Merry Christmas and Fabric-Palooza: A Year in Review

It's been a long time since I posted here thanks to a lousy dose of stomach flu for Gregory and strep throat for me. As soon as we recovered, Christmas was upon us and I haven't been able to sew much at all. Therefore, today's post is going to be an homage to fabric!

I received lots of fabric and sewing related items for Christmas. Gregory became quite interested in my presents on Christmas morning and soon neglected his own toys in favor of scattering fat quarters all over the place. Randomly, here's a cute picture of us on Sunday morning before church. A "secret Santa" left his outfit on our doorstep a few nights before.

Onto the fabric goodies! I received a full fat quarter set of Tula Pink's Parisville. She recently switched from Moda to Free Spirit. I was actually kind of disappointed by this move because lots of more traditional shops carry Moda, which meand that I have a hope of seeing some of her stuff locally (and often on sale!) The first two prints on the far left of each row are my faves.

A kind woman on flickr destashed this Castle Peeps fat quarter set to me for a really cheap price - I couldn't resist! I like this collection because it's really boy friendly but also gender-neutral.

My mom bought a few goodies from Hawthorne Threads. I had asked for 1.75 yds of the Urban Circus because I need to make another pair of pajamas for Gregory that will actually fit him. I also bought 2 yds of the stuff during a recent fabric.com sale - making me have owned/used 7.5 yds of that print! That's half a bolt! I can't believe I have had so much of it - but I have used it all (well, it will be all used once I make some pillow cases and the p.j.'s).

The same lady who destashed the Castle Peeps also sold me this Innocent Crush fat quarter set for way below retail. I have to say that this collection is my favorite Anna Maria Horner collection to date. The colors are so vibrant and many of the prints would actually be usable with other fabrics not in the collection.

These are my favorite prints from Innocent Crush:

Lest you think I bought all of my presents, I didn't. Nick surpirsed me with these fabric cuts from Moda's It's a Hoot line. I don't really care for all of the owl prints, but these basics of trees, dots, and flowers are really up my alley.

Nick also surprised me with what may be my most favorite fabric of 2010. It's called "London Calling" by Robert Kaufman and I love the detail and the soft drape of the fabric. It's gorgeous stuff and makes me want to hunt up the same fabric in other colorways - it came out in 2009 - but there's still some of it around.

I received some generous sewing notions too. Loads of white Gutermann thread, which I use very frequently. I also received the special edition Gingher rotary cutter, my own free-motion quilting foot (I'd been borrowing my mom's), some basting pins, and the New Wave ruler.

OKAY - so now, I am going to review fabric from this year.

The best collections released in 2010, in my humble opinion, are Remix by Ann Kelle (for Robert Kaufman) and City Weekend by Oliver and S for Moda. Of course - I should also mention that Urban Circus by Laurie Wisbrun is the best kid-themed collection of the year (see previous picture and posts!)

I love Remix for it's soft feel and bright colors. I don't feel the need to own every print, but they are all fun and 80's-ish.

I was skeptical about City Weekend when I started hearing all of the hype on the blogs- but after I saw it in person, I was hooked. It's very simplistic and retro - and I didn't feel the need to own all of the prints until fabric.com had the fat quarter bundles on sale for over half off! But I really love it and I think that it is versatile - you can use it for kids and adults.

These are my favorite fabrics which I have received from my online swap group. Everyone has been generous and it's been lots of fun to trade something you like, for something you like more. Yes, there is some Flea Market Fancy here and I plan to sew with my stash of it this year into a dresden plate quilt - I know I make fun ot FMF SO much - but it is pretty, and they should reprint it!

These are my favorite fabrics from this year. Yes, most of them are blue. I always gravitate towards blue! I am really hooked on the tiny elephants - those are a basic I will never grow tired of. I also have really loved the Far Far Away II collection (one print here- 2nd from the right) and look forward to Heather Ross' spring debut (which also will mean that FFA II will finally be on sale!).

Something interesting this year that happened was that I became a big Tula Pink fan. I was able to swap for a lot of Full Moon Forest with flickr peeps, found lots of Hushabye on clearance, won a fat quarter bundle of Plume in a giveaway, and received a fq bundle of Parisville for Christmas. I don't care for her other collections at all, but she really does have a unique style and her blog actually shows some personality instead of sales plugs.

Luckily my fabric buying mistakes have been limited. I suppose one of the biggest ones was buying 4 yds of Kona Midnight - believing it was dark blue, only to come home and realize it was definitely a deep purple.... Additionally, I am kind of regretting these wood prints by Jay McCarroll. They are whimsical and most of them boyish - but I am not sure if I will/can use them. Luckily I didn't spend very much on them because they were about $3 a yd from a fabric.com sale.

Despite all of the new lovelies released this year, I am still in LOVE with Heather Bailey's Pop Garden collection, particularly her Peonies in Red print. I have 2 quilts in line to make out of this gorgeous stuff. I was a bit disappointed in Heather's release this year: Nicey Jane - it just didn't live up to it's predecessors of Pop Garden and Freshcut. Oh well. I am told she is releasing some home dec fabric soon - but that doesn't really thrill me either because I am most interested in making quilts.

What do I look forward to in 2011? Sherbet Pips, Heather Ross' new line, anything by Ann Kelle, and that Melody Miller viewfinder print. Like everyone else, I want to stick to the resolution to sew from my stash and slow down the incoming and constant stash building! Any tips for doing this? So far I have thought about stopping the subscriptions from online fabric store newsletters, publicly keeping track of output and input of fabric, and formulating a strict budget. One thing I know for certain, going "cold turkey" never works.

So thanks for reading this long! My next post will review this year's personal sewing accomplishments.