Inspired by Sue Spargo and Madeline Millington.

I know this may seem hard to believe to other textile/quiltery people but I have a really hard time buying fabric. I very rarely but any especially from quilting shows or shops.  I go with good intentions of letting myself but some fabric but as soon as I get there I am overwhelmed at the choice and end up buying very little. I must buy fabric from somewhere as my box is overflowing but if I make a conscious decision to buy fabric I usually end up with none. I have to have a project in my head that I buy for. I don't tend to make random fabric purchase. I tend to recycle a lot of fabric. One place I can never resist is at the stall of Madeline Millington. 

Whenever I see her stall at a show I love the colours and textures of her work. Her stall looks so bright and cheerful. She works with felted wool but her felt has a great texture to it. It has a woven base and comes in the most wonderful colours that I as I pass her stand I have a bag of scraps in my hand before I have even thought about it. Its a generous bag of scarps that can be used in all sorts of things. I  always useful and always to be bought when I see it.

Although I may have a problem in buying fabric I do not have the same issue with books. While I was at quilts UK, not buying fabric I tried really hard to not buy books but it just doesn't work in the same way. I spotted a bright and cheerful book called Contemporary Folk by Sue Spargo. She is an american quilter that I had not heard. She uses lots of colourful fabrics to create folk inspired quilts including felts, tweeds and velvets. They seem to full of life and texture. She uses lots of hand stitching to add more texture and before I knew it I had bought the book.

Isn't it funny how that happens!

It was only on the way back to the car that I realised that in one hand I had a book that used lots of felt offcuts and in the other hand I had a bag of felt offcuts. Suddenly my random purchases seemed utterly justified. 

Well I can usually justify them in some way.

One of the projects is this sewing roll with pockets for scissors and I had started mine before the evening was out.

A couple of nights later I started on my next quilt.