Shopping Trip! aka, What's Next in Line?

My family & I recently went home for a visit to the US, and of course I hit my favorite quilt shops while there. Fabric in Brazil is expensive, not as fun, expensive, harder to find, and expensive. As I loaded up on yard after yard of fabric, a little worried about the price, I reminded myself  "it would be four times this in Brazil....."  Amazingly, I stuck to my plans for shopping and didn't go crazy with extras.

First up -- backing for the Diary Quilt. I failed to snap a photo before I sent it off to my very dear friend & long-arm quilter, who will finish it for me, but I got a really yummy butterfly batik in blues & greens. I kind of think it's too modern for the front, and a little part of me wishes I'd stuck with the cream colored print that was old letters, or else the tone-on-tone cream & beige that was dandelions. I shied away from the creams because I didn't want the back to show dirt. I am probably going to second-guess that decision for a while, but I'm telling myself two things to help --- one, the butterflies are significant, and I do love that I found a great butterfly print. Love it. Two, I think a modern back to a traditional front fits since I'm a more modern quilter; it gives one more level to the "past, meet future" aspect of the quilt. And anyway, it's done now; too late and too expensive to change it at this point. (yes, I did consider buying the other fabric and saving the butterflies for something else.....but that many  yards is a lot to just buy extra.....).

Second up -- backing for the Mario Quilt. My boy requested sky blue, so that's what he got. I had a moment of panic last night thinking I forgot to get thread for the bobbin -- I'm using clear thread by YLI for the front -- until I remembered I have some blue-to-white variegated King Tut I can use, if it's not too much for the bobbin.....

backing fabric for the Mario Quilt

Third and almost last, the next in line -- a quilt for my husband, The Chemist. We are facing a move soon, back to the US, but he'll be traveling back & forth quite often. I wanted to make him a quilt he can keep at his "other home" so he's still sleeping under something I made, even while he's away. Sappy & sentimental, I know. It will be an oversized couch quilt when he gets done traveling.

I had him look through images online and pick out a rough idea of what he wanted. He found a strip quilt that was sort of color-blocked, and said, "That one. I like that. But in a different color scheme.....I want it to fade from blue to red...."

I panicked only a little trying to figure out how to get from blue to red without so much purple that it stopped looking masculine. Then I took my mom & sister shopping and we wandered a quilt shop for a really long time, looking at every single purple fabric in the store. I almost gave up, and then I found it, a red & blue overlapping thing. Once we had the purple, the rest was a cinch. I even found a perfect variegated thread to quilt it with; can't wait to get started!

fabric, in order, for The Chemist's color-change quilt

 For real last, I did buy a few things just because. The multi-on-black Sew Heavenly print, which is now out of print, which I have loved and wanted since its debut. I still hope to find the cream tone-on-tone of it, but no one seems to have that one.....(sigh). The Chemist got me the all blue version and the multi-on-blue version for my birthday last year.....I couldn't resist snagging some of this, too. I think these will be incorporated into a back for another couch quilt. I really have a thing for bold, busy backs as a way to showcase fabric I love.

SewHeavenly by Dan Morris for RJR fabrics

 and, who can resist a few fat quarters?! The 2 dark blue are to replace some I borrowed from my stash for the Diary Quilt border; the rest are just 'cause they seemed awesome. Fat quarters are my downfall.....I have yards and yards of stash made up of fat quarters.

just for fun

 What fabric style do you buy? Yardage? Pre-cuts? Fat Quarters? What is it you just can't resist in a fabric shop??