This is for you, Emily.....

Our wonderful college nursing school student, Emily (also a Fabette) is home for the summer with her family and working at Fab-Etc again for another month or so. I told her that I had ordered some Loralie nurse fabric, but didn't know when it would arrive - hopefully before she left for school in Iowa again! Hooray...it came today. So, I know you are working tomorrow, Emily, but here's a preview of the nurse fabric. Truthfully, I didn't have time to unwrap it much and look, so I'll be right there next to her ooohing and awwwwing tomorrow! I'm thinking we should try out one of our New Look patterns and make a scrub top using one of these prints.

Well, post Shop Hop life is good. Tracey reminded me that I neglected to put the final count up for all to see. We figure that 2039 folks came and picked up block kits in the five days of Shop Hop. I confess to working 10 straight days, but am taking tomorrow morning off. I also confess to being a bit tired!

What else is happening? Well, we got some more cute Halloween fabric. In fact, Alicia has started the ball rolling on an Atkinson Design pattern using some of the prints. And we got some great stripes, so Jan put together a couple of 60 degree runners that I'll show you in the next day or so. We also got Happy Camper Too from Clothworks today - very fun! And wool! Lots of new colors that we'll be cutting into the 10" and 5" squares for your applique or "whatever" projects.

One more thing...FYI we will be closed Monday for the Independence Day holiday weekend. I plan to do something lazy....how about you?

Shop Hop Day Five....

It's over... Shop Hop 2010 is but a pleasant memory. This is a picture of one of my last "To Do's" for Shop Hop. Yup, I hopefully put at least one winning passport that was turned in into this Priority Mail Box and stopped on my way home tonight to drop it in the mail at the Post Office for the drawing. Good luck to all of you Hoppers!!

Today was another fun day. A few tired faces, but still lots of laughs and good times. Sunday is always a bit more of a mellow day. We usually get a little tidying up done around here. My Mom came down and helped stamp for a little while. Harriet and I cleaned, stamped and waited on customers. I got my sheet all ready for your phone calls beginning in the morning wanting us to mail our block kits out if you couldn't get here. (FYI, if you call, we'll mail them right out. Then when you get them, please send us $2 back - sounds fair, right?) If you come to the shop, they are $1.50 and that includes the tax. We also have some of each of the fabrics left, in case you need any more.

Okay....in the real world, I haven't done laundry in days and I am hungry. Got a load going and now off to find some supper. Have a great week!

Shop Hop 2010 Day Four....

Only one day left until Shop Hop 2010 is history. Today was a great day again. Here are a couple of pictures of the fun that was going on at Fabric-Etc. It's a little hard to see, in fact you might have to "click" on this first picture to see it bigger. Can you see the four motorcycles with "hoppers"? This was a group of mostly gals on bikes having a blast hopping in the nice weather on their motorcycles. They attracted a bit of attention, and my neighbor, Ron, from Bailey's Bath House who loves to ride too, came out to chat with them.

Then, later on, this van pulled up with the slogan on the side that pretty well sums up the attitude of the majority of Hoppers. They too were having a blast.

Later on, a bus with 40 gals on it from the Seattle area came through. Jan gave them a great demo on the "shrinky dinky" stuff - Texture Magic and they seemed to enjoy looking and shopping before their next stop.

How about the staff? Well, we're holding up pretty well. It's tradition to get Granitas at Tony's Coffee stand on the Saturday afternoon of Shop Hop, so it was our duty to keep tradition alive. Yummmmm. Then, tomorrow Harriet and I will be there to finish up. We've got a bit of tidying to do in between Hoppers, and I must admit, I am tired, but enjoying every minute of the Hop.

That said, I'm going to clean up my kitchen and then it's off to bed. Hope your weekend is going as well as ours has been!

Shop Hop 2010 Day Three....

Well, Shop Hop 2010 Day Three is in the record books. It was a wonderful day with loads of Hoppers. We've had close to 1600 Shop Hop participants come through the door in the three days so far. Today was a day filled with lots of fun laughter from friends and family members "hopping" together. This is a picture of one of the show stopper quilts we have on display. It's the Garden Party quilt - with fabric and pattern designed by Blackbird Designs of Moda Fabrics. Jan and I worked together on this. She got the ball rolling; I finished hand appliqueing blocks; and she put them together for me as I got them done. Then.....Nikki from the Country Quilter did this phenomenal job of quilting it! It made everything just come to life. Please come and look at it if you're in the shop. We had kits made for it and I think there's still one left as of the end of today. Tracey and Jan call it my "heirloom quilt". Nikki and Jan really helped make me look good - THANKS to both of you!

