FREEBIES LEAD TO PROGRESS...

At the end of December I took stock of my numerous gift cards.  I had quite a few that were set to expire in early 2015; so in January I began purchasing various quilting supplies to keep from "losing" money to ridiculously short expiration dates.  Of course, since all of my purchases were being made online, I was left with "small" amounts of money on numerous cards.  My goal is to get all of my cards down to $0.00, but the minimum I am willing to lose is less than $1 on a card.  If I can, I will use the tiny bit of change left on a card toward in-store purchases (though we all know how much I hate to shop in brick and mortar stores!)

One of my cards was down to $4 and change.  By the time you include tax and shipping, there isn't very much you can buy in the world of quilting for under $5.  Then I remembered Judi Madsen's shop, Green Fairy Quilts.  Judi offers free shipping within the US and carries a good number of "mini" charm packs...32 at last count...for under $4 each! My fingers flew over the keys and within seconds I was "ooo-ing" and "ahh-ing" over the selection.  BUT, I could only buy one!  It was a very unusual (for me) half hour of indecision before I finally put a single pack of "Best Day Ever" in my cart.  I have three or four mini-charm packs in my stash and they are all in bright primary colors.  Hopefully I can combine pieces from multiple lines to make a truly unique project.  "Best Day Ever" seemed like it would fit right in.

A few days ago I received my mini charm pack and it DIDN'T make it into my stash with all of the other mini-charms...it stopped right on my craft table!  Amazingly, a large number of the charms were a perfect match for my "petal" pillow/mini!  I had stopped working on my pillow/mini because nothing in my stash was quite "right" for the pieced border I had in mind...and I was DETERMINED to use only fabrics I had on hand to finish the project. 

Yesterday I began the cutting and piecing and I'm REALLY happy with the way "Best Day Ever" is adding such a pop of color against the first border.  Thanks to Judi I was able to add to my stash for free and find the solution to my problem at the same time!  Kudos, Judi...I LOVE YOUR SHOP!