One of my favorite quilting buddies and I visited a local quilt shop a few months ago. It was my first time in the shop. Our area has five independent quilt shops which is a wealth of inspiration. All the shops have their own niche. We also have two JoAnnes and a couple of other big box stores. That being said there is no shortage of places to spend your quilting dollars.

The shop was cute, with a nice variety of fabrics. Not a big place, but you could certainly find something that gets those creative juices flowing. And find something we did. There was a charming quilt made with the Dear Stella Little Fawn and Friends collection. It really was adorable and started with a panel, and some simple piecing, so I thought it would be a cute quick quilt for charity.

We looked carefully at the quilt, chose some fabrics and had them cut. We decided that some of the fabrics could be substituted with a fabric that wasn’t quite as expensive as what we were purchasing which was well over $10/yard. Before leaving we asked about the pattern. The woman that was assisting us (who I suspect is the shop owner) said that the pattern was available in the kit. The kit was over $100. The pattern was not available without the kit. I took a couple of mental notes and did some quick drawing when we got to the car.

After our second stop it occurred to me that many fabric companies have free patterns available that are created using the new fabric lines. Well low and behold, there was the pattern. It is called Little Fawn Celebration. This and other adorable pattern designs can be found at: https://www.dearstelladesign.com/page/projects-181/#link-category-218070

Instead of making one large quilt, I made two smaller quilts, as that is what most of our charities are looking for.

I had these soft cozy cotton flannels in my stash which is perfect for the backings of these quilts. Both pieces were quilted by Cheryl Maddern a member of the Hospitality Chapter of the Richmond Quilters Guild.

So what is my quandry? Would you have thought the customer service fell short when it came to our inquiry about the availability of the pattern? I should probably just brush it off right?

Let me share these inspiring links to help you choose your next projects:

https://www.henryglassfabrics.net/current-projects/

https://www.robertkaufman.com/quilting/quilts_patterns/free

https://www.michaelmillerfabrics.com/inspiration/free-downloads/html

https://www.freespiritfabrics.com/projects