Fabric-Etc's Blog

Wearing 'o the green....

2010-03-17T19:44:00.000-07:00

Since it's St Patrick's Day, I thought we should have a "green" block! This cute guy is the turtle block from Needle and I in Everett. We used two batiks for him. One for the shell and one for his legs, tail and head. Then, we decided he was looking a bit "flat". So we gently stuffed his head and tail and then used trapunto to puff him out a bit. We're pleased with him...hope you like him too!

Today, Jan and I had fun starting a new project! We had gotten a group from Moda called Garden Party and I had ordered it and the project sheets with making the quilt in mind. So, today we started playing with it. It's soft and very pretty. We'll be putting it up on the design wall so you can take a look in the next few days.

We got some oilcloth today too, but I didn't have time to take it out of the bags yet. Also, some notions and a few bolts of Asian prints from Kona Bay.

Another block tomorrow...until then, night all!

Are you crabby.....

2010-03-16T19:58:00.000-07:00

I've been there a few times and they're definitely not "crabby" at The Quilt Shop in Anacortes! But their block for the 2010 Quilt Tour next week is a crab. Our Jan managed to do LOTS of math and shrink this pieced block to 50% of its original size - we love you, Jan!! Then, we decided that he needed some beady eyes and perhaps a little "plumping", so we add some trapunto. What do you think? Looks pretty good - right?

Today was kind of a quiet day at Fab-Etc. I didn't have to shamelessly beg Jan to quilt my topper...she just did it with a smile (although the chocolate bowl was pretty close to her machine!) It turned out really well, and now it's my job to sew down the binding. Oh good, a sit down job in my comfy chair!

I didn't get the borders on the daisy quilt last night, but got a good start before I left for the shop this morning and now I just have to do the outer borders. It's such a cheerful, happy quilt. Don't think we'll get it quilted before the Tour, but we should have the top to show off and maybe a kit or two?

My chair and binding project await, and I am definitely ready for them. Hope your evening is that enjoyable!

Anchors aweigh....

2010-03-15T19:43:00.001-07:00

Okay, I just "Googled" that phrase 'cause I wasn't sure if it was "anchors aweigh" or "anchors away". Turns out that Anchors Aweigh is the fight song for the US Naval Academy written in 1906. But it also turns out that "aweigh" means its been completed...that is the anchor has been pulled up. So....it is kind of anchors away too. Okay, enough of that. This anchor block is from The Quiltmaker's Shoppe in Arlington. (Thanks, Tracey, for pointing out that I had relocated Granny's to Arlington for a few hours yesterday - oops!) Their block is appliqued onto a pieced background. We shrunk it to a 6" block. We had this jute "ribbon" hanging around that we made the rope out of - looks good, don't you think?

Monday, Monday...it was good! Jan W finished up with a few of her students that didn't quite get their sweatshirts done before the 4-H kiddos arrived Friday. The sweatshirt jackets were wonderful! My backordered spray adhesive finally arrived. Diane cut some of a new Asian group to take home and put the top together for us. Tomorrow Jan and I will be trying to figure out what to put on the back of a topper I finished yesterday, and then I'm going to shamelessly beg her to quilt it for me! Tracey is going to take our Quilt Tour quilt to the Pieceables meeting tomorrow night for me. They asked all the shops to bring them for "show and tell"! Very nice of them. Harriet and one of her aunts stopped by after a 90th birthday celebration for one of the other aunties. Her Aunt Gwen had some Dresden plates a woman had given to her and she was looking for a background to applique them onto. She decided on the green solid, which made them stand out. The lady doesn't know it, but Gwen is going to give it back to her all finished, as this woman lost most everything she had in a fire recently. What a nice lady, but then who would think Harriet would have anything but the nicest of aunties!?!

Well, I am tired tonight. I might see if I can put the first border on the daisy quilt in a bit. Otherwise, it's off to bed at an early hour. Have a wonderful evening!

A whale of a good time....

