Shopping suggestions

Don't have a heart attack, but yes indeed, this is me blogging two days in a row! WHOA!

I'm very excited to be playing the role of sewing mentor very soon! The gal I take yoga from at the gym is having her second little boy in a few months, and we're going to make a quilt for him! She picked out this bundle from Fabricworm:

Vikings! How cute is that?? I can't wait to see it in person.

My folks have decided to come for Christmas, so I figured it's probably best that I make something for them as well (which really means something for my mom, since I'm pretty sure my dad's not huge on interior decorating). My mom pointed out several blogger bundles from Pink Castle Fabrics that she likes - unfortunately, most of them are out of stock!

They do have Hawaiian Sunset in stock:

And she also liked the Sea Glass Bundle and Summer Blooms (both out of stock!)...But I'm looking for a few more options. Where do you shop for pre-put-together FQ bundles that aren't necessarily from the same fabric line?

I may go with the Sea Glass Bundle - but rather than get the bundle, just get a couple prints, since I already have a TON of the Salt Air collection...hmmm....

Overboard? NEVER!

So it's quite possible that I've gone a little overboard with squares. I'm LOVING squares right now. From some WIPs that I've posted to some that I haven't gotten to show you yet, to the... FIVE charm square swaps that I'm in, to fabric that I'm buying and cutting up... it's a bit ridiculous.

(Oh, FYI? If you're looking to join fabric swaps, or you know about some, please check out the Flickr group Fabric Swap Finder - help facilitate our addictions! ;)

Anyway, last week Fabric Shoppe posted on their Facebook page that they were offering up four free fat quarters with any order over a certain amount, so of course I had to get in on that. Of course. I snagged one of their "A Surprise in My Mailbox" remnant bundles, and was SUPER pleased with the results!

Between the "surprise" and the four FQs, this is what I got - plus a bit of Pezzy Prints, which I included for my giveaway winner since I was bad and hadn't sent it yet! Oops!

The bundle split itself pretty nicely into two sets of fabrics. I usually ask my husband for input, and he said he dislikes them both because they're too busy. Too bad.

 I added some fabric from my stash (the pinky-red print at the top) but otherwise, it was all from the bundle.

And here's the other set. The blue/yellow print with birds on it was from my stash for this grouping. I don't remember what it is but I got it as a remnant (I think?) from Sew, Mama, Sew!'s clearance section. The only fabric I wasn't sure about was the gold-with-white-dots-and-red-and-gray-roses-on-it, but I think it will work out okay!

I definitely recommend Fabric Shoppe for all your fabric hoarding needs. Quick shipping, great selection...and make sure to check out their FB page for specials. :)

I think I'll probably end up doing more four-patch blocks with these. Any thoughts on what solid to pair them with? I like plain ol' white for the top set but I'm not sure about the bottom. Input is appreciated!

(and now I'm off to order another set. Because I need fabric for the last swap, and it's my first payday since my raise, so I have to keep celebrating. Because the iPad wasn't enough...)

Fabric squeeeee, and @IntrepidThread love

When I first started sewing all of my fabric came from Joann, and really, most of my fabric still does - as a quilter, I'm a-okay with buying the smaller pieces of fabric that they sell as remnants, which generally come at a great price. I also dig their clearance section, especially on the "extra 50% off days." I didn't - and really, still don't - understand the people who hate on Joann and who insist upon only buying designer fabric.

I started buying charm packs a little while ago - they're a reasonably priced way to get a teensy bit of those fancy fabrics. I have Little Apples, Sherbert Pips, Circa 1934, Hometown, Reunion, Pezzy Print, and Half Moon Modern, and I've got a bunch of Moda solids to go with them.

But only recently did I start getting yardage.

My lovely aunt gave me Outfoxed for Christmas:

 That's fat quarter bundles of all three color ways, and a cut of one of the hedgehog prints (squee!). They're so lovely, wrapped up in plastic from fatquartershop.com... I haven't even opened them yet!

Then I got a bunch of "free" money back from FatWallet.com, and I decided what the hey, why not get some more pretties for myself...

