came from Kaleidoscope and the first shop of the day I visited, Pass the Time Fabrics in Gainesville, TX.  Gainesville is easily reached from Highway 35, the major interstate highway in the area.  We started our day there and had lunch a couple of doors down at Sara's on the Square.  Sara's is located in what used to be the town saloon, so it has a rich hertiage.  The food is pretty good too (Another reason My Guy likes my shop hops, where there are quilters there is usually good food nearby).  

These three shops are within 20 minutes of each other, along some typically scenic back country roads.  However, the extreme drought in TX has turned the countryside brown.  All three shops had friendly staff and were well air conditioned (very important this trip).  If you are ever traveling to/from Texas via Oklahoma, any one of these shops is worth a stop. 

That was the fun part, now for the painful part.  The stash report. 

Used the week: 0.18 yards
Added this week: 17 yards

Used year to date:  41.48 yards
Added year to date: 53.75 yards

Net stashed for 2011:  12.27

I'm leaving off the fabric budget report because it's pretty meaningless at this point.  I'm going to need to rethink my strategy on that front.  I'm not so far in the hole that I can't get out, but I'm going to need to stick to my 15 minutes a day of sewing to get there.  My goal was to use more then I purchased and that's still doable (as long as I avoid fabric shops). 

How is your stashbusting going?  Check out Judy's Patchwork Times to check in on all the other stash maintance work going on.