2010-03-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

Look at these two....aren't they just a picture of fun? This is the block from Granny's in Stanwood. This is the second year that they have been members of the Tri-County Quilt Merchants Association. Diane "built" these guys for us and did it like the block from Lynda's - out of black and white UltraSuede. It's such a great medium for this sort of thing, plus the texture really resembles an Orca. Doesn't she do good work? I just counted, and it looks like I need to stay vigilant and do a block a day if I'm going to get everything up before the Tour, including the unveiling of our version.

Hope your Saturday was good. We had fun at Fab-Etc. Tracey and I got to cross quite a few things off of the "to do" list yesterday. Thanks, Tracey! Some folks came in and learned how to scan their fabric for use in their EQ software....quite a few "Wow!" moments.

How's your Sunday looking? Me? I'm still on light duty, so I'm slowly working my way through piles of clutter, laundry and the top of my desk! But on the fun side, I'm putting together a topper from an Anka's Treasures book using a charm pack from April Cornell. We agonized over where to place everything last week, but it was worth it...it's turning out great! Hoping to get it done next week so we can have it up for the Tour.

Hope your day is good!

Toss that thing....

2010-03-12T19:55:00.000-08:00

That's what we did with the Fabrics Plus life preserver block....we "tossed" it out on the beach. Fabrics Plus is located in Anacortes. We wanted to make this block smaller and 3-D. Somehow, Jan managed to do it and it came out looking fantastic! She is so good!!A few of the other shop owners happened by today on their own Quilt Tour. I got to see some pictures they had taken of the other quilts - wow! Everybody's was soooo creative. I think you'll really enjoy this year's Tour.

It was a very busy day at Fab-Etc today. Jan W had session #2 in her sweatshirt class. They are coming out great. The gals will be back Monday morning to finish up. And then this afternoon was 4-H. Our Izzie is making a very cool prom dress from silk shantung - it's going to be gorgeous! Freight? Got Eclectic Garden group from In the Beginning fabrics, some Kwik Sew patterns, notions, batting and new ribbons for the cash register - hooray! We can finally read what it's printing!!

Tomorrow will be another good day. Velina will be teaching how to scan fabric (it's just a drop-in, so don't worry if you didn't sign up...you didn't need to!) Tracey and I will be eavesdropping and learning what we can while we work.

Okay, I am done for tonight. Have a fantastic weekend!

Sittin' on the dock of the bay.....

2010-03-10T19:33:00.000-08:00

This is the block from Calico Creations in Mt. Vernon. He's a cute paper-pieced pelican, as you can see. He was pretty easy to make...I made him smaller and he is "sittin' in the dock of the bay" in our quilt, as you'll see later on. We had quite a discussion as to what color he should be. Harriet said the ones she saw on her trip were this gray color. Others said they should be white, although we all agreed that this sort of rusty-orange colors was best for his beak. In the end, it came down to that this color showed up best in our design.

Last night was KT Klub and we had a surprise for them - the latest collection from Kansas Troubles had just arrived. It's called Butterfly Garden and is pretty spectacular to us KT lovers! There are about 24 bolts, charm packs and layer cakes.

Today, Jan and I got to overthinking a spring tabletopper - hey, it's what we do best! Think we finally "got it". It's made from April Cornell's latest group in blues and yellows using a pattern from one of the newer Anka's Treasures books. And then Mr. UPS brought two bolts of batiks and two bolts of flannel. We also got a great magazine yesterday with vintage quilts and their directions and "remakes" in contemporary colors. Tracey said today it was the best magazine she's gotten in a long time!

Hope your week is going well! More blocks to come this week.

Sailing, sailing over the ocean blue....

2010-03-08T21:20:00.001-08:00

This is the sailboat block from Folktales in Lynden. I'm not sure you can tell from the picture, but the sail is 3-D and fun to make. We left it full-sized for our quilt. We added the button portholes, the flag, red stripe and the sun on the sail - just for fun! Jan and I worked on this block....see her signature needleturned waves at the bottom?!? She's the best! What's that rope coming from the side of the boat, you ask? You'll have to wait for the answer to that question. We moved our Quilt Tour quilt today to the wall where last year's quilt has been hanging. It looks good in its new home!

