This wallet's a wonder.....

This is a picture of the "Wonder Wallet" I made on Sunday afternoon. Is it cute, or what? Probably took me less than 2 hours to complete...and that was including the "operator error" time outs too! Evidently, lots of our customers liked it too, since I am nearly sold out of the pattern again. So, I had a nice chat with Joan Hawley this morning from Lazy Girl Designs and she's sending a dozen more out today....she's so great to deal with! I've already picked out one or two combinations to make a few more out of. Don't you think they'd make great stocking stuffers? (One of our customers reminded me the other day that Christmas is less than two months away....it would be a miracle if I actually started on something this far out!)

Today was fun at the shop. Jan and I are in a "finish mode". She's been finishing up our Eat More Pie Turkey....I've been sewing binding tonight while I watched the Phillies whip the Yankees (not really a fan of either, but usually a fan of the underdog.) And I have been working on this fantastic Eleanor Burns leaf pattern. Eleanor is just the bomb when it comes to making things fun, simple, accurate and well designed. Have the middle of the runner done and working on borders. Maybe I'll blog that next!

And we got some fabric today. A really awesome navy, yellow and white group. We agreed that it would make a darling Sassy Apron. Hmmmm.....another thing to finish?

Okay, off to do more binding and maybe sew some borders on my leaves. Taking a few hours off in the morning and then Harriet, Linda and I are going to do just a little bit of rearranging. Jan's teaching her 60 Degree Runner class in the afternoon, so we needed something to play around with. Have a great rest of the evening!

Eat More Pie....

"Eat More Pie", says the turkey! Hey, remember this panel? Well, Jan and I got busy last week and started playing around with him after we saw what Theresea did with a Christmas panel we had. (Thanks, Theresea, and thanks to Velina who has inspired us with her "Panel Play" class!) So....hopefully tomorrow we'll get a chance to put the borders on this guy; maybe batting and backing; a little quilting, and away he goes! FYI, his brother, the "Tweaked Turkey", is still available in a kit.

So, was it wet today or what? I was glad to be all cozy inside with my wonderful fabric! We're getting ready to move the Christmas fabric front and center, so be watching for it to change places. Trying to figure out how to move the KT all into one happy spot....oh, Tracey....help, please!

All right, still haven't had dinner, so best be off to do that. Tomorrow, I'm going to try to put up a picture of my "Wonder Wallet" I made yesterday afternoon. And we'll be updating Classes section of the website to include Tracey's Sue Spargo bag and some very fun Make and Take Fridays. You're going to like this! Stay warm and dry tonight - I know, why not play with some fabric?

Birthday boy plus bib equals....

Birthday Boy plus bib equals FUN! As promised, here is our birthday boy with his bib! Cody's birthday is actually tomorrow on the 19th, but we had the party yesterday with lots of family and friends. A good time was had by all. (Always special for me when I get to have almost my entire family together.) Lots of sensory overload for an almost one year old!

Okay. We are off in a little bit to hang the Bonnie's Team quilts! Come by next week and see them if you get a chance. Have a great Sunday all!

Add one birthday boy....

Almost a year ago I put up the pictures of our youngest grandson, Cody. He is our son and his wife's first child. So, today Harriet and Jan will hold down the fort while John and I head down a very wet I-5 for Cody's first birthday party in Shoreline! His other grandparents will be there from Eastern Washington and there will be aunts and uncles and cousins - lots of fun! (I get to see all of my kids and grandkids in one place at the same time if everything goes according to plan. WoooHoooo!) This is a picture of a bib I made for the birthday boy out of the last of our Happy Birthday fabric. I used some iron on vinyl to laminate the top and added a flannel back for the "cozy factor". We'll try and get a picture of him with it on for tomorrow!

At the shop today, the Applique Society will be meeting this morning. Then Harriet and Jan will be getting the Bonnie's Team quilts ready for John and I to hang tomorrow. They'll be on display until the end of the month.

Yesterday was a busy day there! Lots of customers and some fabric came! We got two more bolts of that fantastic "oilcloth" that is so soft and supple, plus a vintage-y cherry group in yellows and one bolt of cats!

Okay...got to go. Dropping off the "stuff" at Fab-Etc and then on to the freeway. Have a great weekend!

Sew What....

The award for the Best Booth at the Lynden Antique and Craft Fair this year went to our Tracey and her mom, Sandy! Here's a picture of the award and a picture of the Sew What booth that Tracey sent me. Doesn't it look great? If you get a chance to go out there Friday or Saturday, be sure to stop by and congratulate them! It's always a fun craft fair with lots of great handcrafted items. Our Linda and her daughter Sharie have a booth with an extraordinarily talented 12 year old young lady that does phenomenal art work! Linda will be there the next couple of days, so say hello to her too!

