i never in all the years I have been

quilting thought of my fabric stash as precious no matter how much I paid for any length that I brought home.  For years I dyed my fabric for the sole purpose of cutting it up and making something quilted with it.  When I moved from Kentucky to Missouri I took with me all but the cutesy sweet calicoes that had been in my stash for years. 
     Most of those I gave to my beginner quilting student who were making traditional style quilts for kids or beds or with traditional patterns for wall hangings.  The move from Missouri to Florida was different.  First, I was moving to a much smaller space and secondly I was wanting to change the way I worked.   I  did not cry not one tear over the yards and yards I sold for pennies (so to speak) or donated.  As a result of a very good garage sale I brought with me to Florida the bare minimum of  yardage  I could see myself using right away.
     At first I thought when I got settled in Florida I would dye yardage to replace some if not all of what I had left behind but replacement did not happened mainly because my work went in a different direction and all I had to have on hand to create was tubes of paint and yards of silk broadcloth which I buy yards and yards of when I am running low.  Rolled on a tube it takes up no space at all.
     This time last year I started to dye fabric again thinking I would get back to piecing but didn't.  As the Summer passed and Autumn came and went I began  vending at quilt shows around the State and the dyed fabric became a product to sell along with my quilts and my mindset changed.  Now I find I  no longer think of my yards and yards of hand dyed fabric as "oh... its only fabric" and  I no longer see it as the least expensive way for me to get the colors I want to use in my work.  I see it now as dollars.  The dollars that I could make when I sell it.  I don't like that.... 
     When I decided to start on a pieced project the other day I found I was being tentative about cutting into my hand dyed fabric.  Then unexpectedly, after cutting several pieces to audition only to  discord them when they were not quite the right color, value etc.the thought that I wasting fabric flashed through my mind and made me pause for a beat or two.  I shooed the  devilish thought away and cut into another piece because I knew in my designer heart that if I wanted what I was working on to be what I had in mind I had no choice but to cut more. 
    

     I will show you this piece when it is done.  The piecing is very minimal, I used three values of one color, plus a little piece of a commercial fabric.  Funny but I don't feel the same about cutting into the commercial fabric I have and or discording it when it doesn't work.
     Appointment with the Cardiologist went well.  EKG was great.  Don't have another appointment with him for a year. 

I took a studio time out

for several weeks to read and veg.  It was great for a while, but then the itch to touch fabric and turn on my sewing machines keep pushing into the front of my mind, pushing to the point where I was no longer finding pleasure in the written words on my Nook.  So back I went into the studio to finish quilting my friend Lois's piece and give it back to her to finish hand stitching the binding on. 
While vacating the creative space in my head I opted out of going to my Friday group too.  So no more hexes got done.  Last Friday I rejoined the group.  I took my box of hand work along with me  and now I have added to my stack.  What will I do with them in the end?   I still do not know. 
    Two Sundays ago I realizing my every other month on the third Wednesday group of eight who do dinner at Panera's would be meeting soon with a new challenge I had to get done.  The challenge was to go to a Dollar kind of store,  Family Dollar,  Dollar General.  You get the idea and spend no more than $5.00.  So on that Sunday off I went, four block away to the Dollar Family Store to make  my purchase of stuff or one item that I could incorporate into an "art quilt".  Here is what I brought with the five dollars.  I think I was in the store for at least an hour, picking up and putting down and contemplating what I could do with the stuff I found.  I finally settled on these items.  Crayons, envelopes, paper towel and a polyester cloth head band.  But had no clear cut idea of what would come from using these things.

This what I made.  I used paper towel for the batting.  I toned down the screaming orange of the head band with the crayon and stitched the trees on three torn apart and crumpled envelopes. 

That done, I went on to finish a  painting that I have used to demo my painting on silk technique while vending.

Today after I finished  reading the last few pages of a book on my nook I was back in the studio and  in the process of working out a design when the doctor's office called to ask if I could come in today at 1:00 pm for my 6 month cardio check-up instead of on Monday.  So I will be off doing that in a little bit.

In answer to a comment on a previous blog about whether I purchased a thermo mug with a image of one of my quilts on it.  Yes I did.  I really enjoy drinking both my morning coffee and cold drinks from it.

Gotta run, good thing the Doctor's office is just two miles away.