Congratulations! You won the copy of Kay’s Inspired By Tradition!
Read on…
It’s like, if the pattern says I need 1 1/2 yards, I should get 2 1/2 just in case…
Or, I really do need one more fabric to make this quilt perfect.
Or, yes, by golly, I do need to buy ONE MORE PIECE OF FABRIC!!
Ok, a little segue and a story here… Only because the last sentence reminded me of a story.
Back in the olde days, The Cotton Patch quilt shop in Lafayette, CA used to have an outdoor quilt show every summer in July. For maybe a decade.
The one and only time I ever got to go, Alex Anderson was the featured guest and Patty McCormick, who was the head quilter on the film “How To Make An American Quilt” was there to sign her quilt book about the movie that had the quilt’s pattern in it.
Cool! I took my mom and WebGuy took the kids off to someplace fun for them — like a nearby zoo or bowling alley (I can’t remember which…)
After viewing the quilts, I looked at fabrics and amassed a pile of bolts on a cutting table.
…Like this…
In the middle of my fabrics being cut, I heard this little voice coming out of nowhere, saying “Do you really need that fabric?”
I turned to find my nephew standing by my side! I had left my kids in care of their dad so I didn’t have ” little consciences” with me and so I could shop freely. And here was my sister’s son!
The store was packed and all the women around the cutting table started laughing. I said “Andrew, where is your mother?” and he replied “Outside, looking at the fabric out there.” I said, “Well, go and find your mom – I think she needs you.”
Can you honestly imagine THAT?! I mean, really!
Ok, so the segue….
I happen to have another copy of Kay’s Inpired By Tradition to give away…. For real!
So, if you didn’t win the copy yesterday, you have another chance today. I will pick the winner at midnight, April 28th — and here is what you have to do to get in the drawing:
I want you to comment on how you deflect comments about buying
fabric, being accused of being a hoarder, and if YOU have a funny
story about something that happened in a quilt shop while you were
buying fabric.
So let’s hear it!
Segue #2- I told you more is better, and this one is good!
look closely
Segue #3:
A recipe for our version of Heart-healthy “pasta”:
this will feed 4
1/2 pound of 96/4 hamburger
one small jar of Prego Heart Healthy sauce
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, crushed
a splash of less-sodium chicken broth
1 small basket of mushrooms (sliced or whole, doesn’t matter)
1 pound of zucchini, rinsed and sliced
Put sliced zucchini in a pot to boil on top of a steamer basket. (the steamer basket keeps the zucchini from getting too watery). Cook only until the zucchini is soft and not mushy – we prefer our’s “al dente”.
While the zucchini is cooking, brown onions and garlic in a pan with splash of chicken broth. You will use the broth in replacement of oil. Add hamburger and mushrooms and brown. Spoon off any remaining liquid – there won’t be much. Add the jar of sauce and simmer until the zucchini is done or as long as you wish, without over cooking and reducing.
Place zucchini in a bowl and spoon sauce on top. Sprinkle lightly with grated parmesan or romano cheese, if desired.
This recipe is perfect for cutting carbs, diabetics and dieters. Vegetarians can substitute tofu and vegetable broth. If you don’t like hamburger, try ground turkey (a little fattier) or chunks of chicken. Either way, it’s a winner.
©2011 Annie Smith All Rights Reserved
I don’t get comments from my family about “fabric hoarding” because they see me making a LOT of things with it. But I do have a funny story… there’s a man that lives close to us that looks a lot like Santa Claus (in fact he and his wife decorate to the nines and open their house up at Christmas for tours), and his wife is a quilter. I’ve seen them in my local quilt store before, but one time they were in there together and I had my then 4-year old daughter with me. She was AMAZED that Santa was out “in public” (and that Mrs. Claus makes quilts like Mom!), and he is so prepared that he gave her a little coin that said “Caught Being Good!” And she was being good, helping me pick out fabrics!
Oh my, does this mean you are going to be a grandmother again? Woohoo, looks like NC will be getting another new little resident.
I’m loving all of the podcasts!
LOL. Little voices have BIG consciences! I usually respond to comments about buying fabric with a comment about how stamp collectors buy to have and enjoy and my fabric collection is no different.
I also don’t get comments about the fabric I buy. I haven’t bought any stash building fabric in 5 years. I’ve been working out of my stash. I also don’t haven’t started a new traditional quilt project in as long. I have used up about 10% of the stash I had and finished half my UFOs.
Now, when it comes to new tools and books… I have a few more than I used to, to be sure.
