Post-Sky's the Limit...

Quilt Tour 2009 - Sky's the Limit was great! We got to see about 500 of you guys having a lot of fun. And we got to see pictures from our customers of all of the other quilts - they are great. It's so interesting to see the same 16 blocks made up into 16 very different quilts. Thanks for coming to see ours!

I woke up this morning and looked out and saw periwinkle purple colors in our front bed - I just had to go out in my sweats and take a picture for the blog. Spring is coming! Maybe we'll go out and clean up a bit in the yard today? It could certainly use it.


This other picture is not a very good one of the blue/white quilt I kept mentioning. Nikki did a fabulous job quilting it! You'll have to get a better look at it when you pop in....the blue and white is just so fresh. We had made some kits for the Quilt Tour and I think there are still two of them left.

Well, I have BOM envelopes to mail, bills to pay, laundry to do and a "wraskly wrabbit" to build....pictures later! Have a glorious Sunday all.

Team Fab-Etc's "Sky's the Limit"....

Well....this is the Team Fab-Etc version of the "Sky's the Limit" quilt for 2009. We decided to make a starry sky. Actually, my first idea was to make more of a banner-type quilt - long and narrow with a zig-zag or handkerchief edge. But then I thought, why not build a town under the starry sky? So we started making trees and houses and a church and a farm. Then it came to me..."No matter where you find yourself under the starry skies, all roads lead to a fabric store!" So, we needed a road and Fabric-Etc. We had lots of fun making this and we hope you will enjoy looking at it.

We are pretty well set for tomorrow. Need to vacuum a bit and tidy up. Also, need to get my stuff together for a paper-piecing demo we are planning on doing throughout the event. Hope you have time to pop in, get your free pattern for our block and say hello.

Sky's The Limit - Star #16....

Well, what can I say....ours was the only star I managed to cut the points off when I set the blocks! I meant to go back and fix it, but I didn't. Anyway, this is the Fabric-Etc block for the TQMA Quilt Tour this week. And this
is the label we made for the quilt. Tomorrow, I'll put up "the whole picture". And then the label will make more sense.


Today, was a good day at the shop. We got some notions and books we had on order. And I tried to make some headway on getting everything ready for Wednesday. Thank goodness Harriet and Linda are coming in tomorrow to help Jan and I get everything in some semblance of order!

Tonight, John is helping me with the computer/scan thing to get a pattern together for our version of THE QUILT. And of course, I had a bit of laundry to do! Well, it's late, and I need to finish a few more things still. Hope your evening was a good one!

Sky's The Limit - Star #15....

Well, this first picture certainly isn't Star #15...this little star is our Cody. Cody is our youngest son Dave and his wife Nikki's first child and he's 5 months old! Isn't he beautiful?!? Look at all of that hair! We had a great visit this afternoon and now he's on his way back home.

This next picture is of star #15 in the Sky's the Limit Quilt Tour 2009 that starts this Wednesday. It's from Tangled Threads in Lynden. Rumor has it that their quilt is made using Thimbleberries prints - fitting, since they host the Thimbleberries Club! You guessed it...the rest of the story is going to be all Fab-Etc! Tomorrow, I'll put our star up and the rest of the quilt. Hope you are making plans on visiting the shops.

So, for the rest of the evening, I'll be doing a bit of bookwork, sewing binding and maybe playing just a bit with fabric. John and I cleaned the house this morning, so it all still looks pretty tidy! Wonder just how long that will last? Have a great evening!

Sky's The Limit - Star #14....

Star #14...that means only two are left and then the "photo finish". This star was designed by the folks at Cotton Pickins' in Stanwood. When we had our first "event" last year, they had just moved to their wonderful new location. We had our TQMA follow-up meeting there in April - what a gorgeous facility. I think most of us other shop owners were envious!

What a great day today was! The sun was shining for most of the day and we had lots of fun at the shop. The gals from The Applique Society were all here in the morning. I could hear them ooohing and ahhhhing over some of their creations during the show and tell portion.

Then, in the afternoon, the Saturday KT Klub met. It was fun to see their first projects completed. Each one was uniquely beautiful!

I tried my hand at cleaning the place up a bit, starting the kits for the blue/white and waiting on the customers. Next week will be loads of fun, so we'll be busy sprucing the place up Monday and Tuesday.

