More. Fabric.

First of all this is one of my lovely assistants this morning. I like to take sample photos outside, preferably in good sunlight. Not so sunny today but better than inside. I had her hold the hoop up so that what little sunlight there is would shine on the applique! Don't you love her pigtails? 

 My other lovely assistant (note For Sale sign above G's head...sigh...see previous post). Owls are IN! We have 2 already and both are great designs. I'm loving this new one too which will be listed this week at www.appliquecafe.com! I also did this sample on a size 4/5 Just Blanks long sleeve ruffle tee (it has ruffles on the sleeves and bottom). If you're interested in the shirt let me know! I have a box of these shirts (some short sleeves too) so I'm going to try to do samples on them when I can. Not sure what is in G's mouth? Part of a cheese stick I think.

And now to my very (unplanned) trip up to Beth's on Friday. I met a friend for coffee and then had 2 hours to kill and needed wanted some Spring-y Easter-y fabric, so I drove up and just happened to have my camera on me because I was heading to a Grandparent's Luncheon at B's school at 12:30. Perfect! Beth's is sort of in Montgomery and sort of in Wetumpka. I'm really not sure and have not even noticed the address. I like to go there and also Caffco Floral Outlet all in one swoop. I get my clear bags from Caffco.

You may need to click to enlarge the photos to see the fabrics more closely. You don't need to click and enlarge to see that Beth's has EVERYTHING!! It is by far the best fabric store around these here parts! If you want ginghams, polka dots, Fabric Finders or basically any type of cute fabric, this is your one stop shop! Lots of dainty cute florals and as you can see (upper left) they also have all of the cute Fabric Finders team prints.

 Polka dots and ginghams for days.... You can fill your fabric collection with every kind of floral or print fabric you like, but you cannot beat good ole ginghams and polka dots. I always tell people that appliques deal with such small spaces, so try to think that way when shopping. I have some BEAUTIFUL floral prints in my collection, but I always go back to polka dots, stripes and ginghams! Small florals work too!

 These are NICE solids ~ (can't think of the name/type fabric right off the top of my head).

 Ginghams in every shade, color, size, price range you can imagine...

Fabric Finders team prints ~ Auburn and Alabama

 I picked out a few dainty little florals, and then they told me about "upstairs"!! I had no idea upstairs existed, but evidently this is where the good stuff is! They have so much fabric that they can't put it all downstairs ~ the lighter spring-y-er stuff was up here and I picked out several more... They also hold classes up there!

 Click to enlarge if needed...

 Did I mention they have fabric for days?

 They also sell TONS of patterns, notions, buttons, blank bibs and burp cloths and other things, and if you look at the "cart" on the right side of the photo ~ in the bottom drawer they have tons of scraps which sell for 50cents each! It's fun to dig through and see what's in there! There are also a couple of classrooms to the right of this picture. They hold tons of classes. AND... Beth told me Friday they are also going to start selling  EMBROIDERY THREAD and some stabilizers! One stop shop!

Here are the fabrics I came home with ~ I've had my eye on this ric rac stripe!

 I've never been a huge lavender or purple fan (except for that plum phase I went through about 12 years ago where I decorated my bedroom in all plum). Now that I have a girl I'm appreciating it more and these lavenders are so dainty and cute! I also like lavender with green.

 Here are the floral prints I got and I just did the new owl in the paisley and it turned out CUTE! Again, applique = small spaces so the small florals work.

 I thought these were both Spring-y and Easter-y. I saw the pastel tricheck on Facebook the other day so I was so glad when I found it! 

I long for the day (hopefully soon) when I have a SEWING ROOM and I can organize all of my fabrics. I'm putting it off until then. 

AC News: everything is 30% off (excluding gift certificates and "design on a dime" designs) until Sunday. I am working to sample a couple more new designs also so they will be listed ASAP. Reasons for this sale: everyone was buggin me asking for one, Auburn won the National Championship and we have EXCEEDED 3,000 Applique Cafe fans on Facebook! 

Blog News: I spoke to a "guy" yesterday about the Wordpress blog migration. I also got a quote from a guy who hosts one of the blogs on my list that I love. I'm hoping to work on this project and that the transition will be smooth with little "blog down time". I'll keep you posted...