Sew Together Stitching Lounge and a Day in Pasadena

Happy New Year! 

December was a whirlwind of activity, as always, with so much going on at work and at home. This year we capped off the holiday celebrating with a few days in Southern California to watch My Middle Child perform at the Rose Bowl with the Redcoats, the University of Georgia's marching band.




We also got in a great visit with my brother and sister-in-law, and my niece and nephews. It was so much fun to hang out with them and enjoy the gorgeous weather when it was bitterly cold at home. We ate so much great food while celebrating "Second Christmas" and New Year's Eve.

I had hoped to meet up with Kristin, but our visit was jam packed and, of course, the holidays are busy for everyone. Kristin did have a quilt shop suggestion for me and my sister-in-law, who is also a quilter. One afternoon while Batman was napping, we snuck away to the Sew Together Stitching Lounge for a little fabric therapy.

This is such a great little shop with the friendliest staff. In addition to some great modern fabrics, they also had a selection of patterns and a few knits for garments. 

Flying will put a damper on shopping for fabric, but I did tuck a few things into my suitcase. 

I couldn't resist this knit by Sarah Watts, a designer with Cotton + Steel, since my littlest nephew is a tiny bit obsessed with octopus and squid. It's called Mystery Food, and it's going to get me over my fear of sewing knits.

I also picked up two prints from the Journey On line from Dear Stella Designs (by Rae Ritchie).

Extra bonus if you are not monogamous in the ways of textiles: there's a yarn and embroidery shop called The Knitting Tree right next door. Go wild.

I thought I was going to get to see an art quilt show as well one day when we were driving around. I spied this banner, and my brother dropped me off at the corner to get the details.

Sadly, they were closed until January 3. But if you're in the area and can get past the fact that they used the phrase "Not Your Grandmother's Quilt Show," it's at the California Heritage Museum in Santa Monica through March 18. (I'm looking at you, Frances!)

We had a great visit and are now back to reality. I hope you all had a marvelous holiday season wish you a wonderful 2018!

Quilt Shop Visit - Keepsake Quilting

Y'all, there are lots of good men out there. There are kind, funny, handsome, smart men in the world and I know you hang out with some of them. But me? I've got the best one!

Can I just tell you about it? He planned this beautiful, amazing trip to Boston and Cape Cod for our 25th anniversary. He found two quilt shops on the Cape to visit while we were there. And then, when the rain made our plans for the last day in Boston a little less appealing he said, "You know, New Hampshire is only another two hours from here. I've never been to New Hampshire." 

Then he proceeded to drive me to Keepsake Quilting. Sign me up for another 25 years!

When you walk in and see this place that you've only imagined from the pictures, it's completely overwhelming. There is so much fabric! But not in a bargain bin, sort-through-the-old-stuff-to-find-a-rare-gem kind of way. No, it's like a very nice quilt shop only WAY BIGGER. 

This is just one shelf in the batiks room.
I couldn't get a decent picture to show all of them.

The rooms keep going and going, with fabrics mostly sorted by color but with some special groupings. There is a whole room of batiks and several walls of their famous kits. 

At one point I was just wandering and couldn't even decide where to start. The Pit Boss said, "I didn't drive all this way for you to not buy anything, so get busy." See what I mean?

And then there's a sale room! Which literally had more fabric than some small quilt shops I've been in. 

I do want to squash one little rumor I heard. Someone told me that Keepsake Quilting was going to close their store and go to online sales only. I asked the woman who helped me and she said this rumor goes around every so often, but the store is a destination and there are no plans to close it. Judging from what I saw, it really is just a rumor.

I did finally pick out a few things (left to right):

• Black and white print from Timeless Treasures
• Cream on cream polka dot called Spot On by Robert Kaufman Fabrics in meringue 
• Red and white ticking stripe from the Little House on the Prairie line by Andover Fabrics
• A blue and white gingham check from the sale room with absolutely no information - there's no selvedge. If you know what this is, please let me know! 

One more thing: if any of you live in New Hampshire and can answer this for TPB, please do. He's dying of curiosity. How does New Hampshire have no sales tax and no state income tax? How do they pay for anything? Inquiring minds want to know.

Sunday Stash - The Haul from QuiltCon

I was too tired when I made it home last Sunday to do a stash report, but there was quite a haul from QuiltCon. Between the giveaways and the prizes, plus what I actually bought, my car was loaded down a lot more on the way back to Atlanta.