Well, my lasagna is in the oven for tomorrow, so better go check on it. (We think it always tastes better the next day, so I usually cook it the night before!) Our youngest son, Dave and his wife, Nikki are accompanying the star of the day, 5 month old Cody tomorrow to Grandma and Grandpa's house. My mom is bringing the dessert - blueberry buckle - so we'll have four generations present! Hope your Sunday is absolutely delightful!!

Time out....

Well, it's March Madness - right? So, imagine my hands signalling a "time out"! Today, we took time out to have a surprise birthday celebration for our Emily and Izzie. They both had birthdays this month. Emily was 18 on the 6th and Izzie turned 16 on the 16th. Two pretty big milestones in life, so we thought we should definitely celebrate! We managed to surprise them today...they both worked, so it was perfect, although I think they started to wonder why everybody on the staff was showing up at once! We got them to put on these fun "Maxine" glasses and sparkly crowns for the picture. Harriet brought a wonderful cupcake tree with darling gumdrop flowers on all of the cupcakes. She is so cool....she can make any party special. Jan brought a singing/dancing bunny and Linda brought some wonderful, healthy green grapes. Diane and I just enjoyed all of the laughs! Tracey had gone to the QA show in Monroe and was pretty disappointed to miss all of the fun.

What else happened? Well, I got the binding machine stitched on the blue/white and just need to hand stitch it down. We got some notions and Kwik Sew patterns. We started bagging up the BOM already, since next week is going to be a bit busy! And then I started setting up for Applique Society in the morning and KT Klub tomorrow afternoon. Going to be a fun Saturday!

Tomorrow, back to the stars...let's play ball again!

Sky's The Limit - Star #13....

This fun star is the one designed by Folktales in Lynden. I saw a picture of the quilt Linda designed and it's very darling....word has it she used one of my favorite lines of fabric in the quilt - Kansas Troubles!! How could I not like it?

Well, we just got back from a trip to the grocery store. I was out of "everything"! But then it was double points week at Fred Meyer, so good time to be out of stuff! It's all put away and I think I can at least fix breakfast and John's lunch tomorrow.

Guess what? Nikki brought back the blue/white quilt this afternoon and it's gorgeous!! Harriet cut my binding and I brought it home, but haven't had time to work on it yet. Harriet and I worked on cutting out an apron made out of the Dancing Teapots fabric - very cute! And I finished cutting the last fabrics for this month's BOM, so tomorrow Izzie and Emily can put them together!

I'm going to finish cleaning up and maybe at least sew the binding strips together before I hit the hay for the night....tomorrow's star is from Cotton Pickins' in Stanwood. Happy Thursday night!

Sky's The Limit - Star #12....

Star #12 is from another one of the shops new to the TQMA this year - our neighbor in Bellingham, Two Thimbles on Cornwall Ave. Some of the next pictures don't seem to want to come out too well because of the glare from the silver-y fabrics we've chosen. I'm going to try and retake some of the pictures without the flash and see what happens. Anyway....their block is a Friendship Star with attitude! Looks good, don't you think? I happen to know that their quilt for this event is done with Civil War fabrics, which is one of the specialties of their shop. It's such fun to see the different quilts the shops have done.....I know all of you enjoy that too.

Well, my post tonight is so late because I had lots of fun tonight at our Wednesday KT Klub group! It was great to see all of the KT projects folks were working on, and they were very nice not to make me feel like I needed the dunce cap for being so far behind everybody else!

And then, Nikki happened to call Tracey in the middle of the Klub and bless her heart, she came and got the blue/white quilt I finished today and is going to "throw it on her machine" and quilt it for me!! So, we will be "kitting" it for the TQMA event next week. I am glad it is at that stage, so I will make some binding and have that ready to put on when it comes back beautifully quilted.

Tomorrow, Harriet and I are going to finish the BOM for this month, clean stuff up and figure out an apron or two to make! I need to do a couple of quick projects! Hope your week is going well...tomorrow's star is Folktales in Lynden, I think. Goodnight, while it's still Wednesday!

Sky's The Limit - Star #11....

Star #11 is from Fabrics Plus in Anacortes. This is a fun one - kind of Origami meets fabric! Our Emily had made one similar to this once using paper, so she and Harriet managed to do these. Hope you are enjoying the star studded tour we've been having.

