Material Obsession

Not the fabulous blog/store/books from Australia, but the kind that makes you want to work on nothing else until you have finished something with the material that your obsession revolves around. And just what fabric is so inspiring as to make me forget all else you ask? Behold...Strawberry Fields!

I was in the middle of a no-deadline commission quilt when I got a layer cake of it in the mail the last week of March. From the moment I opened the package, I wanted to do nothing but make something with it, NOW. I freaking love strawberry fabrics. Slap a strawberry on it, and I'm all over it. The colors are just perfection! It's so ridiculously gorgeous in person that my friend Pattie, who got her layer cake before me, told me "it's so pretty that I want to lick it!" I completely agree. The non-quilting people are now horrified, but you quilters out there know exactly what we mean, don't you?

I spent an evening deciding what project was worthy, then I had to run it by my SewMod friends, to verify that my choice was indeed the worthiest project and that my chosen background fabric was perfect.
We decided on the Coventry star pattern by Brenda Riddle of the Acorn Quilt and Gift Company.

And that gorgeous grey polka dot is from my all time favorite line, Ava Rose by Tanya Whelan. I actually had to order more, 5 yards was not enough! I'm actually making the quilt larger than the pattern, to fit the full bed in my guest room. Which also means I need to paint it since it's currently lavender and green. Yes, I am redecorating an entire room because of a little layer cake.

Since I started this quilt I've wanted to work on nothing else. I totally want to take a week off of my day job just to work on it! I've been designing another quilt to make with it, but have to wait for the yardage to hit the stores before I can make that one. Big, huge bummer. I know it's just 'til May, but that's just too long when you are completely obsessed!

I had finished about 40 blocks, but then had to get busy making a couple of grocery bags for the school raffle my bff Donna is running. Of course, just because I want to be working on something else, I  screwed them up and now have to make another set. I can't let Donna and the kids down!

And to add another worthy cause to my list, my quilting buddy Dori sent a note about some children left orphaned by the tsunami in Japan, where her daughter's friend is from, so I had to help out and get some quilts to the children (to be posted at a later date since it really deserves it's own post). You can read about it here. Fair warning, have the tissues ready.

And to put my obsession on the back burner even further, the hubby has been working on the basement which means that I've had to be upstairs since the tan dogs (Robbie and Daisy) are terrified of, well, everything to do with construction. Since I've waited almost 10 years for the basement/sewing room to be done, I don't want to discourage him, so my original spurt of sewing has been delayed until my retreat in two weekends. I don't know if I can last that long!

I put some of the blocks together to see how it was coming along. Yummm, it's lolly pop licking gorgeous!

Happy Quilting!

Vicki

So sweet my teeth hurt!

What do you do when you realize that the totally floofy-girly garbage can you bought for next to your ironing board is totally useless because it has more holes in it than Swiss cheese and all of your fabric bits and thread fall out of it's sides?

Why, you spend two and a half evenings selecting the perfect fabric, designing and making a totally gorgeous liner for it of course!

When you put them together, you get the sweetest darn-tooten waste bin evah!

I was going to use Nicey Jane, but then I happened across my fairly substantial stash of Ava Rose and decided that was definitely the way to go.

I think it's perfect, don't you?

I used an Ava Rose polka dot on the bottom. I know you won't ever see it, but I'm nutty that way.

I waffled between the white and turquoise of this flower print for the inside, but since I had a lot more of the white, I went with it. I used a darling turquoise polka dot on the bottom of the inside.
One of my friends suggested that it would be cute in a baby or little girl's room for storage.

Another angle.

I know it seems silly to do this for a garbage can, but it's for use by my ironing board, so it will only have fabric, thread and paper in it, no nasty icky stuff.

I am quite proud of myself for figuring out how to make a liner that's round and tapered. It's quite a feat for the math challenged (aka:me).

And now for a gratuitous cute dog photo:

Don't your teeth hurt from all that sweetness?

Shop Hopping

I spent last weekend as the "bus mom" on a bus shop hop tour of Wisconsin and Minnesota for Tammy Tadd Designs. I hope all of my bus ladies had as great a time as I did, since I had a blast! I made some new friends, got to spend time with long term friends (see how I avoided the term 'old friends' I didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea there. See how p.c. I am), learned some fabulous new quilting things and was uber inspired. The ladies were so much fun on the trip.

While all the stores offered great ideas and projects, there were two that really struck my fancy, and not just becuase of the great fabric. To me, atmosphere makes the store, and these two had it in spades. I love architectural detail. Today I'll feature Fourth and Main in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. I'm told that a website is currently under development, so in the meantime, check out the photos below to see just how wonderful this place is.

