Fabric Bowls

I needed a gift for a Christmas party with our friends. I decided to make something for it this year. The spending limit is $15. My thought was to search through my stash for some Christmas fabric and make a fabric bowl.

Only problem is that I have not bought any Christmas fabric in years! At least 8 years... I went on a Christmas fabric spree about 10 years ago and had plenty. Well now I am just down to a woefully few scraps and the one bigger piece was just plain old ugly and outdated. My plan just changed to using non Christmas fabric from my stash... I have plenty of that.

However, yesterday when I was at the quilt shop geting fabric for another Christmas gift this wonderful bolt of fabric was sitting on the cutting table and I just HAD to have a yard of it!



It is Christmassy without being over the top and I just loved the colors.

I got home and got to work and by the end of the night I had 2 new fabric bowls. One will be for the Christmas grab bag and one is for my mother-in-law. I think I will pair each with a bag of yummy wrapped chocolates for a lovely little gift.

The fabric is from the Snow Queen line from Northcott. I used timtex as a stiffener, some fusible web and aqua/teal batik from my stash and a bit if green batik from my stash as accompanying fabrics.

The 2 bowls use the same fabrics and same basic shape (round) but they are 2 different styles. The first one is more structured. Straight line darts and precise quilting the second one is more free form and random. Both were lots if fun!

The thread is YLI Machine Quilting 100% cotton 40/3 ply variegated called Danube Blues. I did use just under 500 yards of thread just for these 2 bowls!

I used the book Fun fast & easy Fabric Bowls by Linda Johansen as a guide for this project.











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Haberman Fabrics in Detroit Metro Area

I finally made it to Haberman Fabrics over in the Detroit area. This store has been on my list for quite a few years. I have been to Detroit quite a few times but have never had the opportunity or time to make it to the store.

I had a quick work trip yesterday in Detroit and figured that if eveything went according to plan I would have 2 hours between the time my meeting ended and when I needed to be back to the airport. This gave me 30 mins each way for travel and a precious hour of shopping time.

Oh dear! A single hour of shopping time in what is touted to be Michigan's finest Fabric store... How would I ever make that work? Well, I decided that I would go in with a project in mind and spend time in only one section of the store. I have been wanting to make a new winter coat or two. I perused my patterns, picked out a couple jotted down the yardage requirements and then kept my fingers crossed that my work meeting would no run late!

I was not disappointed!! I got my hour to shop at Haberman's and it was a lovely hour. I could have spent the entire day in the store... but then I would have no more money in my checking account either.

I definitely recommend the store to any sewer or fabric lover that happens to travel through the area. I got to the store and was amazed by how it was set up. I easily found the wool section with in the Casual and Career section. They had an amazing selection of woolens. From menswear to fine wool crepe to heavy wool coatings and knits and everything in-between. The prices were also quite reasonable for the fine wools. The experience was very good. the store has tons of personality, the people working were helpful and nice, and did I mention the selection?

Honestly I was expecting more of the vibe of a Fishmans or Vogue Fabrics downtown in Chicago. tons of bolts and rolls just lain in the tables in a big boring store. Great fabrics but the stores have no personality. Habermans has personality! It is warm and inviting, fun to look at and set up very nicely.

I did end up using almost every second of my precious hour. The selection of wools were phenomenal and I had to really concentrate on what I wanted to keep from being distracted. I left with 2 fabric selections. the first is a deep red/wine colored Donna Karen wool with a herringbone pattern for a short coat/jacket. the second is a beautiful black and cream textured wool for a longer swing coat.

Now I wish I could magically stop real time so I can go play in sewing time :)

Habermans has a great website www.habermansfabrics.com and they even have a blog called The Sewing Dish.

Halloween Party

We had so much fun! I failed at taking lots of good pictures... Must have had something to do with the 'Brain Wash' punch that I couldn't stop drinking.

Almost everyone that attended dressed up in the SteamPunk theme, The costumes were great!















- Steph

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