Speaking of studded....do you notice anything in this picture? You might be seeing more of those coming up! This was our first attempt at trying the Swarovski crystals with the hot glue set. It was scary at first, but lots of fun. We had the quilt out on the table so we could lay the crystals out, but how to see what it would look like hanging??? Harriet is so smart. We got the ladder and took turns climbing up and directing the placement of the crystals until we were happy with the results! And our honorary Fab-Etc Team member, Alicia was our artistic consultant. Thanks, Alicia, we couldn't have done it without you!!

What a great day today....Jan and I got the applique for the next BOM figured out and cut. I was on a countdown to make the setting triangles for the blue/white and they are done and half of the quilt sewn together - HOORAY! Izzie worked on fat quarters and BOM envelopes. We had lots of fun customers today, too.

Tomorrow....KT Klub for the Wednesday night group - I can't wait! It is so much fun, even if I am the "turtle" of the group....they still let me play with them! Have a great night.

Sky's The Limit - Star #10....

Star #10....it's from just up the road at Lynda's on Northwest Road in Bellingham. That means only six stars left and only a little over a week until the TQMA Quilt Tour 2009 is officially "open for business". Hope lots of you are planning to visit the shops this year. I've been seeing pictures some of my customers took of the quilts and once again they are outstanding!

We had a fun day at the shop today - busy - perhaps lots of you were stuck inside yesterday planning projects? We got some notions that I ordered last week. And Jan led her Applique Workshop this afternoon. She also brought a couple of projects she worked on at the Moonlighters Retreat this last weekend. She made a checkbook cover from a pattern in the new Better Homes and Gardens magazines about bags, pincushions and pillows. And she made up the free pattern using the Kitty Cucumber panel - very cute!

I had to cry "Uncle" and tell Nikki that I wasn't going to get the blue/white done in the next day or so....but I brought home the stuff to make setting triangles and am going to keep plugging away at it. I do have all of the big blocks done and the rows sewn in long strips - it's just the setting guys and the borders left. I hate missing deadlines I set for myself. Could blame it on the cold I have, but it's more the fact that I think I can get twice as much done as I really can accomplish.

Enough for tonight....another star tomorrow!

Sky's The Limit - Star #9....

This #9 star is from Calico Country in Lynden. It's pretty fun, isn't it? The "rules" of this event say you can shrink the size of the star, but cannot change the design. We did shrink this one just a bit. The reason for that will become more apparent when you see the final product. We also down-sized the one from Fourth Corner, and I guess, just about all of the rest of the ones I'll be putting up on the blog.

Well, I fought valiantly against the cold that most of you have been getting this winter, but it appears I have finally lost the battle - rats! Seems to be just a plain old head cold, but after my last encounter with the cold and ensuing dizzy thing I had last fall, I am trying to be good and care of myself. So....I am going to lay low today, place a notions order or two, pay some bills and try and make some blue/white blocks? Nikki said she could get the blue/white project quilted for us, but I need to actually finish it in order for that to happen!

Hope your Sunday is grand!

Sky's The Limit - Star #8....

Star #8...that means we're about half way through the star blocks! This gorgeous block is the one designed by one of our fellow Bellingham stores - Fourth Corner Quilts. Hey...I got close to perfect points thanks to paper piecing, which is how this block is designed. You might be able to tell that we've been using a certain Hoffman fabric in a lot of the blocks. It is a McKenna Ryan designed fabric - Aurora Borealis - and we tried to utilize the variation in colors to achieve a certain effect. We kind of stumbled on it later, so we re-did a few of the blocks with some pretty good results.

What happened at Fab-Etc today? Well, we finished cutting for one of the BOM blocks in our "Ode to the Thirties" quilt. Harriet spiffed up Clearance and the denim and twill rack. Emily cut the last of the Alphabuddies panel and rolled some fat quarters. We moved a few models around and I worked on a couple of orders. We got the back ready for the 4-H group, and we talked about what projects we'd like to get done before the Tri-County event, too. At 5:45 the UPS delivery arrived with some reorders on books. All in all, a very happy and productive day!

Off to finish some *stuff*. Have a great evening....tomorrow star #9 from Calico Country in Lynden.

Sky's The Limit - Star #7....