I want to live in Fourth and Main, yes, in the store. With or without the fabric. Either would be just fine for me! I couldn't help myself, I took a ton of pictures at this store. The building was originally two that they combined into one during their "extensive" renovation. I really enjoyed talking with Carol, who is one of the owners. She told me that one part of the building was once a bank, I think, or was it a post office. I can't remember now. Either way, Carol and Julie (and Steve the carpenter) did an absolutely amazing and fabulous job on the place.

The front window, not a great photo, but it was sooo cute!

Kind of straight-right-ish when you walk in the door.

Look at that ceiling!!

In the second building area....Some lovely quilts, including a gorgeous Ava Rose quilt. Don't you just love the molding on the shelves?

Looking down the second building room. Love that offset log cabin! And those shelves. Fab.U. Lous! They call them "Alberts". Carol explained to me that they name everything, so these are called "Albert." They have "fat Alberts" and "skinny Alberts"

That's Carol on the right. She's with two sisters that came on the trip. They were sooooo sweet! They put together a game and gave away fabulous prizes all on their own! So sweet and generous!

The window on the right of the log cabin quilt. I can only imagine how gorgeous it will be all decked out in flowers

A shelf full of happiness, Nicey Jane by the lovely and extremely nice Heather Bailey.

Back to the front door. This is the building to the leftish when you enter. I mean really, can it get any more fantastic? I think not

.

To the left of the cutting/check out is a bathroom and the staircase to the upstairs. 

 

There's another bathroom at the top of the stairs. It had a shower area too. It looked like Restoration Hardware decorated the bathroom! The color in the photos is deceptive. All of the walls are really more of a Restoration Hardware Silver Sage green, which happens to be my all time favorite paint color. The tile floor was the original hexagon tiles. So wonderful!

Continuing on past the bathroom hallway you enter the kitchen / eating area. Do you see those cabinets?!?! Excuse me while I wipe up the drool on my keyboard.

There's a fabulous chandelier and office area behind the French doors.

And the best part is....

It's a little cluttered up w/the goodies for our group, but I think you can see how amazing the kitchen is! Seriously, I could live here!

Back downstairs for some sewing inspiration....

The red blouse is a Favorite Things pattern called Prairie Girl.

Check out those darling pleats on the Oliver + S skirt!

The corner in the second building had great clothing and bag samples. It really makes me think that I need to learn how to make some wearables.

This is the 'Classic Shirt' pattern, also by Favorite Things. Carol altered it to make it sleeveless. The fabric is Denyse Schmidt's Hope Valley stripe fabric. She told me that she made it for her daughter. I think it's perfect for her and she will look gorgeous in it. She was working that day, so I had the pleasure of meeting her as well.

Carol let me into the courtyard out back to see the fountain, planters and most importantly, her fabulous lavendar bicycle!!!

 I think you can see now why I was so smitten with this store. Don't you want to live there too?

In case I don't get back to the blog before Sunday, I'd like to wish a  

Happy Mothers Day

to all of you mom's out there!

Quilting in the woods

We had a lovely time at our fall girl's quilting retreat in November. The trees were lovely and the weather yucky, perfect for staying inside and quilting!

We always have good food too. Everyone signs up with a partner to cook a meal and I must say, the food is always great! This is Dori's french toast casserole. I need the recipe for this one! And look at how she used her scraps from her quilting project as little napkin rings! Isn't that a fun touch? Retreats are always so inspirational. All those creative people getting together, helping each other out! I forgot to take pictures until the end of the weekend, so I didn't get some of the ladies' projects. We made aprons, bags, quilts, it was a fabric frenzy!

I accomplished quite a bit. I finished a Tammy Tadd Designs "Girly Girl" purse made with Ava Rose fabric by Tanya Whelan, accented with a gorgeous Lakehouse stripe. I finished two of my grocery bags for Jennie.

I also got all of the strips pieced together for a quilt that I've been commissioned to make. That was no small feat. It's a 100 block quilt, made of split nine patches, with an extra row of 2.5" blocks at the top and bottom to make it a rectangle. That means 220 half squares, and something like 750 squares! Whew, it didn't seem like that many when I was putting them together! I'll post about it after the holidays, when it's safely in the hands of it's recipient.

Barb made these lovely bags out of charm squares. I don't recall the pattern, but it had a couple of different options in the one pattern. Aren't they cute?

Karen worked on this fabulous "Yellow Brick Road" by Terry Atkinson, set on-point. This my favorite pattern. It's also Jennie and Karen's favorite as well. We've made dozens of them between the three of us. Jennie and I were at the Madison quilt show when we saw it set on-point. We were blown away! How did it never occur to us to set it that way?!?! The fabric is the "Ginko" line by Lonni Rossi, I think. It's a few years old. This quilt is gorgeous!

I had to share DiscoJen's green polyester jogging suit that she was wearing when she was dubbed DiscoJen at our first retreat. It was like 2am and she put on her disco cd and started shaking her booty to "YMCA" thus earning her the name DiscoJen. It will live in infamy.