So, that's pretty much the story from today. Harriet, Tracey, Alicia, Emily and I had just loads of fun and we're ready for another two days of "hopping". It's always such a great time to see so many folks enjoying fabric and having such a good time together. Tomorrow, Lin will have her raffle quilt at Fab-Etc to raise money to participate in the annual Three Day Walk for breast cancer in Seattle in the Fall. Guess that's all from my side of the counter. Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Shop Hop 2010 Day Two....

Day Two of the Shop Hop is over, but far from forgotten! This is a picture of one of the many fun demos of Texture Magic that our Jan did today. She'd get a bunch of people who were in the store to come back to the class area and show them that "shrinky dinky stuff" - Texture Magic. They all had great a great time watching the Magic at work. And no one can match Jan's enthusiasm when it comes to something she likes to play with. We're letting her have tomorrow off, but she'll be back Saturday "playing" again. My mom came tonight and helped stamp passports for an hour or so...she does such a great job. She tells me that our head count is around 1033 for the two days. A few less than last year, but still lots of great "Hoppers" coming through.

I was so excited about Carrie signing her pattern yesterday that I forgot to tell you that we got freight! Yup, more of those great 108" backing fabrics came in, even a couple in flannel (which is now closer to the 108" than the previous 100"). There was a gorgeous royal blue wool in a solid and kind of a jacquard print with black from Holland, a plaid Berber fleece and a few other assorted odds and ends.

Okay, it's late, I am tired and I unfortunately woke up with a kink in my neck this morning. Think I'll head for bed , relax and dream of more fun tomorrow for Day Three!!

Shop Hop 2010 Day One....

Whew....we made it through Day One of the 2010 Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop! Nearly 600 folks came today and picked up their block kits. It doesn't seem to matter how much you try and be prepared for something like this, there's always things you forgot or still need to do when you open the doors! But, all in all, we seemed to muddle through. That's because I am blessed to have hands down THE BEST staff any shop owner could hope for. I'm still having to pace myself after surgery in May, so they all keep me in line and keep things running ever so smoothly. And Tracey's Mom, Sandy, kept the stamp station humming along without a glitch. (She's also the VERY talented lady who makes those adorable pincushions we have for sale!)

This picture is of a really cool thing that happened today. As you may remember from a few posts ago, Carrie is another VERY talented lady who designed the Baby Babushka pattern. Her daughter, MacKenzie is a graphic designer, I think, and put the pattern to paper for her mom. Well....the lady in the middle of the picture found out that Carrie had been selling raffle tickets for the Moonlight Guild quilt outside. She says this is THE BEST pattern ever - she has 9 grandchildren...same number as the "babies" in the pattern. She asked if Carrie would sign the pattern and we captured it for eternity here in cyberspace. How fun is that ?!? Plus, right before that, a lady called from New York who had seen the pattern on the blog and asked if we could send it to her - of course!

Okay....I just had my wonderful green salad dinner and did my bookwork. I am almost ready to head for the pillow on my bed. Day Two promises to be just as much fun, if not more than Day One! Night all......

Honeybun, anyone....

Honeybuns. These are definitely good and with absolutely no calories! What are they? They're yummy "rolls" of 1 1/2" strips. You might remember that we made this Honeybun Basket pattern before in Christmas fabric and again in Valentine prints. Well, the next holiday on the horizon being the Fourth of July (Independence Day) we decided a patriotic basket would be great to put your napkins in for the picnic table. So, we made this one this week and put together a few Honeybun rolls of patriotic prints, in case anyone else might like to whip one up too. The pattern goes together really easily and you can make one in an evening. Now, if the weather would just cooperate for that picnic!

Well, another week has gone by. It was a very productive one around Fab-Etc! We got all of the block kits packaged up and today I cut and packaged up all of your pre-orders for Shop Hop. We moved some fabric around and started and finished a few projects, with more in the works. I'll be trying to get out an e-mail update this weekend to fill everyone in on all of the latest and greatest here.