Okay, we're still working our way across our quilt. This star is from one of the new shops in the TQMA - Keepsake Cottage in Bothell. I guess none of us realized that Bothell is in Snohomish county when we started the Association - sorry, Julie! (As some of you might know, our grandson, Lukas was Chief for a Day in Bothell last year. So...I happen to know that Bothell is actually in both King and Snohomish counties!) If you haven't been to this shop, you're missing a treat! It's located in the Country Village, so allow time for browsing. My daughter, Lydia - Lukas' mom - is the Reading Specialist at Crystal Springs Elementary just around a corner or two from the shop. She spotted it early on, and like a good kiddo, let her mom know she needed to stop there on her next visit.

Today was another grand day in the land of fabric! We got two 108" quilt backs in batik - Diane was in heaven. Other new "stuff" includes the Wild Cat Woman fabric from Loralie, a starry sky fabric (how appropriate), and an Eiffel tower print in chocolate and strawberry colors. The rearranging is almost done, and I brought home more blue/white to play with now that the plumbing problem seems to be A-OK....roots grown into the line that they cleared out today. Guess that means I can wash clothes again!

Tomorrow, Harriet is going to open the store and then later, she and Emily and I will have fun with fabric. Hope your evening is enjoyable - off to the washing machine!

Sky's The Limit - Star #6....

This star is the one designed by The Quilt Shop in Anacortes. It was a fun one to make! And if you "click" on it, you can see it even bigger along with the beautiful quilting. I meant to blog it last night, but when I put the card from my camera in....I had not taken the picture - oops. So I climbed up on the table and took a bunch of pictures of the blocks so hopefully, that won't happen again.

Jan and I had just a great day today! We finished moving some fabric around, so it looks a little less like a small tornado blew through the store. Except in the back where my desk is, it's still pretty much a disaster. Tracey came by on her lunch break and encouraged us. Linda popped in with an addition to our Tri-County quilt....if I told you what it was, it might spoil the ending of this year's blog on THE QUILT.

Tracey and Jan are going on a retreat their quilt guild (Moonlight Quilters) is having this weekend. Jan was getting some of her projects together after work tonight. I know they are all looking forward to loads of sewing fun!

I got Jan to help me with my blue/white project and now we're thinking just maybe we can get the top together and have Nikki from The Country Quilter quilt it before the Tri-County event?!? We're going to try, at least.

Well, "stuff" to do. Had a plumbing problem last night, so my sewing room has been torn up. But John just announced that I am back in business! Hope your evening is good.

Sky's The Limit - Star #5....

Star #5 of 16 is one designed by the Quiltmaker's Shoppe in Arlington. The rules for the shop owners are that we cannot change the design of the block, but we can change the size. In other words, instead of a finished 9" block, we could choose to make it 8" or 6" or 3" if we wanted to, as long as we do not change the actual pattern. I bet you can tell just by looking at this one, that it was not one of the ones we chose to "shrink"! Those little half square triangles were not going to be made any smaller if I wanted any help from Team Fab-Etc! It did turn out nicely, though, don't you think?

Hey - did you notice that it snowed today?!? Well, maybe that means it will all be out of the system by the time the "event" happens this time at the end of March? So, as you might guess, it was a little quiet today at Fab-Etc. Diane was supposed to work, but since she has a 60 degree slope to her driveway and lives just east and high enough to get more snow, I told her not to try and come. I cleaned a bit and played some more with the blue/white fabric. And we have a Gucci Bag class scheduled tomorrow morning, so I got ready for that.

Tomorrow, Jan and I will move some more fabric around while the class is going on and then maybe start picking fabrics for Set 10 of our Block of the Month program. It should be a fun day at Fab-Etc! Hope you have a wonderful day too. Stay warm tonight!

Next star? The Quilt Shop in Anacortes.

Sky's The Limit - Star #4....

The fourth star moving across the top of our quilt is a pattern designed by The Needle and I in Everett. Isn't it pretty? And I'm sure you are starting to notice the gorgeous quilting that Betsy Sauther from Nautilus Longarm Quilting did on these blocks! She really made us look good.

I hope you've been having a wonderful Sunday. It feels right now like it's really going to get cold tonight! We took my mom out for Chinese food this afternoon and visited for a while. I, of course, did some laundry. While I was doing the laundry, I played with some fabric! Remember that blue and white group I mentioned last week that came in from Clothworks? Well, there's a free pattern that came with the fabric and I started making blocks....didn't even dawn on me until I was part way through the flying geese - they're star blocks!! And thank you Eleanor Burns - her Flying Geese ruler is making the job lots easier.

