Spreeee!

Olive is sick again, unfortunately, and I didn't want to leave her in the house by herself yesterday while we ran some errands. My mom agreed to watch her, although reluctantly, I'm sure, and in exchange she asked that I take a trip to JoAnn's with her. Duh. No brainer.

We made the trek to the same JoAnn store I visited a few nights ago and while I was hesitant at first, I'm glad we went. The store is completely restocked with new things and the Christmas leftovers have been piled in a small corner someplace out of sight...thank the sweet lord. I wasn't planning to buy anything this time around. My main objective was to persuade my mom NOT to buy cheap felt for her latest project and splurge a little bit on wool. I failed my mission. I despise acrylic felt. I don't know if I could explain why, I just do. On that note, I'm looking for a heavyweight wool felt in dark navy blue for a project I dreamt up last night. Can anyone recommend a good site? In my experience thus far, when I order what the site says is "thick wool felt" it feels like a floppy dishrag and that doesn't make for the handbag of my dreams.

Anyway, check out the goodies I snagged for a steal:

I loaded up on some sweet quilters cotton, some scraps from the leftover bin (50% off, I might add), and a few fat quarters. I'm so drawn to fat quarters for some odd reason. They're the perfect size for certain projects, but I always find that I never have enough. Why do I keep buying them???

Anyway, all but one of these fabrics are intended for tote bags and maybe a few other little projects I'll show you at another time. The red and orange floral fabric on the left is meant for pillow covers for my living room couch. Between the dog munching on the corners and our weekend guests sleeping (read: drooling) on them, they're badly in need of a makeover....and some more stuffing.

After spreading a bit of my own drool all over the fabric department, we made our way through the store. I was actually well behaved and showed tremendous amounts of restraint in the handbag supply and yarn departments (I bought yarn on my last visit). I actually thought I was leaving the store without picking up another thing. Ha! At the front of the store, conveniently located right next to the cash registers, was a new line of home decor items that I fell in love with for the shop. The 40% off everything catch beat me into submission.

Here's what I picked up:

I couldn't get a decent shot of these plates to save my life, but they're egg shaped bamboo plates in the most luscious shade of olive green. I'm going to use these in my jewelry cases for various necklaces/bracelets/earrings, etc.

I love this set of three little platters, also destined for display in my jewelry cases. They too are an amazing shade of green (notice a theme here?) and I adore that crackle finish.

The Buddha pillows are for the loveseat.

The Buddha plates are for my own personal use. I'm not a practicing Buddhist, but I collect statues of Buddha and they're taking over my house.

Not too bad if I do say so myself. I was shocked at the amount of money I didn't spend!

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When I got home and went through my mail I noticed a package sticking out of the stack. The earrings I ordered from FireChickTick arrived! They're a gift for a certain someone who reads this blog, so I can't mention any names. I'm fighting the urge to keep them for myself. So cute.

It was a great day overall and I'm glad I went back out. Surprisingly, no JoAnn employees perished after asking me what I was making. The gods have indeed heard my cries!

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P.S. A few of you have been asking me what Ben's up to these days. I took a picture of him doing exactly what he loves doing, and has been doing since Christmas.

The man on his throne, sceptre in hand: