Buried in the clean laundry I need to put away are some additions to my fabric stash. I know; I need more fabric like I need to keep reading vampire books. And unlike last time, I can’t even justify the bulk of my purchases by saying I plan to use them in current projects in process. But I can explain.

First, it wasn’t like I went into a quilt shop or a fabric store–I wasn’t trying to buy fabric. I was just minding my own business going to the quilt guild meeting when I saw that the vendor was one of my favorites from quilt shows past–a lady who has a knack for picking fabrics that I think are just wonderful, especially in the brights and purples that I like so well. And because she doesn’t have a website or a regular shop that I can go to whenever I want or need something, it only makes sense to buy from her when I can (usually I only see her once a year at a show). It’s just logical.

I felt completely justified in getting this peacock fabric, because I’m pretty sure I don’t have any peacocks in my collection of conversationals. Pheasants, robins, and cardinals, sure, but not peacocks.

This fairy print was a little iffier. I don’t have these fairies, but I think I do have some other ones–but as I recall, they’re smaller and less colorful so it’s not really the same thing at all. It was the same story with the ladybugs (have some, but not this big) and the dragonfiles (have some, but not this pretty, with a dusting of gold on their wings that isn’t glitter).

Then there were these houses–I just fell in love. For $4.00 for a half yard, why shouldn’t I have them? So what if I have other fabric with houses and trees? I don’t have these houses and trees, and besides they have a silver accent and that’s special–you don’t see that nearly as often as gold highlights (note that the peacocks and fairies and dragonflies all have gold, which proves the point).

Then we come to the fish. I know, I know–I have plenty of fish fabric already. But, but … not any with smiling fish in an orange sea. What if I want to do a fish quilt from another planet? This will be perfect. And so will these geometric fish. And then there were these mermaids, these wonderful, wonderful mermaids. I can see the blue ones in a quilt inspired by the second task in Goblet of Fire. (Not that I’d planned to make such a quilt, but now I could.)

So that’s not really so bad. I didn’t buy a lot of any one of them, mostly half yards (all but the dragonflies, which are quarter yards), and I didn’t buy so much that in total that I couldn’t fit it all into my knitting bag, which I had along so I could work on the front of my sweater. Except then I bought some more fabric after the meeting.

I can explain that, too. The speaker was Priscilla Bianchi, and she was so entertaining and so enthusiastic about Guatemalan textiles and had such bright and beautiful quilts to show us that I was smitten. I can’t quite swing one of her quilting tours of Guatemala right now, but I could buy one of the assortments of fabric strips she’d brought to sell. I didn’t rush the sales table right away after the meeting, but when I got there and there were still packets left, I decided I needed one. When else will I be able to get such a thing? Quilt shops don’t usually stock these fabrics. So that’s why these came home with me:

See how pretty?

See how bright?

On the plus side, I haven’t bought any yarn this month. That’s good, right?