Labor Day....

Well, it's officially Labor Day Weekend for me now! I have the next two days "off" - of course I am one of those folks who loves to make lists, so I do have a bit of "labor" written down for the next couple of days.

It was a perfectly lovely Saturday at Fab-Etc today. Lots of fun customers and projects to play with, visitors from out of town and a couple of special friends that stopped by. The sun came out in the afternoon - hopefully a down payment on the rest of the long weekend?

Well, I promised this picture last week and forgot to put it up the last time I posted. This is the wonderful bag Jan made from the Amy Butler "Frenchy Bag" pattern. She made the handbag size - there's also a bigger size. One of her daughters has already made her request known...she just wants longer handles on the next one! And we just got Amy's newest bag pattern back in stock again - the "Birdie Sling". I saw it made up and it's pretty fun. Virginia made it up in black and white (always a fav of mine!) with a red lining. She said her granddaughter was thrilled!

I brought home the red and white polka dot oilcloth and am hoping to update our free lunch bag pattern to make it more user friendly this weekend. If I get it done, I'll post a pic - okay?

I am hoping to sit and watch the grass grow a bit this long weekend and play with my plants on the patio. Hope you have a fantastic and restful long weekend with you and yours!

Pie for breakfast....

My Dad had a cousin in Missoula, Montana that my folks would visit from time to time. My Mom loved to go there because Frances would always make pie when they came. And Mom's favorite part I think, was having pie for breakfast! So....as some of you know, today my Mom was 90 years old, and I took her to the Grace Cafe for "pie for breakfast". (Thanks, Todd for the gift of the free piece of pie for the birthday girl!) We had a lovely time and enjoyed every bite.

90 years on the planet is a long time. As I told some of my friends, Mom remembers when her family was the first in the small Montana town of St. Ignatius to have an electric light bulb. All of the neighbors would come over in the evening to take a look at it to decide whether or not they might like one in their homes! From that picture to the Internet, men on the moon, ipods, cell phones....you've come a long way, baby!

Actually, this morning was pretty much the culmination of a few days of celebrating. Everyone in the Stewart clan and my Mom came for dinner on Sunday - you remember, the day it rained the entire time! Everyone in our small house, but we still had fun! This is a picture of my oldest son, Pete, who's up in the Seattle area for a few months doing some music production. (Notice the cast? He has a hairline fracture on his wrist....hoping it will heal before he heads to Nashville for some studio work with his guitar!?!) He and my youngest grandson, Benson were enjoying a Tom and Jerry cartoon.

Okay, so that's the scoop on the home front. What's the scoop on the Fab-Etc front? Well....we have a Fabric-Etc Award Winning Staff Quilt Show in our class area for your enjoyment! Got the last of them up today. Please stop by and admire the workmanship of three members of our staff who won ribbons for their work at the NW Washington Fair! Hope to have them up through next week.

Any new fabric? Today we got black ants on white, cats, fairies, a "green/recycle" print, and some cookies (they look a lot like Oreos - imagine that!?!) We also received more colors of silk thread, 505 basting spray, 45mm rotary blades (we were actually out of them!), Fons and Porter "Directional Arrows" and the "Little Gripper" - like the Gypsy Gripper, but made for smaller rulers.

I know you'll be shocked and awed, but I need to go finish the laundry. Hope your week goes well. More from the home front and the Fab-Etc front soon!

Mission accomplished...

I don't know about you all, but I find that used car shopping can be quite the experience! Our oldest son, Pete, has a one-way ticket from LA up to Seattle tomorrow. He'll be here for a few months working on a couple of music projects. (Our family is REALLY excited about that!!) But...his vehicle in California developed some problems, so he sold it last week. Mom and Dad's mission? To find a replacement to drive back to Los Angeles. Now, we really had the few months to do it, but thought it would be great to get it done before he got here so he'd have "wheels" during his stay. So, the last couple of weeks, I became addicted to Craig's List - hitting refresh on the "Cars/Trucks" page at every opportunity. To make a very long story short - mission accomplished! And, I say all of that to let you know...that's why I have been lax in posting.
And what's been happening at Fab-Etc? Well, the flood of fabric has slowed a tiny bit. But, we did get this 54" home dec type weight fabric. I forgot to take a picture of bag that Jan made using an Amy Butler pattern ! She made the handbag size and her daughter, Jessie, already has said she wants one! I'll try and remember today - ok? This is a picture of the fabric...the colors are just yummy. (Remember, you can click on the picture to get a bigger image!)

Yesterday, Jan and I were working on the Block of the Month "stuff". The 3rd set of kits will be available starting Saturday the 23rd. And then, next week, we are having our Award Winning Staff Quilt Show! All of the quilts that our staff entered at the Fair that won ribbons will be on display. You really HAVE to come and see them...no surprise they got ribbons!

Okay...need to run...sales rep coming for an early appt. and my next few days will be full. Next Tuesday is my Mommy's 90th birthday! So, the WHOLE Stewart clan will be here on Sunday for a get-together. It's been a while since everybody was together, so needless to say, we are all pretty excited. Hope your weekend is fantastic!

