maine's bargain central

the sun finally emerged on sunday, to the delight of many, me especially! i was able to hay the field that my lawn had become. it's not a big lawn but it was definitely becoming a hay field. and the rain pretty well beat the life out of all my yellow irises! but the sun is out and that's all that matters right now.

yesterday was a great day. my aunt, my mother and i went shopping at maine's bargain central, a place called mardens. marden's sells everything under the sun for cheap, cheap, cheap because they do salvage and surplus: furniture, clothes, dishes, luggage, food, tools! now some stuff that marden's gets can be...well...crap, but other stuff is great! my parents have bought brand named couches and recliners there that have last forever and paid very little. the best and most important thing that they carry is fabric! they get all kinds of different fabrics, not all at once, but... like jinny beyer, rjr, hoffman, assorted batiks. normally they are discontinued fabrics or last seasons *new* fabrics. it seems that they often get the fabrics that you see right now in the keepsake quilting catalog when the season ends and new fabrics come in to keepsake quilting. the best part about marden's...many of these fabrics are $2.69, $2.99 or $3.49 a yard! they also had some 108" wide fabric for $5.09 a yard!! love love love this place! marden's is a bargain fabricaholic's dream. my aunt spends at least 2 hours in this store and over $150 every time she visits from maryland. the ladies that work there said that every year they have 2 women from missouri who each bring an extra suitcase when they visit, so they can load up on fabrics at mardens!
so this is what i bought:
the bright colors to the left are the 1930's reproductions that go with the "slave to convection" quilt, i previously mentioned. the ones to the right will be used to make an apron and capris(green w/ blue polka dots for the apron, other two for the capris). to get a better look at these, the trim i'm going to use on the apron and to see the fabrics that i bought to use in my christmas tree angel/fairy toppers go here, here, and here. all told, i bought over 10 yards of fabric and paid about $30! i was so excited! and still am, i've never made capri's or an apron before, but i am bound and determined to make clothing. so many people say that it's easy, i've just been too chicken to try!

i was also able to finish two more fairies that i would love to post the pictures of but blogger won't let me. they are on flickr and etsy, so check them out. the quilt fairy, for my aunt's friend in maryland and the blue celestial fairy to sell on etsy. i love the way they came out! i love creating these fairies; they are so much fun to make!

alright, my lunch break has come to a close. must get back to work! i have a 4th of july letter to draft for the 240th engineer group overseas, someone's resignation from a commission to rescind and postpartum depression legislation to work on. full steam ahead!