First there were the giveaways. So many vendors were giving away fat quarters and charm packs, and paint chips. Trading pins is totally a thing, and I racked up! 

The best, though, was when I picked up my registration and was handed this awesome tote bag filled with goodies just for being one of the first one thousand people to register.

Then there were the games. Several booths had wheels you could spin or hats to draw out of. I think the moment I am most proud of is the puzzle challenge at the Aurifil booth. 

I won my round, and received a large spool of thread. Before you are too impressed, I was almost twice as slow as the best time posted so far - just over three minutes! My biggest prize was the fat quarter bundle of Art Gallery Fabrics.

And then, of course, there was the shopping. I had to buy a t-shirt. Handmade Rebellion has so many cute ones that it was tough to decide, but I finally settled on this one. I panic bought a pair of Kai scissors fifteen minutes before my embroidery class started because I couldn't find mine. Mostly I searched through the bins at Villa Rosa Designs, narrowing my choices down to two fat quarter rolls and two one yard cuts of fabric.

Finally, I made what I believe is the last large purchase needed to complete my studio space. Luckily this doesn't count towards my stash, but will help my back and shoulders. This saddle stool by Oakworks is so comfortable and a major upgrade from my wooden desk chair. 

The folks at this booth (ABM/Innova) were so fun and friendly. I have to give a shout out to Michael, who took customer service to a whole new level by carrying this heavy box to my car for me.

As for usage, the only thing I managed to finish were two pillowcases for Ryan's Case for Smiles to bring to Monday's guild meeting.

• Fabric Used this Week: 2.5 yards
• Fabric Used year to Date: 7.5 yards
• Fabric Added this Week: 14 yards
• Fabric Added Year to Date: 23.5 yards
• Net Fabric for 2017: -16 yards used
• Used for Charity Year to Date: 2.5 yards
• Percentage Used for Charity: 33%

Cotton+Steel

Have you heard this news?

Cotton+Steel from Gregory Miller Pictures on Vimeo.

I am so excited about this! First of all, because I am such a fan of all of these designers. Also, three of the five are Atlanta girls. And last, because the glimpses we get in this video of their fabric designs look so delicious and fun and beautiful.

Plus, it just makes me giggle that the southern girl (with the pink hair and tattoos) caught the LA guy (with the golf shirt) off guard with her ideas and her style.

I can't wait to hear the word from Quilt Market and see more about what these amazing women have been up to!




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Post 555 - The One With the Winners

And the winners are....



Drum roll please...



The winner of the five fat quarters is Heather who wrote, "I read a book once with a bedroom with Mood Wallpaper. It changed colors and patterns depending on your mood. I want that!"

That would be cool.  And helpful for husbands everywhere!

The winner of the 10" flannel squares is Gill who wrote, "I like to read by the fire!"
 
Me too!

The winner of the 5" charm squares is Ruth, who liked my facebook page.  She also wrote, "At the moment I am loving charm packs and jelly rolls. I love jelly rolls because I am obsessed with scrappy trip along quilts and I love charm packs because I really want to create a Crochet Fusion Quilt soon."

I've never heard of these, but google is your friend.  These projects are awesome!  

The winner of Quilts in Georgia is Gill who wrote, "At the moment my favourite book is Quilting Modern by Jacquie Gering and Katie Pedersen."

That's a great choice!

The winner of the pattern and pre-cut denim squares for My Recycled Quilt is Pam from Hip to Be a Square Podcast who wrote, "Oooh.... this would be good for my son, who loves blue! Happy Blogiversary!  And related to the actual question you asked... in five years, I hope to have finished a postage stamp quilt for my king sized bed. HA HA HA HA."

If anyone can do it, Pam, you can!

Congratulations!


Thanks so much to everyone who commented and read along for my 5th Blogoversary.  It's been a blast!



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5th Blogoversary Giveaway! - Day 3

It's Day 3 of my 5th Blogoversary Giveaway!

Today I have a homemade charm pack (5" squares.  Get it?) of various fabrics that I assembled while I was cutting all that fabric.  

You can use the Rafflecopter widget to enter in a bunch of ways.  The ones I can't wait to read are your comments about your favorite cut of fabric.  Is it fat quarters?  Layer cakes?  Yardage?  Let me know. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!



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5th Blogoversary Giveaway! - Day 2

It's Day 2 of my 5th Blogoversary celebration!

