Sailing, sailing over the ocean blue....

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.....

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....

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....

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.....

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...

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....

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.