Tactical error and a new rule

The new rule is "never buy anything smaller than a fat quarter!"

I'm liking this, because it provides a built-in reason to buy more (i.e., FQs) rather than less (charms, layer cakes, jelly rolls) fabric. But there's a very practical reason behind it.

The tactical error I made was to purchase several "jelly roll" selections of Kaffe Fassett prints, because I wanted to broaden the range of fabrics to include in a future project, but a little bit of most would be plenty. I'm going to finally follow through on my goal to learn foundation piecing this year, and figured the 2.5" strips would be a perfect size for the pattern(s) I have in mind.

So far, so good, but it was not until I received the "your order has shipped" emails that I realized my error: I'm a dedicated pre-washer, and if I were going to mix the new bits in with existing fabric stash (which is a given), I'd have to pre-wash the jelly rolls, too. I love love love KF fabric, but dang, the stuff does shrink. Mixing unwashed with prewashed KF does not strike me as a good idea. Especially because I will be using a lot of his very intense colorways in deep reds and blues and purples.

I have to say I was tempted to ignore the strident yelps of reason from the logical side of my brain, but in the end I gave in. The pic above shows what about half a jelly roll looks like when it comes out of the wash. I did put it in a net bag, and grabbed it out of the dryer while still quite damp (ironing with a hot but no-steam iron dried it out fine), but still... what a mess.

The strips sure are gorgeous, though, and worth the hassle (although I don't plan to go through it again, it's FQs or bigger for me from now on). They aren't quite the pre-cut 2.5" width any more, but I'm not planning to use any of them for the kind of pattern other folks use jelly rolls for, so not an issue for me.

Here's today's pick of three I wish I had larger pieces of. There are many others, but today I especially like these. The red "big blooms" to the right I do have a large piece of. It's one of several reds that will feature prominently in a very ambitious (for me) project I have planned. More on that later.