Today was a good day at Fab-Etc. Linda helped me do one of my favorite things....clean up the back room after Fat Tuesday! Since I'm still on "light duty" she climbed the ladder and moved some of the boxes. She is the best at convincing me that I really don't have to save ALL of those great boxes for future projects. It looks sooooo good in there now.

We got some fabric today. A spectacular sunflower group from Clothworks - WOW! (And if you're reading this on vacation, Theresea...yes, I cut yours first and have it tucked safely away.) Another fun group came from Riley Blake, too. We have a Kwik Sew pattern on order for a little girl's dress that would be great made from some of these prints.

Okay, day is done. But first a special thanks to Julie from Keepsake Cottage for mentioning our quilt on her blog. If you go to http://keepsakecottagefabrics.blogspot.com/ you can see her finished quilt - she's not teasing you like I am and making you wait for the finished project. Night all!

Leapin' Orcas.....

2010-03-07T08:23:00.000-08:00

Next to the Two Thimbles two-masted ship is this leaping Orca block from Lynda's Quilting.....just up the road a piece from us. We also shrunk him a bit so he didn't overpower the two boats close by. Lynda had used a black rope, but we took the liberty of making it kind of rainbow-like to fit our design. We tried to make it look like the sun shining through his "splash". We had some UltraSuede and Diane "built" him using that. Makes him look great, don't you think? You'll have to look up close when you stop by.

Yesterday was another day filled with EQ classes. Velina's quilt was beautiful and a great design using the Laurel Burch horses and her EQ6 software. Think she took it home to finish and then I get custody - yippee. Next Saturday from 10:30-1:00 she's having a "drop-in" clinic for scanning fabric. If you're interested, just show up with 4 fabrics, your laptop AND MOUSE and she'll show you how to scan, make files and integrate them into your software.

Linda and I tidied up a bit, finished packaging our last Gracie's Garden Sampler Block of the Month, and I tried to take it easy. We do have a couple of "leftovers" from the BOM that we put into kits for $60 if anyone is interested - has the patterns and all the fabric for the top and binding.

Today? Well, got to get some grub in here, so John is going to go grocery shopping with me. Doing laundry one load a day. Have some tax stuff I'm waaaay behind on. Think my Mom would like to go get some fish for dinner, so we'll join her. Hope your Sunday is a good one!

Ahoy....

2010-03-05T19:48:00.000-08:00

Sailing close to the Calico Country boat is this two masted ship from Two Thimbles! We shrunk this block a bit also to fit our layout and Jan once again needleturned some waves for us. Harriet added the happy red flags at the top. We then embellished with the cording and the silver "whatevers" - we aren't sure what they are, they just seemed to perk it up a bit, don't you think? It was a fun block to make....

Today was a great day at Fab-Etc. Jan Weaver had the first session of her sweatshirt class - the "destruction" phase. Judging from the fabrics folks had today, there will once again be 5 gorgeous sweatshirt jackets! We got some new books from Martingale. Didn't have much time to look at them, but maybe Saturday?

Tomorrow we have our EQ classes. I got a sneak peek at the project Velina designed this time, and it's very cool. I get custody of it after the class, so you'll have to take a look at it. Her students are having a great time learning the "ins and outs" of EQ6 each month. It's an amazing program. We even used a few things from EQ to do our Quilt Tour project.

Enough for tonight....I'll put another block up over the weekend for you to see. Enjoy your weekend!

Sail on....

2010-03-03T19:44:00.001-08:00

We're going to just sail on across the quilt to the Calico Country (Lynden) block. Isn't this a darling little sailboat? We "shrunk" the block to make it fit into our design and then hand appliqued it down, except for its UltraSuede mast and flag. Then, Jan needleturned the waves gently lapping over the side. Pretty fun!

Tea Party was great today. And the only freight we've gotten this week are some notions and a few batiks, a couple of 30's prints and some other "basics". They're being easy on me! But, I have to tell you that our UPS driver took a look at our quilt this morning and thought it was pretty cool. At lunchtime a gal came in that told us she was his wife; they'd just had lunch; and he told her she needed to come over and see it! We felt really good that we could impress "the guy in brown"!

Well, still playing catch-up in a major way, so I'd best write a few checks for those pesky bills they keep sending me. Have a wonderful evening!

