It's that time of year again!

Ok ladies, it's that time of year again...to shop for some new clothes. I don't know about you, but this is usually an increasingly(as I get older) tedious task which involves about ten trips into the dressing room with piles of clothes in multiple sizes. Then after hours of this process, walking up to the checkout with about five things in my arms out of the 200 things I tried on. Ugh! So, what's this got to do with quilting and fabric? Well, I got to thinking on the way home how vastly different, and sometimes painfully the same, these experiences are from a trip to the quilt shop and quilting.

First let me say this mama is no walking quilt! I love colorful quilts, but it takes great pains to add color to my black, gray, and winter white clothing palette. I wonder how many of us express our color creativity in our quilts, but when it comes to outfitting ourselves, we stick with safe basics. Who knows, maybe I'm scarred from the fluourescent "Madonna style" of the 80's I grew up with. I did own a pair of electric blue Reebok high tops in 5th grade. I have to give props to you ladies out there that make quilted clothing and wear it out. You are brave, confident and beautiful!

Going to a quilt shop can be a wonderfully fulfillling, or frustratingly painful task. I can't count the number of times I've walked into a quilt shop, found the most beautiful fabrics within the first five minutes, and had no problem figuring out what I was going to make with them. Then there are those times that I sit, yes, literally sit down on the floor with a pattern and twenty bolts in front of me, trying to figure out which fabrics look best and in which positions in the quilt to put them, just to realize two hours later my legs are asleep and I'm more confused than when I started.

And then there's the times when we go through our wardrobe and think, "What the heck was I thinking when I bought this?!" How many of us do the same thing with our stash? We sit and wonder what retail therapy coma we were in when we picked up that awful fabric that we just couldn't live without the day we bought it. Hmmm...so that's why they invented fabric swaps!

All that being said, I have one tip for you ladies that need to update your wardrobe...put your makeup on and do your hair! I had other errands to run so I jazzed myself up just a bit, and what a difference it made when I was trying on clothes. Even after the endless dressing room rotation, I felt pretty good about myself and the clothes I had picked. It's been several years and quite a few pounds since I've had a good dressing room experience. I may not venture into color in my clothes, but a little color on my face made all the difference in the world! So, just like even a little color in a quilt makes it beautiful, add a little color for a beautiful you!