My First Blog Giveaway!!!!

I am so excited for this - my very first blog giveaway!!! As many of you know, I have been obsessed with japanese kawaii fairy tale fabrics for awhile now. I have scoured shops and the internet and spent way too much on shipping from Japan and Australia to acquire what I believe to be a lovely little collection. Oh, and not to mention the wonderful ladies who have swapped some of these to me! I really, really love these fabrics.

I know a lot of you love them too! Most of these are out of print or really hard to find. There is Peter Pan, The Wizard of Oz, Sleeping Beauty, Goldilocks, Pinocchio and many more. And don't forget Little Red. I have the fairy tale quilt I plan to make for Lucy all mapped out in my head but with all my other WIPs and the holidays looming that isn't realistic right now. Sooo, I needed an excuse to cut them - you! I really want to share and see what someone else would come up with.

So here is the giveaway - I spent tonight cutting 5 inch charms out of all my favorites - 25 different prints in total. TWO SETS are up for grabs! To enter, all you need to do is leave a message here about what you would love to make with the charms. If you sign up to follow me, you'll get another entry. And of course, the 25 great gals who have already been gracious enough to follow me will be entered a third time! I am thinking I will have my 11 year old niece help me to draw winners, the random number generator intimidates me! Comments will close Sunday evening November 8th at 10 PM Pacific.

Thanks again to everyone bothering to read my postings here. I am still so very new to this crafty-sewing-blogging-quilting-mama business and so many of you have been such a great inspiration to me. All your support and constructive comments are always appreciated!

Inspiration (and Sunday Stash # 4)

Look at what goodies arrived in the mail yesterday!

Japanese Hansel and Gretel.....

and Little Red Riding Hood!

They are so unbelievably cute. I had been on the prowl for both of these prints for quite awhile with no luck. Then suddenly one of my swappy friends lets us know one of her Etsy sellers just got this in stock! Totally made my day! They make me happy just looking at them. Both were purchased from Japankawaiiya on Etsy.

I was under the impression that they have both been long out of print - maybe this is hope that Cosmo textiles is reprinting these popular fairy tale prints? I really can't understand why a textile manufacturer rarely does second runs of the most popular lines? Why not make money instead of letting the secondary market cash in and raise prices (i.e. Flea Market Fancy)? Seems like poor business planning to me, just my two cents.

So by now you may be realizing I have an obsession with these Japanese fairy tale prints. I literally pour over them on a regular basis (haven't yet sewn with them, though. That would mean having to cut them, haha!). I have always loved drawing and sketching and I was even a Fine Arts major for part of my college career, but it has been years since I picked up a pencil to draw. But these fabrics have been such an inspiration.......

I have been checking out Spoonflower fabric designs for a long time now and have decided to start some planning for my own fabrics. I was really intimidated because of all the computer designing involved, but after seeing the lovely designs of Ariel (Pocketful of Pinwheels) and Aneela (Comfortstitching) and a little reassurance that it really isn't that difficult, I am ready to take the plunge.

These are some preliminary sketches and experimentation with markers. By the way, if you love markers, these Copic Sketch pens are far and away the best I have ever had the pleasure of using - but beware, they are not cheap (although I did find some online for about two dollars cheaper a piece than the list price). It feels so good to create in this avenue again!

Snow White is the first one I am seriously working on - trying to go for a very obviously Kawaii-inspired style. Someday I hope to make Lucy a quilt with fairy tale fabrics all designed by me. Wish me luck!

Sunday Stash!

Here is a little peek into my Japanese fabric stash! Besides the fairy tale prints, I have fallen head over heels for Shinzi Katoh, Kei Honeycomb dots, Lecien Color Basics, the adorable Kerchief girls and the Elephants. I am sure some of my Swap Friends will spy some of the fabrics they so generously gave to me - they are very loved!

Fairy tale Kawaii! The Wizard of Oz (thanks Bibi!), Snow White (thanks Lisa!), Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella (thanks

Sheridan!) and Sleeping Beauty

Peter Pan on two colorways and more of the crazy cute Snow White

If you were not already aware, I am completely, hopelessly, ridiculously addicted to fabric. I blame it on Amy Butler. When I first got back into sewing, it was her designs that made me realize that there were textiles out there a whole lot more exciting than the garden variety my local shops typically carry. It didn't take long for this gateway drug to launch me over to the gorgeous stylings of Anna Maria Horner, the elusive designs of Ms. Denyse Schmidt, the unmatched talents of Heather Ross and onto chasing that mystical dragon of Munki Munki!

This week I want to share my latest obsession - Japanese fabrics, especially the fairy tale prints. There are many great ones available right now, but of course the ones I have fallen for the hardest are out of print (referred to as OOP) and very hard to find (VHTF). I have left no stone unturned scouring the internet late into the night! These were some that I managed to get my hot little hands on. Thank you also to the lovely ladies who helped me to build my little collection.

These prints are no longer available, but a few of my favorite shops for buying Japanese fabrics include superbuzzy, This and That from Japan, Matatabi, Mwendas, Mountain of the dragon and Nuno plus.

I am glad I could share this with you. I think my mother, my husband, my non-fabric addicted girlfriends and even my daughter are quite sick of listening to me wax poetic about this subject!