A funny thing happened.....

2010-03-02T20:05:00.000-08:00

A funny thing happened....well, okay, it really wasn't funny at all, but isn't that the way you start out stories like this? What happened after the Saturday night with the empty laundry room floor? Well, Sunday at 2:30 a.m. is what happened. I woke up in lots of pain and ended up in ER at St Joseph's Hospital with a SEVERE kidney infection. (I put SEVERE because that's the way my doc finally got me to realize I wasn't going to be getting well in 24 or fewer hours!) So....it's not been a lot of fun the last week and a half. I am slowly recovering, and a few other things have cropped up along the way, but I am much, much better!

Team Fab-Etc pulled together when THE QUILT came back from being quilted and we got it finished and hung by the Monday deadline! As promised, I'll blog the blocks up until the event March 24th. If you've been into the store, you've seen the finished piece, but I am not divulging it in its entirety until the end - ok? This is the block from Keepsake Cottage in Bothell. Isn't it great? And we were soooo proud of our "beam". It's made from a yellow silk chiffon that's been hanging around the shop for a while....it worked perfectly, don't you think?

Okay, as you can imagine, I am way behind on everything, so that's all for tonight, folks. I'll try and put another block up tomorrow.....Tea Party Wednesday, so another full day for me!

Every night...

2010-02-20T20:47:00.000-08:00

Every night for the past week or so I've been bringing home THE QUILT for the Tri-County Quilt Tour and laying it on the laundry room floor by my sewing room so I can work on it. This is what the floor looks like tonight. Yup....THE QUILT has gone to Betsy's at Nautilus Longarm Quilting to be layered and quilted - hooray! Team Fab-Etc has once again pulled together to make a very fun quilt! It was a bit of a design challenge, and when you see it, you'll understand why. When it comes back from being quilted, there's still a bunch of things we have to do to it before it's ready to be hung Monday, March 1st - but Team Fab-Etc is up to the task, as they've proven over the years! I can't wait for you all to see the finished project, so I'll start blogging "parts" for you after it's finished- okay?

So, besides working feverishly on that, we did get some new fabric this week. Remember that really bright, fun border print that we had last year in a home dec weight? It had colorful flowers and wavy lines that a bunch of you made bags and "stuff" out of. Well, I did a special order for somebody that was a part of the line, so I had them send me another bolt! And then, a fun kids group came in having to do with transportation, and also some great Precious Moments flannel. Wouldn't you just know it - I think we have one of the best selections of flannel this year - one of the warmest winters on record!

Speaking of which, I hope you get to enjoy a beautiful Sunday tomorrow. Think we might have to do a bit of yard work after I catch up on everything I let slide this week while working on THE QUILT. Have a great day, whatever you do!

6 am to 6 pm....

2010-02-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

Today we were open from 6:00 am until 6:00 pm for our annual Fat Tuesday Sale. The first picture I took after telling everyone that not everyone believes me when I say there are lots of people there at 6:00 am. So, here are the first shoppers through the door at 6:00 this morning!

And then this second picture is of what the place looked like when I locked the doors at 6:00 pm. We sold lots of fat quarters today and everyone seemed to have a pretty good time!

And in the midst of it all, we got a couple of interesting freight deliveries. We got some new black and whites and red and whites, and then the Moda group "Garden Party" arrived late this afternoon. And I had enough help so it all got put out!! WOW! And then tomorrow, Jan and I are going to work on THE QUILT for the Tri-County Quilt Tour 2010. The deadline is looming and Betsy is no doubt anxious to get it to quilt....design is done, blocks pretty well ready, just the final "put together....wish us luck!

Well, needless to say, I am a bit pooped tonight. Last night when I set the alarm on my phone, it asked me if I wanted to make the 4:15 alarm a regular thing - no, thanks. Once a year for Fat Tuesday was great, but no more than that right now! Hope you all have a great evening.

They're all tucked in....

