Visiting old friends (and bringing some of them home)

I'm making progress on my 60s shirtdress!  However my husband lured me away from my sewing room yesterday  with a suggestion that we go out to eat and then to do a little retail therapy -- a bookstore for him, and a fabric store for me.   (Yes, my husband is awesome.)   So we hit Cafe Express for burgers, then it was on to Borders, where my husband stocked up on reading material for the next month or so.  (He reads fast, so a month's worth of reading material for him is a decent-sized pile!)  Then on to High Fashion Fabrics, where I rooted around in the quilting fabrics section for a very contented hour.

High Fashion Fabrics, taken last December with a Diana Mini.

When they were calling for the last chance for cutting before closing, I had five bolts stacked up, and planned on eliminating a few, but my husband encouraged me to get them all.  So I did, with absolutely no arm-twisting.   :)   Several are ones I have come close to buying in the past, so I was glad to finally bring them home!  I also grabbed a couple of inexpensive cotton/poly batistes for linings.

I had been wanting some dotted fabrics, so I made sure to grab a few:

Michael Miller's "Dinky Dots": my dog is also named Dinky!

From Amy Butler's "Love" collection: sort of Miami Vice on ice.

This was near the dots, and I liked the geometric repeat.  I don't usually go for red, but ended up with two red fabrics yesterday!

"Beatrice", another Michael Miller collection.

And these two I have almost bought on more than one occasion:

"Redwork/Bluework" from now-defunct Chanteclaire fabrics.

From Jackie Shapiro's "Sweet Peas" collection.

Buying at High Fashion, I do end up paying a couple of dollars more a yard than I might online.  However, sometimes fabrics that seemed fab on the computer monitor, I don't like so much person.   I feel more confident about my brick-and-mortar store purchases.  And of course, if you want to have a local fabric store, you need to support it!  Not that I don't appreciate online retailers too -- especially when they have sales.   But as it happens, three of the five fabrics I purchased yesterday don't seem to be available in Internetland anymore.

I think these (and the rest of the stash, lol) will keep me busy for a while.  I wish I could sew faster!