Fat Tuesday....

Okay, here's the picture of the calm before the Fat Tuesday Storm! It took quite a while to unpack the 30 plus boxes of fat quarters, but there they are in all of their glory. Tracey counted, and there are 44 boxes of them for your pleasure. I'm making coffee and there are doughnut holes for anyone that needs nourishment first thing in the morning!

Needless to say, that's pretty much all we got done today. Not much freight - think there's a box with the new Quilts and More, though, so I'll open that for tomorrow. Did I mention that we got the Alpha Buddies group - CUTE! Look up on the design wall tomorrow and you'll see the panel. And there are 7 coordinates to go with it.

Well, it's late and my alarm is set for 4:30, so best be making friends with my pillow! Tomorrow will be a fun day, as always. And then Wednesday, we have a marathon planned to get our Tri-County quilt ready to hand off to Betsy from Nautilus Longarm, who is going to quilt it for us. Have a great Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras whatever you plan to do. Night all!

Over a week....

I can't believe it's been over a week since I posted! It's true, we've been really busy making our Tri-County Q Merchants Assoc. quilt for March, rolling fat quarters for Fat Tuesday next week, and John and I did go to Kenmore to see all of the family on Sunday, and of course, I had lots of laundry to do...LOL!! So, my apologies.

Can't promise that this week will be much better. Team Fab-Etc is under deadline for our Tri-County quilt and Fat Tuesday. Beginning the first week of March, I'll once again be "showing" you our interpretation of the "Sky's The Limit" quilt. I hope you'll like it. We've been having fun, as you will soon see.

And here's a picture of the quilt that Tracey made using mostly some of our Jo Morton fabrics. It's from the latest issue of American Patchwork and Quilting. Isn't it great? You need to see it in person - it's right next to the counter at the shop.

What else is happening? Well, there's a big box from Timeless Treasures that came late today that I haven't even opened. And tomorrow Harriet, Linda and I are going to move a few things around and then get ready for the Gucci Bag class on Friday and Applique Society on Saturday, with the final push for completion on our quilt Saturday afternoon. (Looks like I may have to pull a Sunday shift to finish, though.)

Well, surprise, surprise...I have laundry going, dirty dishes in the sink and some of the "fun stuff" we're playing with on our quilt to fiddle with. Plus, I guess I need to pay a few bills. So, I'll say good night and hope your week is going fantastic!

V-Day minus three....

Well, as you can see, I still haven't solved the "sideways" problem with my pictures! Tried the "Help" section here but there was no help. I save it going the right way, but then something happens in translation! Anyway, this is our "quick and easy you can get this done in an afternoon" Valentine idea. There are bibs for your favorite little one and a towel trimmed to finish off the job! They're pretty darn cute, aren't they? I may have to do one up for our new Cody....although, I don't think he's doing bibs quite yet. We've sold a lot of Valentine fabric, but there's still a pretty good selection. The bib is lined with waterproof nylon and is made from one of our free handouts. The towel is our "by the yard" Huck toweling with some fabric and ric rac.

What else is new? Well, today we got some Moda Marbles - reordering some of our basics after the big sale! We're expecting a large shipment of the latest Kansas Troubles fabric that will hopefully arrive by the weekend. Can't wait to see it...all of the KT Klub is on alert and Tracey, our fearless Facilitator, is going to send a group e-mail when it arrives!

Today, we played around with some of the last star blocks for the Tri-County event next month....setting it next week and then off to be quilted!

I'm looking forward to the Color With Confidence class that Francie is teaching on Saturday. If it's quiet, I plan to do some eavesdropping! I think almost all of us struggle with choosing colors.

Well, need to finish cleaning up the kitchen, doing the "books" and of course, a bit of laundry. Hope your week is going well. Tomorrow, Jan and I will get to play with fabric again....I can't wait! Night all - Carol

Hot Valentines....

Here's another idea for Valentine's Day! Except, I've tried everything and the picture keeps coming up sideways, so you'll just have to turn your head - ok? Jan made this "Handy Heart Potholder" for one of her daughters. Isn't it just great? The ric rac really makes it special, don't you think? So, if your Valentine dinner is too hot to handle, we've got the solution - all of the fabric, ric rac and a pattern! Or, you could use your own idea and some of the great Valentine's prints we have left.

I must admit, I am seeing stars these days. We're working on getting the Tri-County quilt ready to be quilted, and I am dreaming about star blocks and settings and fun ideas. (It's either that, or I'm having nightmares about getting it all put together in time!!) There are some great blocks that the other shops have come up with - think you're going to like them.

We've been cutting LOTS of fat quarters for Fat Tuesday - only 2 weeks from Tuesday - the 24th. Should be fun. And I had a chance to move a few things around on Saturday to make room for some of the newer fabrics. We're expecting about 15 bolts of Kansas Troubles fabrics in a week or so! All of the KT Klub folks are looking forward to that!

My Sunday was good - made another star block, one load of laundry, paid some bills, made pork chops and chatted with my Mom. Now, it's run the dishwasher and get my "stuff" ready to take to the shop tomorrow. Hope your weekend was great!

Time for tea....

Today is the first Wednesday of the month, so you know what that means - right? Yup, Tea Party Day. We had a full house today....thought we were going to run out of chairs. It was so much fun laughing, eating and laughing some more! We had some old timers and newcomers with lots of great projects and sharing going on. I know a couple of people will be clicking on the Fab-Etc website for Jan's wonderful scone recipe!

As promised, here is another picture of a fun Valentine-y project. This is a double Irish Chain from the Possibilities book "Time For A Chain II". It 's a revision of their first book, that I actually used to make this quilt. One of the great things about the book is that it tells you which way to press your seams as you sew and then voila - everything "nests" so nicely together without having to re-press anything! (I get teased a lot because I like to press my seams open....for the most part, it's really 'cause I am too lazy to figure out the best way to press and then always have to go back and re-press my seams.) Anyway, you need to look and see the gorgeous quilting job that Betsy from Nautilus Longarm Quilting did - she made me look really good!

Well, the napkins and tablecloths from the tea are in the laundry and ready for the dryer. Hope your week is going great. We're working hard on our Tri-County Quilt Merchants "Sky's The Limit" quilt for March. And of course, playing with other things whenever we get the chance! Have a great evening!

February is....

February is a lot of things around here at Fabric-Etc. It's Groundhog Day today, but that doesn't mean a lot to us - 6 more weeks of winter just means more sewing time - right? February is Mardi Gras - Fat Tuesday, literally, but Fat Tuesday as in 20 fat quarters for $20. That's coming up on Tuesday, February 24th from 6am to 6pm! And the first Wednesday of February - this week on the 4th - will be our monthly Tea Party, which is always lots of fun! But February is also Valentine's Day month! So, I thought I'd share some of the Valentine "stuff" we've been playing with. This is a picture of a runner that Jan made using the "Simply a Pleasure" pattern. She used 3 of our Valentine prints to put it together, and then felt it needed a little "punch", so she added the ric rac - isn't it just great? You'll have to see it in person, because the quilting is really neat too! I've got a few other pictures I'm going to try and put up this week.

It was kind of quiet today after last week's big Anniversary Sale. Thanks for coming by and helping us celebrate! We did get some fabric today - some dots and stripes and a few novelty prints. There's also a beautiful floral group - Return To Romance - that we'll be putting out tomorrow.

Well, I hoped to sew tonight, but there are still dinner dishes in the sink and it's going on 9:00 - rats! I might still try and start my project. Hope you are having a wonderful Monday evening. More on the Valentine projects soon!