Class

In between sewing for the demos and trying to work on my BOMs and UFOs I decided that I wanted to take a class. Have you see the easy angle ruler? I bought one after Lisa did a demo of it at the shop this summer. There is a book that goes with it that has 250 different blocks you can do with the ruler. There also separate patterns. I resisted the book, but I got the ruler. Lisa is teaching two classes using the ruler is quarter so I signed up for her class and I picked this pattern:

I used Terrain and light grey fabric. These are my blocks waiting impatiently for me to sew them together. I will as soon as I get home. I promise little blocks. The class was a lot of fun and once you get the hang of the ruler it is just so cool.

You can also spin the blocks around to do that block on the side. So many options.......

See you soon. Go sew !

What's new?

I have been sewing like a crazy woman for a project at work. remember this?

Well this is what it is now.

I made ten projects for the demo, showing what you can do with 2 1/2 strips, 1 1/2 strips either from precuts of your stash/scraps.
I will break them up into a couple of posts. My pictures are terrible but there is just no light here right now.
This is a pillow that I saw on Moda Bake shop and had to try it. Super simple. Sew all the strips together then fold and stitch with elastic thread in the bobbin. Who knew????

I love journals, notebooks, all that stuff, but I also like to personalize them. Here is a journal cover. Also from Moda Bake shop. Strip pieced from a Honey Bun and embellished with a bit of felt. Fast and easy.

 I made this kindle cover from Modas Bake shop as well. I saw in the comments that some wished there was a closure for the cover so I added a snap on one and Velcro on 3 others. I gave three away, one at each presentation.

last one for now...The machine cozy. (Moda Bake Shop) This was so fast and easy. I just love how it looks on my machine. This covering things can be addictive. Wonder what I can cover next?

I need to go pack. I leave at 3 am for Oregon and my Neice's wedding.
Happy stitching everyone.

5th Anniversary celebration at Quilter's Destination

I can not believe that the shop has been open for five years. I remember hearing about a shop opening in my neighborhood at a guild meeting. I was so excited to be getting a shop 5 minutes from home.  A little less than two years later I was offered a part time job at the shop. I have made so many wonderful friends because of this job. My co-workers of course because we all get along. I belong to a bee because of one of my coworkers and I love it. Last but not least many many customers that I now call friends because of working in the shop.  It really has been my lifeline through all my Dad's illnesses and recoveries and more recently through the loss of my Mom. Thank you to all my wonderful Quilter's Destination friends.

To celebrate the big anniversary, there was a three day sale. 20% off everything!!! Batiks, brand new bolts, tools, books, everything. In addition to the sale, on Saturday we also had food. The owners hubby, her sister and BIL set up a canopy and a grill and made hot dogs and burgers. A hot dog, chips and soda was $1. A burger, chips and a soda $1. We also had cookies, a huge sheet cake, and many other yummy goodies.  I wish we could have gotten pictures, but I swear we were sooo busy, it was all we could do to keep up with the cutting and re shelving fabric. Non-stop. Lots of fun. I did get some pictures not long before the sale so here is the shop:

Patti ( the owner) was also signing magazines on the page where her runner was pictured. Troy fabrics is local (Chicago) and Patti was asked to design a project for a fabric line they were going to launch. She did the table runner. She also did 2 more projects using the next two lines by the same designer. At market Troy used her samples and Quilting Arts saw them and wanted to publish them. The current issue has the first one. It was exciting for all of us to have Patti in the magazine.

There was a private after hours party to celebrate too. Music, more food, wine and tons of fun. We (the shop girls ) ended up doing an impromptu roast that had everyone in tears.

Sunday was the last day of the celebration and for some reason Patti didn't think it would be as busy. I thought they might still be getting lots of business so I went to the shop. My plan was to buy some fabric ( imagine that) and if it was quiet go home. Wellll.... it was not. I stayed and worked the rest of the day.  It was still lots of fun. We usually have the best times when things get hectic. Our customers are the kind that will put bolts back after we cut. They will often say 'you cut, I'll fold'. Makes it so much more fun when we all work together.

Catching up

It has been super busy around here for the last couple of weeks. There was the guild quilt show followed the next week end by the 5th Anniversary celebration at the shop. Both very fun events, but very tiring. I thought I would start back with the quilt show and then get caught up in a couple of posts.

Last night we had the quilt show committee meeting to wrap up the show and discuss what worked well and what could have been done a bit better. Overall I think the show was a really great one! Fantastic quilts. Lots of vendors. Lovely antique quilts for the bed turning. Adorable mini quilts for the silent auction.  And of course I can't forget the book and magazine resale booth. I love going through all the donations and dragging home more treasures for my sewing room.

Without further ado... here is what the show looked like from up on the walking track above the gym where the show is held.

And a few of my favorite quilts:

If you would like to see more check my flickr page. All the show quilts are tagged.

I did not realize that there were windows over looking the tennis courts where the vendor mall was until it was too late. BUT I did remember the camera for a change so I am making progress. LOL This show we expanded from 16 vendors to 28 by renting the adjoining tennis courts and it was great. We had a couple of long arm booths. A craftsman with beautiful wooden ladders and hangers for quilts. Lots of fabric and some fantastic wool.

Happy stitching all.