Unfold the Fabric: A Public Service Announcement from Last in Line

Once upon a time there was a girl named Carolyn and she went shopping. She went shopping in a big city while her husband was busy at a meeting. She felt proud of her ability to drive a large van around the big city and not hit anyone or anything. She was also proud of her ability to write out directions for herself to the places she wanted to shop.

Burning with all this pride, Carolyn set out to +CraftyPlanet to see what she could find. To her joy, she found a cute shop filled to the gills with cute fabric. She decided to buy a lot of it.

She mostly bought fat quarters: some plaid, some raccoons, some polkadots, some flowers. Then a section of bagged yards of fabrics caught her eye. There was some very pretty colors all folded up in those glossy little ziplocs. Maybe she should buy a yard! Make something bigger!

So, carefully, she selected a color pallet that suited her. Then Carolyn wondered, "Should I open the bag and unfold the fabric?" She could only see a small section of the pattern from the way it was folded, but she really liked what she saw. All paisley and filigree. Not wanting to be THAT customer who opens up packages and makes everyone angry, she decided to just buy the stuff.

And that's just what she did.

Fast forward a year (A YEAR??), Carolyn got pregnant, moved out West, had the baby, moved back, and finally settled in to a new, more permanent apartment with her little family. The bagged fabric came out West, but sat untouched. The bagged fabric came back to the Midwest, but sat untouched. Until two weeks ago when at long last, Carolyn decided to take stock of her fabric stash and plan projects for what she had amassed.

With joy, images of cute sleeping shorts and pillow cases danced in her mind as she at last unfolded the fabric to find:

 Skulls.

So many skulls staring back at her with their dead, flowery eyes. Carolyn is not a fan of skulls. Not at all. And her dislike of them is strengthened when she is expecting a lovely floral pattern to pervade the fabric she bought long ago.

Had the selvedge been showing, surely the name of the fabric alone would have put her off. But no. No such luck had she. Let this be a lesson to her and all crafters of her kind:

Always unfold the fabric.

My mistake is your gain, if you are into skull fabric. I listed the yard on my Etsy. You can find the listing here! I am hoping it finds a happy new home where it'll be used for a great project and I won't have to see it every time I open my fabric drawer. Heh.

The Specs:

1 yard "Indigo Skull" in Pool & Aqua by The Alexander Henry Fabric Collection

Happy Tuesday (and St. Paddy's Day!) y'all!!

-Carolyn

Fiber Field Trip: Crafty Planet, Minneapolis

 About a month ago, Sailor and I took a little trip to Minneapolis. There are so many crafty shops in this town, it is worth the drive to have a weekend of exploration. Plus, the streets are dotted with gluten-free friendly cafes and whatnot, which makes it super easy for me to while away some hours shopping and snacking.

On this last trip up, I had some solo adventuring time. I decided to hit up a store I've been reading about online for months: Crafty Planet. It is hard to put into words how amazing this place is. Fabric. Yarn. Buttons. Beads. Patterns. Glitter. I mean. I just. This:

"Crafty Planet is an independent retailer who prides itself on a do-it-yourself ethos, bringing you the coolest craft stuff in the galaxy!" -CraftyPlanet.com

Walking around this shop, I was overwhelmed with the selection of fabrics. I am very very easily inspired by color, and let me tell you, this place was a mecca of inspiration. I was pulling fat quarters off shelves and pairing them til I made myself dizzy. It was very enjoyable.

 While Crafty Planet does offer yarn in addition to fabric, the selection of yarn was not enormous. I read a few reviews about the lack of yarn choices, but when I visited the shop myself, I was not at all disappointed in their offerings. They had a variety of fibers and weights at good prices. Their selection of hooks and needles was quite extensive as well. By no means could it compete with a yarn-only shop, but it was impressive when you take the vast array of sewing supplies crammed into this store.

Besides the fabric, and yarn, and tools, and just the sheer inspiration of the store itself, there were a few more factors that made me want to unroll my sleeping bag and camp in this shop forever:

1. The staff: The ladies behind the counter were so cheerful and helpful, I felt like I was a member of a fun secret crafty club. Even though it was my first time in the shop and I don't even live in Minneapolis. While I was checking out, we bantered about sock monkeys (our hometown is the birthplace of the Nelson Red Heel Sock and thus the Sock Monkey), reupholstering chairs, and how easy it is to spend money when surrounded by such beautiful fabric.

2. The patterns and displays: Besides the amount of inspiration I already felt from the colors of the fabric alone, the shop was full of funky project patterns displayed with the finished projects made by workers of the shop. Plus little piles of fabric that would look oh so great together conveniently placed right by the patterns that they would work on. Sales ploy? Oh yes. Did it work? -hides pile of fabric sheepishly-

3. The classes: Again, I know I don't live in Minneapolis, but the list of classes offered at Crafty Planet made me wish I did. Knitting. Embroidery. Quilting. Crocheting. And then some. Come on. You cannot say that taking a fun class in an inspiring shop would be pointless. So much fun. I wish Crafty Planet was in my town!!

So yes. If you are even in the Twin Cities and have a hankering to be inspired, head to Crafty Planet. Guh. I love shopping. I'll have to take some pictures of the fabrics I scored on my adventure so you can drool and jump in your car and drive to this store and get your own. Oh wait. You don't have to drive all the way to Minneapolis. Because you can shop CraftyPlanet online.

I'm sorry for telling you.