So off to Intrepid Thread's etsy shop I went, and got these...

1001 Peeps half-yard bundle (1001 Peeps and Towers in Turquoise and Illuminate in Basra Blue)

 Some Outfoxed yardage - Hedgehogs in Purple and Foliage in Pink

 Then I built a custom half yard bundle, and got:

 Impressions - Taj in Navy

Echo - Ranka in Navy and Teal 

Domestic Bliss - Out of Doors in Cream

 Half Moon Modern - Leaves in Steel

Nature Elements in Ocean Breeze

Little Apples - Round Round in Pencil Gray (OMG the selvedge has little turtles on it, I definitely made some silly sounds when I saw that!!!)

When I opened the package, I was thrilled - it was wrapped up tidily in tissue paper with a cute ribbon around it, with a hand-written note, and these SUPER cute little charms as a bonus! PANDAS! I love them! I'm thinking maybe a pin cushion or something out of these? No idea, but definitely need to make them into something special.

Anyway, that's what I've been getting in the mail lately, and there's a review of Intrepid Thread for you. Julie blogs over here, and regularly hosts awesome giveaways, and just has all kinds of awesome pictures of pretty fabrics - what more do you want? ;)

((Just to be clear, I wasn't compensated in any way for this post - I just wanted to leave a great review for an awesome business who gave me super service - a refund after she combined shipping, packaging that kept my fabric dry, a hand-written thank-you and great communication - who doesn't love that!?))

Free jacket!? Yes!

So if you read my blog regularly you've probably noticed the referral link to Crowdtap over there in the sidebar (see it now? hehe!). Crowdtap's a great program that allows you to answer questions and get matched up with brands. The questions, called Quick Hits, allow you to earn money towards Amazon gift cards and to donate to charity - but by far the best part are the Sample Shares! All the sample shares I've gotten so far have been for my favorite clothing store - Old Navy! They advertised Crowdtap on Facebook, and that's how I got involved with the site.

The latest sample share I got was for free outerwear! What an amazing thing to get a free coupon for! It never really gets very cold here in Chico (today it's probably 75 degrees and really sunny!) but I loved the idea of being able to get a classic jacket for free. I also got a coupon to share with a friend, so I took my pal Tamera along with me.

The large fit across my shoulders, but the tummy was too much!

The first jacket I tried on was this one, the Wool Blend Toggle coat in Gray Plaid. I really wanted to like this coat, because I loved the contrasting toggles (especially on the gray one!) but unfortunately, in order to get the jacket to fit across my shoulders, it ended up huge across my belly! I joked that if I were pregnant it would've been perfect, but alas, Jeff and I aren't at the point where we can do that quite yet!




The next jacket I tried out was one of the puffy coats, the Frost Free Midi jacket. The fit was a bit more true to size, but unfortunately...

It didn't have the greatest scent. While the plasticky sort of smell would probably go away after the jacket was aired out for a while, it turned me off from wanting the jacket. I suspect that most of the puffy jackets and vests would have this problem :(

When I originally went to Old Navy I was really hoping to be able to try on the Hooded Twill Jacket. Unfortunately, my local store didn't seem to have it. They did have the Twill Sherpa-Trim Anoraks, but I didn't really like the way either the khaki or the brown color looked in person. I was bummed that they didn't have some of the happier colors (like Parading Peacock!) from the puff coats in this jacket, because that would've been a cool twist on a less-trendy look.

Tamera tried on a bunch of different jackets, including the Wool Blend Double Breasted Coat but she ended up getting the Wool Blend Toggle Coat in gray. She's a bit smaller than me, so she didn't have to go up as many sizes to make it fit across her shoulders.

She was super excited to get a new jacket - she's been working hard to get in shape since having her little girl (who is absolutely adorable!) and she didn't have a winter jacket that fit very well until last Monday! Hooray!!