So, you ask - who's helping at the shop? Well, Harriet will be there tomorrow. And then Jan will be coming back from her quilt guild's retreat and she and Harriet will run the show Saturday while John and I go to Mr. Cody's first birthday party in Shoreline!! I'll try to get some pictures to share. (Yes, Jan's daughter's wedding was last Saturday and it was fabulous!)

At the shop, we've been doing a lot of straightening and working on a couple of projects - old and new! Fabric? New chickens, batiks and a "children of the world" print.

Dishes in the sink, no laundry, but a sewing project in process. Have a great Friday!

That's better.....

You know when you just aren't feeling "quite yourself"? I've been having a few of those days lately....I should have known from past experience what the problem was! Been really busy lately with the Yard Sale, October newsletter, new flooring, bills, class scheduling, store scheduling, BOM all ready to roll, orders, and more. I bet you all know what the answer was to my dilemma....I needed to sew something! Today I finished (except the buttons) the apron I've had cut out for over a week, and started playing with this Charm Pack and fabric called Mill House Inn from Moda. (Pictures of the apron soon.) Probably should have been paying some bills and doing a couple of other things, but it certainly felt good to sew! Besides, there's no mail tomorrow and the bills couldn't have gone out anyway - right?

Hope your Sunday was good. We had my Mom come over and have dinner with us today. And I have been cleaning out a little storage area that's got "stuff" I haven't looked at in a looooong time! My kids will thank me for this some day!!

Tomorrow will be great at Fab-Etc. Diane has session #4 of Beginning Quilting and we're going to get a project out from last year's holiday season and see what needs to happen to finish it up this year! (Not too much different than my little storage area!) Hope your week is wonderful.

Our classes are FUN....

Okay.....we have a couple of signs around the store that say "Our classes are fun..." This picture is living proof! You might have to "click" on it to get a better picture. (I captured the moment with my phone.) What's that you say, "What is Suz holding in her hand? Can that be a hand mixer?" Why, yes it is! This was the second and final installment of Suz's Crazy Quilting class last night. I had the privilege of eavesdropping from the counter as I was cutting wool squares. She shared a wealth of information to these gals about different, fun ways to embellish their crazy quilt projects. I'll just let you guys guess what the mixer had to do with this. If she offers the class again, and this is something you're interested in - don't miss it!

Wool - yes, I was cutting 10" wool squares that we will now have....trying to get a good variety for you for some of those fun wool projects you see in books and magazines. We'll keep working on the variety factor throughout the Fall!

Okay....got to run. Need to finish John's lunch, fix breakfast, hit the shower and make the Mock Devonshire for the Tea Party today noon! Hope your Wednesday is wonderful!!

Of course it looks good.....

This has been a busy week! Getting ready for the 91 Mile Yard Sale was lots of work, but it turned out to be lots of fun, too! Glad so many of you came by to check out our Yard Sale prices! (It's going to take a while to put everything back together, so if you missed out, we'll still have some of the "stuff" in Clearance for a while!)

And also this week, we had new vinyl put down in our kitchen at home. (I still have to stop for a second, so I don't call it linoleum!) I am not good at making decisions about flooring, paint color, furniture style....just not my forte. There had been a recall on the flooring we put down many years ago, but we liked it and just lived with it until the last week or so, when we decided this was the time! So....we looked at flooring patterns at local stores. The room is very small, and all of the patterns looked sooo big! We went upstairs at the Color Pot and looked at remnant pieces (the one plus side of having a small room!) And there it was - a smaller quilt pattern in flooring - a square in square! How could it not look good? It was the winner and now we have new floor in the kitchen. The frig is still in the dining room, but it's moving back today. So, yes, a busy week all around!

Very windy at our house this morning. (We were one of the ones to lose power at our house until nearly 8 pm last night!) Off to tidy, pay bills, and laundry, of course! Hope your Sunday is a good one. Should be another fun week at Fab-Etc coming up....now that Yard Sale is done, I can play with fabric again!

91 Mile Yard Sale - Day One....

The first day of our Tri County 91 Mile Yard Sale was tons 'o fun! We piled the tables really high with marked down fabrics ($3.99/$2.99/ even 99 cents). Had Yard Sale prices on lots of "stuff" and even a "free" table - like any good yard sale has. Lots of folks came through and, as always, the Fab-Etc crew had FUN! Day One had batiks at 20% off and Day Two has panels at 20% off, in addition to the other great bargains. We thought you might want to take a look at the panels, and then consider signing up for Velina's fun "Panel Play" class next Saturday! Her first class on this was excellent.

So....I'm off to take my vitamins, grab my thermos of coffee and have another FUN day at Fab-Etc. If you get a chance, swing by and take a look at our Yard Sale! We'll be there until 6:00 tonight. Hope to see you!