Picnic anyone....

Summer is definitely back again..."they" were right! Yesterday, I promised to put up some fabric pictures. Well, like I said yesterday, you might need some oilcloth for your picnic table for the end of summer. This is a picture of a fun project from this bright and clean print called "Elanor's Picnic" (no, it's not a misspelling...that's the way they spell Elanor - think I read it's named after the designer's granddaughter? But don't quote me on that!). This is a super simple project and we have a free handout on how to make it. The middle is a striped print and the whole thing will really be set off by a blue on blue stripe print cut on the bias as the binding. There are other coordinates as well.

This isn't a fabric picture, but instead a picture of a project that Diane is working on and going to teach as a class in late August and September called "Spring Storm". Isn't it just fabulous!?! And, I am showing you the project because this is really Diane's forte. And the judges at the Northwest Washington Fair agree. She also is one of our award winning staff - she received a blue ribbon at the Fair!

Well, I enjoyed sitting outside the shop once or twice and talking on the phone to my Mom and my son, Dave today while Jan held down the fort inside! It was a productive day, since the two of us decided on choices for next month's block of the month! I figured the cutting directions for the 50 kits and Jan got 3 of the four block kits all cut and ready to bag - hooray!

Enjoyed sitting outside tonight for a bit with some citronella candles to keep those pesky bugs away. Finishing some laundry and then off to bed. Enjoy summer tomorrow! (FYI...we're air conditioned...just in case you'd like to come and hang out with some of our "cool" fabric!)

Summer's coming back...

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. You'd think last week I was getting 3,000 postcards ready to mail and marking down fabrics and getting the store set up for a Sizzling Summer Sale or something!

Speaking of Sizzling Summer, the weatherman says it's supposed to sizzle a bit in the next few days! Hey, guess what? We got some oilcloth in - yes, the real oilcloth. Here are pictures of just two of the prints we have. We're kind of gauging the reception they get and will probably be ordering some more prints in the months to come. Anyway, in case you need to spruce up the picnic table for the end of summer, this might just be the ticket!

And speaking of picnics....the ants are back! Yes, I got two more bolts of the red gingham with black ants this week. I'll have to borrow Jan's Picnic Quilt after this summer, so we can show it off again, now that we have the ants back.

And we got some "food" fabric also, to go along with the ants, I guess. We got olives, onions, garlic and peppers to add to our collection. We had been a little light in the vegetable department of our produce section!

Are any of you going to go to the Fair? Don't think I will make it this year. But, guess what? Tracey and Jan both entered some projects in the Fair and Jan got a blue ribbon on her "Sitting Pretty" sample she did for the needleturn class she did for us. And Tracey got two red ribbons - one for her Wildberry Vines class she took and the other for this little, tiny, mini paper-pieced star batik quilt. Our award winning staff! I'll be blogging pictures as soon as I get them. And I told them we need to have an award winning display of their work in the shop, too. I am sooooo proud of them! Congratulations!!

Enough for now. Will try not to be so long between posts. I'll put up some more fabric pictures tomorrow - ok? Enjoy the sunshine tomorrow!!

Fabric-Etc's "Sweatshirt Adventure" Day 2 and 3....

The Fab-Etc sweatshirt has been busy the last couple of days! And now it's safe and sound at home in the dirty clothes basket. This will be a blitz of its vacation photos, so hang on.

Every time we go to Chelan (not all that often) my husband says it's tradition that we HAVE to go to the Ruby Theater. It is a historic building that has been there since 1914 and is a pretty cool community place. Before the show begins, the gal comes out on the stage and "sets the stage" for that evening's movie. And at the end, it's not uncommon to have the audience break out in applause as they actually pick up all of their garbage and put it in the trash cans on the way out. Of course, it's luck of the draw when we go and as "luck" would have it, the feature this week is The Dark Knight....I must confess, not my favorite kind of flick, but it is TRADITION, after all. So, if I had to go, the Fab-Etc sweatshirt was coming along with me. (I also must confess that I had my eyes closed for a lot of the show.)

Pretty much across the street from the Ruby is Woven Threads fabric shop. The Fab-Etc sweatshirt couldn't pass up a chance to see new fabric - right?

This morning, we had breakfast on the sidewalk at a restaurant before we left town. This is the Fab-Etc sweatshirt enjoying that all important first cup of coffee for the day!

It was really windy when we left town...can you see the whitecaps on the lake?

John needed a break when we got to Methow (where the Methow river empties into the Columbia) so he found this great fruit/pastry/baked good spot to "Rest A While". That's the Fab-Etc sweatshirt eyeing the motorcycle. I told it not to get any ideas....family rule is "four wheels or no wheels"! (At least that's what it was when the kids were growing up!)

So, the adventure is over for me and my Fab-Etc sweatshirt. We both had a great time, but I'm itching to get back to more fabric fun here at home. I'll be sure to keep you updated on those adventures as well....including anything exciting that happened while we were gone.

Have a GREAT weekend!