Today I have a stack of 10" flannel squares left over from a quilt I made for a friend who was going through a rough time.  They are all girly girl fabrics.  One has desserts, one has fuzzy slippers, etc.

I was going to give you 25 because, you know, the whole FIVE thing, but I had more than that left so I'm giving you all 38 of them.  They would be perfect for a fun back or a shaggy raggy quilt.

You can use this Rafflecopter widget to enter in a bunch of different ways.  I want to know what your favorite thing to do while snuggling under a quilt is.  (Please keep it PG!)  Do you like to read?  Watch a movie?   Make another quilt? 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!



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5th Blogoversary Giveaway! - Day 1

We're kicking off five days of celebration for FIVE years of blogging.

Today's prize is FIVE fat quarters of fabric left over from my Master Bedroom block for the WannaBee's house quilt.  I love these fabrics.  They are so soothing and restful.  I wish my real bedroom looked like this. 

You can use the Rafflecopter widget below for lots of ways to enter.  The one I'm most looking forward to is the comment about what colors your dream bedroom would be. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!



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Modern Madness!

It's time for the madness to begin! No, not March Madness - Modern Madness! It's much more exciting! (You can totally tell by my excessive use of exclamation points!!)

While the rest of the country obsesses over basketball, quilters know that the real contest is among the 64 fabric lines from the past year.  Who do you think will be crowned the winner?

Here are my picks:

 My 2013 Champion Pick is Madrona Road by Violet Craft for Michael Miller Fabrics.

Note:  these are not necessarily my predictions for how I think the voting will go.  These are simply my favorites in the moment that I happened to search for images.  If I looked tomorrow it might go a different way. 

Download your bracket form and play along.  Don't forget to vote for each round at Fat Quarterly!



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WiP Wednesday -In Practice

I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.  Today I started cutting my fabric for the quilt for Greer's new baby sister that you all helped me design.  I love having all my fabric cut and ready to sit down and sew when I have a few free minutes. 

If you read my blog with any regularity you know that, in theory, I'm a big proponent of the Bonnie Hunter scrap users system of organizing my stash.  You also know that I talk big but don't always follow through.  As evidenced by this:

So you'll be proud to know that, after fussy cutting the little girls out of the focus fabric, I spent some time cutting up the crazy leftovers.  It didn't actually take all that long, and I ended up with all of these useful pieces to add to my drawers...instead of the usual wad of irregular bits and pieces.

What are you working on today?



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Nancy Drew Blog Hop

It's my day on the Nancy Drew Blog Hop.  I just love that Moda brought out this line, and that Madame Samm and Carol created this hop. 

I love that I still have these books...but they live on Gracie's bookshelf.

 Originally I was going to make a cover for Gracie's Kindle.  I thought the book covers on the fabric would be about the size of one of the actual books.  Then when I got my hands on the fabric, I realized that the panels are way too big for that.   I mean, you could still do it, but the effect would not be the same. 

I love that they still have my name in them from when my best friend and I started our own library.

So then I planned a tote bag for carrying library books.  It's the perfect size for that! 

I love that I have the same books that are on the fabric panels!

As I was just finishing the quilting, I had a CLUE.  I've been wanting a padded case to slip my laptop into.  Not the big computer bag that holds all the cords, but just a little bit of protection for when I want to take it to Starbucks or carpool or somewhere quick where I don't need that other stuff.

I slipped the laptop into the pouch and it fit - perfectly!  In fact, if I had come up with this plan originally and measured, it probably wouldn't have come out this well.  [I have math issues, okay?]

I just needed a way to close it.  I decided to make an extra wide binding and sew some 3/4" velcro into it.  I cut a 5" binding strip and, before stitching down the fold edge, sewed the velcro to it. 

Voila!  I realize this isn't as unique and creative as the many other projects on this hop.  I wanted to make something I would use, and I just couldn't bring myself to cut up Nancy.  You should definitely visit the rest of today's projects (and the rest of the week as well!) because there are some amazing ideas out there.

For the rest of today's projects, keep hopping!

That’s Sew Julie

Scrapbook-ChickADoodle

Lily Patch Quilts

Cherry’s Prairie Primitives

The Thimble Room

The Treehouse

The German Mom

Stitch, Stitch, Stitch.

Quiltin’ Jenny [you are here!]

Blackberry Creek Home Arts

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