More sewing

I should retitle this page "Alex knits, sews, and reorganizes her craft space" because that's what it's been about lately. We went to the fabric store on Saturday (Oliver bravely accompanied me, since it's right next to the Cold Stone Creamery) to pick up some thread and ribbon. I found a nice pack of dark blue calico remnants, one of which promptly became four pencil cases (picture coming soon). I also made the green-on-green tote bag and I love it, though I still have to give it handles, and I keep forgetting to put in a pocket. At least I wrote down the measurements and some very sketchy instructions, so maybe next time I'll remember that part. If I were really motivated I'd even try to make external pockets with ribbon trim, but that uses a lot more fabric and I'm stingy that way.

My current problem is that I have a hard time bringing myself to drop a lot of money at eQuilter or ReproDepot (Fuzzy Mabel is another matter) and the only fabric store I know of around here is JoAnn Fabrics, which sucks. I said earlier that Oliver was brave to come with me - not because he's some dude who's scared of girly things like crafts, but because that store scares me too: it's full of hideous plastic lawn ornaments and fake flowers and God only knows what lurks in the pile of sale fabric bolts in the back of the store. Even the basic calico is not very good quality. So I need a better local source of fabric. I know we're moving to Colorado in five months, but still, I've been putting a pretty serious dent in my fabric stash lately. Maybe Google can help me...
Update: The answer is to search for quilt shops, not fabric stores. Pennington Quilt Works, only 11 miles away. I foresee an expedition!