2010-02-15T19:32:00.000-08:00

Look at those happy little fat quarters....all tucked in and awaiting your arrival tomorrow! It took a few hours, but we managed to get them all unpacked and out on the tables for you. And this other picture is of the little refreshment table we'll have in the morning....just visualize hot coffee and donut holes in the crystal bowl -ok? (Well, not both of them in the bowl together - yuk!) I put in the e-mail update that donut holes don't have any calories, since they're just the holes - right? Okay, I'll be setting the alarm for zero-early-thirty so I can get there before you do and turn the heat on and make the coffee. This is always a long (6 am to 6 pm) day, but a very fun one too! Hope to see you in the morning!

New fabric....

2010-02-14T09:06:00.001-08:00

What's my excuse for not blogging for the last week, anyway? Well, we have a deadline on a couple of fronts around here. Of course, Fat Tuesday Sale is coming up this week on, you guessed it, Tuesday! Yup, Mardi Gras - 20 fat quarters $20 from 6 am to 6 pm. And although we do work on this year round, there's always that last minute "push" to load a few more boxes! And then, there's the matter of the Tri-County Quilt Tour project. It's coming out great, but we've changed the design around just a few times - that's a few dozen times!

And of course, there's always the interruption of new freight! This is a picture I took a week or so ago of some of our newer fabrics. One of our customers is making a bag using some of these....aren't they fun? And then, if the tracking info is right, Monday I should be getting a new group "Garden Party" from Moda.

Off to do my Sunday chores. Happy Valentines Day!

EQ Class....

2010-02-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

Today was another teaching marathon for Velina! She has three sessions of EQ classes the first Saturday of each month. Here are some students from the first class this morning - I told them to look studious! It's so much fun to listen in to the "Wows" as they discover all of the fantastic things the EQ6 program will do. I just learned to scan fabric this week and put it into a library so I can create "virtual quilt blocks" using the images of the actual fabric so I can see what they'd look like - very cool. We'll be sharing more about that concept around here as the weeks go on.

Saturday was good at Fab-Etc. Besides the EQ classes, we worked on cutting the kits for our BOM due out on Monday, tidied some, but basically just had a good time with all of the customers and students!

What's on your agenda for Sunday? Super Bowl parties? John has a commitment tomorrow, so we'll be sticking pretty close to home. We'll probably watch the commercials on the Super Bowl live or taped (we're such fans, aren't we?) And I'll be working on the Tri-County Quilt Tour project a bit, along with some book work, house work and of course, laundry!! Hope you have a wonderful day, whatever you do at your house.

Oops...

2010-02-04T08:17:00.001-08:00

I didn't get the new fabric alert up on the blog yesterday - sorry! This is the first picture of our "we got some new fabrics" series. Since the weather is trying to be Spring, I thought I'd show you one of the first Spring groupings we got in. This is a wonderful green/pink combo from Wilmington Prints. They did a beautiful job with these - I think there are about 14 different fabrics in the collection. I took this picture right before my ride came in the evening, so it's not a very good representation of the fabrics....I guess you'll just have to come and see them in person!

We had Tea Party Wednesday as Jan likes to call it and it was such great fun! Now that the Anniversary Sale is over, it was a very relaxing couple of hours sipping tea, eating Jan's wonderful scones and enjoying our customers and their projects. Once it was over, though, I had to face the reality that I need to finish my Tri-County Quilt Tour project. It's coming along pretty well, but it isn't done. I NEED to get it done so I can sleep better at night and not think of any more things to do to it!

Well, off to the shop this morning to see what fun fabrics and friends await. Have a wonderful Thursday!

Whew.....

2010-02-01T22:17:00.000-08:00

Whew.....I fully intended to get pictures of the happy shoppers at our Anniversary Sale last week, but OMG we were really busy! And consequntly, I was really tired each night too. The sale was lots of fun. Thanks to everyone who came and celebrated our 4th Anniversary as Fabric-Etc.

Well, I really should have been finishing a boat block for the Tri-County Quilt Tour "Smooth Sailing", but I needed the design wall space, so I took down this fun daisy project "Voila". I hated to just put all of the cut pieces in a box, so I started putting the blocks and rows together. Remember when I couldn't decide on which yellow to use? You know most of the time you should go with your first instincts....I ended up using the one I did first, and it seems to look just fine. I am hoping to quickly (do I really do anything quickly?!?!) put the blocks together so we can hang it somewhere and then get back to the next deadline on my agenda.

