I'm Sorry Amy! ;)

What kind of fabric shopper are you?  Do you buy a little here or there--just things you like? Or do you shop for specific projects, buying only fabric that you have a plan for?   Do you buy practical fabrics that you can always use?  Or splashy inspiring ones?  Only your favorite colors?  A variety for stash building?  A fat quarter here or there?  Only a particular designer's line?

When you love a line, do you buy the full group of fat quarters like these?

Bella

Chicopee

     

 





Or do you buy fabric because it just makes you happy, is just the color you need, or is just plain cute (like these little pigs)?  Or do you buy for no reason at all?  Or maybe all of the above!

Nursery Versery

I usually buy fabrics for projects I'm working on when I need more of a certain color or style that I didn't have in my stash. New fabrics spice up the old and make me see them differently too.  And some things just don't substitute for others.

Riley Blake Chevrons

And, if while shopping I see something I especially like or that is different from what I have in my stash (like these popular chevrons), I may buy it without a purpose, because you never know when you might just need a chevron, a robot or a witch! It just depends on mood and budget.  

Of course if I've been to the dentist or doctor or done anything yucky that I can reward myself for doing, then I get at least a fat quarter of my choice!    But, one thing I really haven't done much of is to buy precut bundles.  They are certainly tempting--just too hard for me to justify, given my stash. I've rarely bought more than two or three pieces of any line, and only a couple bundles of fabric my whole life (and that's quite a long time!)

Last fall when Amy Butler's Lark line came out with all the hoopla, everyone online seemed to be buying it and talking about how pretty it was.  So I caved to all the peer pressure and decided to see what I'd been missing, and when there was a good sale, I ordered a selection of Lark--and more fabric than I have ever purchased of any single line at one time.  Very daring!!--I blame it on the bright harvest moon, a sleepless night, and a sale combined with late night online shopping. :)  

On the exciting big day when Lark finally arrived, though, I hated it.  Ok, that sounds too mean, but I didn't like it.  At all.  I use and buy all kinds of fabrics, but Lark was disappointing to me.   Apologies to Amy Butler, but I just didn't like it, and I didn't see what everyone else saw in it. 

I thought this yellow/grey one (Souvenir in Lemon) was fairly disgusting, and was certain I would never be able to use it with anything other than its fellow Larkians. 


And I didn't like these black ones because they weren't really black and they weren't grey and my eyes just kept telling me that they looked faded. (River Shine and Ivy Bloom in Cinder)



 There were some pieces I liked, and some were ok, but some I just couldn't see me using--ever. Definitely not a good use of my money, and rather depressing to boot. So I thoroughly reprimanded myself for buying something unseen and online, promised myself to only shop in person, and quickly packed Lark up and put it away where it wouldn't make me feel so bad, and then forgot about it.

Then this summer a funny thing happened.  As I was digging to find fabrics to use for the Capriccio pillow shams, a piece of ordinary solid tuquoise fabric just happened to fall against the stack of Lark while I was moving things around.  The turquoise didn't really even match, but it was close enough.

Suddenly I heard music, the light changed and the room became magical.  Lark was beautiful.  Lark had possibilites!  That turquoise changed everything.   I fell in love with Lark.   LOVE.  Well ok, maybe not love--this is fabric after all--but I loved all the Lark possibilities.

I pulled fabrics from my stash and played for hours with different fabric combinations.  (My husband thought I was crazy, as I sat on the floor playing until well after midnight.)  They all looked so marvelous together.  The question became not if I would use it, but what would I make!   I immediately began searching my mind and books for an idea that would be grand enough for my Lark.

I'm not sure what the problem was last fall.  Perhaps the fabric (or I) had to age a bit.   Maybe I'm not keeping up with new things as well as I thought I was.  Maybe I just need to give some of the new fabric that strikes me as odd and unworkable more of a chance.  I still am not wild about the green/yellow Souvenir in Mineral piece. But the black ones mentioned above will be great as "neutrals" and the Lemon Souvenir somehow ties it all together.  I'm definitely looking forward to playing more with Lark--I've even purchased a bit more of some pieces--a girl's gotta be sure to have enough! ;)

I'm sorry I doubted you Amy! I humbly apologize. Lark is lovely!  Hope I can do it justice!

Happy Stitching!