Back in the Saddle Again!

Hi everyone! 
     Well, I've been gone waaaayyy too long, poking around on another Facebook Page where I hang out admiring all the beautiful quilts others have created when I should be in my OWN studio creating!  Ah,well, I feel I need that morning inspiration sometimes.
     Anyhow, this is what I've worked at over this weekend.  Red and Green for Christmas.  It's only sandwiched---quilting is tomorrow. I think I will free motion quilt around the paisley-like shapes.

 

 

I got the fabric for this quilt at M & L Fabric store on the corner of Ball and Knott in Anaheim California....only about 10 minutes from me.  Let me tell you a bit about M & L...a store I've been shopping at for years and years.

M & L is a huge store---it used to be a supermarket!  I like to think of the store divided into three distinct parts:  The front, which takes up 2/3 of the main floor space holds the newest, most current prints of cotton and many other fabrics from silks, satins and velvets to canvas and tapestry.  The second part of the store (and my favorite) is about 1/3 of the store and consists of about 10 aisles with shelves on both sides.  The shelves hold cotton fabrics which have been removed from their cardboard bolts, refolded neatly, and stacked so you can lift and browse through the fabrics....

They have a nice supply of wildlife scenic prints....

even bears.....

lots of fabrics for making tablecloths and stuffed objects.....

 

  This is an entire shelf---upper and lower---of Kaufman fabrics, however you can find Kaufman and other big name fabrics all through the stacks....and it's all $2.98/yd.

a wide selection of shirtings......(although these are not always plentiful)...

.....more shirtings......

....stripes....

.....lots of this stuff......

and lots of dots!

New shipments come in every week, and this is a new collection that came in the past week.  You can see from the edges of the fabric what the predominant colors and shades are.  Very country, "ground" colors, olives, greys, grey-greens, violets, blues.....

 

Check out this nice blue collection!

As I mentioned before, here in the stacks you can find many very nice fabrics---Kaufman, VIP, Concord, David and other great fabrics.  Many of the fabrics have no ID on the selvages, but they're still very, very nice fabrics.  I've used many of them.  Then there's some fabrics that challenge quality a bit.  You can spot them from the amount of sizing that's in the fabrics and the thread count.  However, I have purchased many of THESE, washed and dried them, and found they were just fine for everyday quilts.  I wouldn't use them for anything that I'd put a lot of time into (something with many units to the block), but for simple patch piecing, they work fine.  I picked up a couple yards of each of these as a set to "see how they do." 

There's even lots of zebra fabric!

And peace signs!

 

The whole left side of this aisle is flannels,  and then there's another gigantic selection up front!

They have a wide selection of white on white, white on grey, white on cream, etc.

 

This last picture is a shot of the store taken from the back of the store to the front....this store is so big, it's foggy by the front door!  LOL!

And the third part of the store is an ADDITIONAL room(s) at the back of the store holding a HUGE selection of knits, corduroy, vinyls, and other fun stuff!  Call for their hours.  They're even open on Sunday starting at noon.

 

Well, that's it for tonight.  I'm sitting here yawning and typing.  I have this thing....whenever I see or hear someone yawn, I have to yawn.  Every time.  Every, every time.  So the DEAR husband (who's 56 and should have more respect for his loving wife) and the DEAR son (who's 21 and should have more respect for his Mama) sit here and quietly yawn, watching and giggling every time I follow suit.  I think I will go to bed.  Oh my.  There goes their entertainment!