Catching up some more

Thank you to all that came to our fabric stash sale last weekend! It was an astounding success. Since I still have fabric left that I want to find new homes for, I'll be starting a second blog to sell it online. Stay tuned, I hope to have that done by the end of next week. Jennie will also be putting her remaining fabric online as well, so watch for good deals to be had there too.

Here's a couple of projects that I finished last month that I haven't shared.
This is a commissioned bag for a gift for a vet. I used the Tammy Tadd Designs 'You Go Girl' pattern and Micheal Miller fabrics.

Since the quilting would be difficult to see, I chose a feather pattern in black thread to tone down the zebra a tad and give it a softer feel.




This is another commissioned quilt that I designed and assembled. It was a teacher gift for a Catholic school 4th grade teacher. The artwork was a fund raiser for the school and was printed by the fundraising company on fabric. I designed the layout and advised on the color selection.

Since the moms in charge of the project had never quilted, I cut everything out, and had them join me for a lock in at Tammy Tadd's one Saturday night. One mom had sewing experience, so I gave her a crash course in quilting and put her to work. The other mom was our ironing minion all night. We got the whole thing assembled in about 4.5 hours.

I love the children's drawings. They totally looked like stained glass. I quilted around the crosses in the blocks, around the colored part of the square and in the ditch of the sashings. I echoed the leaves in the sashing fabric and quilted leaves freehand in the border.  You can see them best on the backing.

I didn't want to over quilt it because the focus is supposed to be about the children's drawing, so I went the simple route. I'm told the teacher cried. I totally got crappy gifts when I was a teacher. I can't imagine getting something as wonderful as a quilt!

I have a few more quilts and bags that I finished that I need to take pictures of. I now have to finish a couple of Christmas projects for samples for the store and I have to make 3 baby quilts. One of the babies was born in July. Whoops!

STASH SALE THIS WEEKEND!!!

Hi Everyone! Just a reminder to those in the Chicagoland area that a few friends and I are having a massive, blowout stash sale today through Sunday!
Details:

Quilting Stash Sale!

1400 New Haven Dr

Cary, IL

 

9am-4pm

August 6th, 7th and 8th

Here's a small sampling of what's to be had. There's more than fit in the photo.

I hope to see you all there!

Vicki

Kind of like Hemingway's cats

Have you ever heard the answer Hemingway gave when asked why he had so many cats?
"One cat just leads to another." He replied.

Well, this is what the internet is like. I get the Apartment Therapy emails, which feature cool products. Today's 'daily find' was a great handmade ceramic measuring cup-like vase that was apparently in Martha Stewart Living recently. (Note to self, check previous issues of Martha more closely.)
So I clicked on it and found out it is from a fabulous new store by those amazing people at Antropology and Urban Outfitters.  (A job at their headquarters would be my dream job. Not only is the campus way cool, and you get to work with/in fabulous design all day everyday, but you get to bring your dog to work!!!)

The store is called Terrain. It's in Pennsylvania. I'm glad it's not anywhere near Chicago because I would probably be there all the time, drooling over fabulous garden and home things that I can't afford. Then I would be depressed, because the stuff is so cool, and I couldn't afford it, so it's better that it's far away from me.
I totally love these planters:

Who doesn't love a classic fountain?

This one would be more pratical for me though since my dogs use our current fountain as their personal water bowl.

Ah, but this one is my favorite. It's called the 'Bonsai Fountain.'  It doesn't look like a fountain, but the description assures me that it is indeed a fountain.

Oooo, and then there's this:

A saddle stone! I love these things. Stupid, I know, but I can't help it. I just love how they look in the garden. They were used in the UK as supports for buildings in order to keep critters out of grain and what not.

There was also a link to some flickr photos of the actual store, which led to the OhJoy blog, which led to the new tiles from Dwell for Heath Ceramics which then led me to tell you all about all of it! See how that worked?

These tiles are totally a quilter's dream in ceramic. Check these babies out! It's a quilt, but in tile, and not tacky! That's the best part. I'm rather persnickety about tacky tile.

 

I need to tile something in this:

I don't know what just yet, but I'm sure I can find something that needs to be tiled.

I also found The Bicycle Muse on the OhJoy blog. Check these helmut hat covers out!

Yes they are hats for your helmut. I'm completely amused by them.

See what I mean? One thing just leads to another!

I'll leave you with another Hemingway quote that I enjoy:
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach to you keep your mouth shut."
Words to live by.

PS - don't for get about the stash sale the first weekend of August!!! *see July 26th post.