Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Liberty Love


Oh Liberty of London Tana Lawn, can I count all the ways I love thee?

Not to be all cheesy, but I really can't tell you enough how smitten I am. I won't pretend I've been growing a huge stash of this for years and now I'm finally bringing myself to cut into it. Besides some yardage I acquired last year, I just started piecing my collection of some smaller cuts together for the quilt I started dreaming of, based on this gorgeous one by the ridiculously talented Aneela.
So this stuff is not cheap. OK, it's crazy expensive. My birthday was last month and my sweet mom  bought me an order of lots of different pieces from Etsy (Alicecaroline was the seller, she was great to work with but unfortunately her shop is closed now until August for her maternity leave). The rest I got through Ebay. 



Not that I needed to start any more projects, but I knew that if I didn't cut into right away I would just start hoarding it all. I really can't explain to you how luxurious and sturdy this fabric is. It is my perfect idea of weight and texture. I adore Anna Maria Horner's new Little Folks line for the same reason, but tana lawn doesn't have that same slipperiness the voile has that made it frustrating for me to work with.

So I started chopping up some charms, 



and I've made pretty good progress on these hexagons already - about 80 I think! I want this quilt to be big!!! I'm hand piecing so it will be pretty slow-going (who am I kidding, all my quilts are slow-going!) but I hope to finish it by summer's end. 





Last night was a lovely evening spent in bed; Lucy sleeping soundly, Mark on his way home from a NYC business trip, Norman at my feet, the new episode of Lost on the tube, a glass of our new red blend in my hand and surrounded by a growing mass of colorful, soft Liberty loveliness.



As if that wasn't good enough, Mark arrived home safely around midnight with a fun surprise for me from the best fabric shop I've never been to, Purl Soho. Some more Liberty to add into the quilt and some super kawaii Cinderella and Peter Pan prints to join my japanese fairytale collection. I have the best  husband ever.




Moral of the story: yes the Liberty is expensive, but so worth it. Besides Etsy and Ebay, True Up did a recent post of some sellers you can find it from. And if anyone is interested, I'm going to post some prints in the Designer Swappy on Flickr to trade for 5 inch charms. If you have any great sources for Liberty, especially stateside, please share!




14 comments:

  1. WOW...this is going to be beautiful. I just bought my first liberty of london fabric (intended for a dress for izzy) and I agree, it is amazing. much, much easier to work with than the voile.

    I am working on a hex quilt also (have been planning on blogging about it, but haven't had the time...maybe today)...and I am thinking that it will take me at least 6 months to finish the top!! I figure having a hand pieced quilt to pass to our daughters will totally be worth all that work!!

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  2. Chris, I think we must live parallel lives, or at least just the same taste in quilts and fabric!

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  3. You do, indeed, have an awesome husband! And some sexy hexies!

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  4. That is going to be a gorgeous quilt! I'm trying to avoid the Liberty bug - I have way more than enough fabric to keep me busy 'til I die - but I do enjoy looking at it on all the blogs! Good luck and I'll keep an eye on your progress...

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  5. Those are Awesome!!! Looks like you went for the stemless glasses to :P I had to switch In fact I like them better for my wine.

    Love the Hexies I would love to swap with you I will go check it out

    -your wine loving friend

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  6. I think I am in love with your husband. Lucky girl, lovely fabrics and oh the Liberty! I just got the new Papo d' Anjo catalog and the Liberty Prints used in little girls dresses . . . http://www.papodanjo.com/WHATS-NEW

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  7. Those are just stunning! I can't wait to see how your quilt turns out...

    Jennifer :)

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  8. ooo this is going to be SO beautiful! I love making hexes with the liberty; the fabric is so crisp & folds beautifully!

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  9. aaahhh... this quilt is going to be so beautiful!!! maybe we should keep track of our hexie quilts together in hopes of encouraging each other to finish by the end of summer!!! My GFG and your Liberty! :)

    xo, Heather

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  10. Oh dear!

    To the ridiculously talented Miss Megan, you do realise that hexing and Liberty-ing are both hopelessly addicting don't you?

    Crazily jealous of your progress :P

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  11. This post set me over the edge . . . have had some Liberty in my cart and clicked the buy button! So I will take some pictures and we can get to swapping charms. Thanks for the push . . . I think!

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  12. first, i am so glad there is someone else out there that loves a buttery chardonnay every once in awhile.
    second, i am completely jealous of your liberty stash. mine consists of 3 pieces, but i have plans to change that.
    third, your hexagons are beautiful. but you probably already know that.
    :)

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  13. Just discovered you and so happy I did. Your Liberty hexies are divine!! What size hexagons are you using? I really want to do a big, random hexagon quilt.

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