Like magic....

So...tomorrow is June 1st. That means we have a new Fantastic Find for the month. Well, we decided to give Texture Magic a try as our Fantastic Find. Unfortunately, we sold the last of ours and had to wait for more to come so we could "play" with it a bit! That's what I did yesterday and today. This is the latest one pictured here. My plan is to eventually texture a piece to use as the top of the Bella Bag pattern. The Texture Magic looks like a 47" piece of lining fabric. On this one, I used a light Quilters Dream cotton batting between the Magic and burgundy fabric; used the lines in the fabric as a guide and stitched. Then, I simply used the steam of the iron and voila....textured fabric! How fun is that?!? We've got a few patterns designed specifically for use with this product. Maybe I'll give one of those a whirl too! I have a couple of other ideas rattling around in my head. How about the center of an appliqued flower? Or the bodice or cuffs on a little girl's dress or an alternate block in a baby quilt for a touchy/feely thing? Hmmmm.......

Hope your holiday was good today. Back to my steam iron!

Memorial Day weekend.....

Happy Memorial Day weekend everybody! I took another picture of the patriotic topper that Tracey made. This one isn't quite as good as the other, but it works. You can't tell in this picture, but the background is a fabric with little red, white and blue flags on it. I thought it would be a good weekend to put this picture up, since we are honoring our fallen soldiers. It would be a good project to put on the wall or use on a table, don't you think?

Well, the weather isn't the best here, is it? And our Jan is having a party today to celebrate her daughter and son-in-law's recent wedding in Belize. Hope the sun shines a bit and the rain holds out this afternoon for them!

At our house, it's going to be pretty quiet. I need to do a lot of catching up around here if at all possible. And I need to finish the June newsletter and get the new Fantastic Find on the website. It's going to be Texture Magic. I played a little bit with it last night while I was doing some laundry...it's pretty fun! I'll make some samples and bring them in to the shop Tuesday.

Hope your weekend is enjoyable!

Posters....

Well, the much anticipated Shop Hop 2010 posters arrived today. We have about 15 that aren't spoken for. Cost will be $6.00. Just like last year, we're laminating the smaller 8 1/2" x 11" poster on one side and setting directions on the other. We are selling those for $2.99. We're just starting "production" tonight, but will have a dozen or so at the shop beginning tomorrow.

Look at my bag!! Isn't it too cute for words? I made it from a great Spring line we have up by the counter. It's a pattern in the latest Quilts and More magazine. The back is all patchwork too. Now I just have to find the perfect button - maybe a covered one? And it will be done. Hooray!

Freight....108" batik backings and Ho, Ho, Ho the first of the Christmas 2010 fabrics are arriving. We don't have them "in your face", so you might have to ask. In fact, the new ones today are from Hoffman and I didn't even get them checked in yet.

Hope your week is good. Off to my laminating job!

Shop Hop 2010 block....

I had hoped to put up a picture today of the topper that Tracey made using patriotic fabrics. But...last night I accidentally deleted it from my camera. Oops. So, that's on the Monday "To Do" list for the shop. I did happen to have our Shop Hop block with me this weekend, so I took a picture of it for you. It's had quite an adventure since it's inception! We sent our first one to In the Beginning to be included in The Quilt for the poster. (I understand some shops have theirs already, but ours haven't arrived yet - I'll be calling Monday to get the scoop on that!) Then, we proceeded to make this one to hang at the shop. We fiddled with buttons for the center of the flower and still not sure that will be our final answer! Jan built it into a mini quilt last week and we bound it off. Emily and I were going to hang it behind the counter Friday when the unthinkable happened - it dropped behind the counter where the cash registers are - oh no!! Totally my fault, because I didn't fix that little opening back there the last time this happened. Hoping not to have to ask my husband to move that monster counter and cash registers again, Emily fished and fished and then I managed to grab hold of it and get it just close enough so she could get her fingers on it - HOORAY! We'll find a new home for it tomorrow. (And yes, fixing that opening was at the top of Saturday's "To Do" list! Mission accomplished.)

So, today you can watch your inbox for an e-mail update from us. Just wanted to get the new classes and other "stuff" up on the website before I sent it. Trying to let John have his breakfast and a few moments to himself first before I hit him up to put his webmaster hat on!

Last few days at the shop have been pretty doggone busy! We did manage to get started on the cutting of our 2300 block kits for Hop, so that was a very good thing. Other than that, it was cut for the customers and put back for the most part. Plus it seemed to be a "freight intensive" week - who ordered all of this stuff anyway? Oh, that's right....me!

Hope your Sunday is good!

It's child's play....

This is a quick and easy project that's sure to be fun to any little (and maybe big) folks at your place. It's a pre-printed panel done on a heavier weight fabric. Harriet just put this great bright green denim/twill weight fabric behind it - right sides together and flip out. She stitched a bit around some of the roads and tracks and voila, a fun play mat to throw on the floor!

Well, this has been a great week so far, with more fun to come! We received the new Kansas Troubles book, "Piecing the Past" and now today, we got the new Kansas Troubles fabric line in! It was a WOW moment for all of us KT lovers! I haven't checked them in yet, but there's also pickles, corn, mushrooms and a new cat or two as well as some great flannels. There are new batiks and basics and we're restocking the notions wall!

