While in the US I splurged a bit, and bought some fabrics that I'd been coveting for a long time. Oh, the joy of online shopping, in a place where you know the Italian mail-person won't charge you some surprise tax or other when they deliver your foreign package (I currently have a 5-year-old unresolved claim with the Italian Post Office for massive taxes applied to a little baby gift I received from the US when Rebecca was born). The only inconvenience, of course, was that I had to limit my fabric enthusiasm to the size of our luggage. Which, come to think of it, maybe was a good thing!
I shopped at QuiltHome.com during their Christmas promotions, and was very happy with the customer service, especially as they invited me to visit their store and even to have lunch with them (unfortunately, I couldn't make the trip up - next time!).
I got some flannel by Anna Maria Horner from her LouLouThi collection to make PJ's for Rebecca (QuiltHome seem to have run out of this particular pattern). It was more expensive than I'd thought, so I bought just enough to make the top, and then got a piece of matching solid plain-gray flannel (believe me, it really is matching, although it doesn't appear so in the photo) from the local Jo-Ann to make the pants, and have plans to do some colorful embroidery to spruce them up a bit. Something like this:
I also bought some laminate fabric, which I'm very excited about as I've never sewed oilcloth before: the kind of oilcloth you find in this country, in fact, is too sad for words, and is merely intended to cover your even sadder kitchen table.
You'd never call this floral oilcloth pattern "sad," would you? It's a Kaffe Fassett's collection, and it will look great on Rebecca as a hooded raincoat. I wouldn't mind having it on my kitchen table either, actually!
And lastly, something for me: another bright and colorful Kaffe Fassett fabric (this is also unavailable from QuiltHome at the moment). Oh, so many sewing plans!