Okay, it is getting late, but I just wanted to check in and let you know that we are alive and well at Fab-Etc. We sold LOTS of fabric last week, but we didn't run out! Plus new is coming all of the time. Tomorrow, we'll let you know what the "new fabric alert" is for the beginning of the week okay? Night all!

Mondays are....

2010-01-25T20:06:00.000-08:00

Mondays are fun at Fab-Etc. Except, I left kind of a mess from Saturday that Diane and I had to deal with today. We were busy and I just ran out of steam by the end of the day Saturday! So, she and I cleaned up and played a bit with the design of the Tri-County quilt. Then our wonderful UPS driver came and brought some fun buttons and notions for us to put out for your enjoyment! (I hate having empty slots in the thread rack and now for a moment at least, they are all full!)

This is the class Diane is going to have starting in a couple of weeks. It's the McKenna Ryan "Back on the Farm" quilt. You'll have to look at hers on the design wall when you come in. Diane is THE MASTER when it comes to putting the fabrics together to create these projects. If you are at all interested, sign up and take advantage of her wealth of artistic and sewing knowledge.

Okay, I'm sending all of you who are on the e-mail list our latest update tonight! So, I'm back to that right now. Hope your evening is wonderful!

Community service...

2010-01-20T20:20:00.001-08:00

This is a picture of a wonderful group of gals (plus Verna, who's cutting off to the right)! They are members of Moonlight Quilt Guild. Nikki is the chairman of the Community Service committee this year. She asked a couple of weeks ago if they could use the class area to make fleece hats to be given to some of the homeless in our area. We were thrilled to have them come and sew tonight. As I left, the machines were going full speed and the hats were looking great!

Today was good at Fab-Etc. We got some notions and some very fun fabrics from Michael Miller....now to find an appropriate home for them! Hmmmmm....could require a bit of shuffling on my part. Jan finished an apron from a panel that Harriet started (we have such a great team here!) Then, she and I "played" a bit more with our Tri-County creation. Izzie put some new Kwik Sew patterns in the drawer and we received a few books that she found homes for. Oh, and the Shop Hop newsletters have arrived! And, I keep forgetting to mention that we have the tickets for Sew Expo. You save $2 over the "at the door" price by purchasing them in advance ($10-advance $12-at event).

Have a binding to sew on and a block to finish. Night all!

Applique the Tracey Way....

2010-01-19T19:48:00.001-08:00

Isn't this the doggone cutest little sample!?! This is what the students get to make this Saturday in Tracey's class - I've named her class "Applique the Tracey Way". I am nowhere close to being as skilled as Tracey is, but so far, this is the only way I know how to applique....and you'll probably remember that I said the silk thread made me look even more like I knew what I was doing! At any rate, there are still a couple of spots open in this class and her Victoria Bag class that meets later in the day, in case you're interested.

Jan and I had a great day today! We got to cross things off of the "To Do" list, which is always a good feeling. We've also been working on our Tri-County quilt - Smooth Sailing - the event is a Quilt Tour and happens March 24-27. Remember, it's the one where each of us makes a quilt using the same 15 blocks, only each quilt is different - in our case, it was very different. The one from last year is the one in the class area that's the starry sky and village underneath where "all roads lead to a fabric store". This year's theme is nautical, so we've been planning a few things - hope I can make it look the way I see it in my head! Once the Fabettes put their minds and skills to it, they'll make it look even better than I could even imagine!

Okay, a few dishes still in the sink and a laundry basket full of dirty clothes and towels. Hope your evening is even more fun than that!

Love notes.....

2010-01-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

The name of the little pattern for this is called "Nifty Notes" from This and That, but Jan and I are calling this project"Love Notes". She used the pattern to make some of these darling little 3" x 5" notepad holders for her littler nieces at Christmas time. They were a huge hit! So, we thought some made with Valentine fabrics would be great too. She also used that wonderful print with the "friends" sayings to make one....take a look at them on the bookcase next time you are in the shop. We think you'll like them!