Off to finish an order and play some more. Tomorrow's star is from the Quiltmaker's Shoppe in Arlington. Until then.....

Sky's The Limit - Star #3....

The next star in our quilt is this one from Granny's in Stanwood. Granny's is a new addition since last year to the TQMA. They are pretty much just around the corner from Cotton Pickins' in Stanwood. I imagine, you are starting to get the color theme of our quilt. But for those of you that haven't seen it in person...there's a lot more to come!

Well, today I was supposed to go to the trade show in Renton. I got nervous about getting down there and finding snow, so I decided to stay put. I am pretty disappointed that I missed the show and missed the opportunity to see all of my kids and grandkids that live down in that neck of the woods. But, Harriet's aunt in Renton said this morning that her car, grass, walkway and road were covered with snow, so I guess I made the right decision!

So....I went into the shop today with Harriet and Linda and got some stuff done. We added a few more things to our Tri-County quilt and moved it from where it was hanging last week - it looks better in its new home! And then Harriet and Linda moved some fabric around and straightened up. I tried to find the top of my desk, with some success! Lots more to do next week, but we are making progress.

Well, I'm tired after a long week. John bought me pizza tonight and that was good. Now I'm going to finish some paperwork, clean up a bit and relax - no laundry until tomorrow! Have a great weekend. Next on the star tour is Needle and I in Everett. I need to post almost every day if I am going to get all of the blocks done before the "event", plus let you in on our surprise finish! Oh, and don't forget....Spring ahead!

Sky's The Limit - Star #2....

Working my way across the top of our quilt, the next block is from Calico Creations in Mt. Vernon. Theirs is an Ohio Star with a 9-patch in the middle. We made this one fairly early on in the process of our quilt, and I think it was one of the ones we didn't "have a better idea" about! Trust me, you'll understand more about that later! Even though our quilt is hanging up in the shop, we cannot resist the temptation to "play" a bit more with it. We are excited for you to see the finished product, and hope you like it as much as Team Fab-Etc does!

Well, what was in the Clothworks box? It was some gorgeous blue and white fabrics! There's a free pattern that came with it, and now that THE QUILT is hanging up and for the most part done, I was thinking about playing around with a few of the blocks! We also got some fabric from Michael Miller - a vintage Transportation panel that was out a few years ago and a few other fabrics.

Snow? What's with that, anyway? I am supposed to go to a trade show in Renton Saturday, but am having second thoughts about driving the I-5 corridor with the threat of snow. Guess we'll wait and see what develops!

Okay, too many late nights. I am off to clean up the mess in the kitchen, do a couple of ordering things and off to bed! Hope you have a wonderful evening! Next up on the Star Parade is a new shop to the TQMA - Granny's in Stanwood. Stay tuned!

Sky's The Limit - Star #1....

Well, as promised, I am going to start showing you the Team Fab-Etc version of this year's Quilt Tour - "Sky's The Limit". There are currently 16 shops in the Tri-County Quilt Merchants' Association, henceforth known as the TQMA. The theme this year is star blocks. We each designed a 9" finished star block, got together in the fall and passed the patterns around. Then, we have each designed a quilt, using everyone's blocks, but our own choice of fabrics and settings. We can change the size of the blocks, but not the design. So...just like last year, I thought I would blog a block from our quilt every day or two. Last year, I started in the north and worked my way south, showing the blocks in "geographical" order. This year, I thought I would start at the top of our quilt and work my way down to the finish. This block is from Aunt Mary's in Smokey Point. Those fun angles on the star points are sometimes called "Peakey and Spike" angles. Next up from our quilt will be Calico Creations' block!

Been a fun finish to our TQMA quilt...kept us all on our toes! So, what else has been going on? Well, we got the first of our Blossom Fairies from Michael Miller. They are very pretty. The originals were from Rose and Hubble Fabrics - that is the originals in fabric. They are taken from designs by Cicely Mary Barker.

Ok....more paperwork to do and my March newsletter isn't done yet! A box came today from Clothworks, and I didn't have time to open it, so I'll have to let you know what it was in our next installment of star blocks. Stay tuned for more soon. Have a great evening!