Kokopelli Quilting Company

Oakie checking out Southwest-themed fabrics

Visited Mom down in New Mexico earlier this summer.  She had not made it to any of the local quilt
shops in her area yet, because she was saving that adventure for me!  (What a sweet dear she is.)  So off we went, to Southwest Decoratives and Kokopelli Quilting Company.

What a lovely selection of Southwest-themed fabrics, quilt patterns, clothing patterns, and what-not!  I was drooling (of course), and Mom discovered the concept of fat quarters.  She had started piecing some Southwest fabrics awhile ago--chili peppers and Kokopelli being her favorite motifs--but decided she needed more fabric to stretch her piecing into a "large enough" size.  (I didn't ask her, "large enough for what?"  I know better.  I have boxes and bags of UFOs hidden away from inquiring smarty-pants' myself.)

Bought two jacket patterns.  I thought about making the Kokopelli Song Jacket one for Mom.  We'll see.  She actually prefers shades of blue (I'm the red/orange lover of the family.)

Jacket patterns from Southwest Decoratives

Can't you picture the jacket body in turquoise or deeper blues, Kokopelli's body in black, and the flying geese in pops of pink and brown?


And... I bought some fabric.  But it was on sale!

New quilting fabrics!

I got a yard of each of these fabrics.  I have been heeding stash-building advice to not buy so many novelty prints, so I thought these were safer bets than what usually catches my eye in the sale bin.  I am looking to use up some of my blue scraps soon, so the multi-blue dots seemed like they might bridge a lot of different blue hues.  And I am just in love with brown lately.  Can't explain it.  Buy what you love!

Existing fabric (left) & new fabric

Lest I be accused of adding to my stash too terribly much, let me add that I also was hoping these fabrics might go with the coordinating fabric for my daughter's (not yet started) t-shirt quilt.  Not that I had the coordinating fabric with me to actually check color or scale, mind you, but I was hoping.  So here are each of the new fabrics paired with the coordinate: what do you think?  Did I imagine the colors I was matching well enough?

Now, to praise Southwest Decoratives for going above and beyond: in the bag with my purchases, which I didn't discover until I got back home, were TWO freebies!  What a lovely thing to do!  I feel so special. 

Reminds me of a customer survey I filled out for a swanky hotel chain that asked if the hotel had any amenities that surprised and delighted me.  Yes, surprise and delight have become my go-to descriptors of amazing customer service. 

Freebies: butterfly fabric patch and a pattern

Kudos to Southwest Decoratives for the element of surprise.  I'm sure I will be back on my next visit to Albuquerque.