Sunday...Father's Day....not sure what we're doing around here. Some of the kids may pop in for a visit and I usually try and make the father of my children strawberry shortcake. Best be headed out to get some strawberries then! Hope your Sunday is relaxing and fun, whatever you are up to at your place.

Strike while the iron's hot....

This is one of the other projects I finished this week! If you ever need to take an iron to a class, a retreat, or while you're traveling this is called the "Sole Cool Iron Bag". It's lined with Insul-Brite, so you can put a warm iron in there and carry it to the car without having to wait until it's completely cold. It was fun to make in this great print! And since it's Texture Magic Month around here, I decided to texturize the bottom band. We thought it really fit the "theme" of the bag, since you use your iron to texturize the fabric - don't you agree? We have the patterns at the shop - the bag comes in two sizes, and of course, we carry the Insul-Brite by the yard. Alicia told me that she knows someone that liked the design so much she rounded the bottom and turned it into a purse - how clever! You'll have to take a look when you are in the shop.

What a fun couple of days this has been. Jan was the Little Wallet Maker yesterday. Watch for pictures of the fun ones she made and for kits with, you guessed it, Texture Magic, the pattern and fabrics to make a wallet. I'll have pictures in a day or two - ok? Emily and I were pretty busy today making more progress on Hop stuff. We cut some more 6 yard backs and pulled a few bolts for our Clearance section, with more to come. Our favorite pincushion maker, Sandy, was by to spruce up the display with a few new ones. (I confess to owning three of them and LOVING each one!) I'm trying to finish another project - a Honeybun Basket made from patriotic fabrics. I'm down to just the handle and the buttons. We're making a few honeybun rolls of our own, in case anyone wants to try one. Would look great on your Fourth of July table to hold the napkins and plastic forks! I'll get a picture of it too for you.

Okay, you knew I was washing clothes - right? Need to go pull them out of the dryer. Have a wonderful Friday tomorrow! We'll be playing with fabric and setting up for Applique Society Saturday morning.

I finished....

I finished the Bella Bag! I've had several projects "in the works" for a week or more and I finally got something all the way done. This bag pattern is designed by Heather Mulder Peterson aka Anka's Treasures. It comes in three sizes, uses the popular curtain grommets and is really very easy to make. I'm not sure if you can tell from this picture, but as you may recall, I was texturizing the band of the bag using our Fantastic Find for June, Texture Magic. I think it came out great! This is the medium sized bag. It's hanging above the Asian prints, so you'll have to take a look next time you are in. We have ordered lots more patterns and grommets for Shop Hop, too.

This has been a great week so far. Yesterday we had a bag stuffing party and got all 2300 Shop Hop block kits all put together, in their boxes, numbered and put on the shelves in the back room - HALLELUJAH! It feels good to have that hurdle behind us.

Jan and I were playing around with a couple of projects today. She sewed the binding on the Garden Party quilt for me so I can have a sit down job and hand stitch it to the back. Nikki from The Country Quilter did a fabulous job on it! We'll have a few kits ready for Shop Hop and lots of patterns too.

We've been talking about using Texture Magic to make one of the small wallets from Valori Wells' pattern. We decided on a couple of prints from a new Benartex group and Jan texturized the fabric and put one together - very cute....expect pictures soon.

Okay, I have my Garden Party binding to sew on, think I'll go sit for a while. I've got a few more pictures of other projects we've finished recently to share in the next few days. Happy Tuesday evening!

How cute is.....

How stinkin' cute is this? Harriet made this little halter top and capri pants that will fit one of her granddaughters. The top is an Oliver + S design from the new Stitch magazine (remember the recycle bag Emily made a few blog posts ago from the same magazine?) And the pants are made from a New Look pattern - sorry, but we're sold out right now. Not to worry, though, more are on their way! The outfit is made from a new group of fabric we got a week or so ago. There are a few more prints in the line, as well. One of them would make a great little girl's sundress. Oh, Harriet, you with the with four granddaughters! (None of my three grandsons would look good dressed that way!)