When I met a new friend, not a quilter, she began saying, “You have lots of fabric! You do not need any more fabric!” Very annoying, but otherwise she is a real peach! As we approached Christmas last year, I was out of patience — and rushed through making 12 bed-sized quilts for gifts, including one especially for her. Ha! Now she understands where fabric goes, and that when you use it, you must replace it! She loves her quilt, and now is inclined to say, “You should probably get more fabric! You don’t want to run out!” Of course I left the question of how much fabric it takes to make to make a quilt unanswered. Some folks understand that for quilters, fabric is our palette! We do literally need fabric to create!
As long as DH is buying comic books, he has no right to complain about the fabric I buy. But I really haven’t been quilting long enough to build up much of a stash yet. (We will not discuss the cross stitch and yarn stashes LOL)
Congrats on being a grandma again!
GRAND-BABIES are the greatest! The hope of the future.
As to comments about my spending… Dear HUBBY knows better than to say anything if he wants to eat a home-cooked meal.
My DD tells me my selection of fabrics has improved in the last couple of years ( I am buying her kind of fabrics… I have to watch her like a hawk or she scoff off with a lot of my best fabrics.) She does say she does not know what she will do with all the UGLY fabric I bought ( traditional/ repo-/ civil war) when I first started quilting. I keep telling her not to worry as I already WILLED them to someone else.
CERTAIN girl friends have commented on my so call ” quilting obsessions” and I just say, ” I earn my own money, so I can spend it the way I want.” another comment I will say ” This is my retirement nest egg.” I usually have an evil looking grin on my face when I say such stuff.
Nonnie
To avoid getting critics about the qty of fabrics that I have, I decided to go the most of the times alone, nevertheless, some of the times, my mother insists on going with me and when she asks me: “do you really need that fabric?” or “don’t you think that it is enough?” then, I show her a project on a book or magazine that makes her to fall in love with that project as well and then I ask her to choose for some fabrics for me to make her that specific project as a gift. Or I go for the old trick of “If you help me to get the fabrics that I need quicker, then the faster we can go to shoe shopping!!!”
I love your podcast!!!
Congratulations Annie / Grandma!
I don’t get comments about buying fabric, but my hubby thinks that the term “fat quarters” is really funny and he is always telling people that I’m out buying fat quarters. When I was part of a charm square swap, he would say “Oh, I see you got some fat quarters” and I would try to explain that this was a charm square and what a fat quarter is. After the third or fourth time, I realized he really didn’t want to know, and I just let him call any cut of fabric a fat quarter.
Congratulations on having another grandbaby!
I just usually say, “I might need this someday, I plan to live long enough to finish all my UFOs” to which my husband says “That will be about 400 more years”
My husband mentioned that maybe my stash was growing a little large! So I just mentioned that his woodworking tools probably cost more than I spend
on fabric and quilting supplies! No reply!!
My Bernina is 35 yrs old and if I really wanted a new machine he would probably help me find a way. But mine does pretty much what I need it to do. The only feature I would like is a buttonhole stitch for applique”!
Annie, do you have another grandbaby!?
Congratulations. So exciting to have grandkids.
I am my own worst enemy in a quilt store and talk myself out of most purchases, hence the fact that I don’t really have a stash. Oh well. Each new quilt is an adventure to the store.
No one has questioned my fabric purchases. DH is usually finding fabric he likes. I did hear once that you shouldn’t hoard the good stuff because once you are gone someone will sell it for a quarter at a yard sale.
I take my mom or my sister with me when shopping for fabric, both of whom have enviable stashes of their own, and they never question my purchases. Congratulations on grandbaby number 2!
I got that when I started hoarding wool and now I can’t get any, I have plenty. So, my husband doesn’t complain when I stock up from the sales racks, then he knows, I will have plenty during the dry spells;)
Debbie
Congratulations on the new addition to the Smith Family!!!!
I love to buy fabric, you are my best witness when I come to the U.S. and when I am in Costa Rica, I love when people buy fabric, you know why!!!!
Best,
Teresa
I always seem to be to late to get into the drawing, but as a fabricohlic, I just had to comment anyway – If I buy it in a shop – I’m saving the shipping costs not buying online and helping my local economy and it was probablly on sale so it’s not how much the fabric costs, it’s how much I saved “oh, honey! I saved $23.00 today! If I buy online – I’m saving the planet by not using gas to drive to the quilt shop. (remember the one who dies with the most fabric wins)