How Could I Resist Tangerine Clip Dots and Lime Dip?

No, it's not nouvelle cuisine .

Immediately after work today, I headed to Joanne's fabric store to see if there was anything I wanted to buy before my 50% coupon expired.

Imagine my sheer delight when I discovered it was another of those "half-off-the-already-clearanced-fabric" sales.... I still get a tad dizzy just thinking about seeing that little red sign.

I decided to look for a few fabrics to use for my new deck color scheme and I hit the jackpot! The orange on top is heavily textured with nubby pieces of thread all over it; hence, the name "Tangerine Clip Dots".

Not only did I find some perfectly-colored fabric, but I also found these plastic plates. They were in the Christmas aisle and were 70% off! They don't look like Christmas to me at all. The plates are sitting on "Lime Dip", a wonderful solid fabric in two shades of lime green.

Of course, I found other fabric, too.

And ANOTHER tote bag pattern! If you remember I keep buying these and have yet to make a tote bag. I plan to make a couple for grocery shopping. It seems to be the thing to do these days and I am sure mine will hold up better than those plastic bags that split open all the time.

Oh, and I did find something to use my 50% off coupon --a package of 10 sewing machine needles to replace the four I broke last week. Now, if only I had a sewing machine!

I stopped at my sister T's on the way home to return a big stack of quilting magazines. I happened to mention the Juki machine I found online.

You will never believe it, but she OWNS that same machine! What are the odds of that? I never paid any attention to the machine she used on her frame.

After talking to her, I am glad I did not rush out and buy it. The machine works fine, but it is nearly impossible to find parts for it. She spent many hours searching online for a bobbin part last year when she bought hers. When she finally found one, she called and couldn't order it because she was not a dealer. After many more hours of searching, she finally found a MI dealer who was willing to order it for her and then ship it to her. She said it was a pain and she is not looking forward to any future repairs.

I have always felt it best to buy local and that is what I will end up doing. I still have not heard from the repair man on my machine. I do hope it can be fixed so that I don't have to rush to buy a new one.