Sewing...Emily is working on Mother/Daughter aprons. Very cute! Jan finished the Eclectic Garden quilt and Tracey already quilted it for us. - she's good! Just need to hand stitch the binding. We're on track to have the Garden Party quilt ready at the end of next week for Nikki to quilt. We made our Hop block into a mini quilt and just have to sew on buttons and binding. I'm working on a great patchwork bag from Quilts and More that's turning out pretty darn cute. Now, if I could just find a source for purchasing a bit more time to add to each day, I'd be set!

Hope your week has been good so far. Come see us if you're in our neighborhood!

Go ask Alice....

I've been hearing from lots of you that anything "Alice in Wonderland" is HOT! In fact, our 4-H leader, Joan, was telling me that they're having a Mad Hatter Tea as a fund raiser over on Lummi Island - how fun. I have a VERY old copy of Alice in Wonderland. I can remember my Dad reading parts of it to me. And I re-read it many times as a kid. Well, we have Alice in Wonderland fabric here at Fab-Etc. This is a picture of a pillowcase that Diane made using a couple of the pieces. Maybe you know somebody that might like something "Alice'?

I thought yesterday (Saturday) would be kind of a quiet day. The gals from Applique Society were coming in the morning and I thought Tracey and I would just kind of play around with a few projects and make some headway on the "WE REALLY NEED TO" list. Not! OMG, we were soooo busy in the morning. Tracey said she came through the door and hit the ground running! It did quiet down in the afternoon, and since I'm trying to take things a bit easy, we had a nice sit down visit with Alicia for a bit to recoup!

Then Tracey fixed a back for the fun Eclectic Garden quilt that Jan made and took it home. She's recently purchased a longarm quilting machine and has just put out her shingle for longarm services. So, we've hired her to quilt it for us.

Ahhhh, Sunday. Not sure what yours looks like. A bit of tidying here, some bookwork, Sunday dinner (pork chops me thinks), and a trip to Mom's with some handwork so I can sit and visit a bit. I did cut out some pieces to try a bag that's in one of our magazines that I may play with later this evening, and I need to sew that last few inches on the patriotic topper Tracey put together for me. Sounds like a good day all around, don't you think? Hope yours will be too!

Emily's home....

Our Emily is back from her first year at college! Her family is happy to have her home and we're sooo happy to have her working with us this summer. I messed up the schedule yesterday and e-mailed her and told her that it was her first day back. Not - oops! So, she and Linda both babysat me yesterday. As long as she was there, we got her started on a project we'd been wanting to play with since the new Stitch magazine came in. We've had a great "recycle" fabric and the magazine had this cute bag with a little pouch that it folds up into. We, being our usual Ford kind of company (we've always "got a better idea") tweaked the pattern a bit and this is what we came up with. It's even better in person. She finished it today, which was supposed to really be her first day back. Thanks, Emily - the rest of the Fabettes have really missed you!!

All in all, it's been a good week so far. I've been trying hard to be a "good girl" and not lift stuff and do too much (not that the staff would let me anyway). We've gotten some new fabrics - a stunning Asian group and Red Hat fabric that's flying out of here. I took a couple more pictures of things and I'll be sharing those in the next few days.

Tomorrow is Applique Society, so that will be fun. Tracey and I will see if we can't get into some more trouble, too. Hope your week has been a good one. I've got my single load of laundry about ready for the dryer, so got to run! Pop in and say "howdy" if you're in the neighborhood!

Mom's Day 2010...

Happy Mother's Day everybody! Hope your Sunday was wonderful. I just looked on the kitchen counter and saw that the camera I had put there to remind me to take pictures today was still there, but alas, no new family pictures. Pesky few pain pills I'm still taking, I guess. So...I took a picture of our table. I brought home my Mini Picnic Quilt that's been at the shop and my oldest son, Pete brought the flowers. (Lydia's flowers are a really cool plant that needs to go in the ground.) I thought my two oldest grandsons would like finding the different foods on the topper! Since I'm still in recovery mode from my surgery, we had a very low key get together. Everybody was here but our youngest son, Dave and his family. My mom's not feeling well, so we had some lunch, visited a bit and then the kids headed to Grandma/Great Grandma's house for a quick visit. Then it was back to our place for the finale. The weather was wonderful, so we ate outside and just enjoyed being together. What a special day - even if I didn't get pictures!

Well, it's back to work tomorrow for me. I'm on very light duty and have scheduled help to "babysit" me and keep me in line each day. But be warned, if you do come in and I'm by myself, you may have to carry the batting or bolts for me - okay?

I'm itching to get some pictures of the latest projects and fabrics we have going on at Fab-Etc, so stay tuned for that. One load of laundry/day is all I'm allowing myself and it's ready for the dryer. Have a super week!

Home again, home again....

Well, remember that "funny thing happened to me on the way to" post back in February? The kidney infection? As it turns out, it was a kidney problem and an infection, but it was something that needed to be fixed surgically. Uh oh.

So, very early (5:30 am) Monday morning I checked into this lovely facility you see pictured here to get it taken care of. I'm happy to report that all went well and pretty much according to plan. As so many of you are aware, we have a wonderful medical facility and dedicated people who work there every day to keep all of us "up and running". Modern medicine is truly amazing, isn't it? (And I have to admit, thank God for pain pills!)

I am back home now recuperating and toddling between the bed, recliner and desk for right now. Have a good stitchin' project to keep me busy; and I think after today, I'll be able to do a bit more (no laundry yet, though!) My fabulous staff is keeping everything humming at the shop - Tracey even sent me some pictures of today's Tea Party! Sure wish I could have been there instead of here! As soon as I can, I'll find out what great stuff arrived this week and let you all know!

Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers this week. And in my own words....for that, I am as always....sew thankful - Carol