Originally Posted by missmabeliowa

To me it's the worst part. My hubby won't "let" me drive since my heart surgery. I'm terrible at picking out colors. I get all flustered in the fab shop. It takes forever and then when I THINK I find something I like my hubby comes in and says "U ready to go?" By then I've lost my swatches and grrrrrr! I put everything back and go home empty handed or I end up buying something for the final color I think might go with my stash, get it home and it's looks completely different in my lighting than it did in the store. grrrr! What's a person to do??? So I think I came up with a solution. I took a little sample of each from my stash and put each one in a little laminate pouch, (WalMart sells them, they're for making name cards) punch a hole in the corner of each, run a string through them, hang it around my neck so in the store I could just hold up this little thingy I made next to the bolt of fabric to see how the match is. I didn't loose my swatches and it took less time than ever. The clerk didn't mind that I took it up to the window to see through daylight rather than florescent lighting. It worked. I am now ready to start my next quilt.

Originally Posted by MZStitch

My Mom gave me some cash for my birthday. I already had my plans for a king size storm at sea ready, so I headed to a favorite quilt shop today. I spent two hours wandering around the store, and left with nothing.
This past summer, same thing, I had a chance to spend a day in Lancaster Pennsylvania and many Amish quilt shops.. Left with nothing.
I love to quilt, I love the whole process of piecing, applique, free motion quilting. But when it comes to picking out the fabric, I'm at a loss.
I did buy one 1/4 yard piece to check the color out in my room, brought it home, didn't like it! On to another shop sometime next week! Argh.