PA

Despite my general embargo on weekend shopping because the only thing worse than shopping is shopping in a crowd, I braved a trip to Fabricland for their half-price sale. How can I resist the siren call of everything 50 per cent off?

I always forget they have a pretty good selection of quilting cotton that includes many popular lines - like the ikat I used for my wiksten. The new spring collection included one with delicate pink and orange flowers on white that looked like watercolour. As I held the bolt and a co-ordinating one with soft rectangles in oranges and pinks, I wondered what could I do with this fabric too beautiful to not buy. The answer popped into my head as quickly as I dismissed it - pillow cases. I need a crafting intervention. No more pillow cases. That is after I post these two sets, one for a friend's birthday with Jay McCarroll fabric and the last with Hawaiian fabric earmarked for bedding:

How pretty is this Hawaiian print?

Now, that's not to say I don't have more Hawaiian fabric. I bought a bunch more for napkins, including this hibiscus print on red. Again I was seduced by the siren song of a sale. As I unfolded and unfolded and unfolded the whack of fabric, I remembered the good price and the moment of craziness when I asked for four yards. Four yards! Let me tell you ladies, that is tricky to iron! Especially since I washed it first, which meant trying to do a decent job folding that length in half.

I cut it all up to make 18-inch square napkins - the maximum size with the minimum wasted. Consulting Martha's sewing bible, she said the standard dinner napkin size is 20- or 24-inch square. Wha!?! That's practically a tablecloth.

So now a dozen Hawaiian napkins are on the crafting list. And no more pillow cases (thus the blog post name: PA - pillow cases anonymous). Right now I am handsewing the binding onto my lap quilt, going along at a snail's pace. But yesterday I turned a corner on that - two literally - and the end is in sight.