Well, what a lovely day - right? At Fab-Etc today, Tracey taught her very popular Applique the Tracy Way class. Emily and I moved some fabric around and worked a bit on Shop Hop Block kits. We've got over 200 in the bags and only 2000+ left to go! Monday is the "bag stuffing party" and we're hoping to put all the rest of the kits to bed in their boxes to await all of the "hoppers" in about 10 days! Yesterday, I ordered more fabric from my Moda sales rep - I wouldn't want to run out of fabric! Included in that, was a really great Block of the Month we are hoping to do - probably beginning in January. It's from the designer French General and is just gorgeous in rich browns and reds. We're also talking about doing another applique Block of the Month in batiks benefiting Alzheimers. Stay tuned for more!

Hope your weekend involves enjoying some of the much anticipated sunshine we saw today. Hoping I get a chance to soak some of it up tomorrow and get my errands/chores done too. Enjoy!

EQ7....

It's here....EQ7 arrived this afternoon! We were pretty busy, so just started calling everyone. If you didn't get a call today, we'll be phoning tomorrow. This is my upgrade, sitting on my dining room table waiting to be installed. But, I wanted to put this up on the blog first to let anyone know that might be "looking in" from cyberspace! Hoping to get the update installed tonight, but I've got my computer guru husband helping me get my pattern super-imposed on our Shop Hop Block Directions. Unfortunately, this work has to come before EQ play!

What else happened today? Well, Diane had her "Back on the Farm" class this afternoon. Their projects are coming out so well! And HOORAY....Jan and I finished cutting all of the Shop Hop fabric and I finished stamping the bags yesterday. As soon as I get the directions ready, we'll be printing and bag stuffing the 2300 kits. It will be good to have them all numbered and tucked in their boxes awaiting Day One of the Hop June 23rd!

I'm on the home stretch of finishing the Bella Bag, then I'll get the Iron Cool Bag done. I used Texture Magic to make parts of each bag....it was fun! Okay, back to the direction-thing.

"Gracie's" quilted is....

This is "Gracie's Garden Sampler" - it was a block of the month we did starting last Fall. Jan and I worked together on the project and we just got it back from Jo at Quiltography. As the title of this blog post says, "Gracie's" quilted is just beautiful! Jo did a fantastic job for us. I put a couple of closeups for you to see how quilting can really accentuate your work. (Remember, you can "click" on the picture to see it bigger!) So, next time you are in the shop. take a good look at "Gracie" and see if you don't agree that she's beautiful! BTW, we do have this pattern and a few kits we made from the BOM "leftovers". If you're interested in the kits, I suggest you stop in before the Shop Hop crowds descend upon us.

We had a great week here at Fab-Etc. Got some new fabrics, books and magazines and made some great progress on getting those 2300 Shop Hop block kits ready for the 23rd! Think we may have a "staff bagging day" coming up here pretty soon. I still need to finish the directions, but it'll all come together - right? We also played around some with the Fantastic Find of this month - Texture Magic. I'm hoping to finish the two projects I've been working on in the next day or two. And I know Jan wants to try one of the little wallet projects using Texture Magic. Fun!

Today? Well, it wasn't supposed to rain on my parade!! All of the family is coming over this afternoon for lasagna and Happy Birthday to our oldest son, Pete and our middle grandson, Benson! Our house is on the small side, so being able to go outside when we have these gatherings is a definite plus. But, it'll be just fine....being all together is the best part! Okay...lasagna is made, now to do the tidy up thing. Hope your Sunday is wonderful!

Baby Babushka....

I've been wanting to share this with you. This is a pattern one of our customers, Carrie, designed. Her daughter and friends encouraged her to make a pattern and we're all so glad she did! Look at those darling babies! She's included a pattern for their faces and it's a great way to use those fun large prints that are out on the market these days. We've got a quilt at the shop as well as the patterns, so stop in a see!

What's been happening this week? Well, lots of Shop Hop kit preparation. We've almost got all of the fabric cut for our 2300 kits and I'm working on direction sheets. Feels good to be making progress on that.

Heard from Electric Quilt that they are shipping our EQ7 order this week! My next picture I hope, will be the Gracie's Garden Sampler quilt. Jo from Quiltography just got it back to us and I'm on the last side of the binding! I didn't want to show it off until it was bound. She did a fabulous job of quilting - wait until you see it. We have the patterns and a few kits left. (It was our Block of the Month program we did last year.)

Otherwise, we've gotten a bit more holiday fabrics - Christmas and Halloween. Some "basics" and new books and magazines. Okay...off to finish my laundry and hopefully, the last of the binding. Have a lovely evening!