Well, it's Saturday night already...where did the week go? I took part of the day off yesterday to do some bookwork and go have lunch with my Mom. Harriet and Linda held things together over at the shop for me. Of course, everything was humming along smoothly when I got there! We got a few more bolts of flannel yesterday....I really want to make a "guy-type" quilt using some of them, but there's this little matter of a Tri-County Quilt Tour project that NEEDS to get done! Today, my sales rep from Moda came and believe it or not, I ordered Christmas 2010 fabric....it was a challenge.

So, what are your plans this weekend? I'm going to finish up some year-end "stuff" and play a bit with my log cabin project. And of course, there's the laundry and that tidying up thing too! Hope you have a glorious Sunday!

Playing with circles...

2010-01-13T20:35:00.000-08:00

On my Twitter account last night I mentioned that Jan and I were playing with something new yesterday and I would try and get a picture. Well, it's definitely a work in progress, but here it is! It's a pattern we've had for a while called "Pearl District" by Busy Bee Quilt Design. I might have mentioned that we were trying to think of as many Valentine projects as we could - ones we could actually get done in a reasonable amount of time (like before Valentine's Day!) We have this Valentine charm pack, plus some other "leftovers" from our previous projects and decided to try the pattern out. Today Jan and I waited on customers and made circles in between times. While Izzie was rolling Fat Tuesday FQ's, we tried to get it in some sort of order that looked random - why does that take so much planning and moving? Whew! Finally we just said get the Roxanne's Glue and baste them down! So, I got them sewn to the backgrounds and started to put them together. We didn't make ours as long as the pattern - 62" seemed longer than most of us might want (plus it added to the probability that we could actually finish it!) They didn't use ric rac....and that border is just a leftover strip we had, so it's not a for sure. Planning on fiddling around some more tomorrow with it after my sales rep leaves.

So, that was our fun today! Hope your day was equally enjoyable. Last night was our first KT Klub meeting and Tracey did her usual fantastic job of teaching and inspiring us with some great blocks for a sampler quilt. FYI, she's scheduled her class on the Victoria Bag and Applique the Tracey Way. Check it out on the website.

Just heard the washing machine click off, so off to throw clothes in the dryer and maybe make a couple of Log Cabin blocks while I'm waiting for it all to dry....I WILL finish this abandoned project! Have a great evening.

Yikes....stripes...

2010-01-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

So....remember that placemat I showed you the other day? Well, as Jan was finishing that, I commented on how it was too bad we didn't have a Valentine's stripe this year that we could do one of our 60 degree runners out of. Then, inspiration hit! We had often thought about doing this, so why not? Let's make our own striped fabric! We quickly decided on three fabrics (which is monumental in itself - we rarely decide on any fabric choices quickly!) Jan sewed and I pressed and voila...a fun 60 degree runner made from three fabrics. Yesterday, Jan worked with me and she layered and quilted it. We'll have it up on the wall sometime Monday.

So, today the plan is to do some paperwork, tidy up a bit, a little laundry, a "To Do Note" for Harriet and Diane on Monday morning (Tri-County meeting in Mt. Vernon for me), maybe dinner with my Mom and then play with some fabric! I am absolutely determined to finish the project I found in my cleaning of the sewing room. It's a large log cabin quilt for our bed....probably at the half way point, if not further. I also am fiddling with the leftover Honeybun strips from my Valentine's basket and designing a tablerunner...I think? We'll see if it works!

Have a wonderful Sunday everybody!!

Moving day....

2010-01-08T20:28:00.000-08:00

Remember last time, I told you that Harriet was coming to work today and we were going to move fabric? WOW, we got it done and we both had to admit that it was one of the smoothest fabric moves ever. Only break we really took was to surprise her with a birthday cake - Monday was her birthday!

So, tomorrow Jan and I are going to continue to play with our Valentine fabrics. This is a picture of the Valentine placemat Jan made on Tuesday using the pattern "Table Graces" and a fun retro Valentine print from In The Beginning fabrics - isn't it great? Not to mention, it's quick and simple.

So, if you find yourself in our neighborhood, stop by and check things out....last day the Christmas fabrics will be 50% off. Have a wonderful weekend!