Material girl

I couldn't have made a trip to the USA without hoping to buy some fabric, and in that I was very successful! I asked the lady in the hotel in Portland whether she knew anywhere to buy fabric, and she directed us to an outlet called 'Mardens' which had bolts and bolts of fabric (along with everything from stationery to three piece suites!).

I managed to track down a Judie Rothermiel toile fabric, a nice Linus fabric with football boots on it and a fabric which said 'Quilters are Piecemakers' which, since my local quilt group is called Piecemakers, I couldn't resist!

I really wanted to find a proper quilt shop, and when we stopped for a coffee in Wilmington, I was delighted to find this one.

It was a real rabbit warren of a place, with rooms opening off rooms in a delightful way. I was tickled to see they sold rulers made by my home company 'Creative Grids', and gave their emblem of the Leicestershire fox a little stroke! I was determined to stay true to my resolution to buy what I needed rather than wanted, so while they had a tantalising selection of autumn prints, (and lots of other gorgeous stuff) I bypassed them. I finally ended up with a layer cake of reproduction fabrics, which I need for my challenge quilt.

The phot looks like I bought a whole stack, but I'm holding the packet up vertically!

Here are the fabrics, along with a fat quarter I bought from Shelburne. And to prove I really 'needed' them, I have already incorporated one of the designs in my latest challenge block.

This little beauty finishes at 8", which makes it quite fiddly. The worst of it is that I have another three to make! Better get back to the sewing machine!