I decided to go with a classic look for my jacket - I picked the Wool Blend Toggle Coat in gray, which is a longer version than Tamera's that also doesn't have the hood. While I really liked the plum color that the jacket comes in, I figured the gray would be better long-term for dressy winter parties - now if only I had some to go to! :)

I'm not a huge fan of wool, but the collar doesn't really sit on my neck, and the jacket's lined, so it's not on my arms if I wear shorter sleeves or have my hands in my pockets. I think the jacket looks pretty good with jeans, so it's definitely something I could even wear just to work on cooler days!

The best part, of course, was being able to leave the store, with over $150 in merchandise between us - with two receipts that said $0! Thank you soooooo much, Crowdtap and Old Navy!

Want the chance to get in on the great deals from Crowdtap for yourself? Don't hesitate to sign up - here's my referral link again. :)

Stephanie's Crowdtap / Old Navy Shorts Sample Share

If I haven't bragged about it before now, Crowdtap is a pretty awesome website - you sign up, answer questions, and get free Amazon giftcards or even free stuff! (If you wanna sign up based just on that, here's a link!)

The most recent sample share I joined was for Old Navy shorts. I expected to get coupons for free shorts, like the ones I'd gotten in the past for jeans. Wrong! The coupon was for not only free shorts, but also a free shirt AND accessory! Wow! I was super excited to participate in this one, since the coupon didn't limit me to a certain style of shorts like previous shares.

What are those ruffles??

Old Navy's summer collection left a LOT to be desired, unfortunately. There were a lot of shirts like this with weird ruffles that looked like the manufacturer was trying to use up leftover scraps. Some had this ruffly stuff down the front, as if to accentuate your boobs (??) or around the sleeves, where all it would've done is make flabby arms look bigger. :( 

We went up and down the aisles several times looking for shirts that weren't atrocious! There were cardigans - for summer? Here!? It was 100 degrees the day we went shopping! - in the UGLIEST colors - like silver or gold, with metallic thread--they felt like Barbie clothes. Bleck.

For our shirts, we both chose basic tank tops - mine a cami with built-in bra, hers a plain white one like this.Old Navy tanks are always in style, and definitely a staple in my wardrobe, so I was glad to get a color I didn't have!

Shorts were tough, too. Lots of fall colors. We're supposed to be wearing bright colors and light fabrics, not orange plaid disasters. So many were also really short, or had unflattering butt pockets - which might be fine for smaller sizes, but not necessarily for us. 

We were happy to find a few styles of Bermudas. Tamera can wear shorts this length to work, so she snagged this brown pair, while I got denim ones. Unfortunately, my Old Navy was out of stock on the lighter color. Boo! I have them on right now - they're a good weight for cooler days, but not so much for the reeeally hot ones. The stretchy material makes them thicker than you'd want on a 100+ degree day..

Last we accessorized. I was hoping to get a good belt, but the coupons also said we couldn't get anything that was on clearance - drat! The thicker belts were all marked down; I guess those were all for spring. I ended up getting a cute hat, similar to this one. I wore the hat today while working in my garden - it was nice to have the sun off my neck while I worked!

Tamera, though? Totally scored! She found this great pair of sneakers - in her size, one of the last pairs left! They were much cuter in person, don't worry. She said they weren't something she'd normally have gotten for herself, but since they were free, she decided to try them!





The best part of the trip was DEFINITELY check out! We handed over our items - mine came to about $35, Tamera's to over $65!!! - and didn't have to plunk down our credit cards! Free stuff is always the best! I haven't heard back from the other two friends that I gave coupons to, but I'm sure they'll be just as thrilled as Tamera and I were to get such great stuff! Thanks, Old Navy and Crowd Tap!

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I gave one of the coupons to a friend of mine and she had this to say, after her shopping trip and reading my report:

I totally agree about the frills and ruffles - what's with the 80s being back? Guess everything old is new again. I did pick up this shirt, though, which is made of a super soft fabric - definitely good over a tank or a bikini by the pool! The colors were really fun and cheery, which was nice to see when some of the other clothes were dreary. 


I got some flip flops with a cute pattern and Bermuda shorts like you guys did, because the length seemed better :) Thanks so much for sharing!!! I'll definitely look at joining up with Crowdtap!