Quilt Angst and a Giveaway!

The array of fabrics above represents almost two hours of choosing, so if you don't like them, please refrain from commenting or I may become violent. Thank you. :)

I'm sure we have a fabric shop around here somewhere, with lovely fabric collections for quilting, but I'm impatient and cheap, so I went to Jo-Ann's, where the cottons were all 40% off. What I saved in money, I spent in time. In spades.

Oh, but have I mentioned that my new work location is about two minutes away from Jo-Ann's? I can drive from the front of the building to the parking lot of Jo-Ann's without even making a turn. Handy, that.
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So, my grand plan was to find one fabric I really liked, and then play off of it to pick the others. I went marching in there with Care's words playing in my head: "You really can't go wrong here--just pick fabrics you love!" Oh, I was so confident! And then...oh boy...trouble.

First I found a floral with a retro flavor in hot pink, yellow, black, and grey. I pulled out some polka dots in pink, an abstract print in grey...and then I started to struggle. None of the yellows seemed right except for another dotty design, and it was starting to look like too much. Then, suddenly, the whole thing just started screaming EIGHTIES FLASHBACK at me, so I walked away.
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My next attempt was a Cath Kidston inspired palette of red and sky blue. I was up to about six fabrics before I realized it was looking more patriotic than Kidston-esque. Scrap that.

Well, okay, I love red. What if I keep the red and ditch the blue and see where that goes. After much pulling and discarding, the pile ended up being red, white, grey, and black. It was the closest to complete, but then I got nervous about it looking like a quilt for a Chicago Bulls fan. Sigh.

I so wish I had taken my camera along for this! That place looked like a hotel room after Guns 'n Roses got done with it!

Finally, FINALLY, due to divine intervention (or an untied shoe), I spied this almost Liberty-like print tossed on one of the bottom shelves. --cue the chorus of angels-- I had found my muse! The next five fabrics practically flew off the shelves to join the pile. The next two? A little more difficult. And then, inevitably, I got stuck. Anyone want to guess which were the last two fabrics to get picked? If you do, I'll send you a little prize.

In other news, after a frustrating search on the internet for either a local Bernina dealer or a website selling attachments for my particular machine, I decided to email one of the internet parts stores for some answers. As I was composing my email, I started to type "Activa 230, Patchwork Edition" when it hit me: I have a machine that's for making quilts. I took another look at the attachments that came with it and look at what I found! Boy, do I feel like a numbskull.

So I guess I'm ready to start cutting. I feel faint. Be sure to skip on over to Care's to see how easy she make it all look. She needs her own show.