Foxy Christmas Fabrics

i signed up for my first charm swap, and i'm excited! It's a Modern Christmas Fabric swap, organized by Emily over at the Strawberry Patch, and the flickr group is already looking veeeerrrryyy promising!

i went out today to buy my fabric, because i'm one of the international partipants, so i need to send my charm squares with plenty of time. i'm not worried, because mail seems to get to the UK faster than it gets the 30 min across the border to the US, what the hell canada post. but anyway, i wanted to get that done, and not leave it to the last minute, like i usually do. i very naively believed that i could get to Fabricana and then back over the Patullo bridge before 3pm, when they shut the exit to the bridge that i use, and i have to go the long, busy, annoying route, but of course, that totally didn't happen! i didn't factor in the ridiculous construction, and after leaving the store i sat for half an hour and traveled about 2km. i decided that was a sign, and took the scary bridge instead (the Port Mann, it freaks me out!), which meant that i drove right past Fabricland on the way home. dangerous!

i had to get thread anyway, so i decided to check out their holiday fabric... and found the rack of last year's discounted fabric! most of it was pretty traditional, but it will totally work for christmas gift bags to go under my parent's traditional tree! so i bought a bunch. 4 metres of a red that was $3.60/m (and it's glittery! i'm such a drag queen.) and 6 metres of this great lime green and red print that was $2.60/m. awesome! i guess the lime green and red could be considered modern... but as perfect as it will be for gift bags, i didn't think it felt like good enough quality for the charm swap. i picked up a few other bits of the discount fabric, and resisted the temptation to buy Michael Miller xmas prints (aqua and red! deer!!).

these are the two i decided on for xmas swaps. since the FVMQG is doing fq swaps at guild meetings, i needed a metre of christmas fabric for the november meeting anyway. i figured i'd get two options, and one would be for charms, the other for fqs. i haven't decided which is which yet though!



the fabric on the left is Jovial by Basic Grey for Moda and the fabric on the right is by Have a Sheri Berry Holiday by Sheri Berry for Lyndhurst Studio. i made a tablecloth and a mini tree skirt out of that Sheri Berry holiday line last year, though i don't think i ever took pictures of it! the Moda is a bit creamier in person, and the Sheri Berry is a bit more aqua or minty. as much as i like their designs, and liked them in scrapbooking before they even start designing fabric, i personally don't feel that the Basic Grey is super modern. i think it's because of the cream undertone, but i know that a lot of other folks do. (i don't think that sweetwater is that modern either, sorry!) honestly, Fabricana's christmas selection was kind of sad. i wonder if it was too eearly, and they'll get more? hm.

also, i'm wondering, because i'm the kind of geek who loves this shit*, do you think that the fabric selection would be different if it was a swap with primarily North American participants? i'm really not trying to police what is modern, or anything like that, and all of the fabrics that have been added to the flickr group are lovely, so i'm not being critical, i just started wondering how the different nationalities of bloggers might change their opinions and views. there are lots of bloggers from the UK and from Australia, and then us Canadians, and of course, the Americans. is modern quilting different in different places? it's curious.

*i really do love stuff like that, looking at regional differences. and on that note, if someone can properly explain why Brits and Australians call muslin "calico", i'd love them forever! it just doesn't make sense! what do they call calico cats in the UK?


also, since i've been nattering away at you, i figured i might as well show off an in progress shot of my Outfoxed project. yes, i did JUST post that i purchased the fabric, but i couldn't resist it! i'm further along now than i was when i took this, and i'm hoping to pin baste it tomorrow, but this is where it was at the other day -



i love this fabric so much. i told myself that i wasn't going to follow fabric trends for the fall and the winter. i honestly didn't think that there was anything that i HAD to have (except ruby star spring, of course!) but when i saw this line in person, i fell in love. it looks so much nicer in person, seriously. i have scraps left, and i'm thinking of making a cushion out of them... not sure i have enough, but we'll see!


and i'm linking up to Fabric Tuesday!