Well...

Well....isn't this just a darling jacket? Well....don't tell Harriet (who made this jacket) that I still haven't gotten the buttonholes done on it! She's been on a fun vacation with her sister and some of her sister's friends in Hawaii for the last 10 days or so. Maybe I can still get them done Monday before I see her? Anyway - enough of my woes - it's still a great lined jacked made from a New Look pattern. Notice that the lining turns up and makes a really super cuff. The pattern showed the pockets made from the same fabric as the outside, but I like Harriet's idea of making the pockets from the lining fabric, don't you?

Today was kind of a regular Summer August Saturday.... quiet, then busy, then quiet, then busy, repeat that again. I finished the blocks on the blue and white quilt, so maybe Jan will sew them together for me on Tuesday? I HAD to do that, because I started a new project today! There's been an Alex Anderson pattern calling my name for weeks. We have lots of red and whites and this is going to be a cute red/white/stitchery cherry wall hanging. I already made some of the nine patches and traced my cherries onto fabric. Now for a quiet few moments to sit and stitch.

Tonight John and I have been trying to figure out soccer. I still don't get it for the most part! Why? Well, remember when I told you about the song our son Pete wrote for the Sounders. Well....Drew Carey did have a video made from it and they had the "premiere" tonight at the Sounders game. They showed it during the pre-game show and they were supposed to play it again at halftime on the big screen and have an interview with Pete, the guys and Drew, but alas, that part wasn't televised. Anyway, Pete texted me that he's hanging out with Ryan Stiles and Drew Carey - how fun for him!

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday. Maybe the sun will shine a bit? Think I might stitch a few cherries - good night all!

Hungarian Blue....

I took this first picture on Saturday of a quilt Team Fab-Etc is working on. The next picture is one I took this afternoon. The fabric is called "Hungarian Blue", but we kind of thought it looked very Dutch. Guess it's the blue and white thing. Tracey made those six blocks in the middle and I cut the big triangles at the edge (oops, see one of the triangles got moved and I didn't notice it until just now!) Then today, Jan and I had a marathon of working on the last seven blocks....as you can see, we still have five more to go, but all of the "parts" are in order and it's just the final four or five seams left on each one of them. I'm working alone for most of the day tomorrow, so not too sure I'll get them done. The plan is to get the top done, quilted and bound and then hoping to "kit" it for the Moonlight Quilt Show next month! That's the plan, at least right now. I think it's going to be pretty dynamic when we get it all put together.

We got some freight this week. I was off on Monday, but yesterday when I got there, I was greeted by quite a few new bolts of fabric. There's a gorgeous large poppy and dogwood print from Michael Miller, new novelty cat prints, the rest of a kind of kitchen-y look from Alexander Henry, some "basics" and then a box came today from one of our batik suppliers that I haven't opened yet. Another job for tomorrow.

Hope your week is going well. Obviously, it's been kind of an emotional roller coaster ride for me this week. Benson, our seven year old grandson, told our daughter, Lydia that he thought we should celebrate Great Grandma's birthday tomorrow even if she couldn't be there. So all of the kids are driving north and we're driving south after work to meet at a halfway point for a "big fat juicy hamburger" as my mom would call it. Thank you all for your kind words and thoughtful notes this week, they really mean a lot to me and to my family.

More from the land of fabric soon! Pleasant dreams all.

My Mom....

My Mom, Bert, lost her short battle with anaplastic thyroid cancer Saturday afternoon. It was just five days before August 26th - her 92nd birthday . She was an active, amazing lady who handled this challenge with so much dignity and grace.

This picture is from her 90th birthday party, when I took her for "pie for breakfast". We had a relative in Montana that made the best pies. When Mom and Dad would visit, she always made sure Mom could have pie for breakfast.

Mom had so many wonderful stories to tell, most of which involved the love of her life, my Dad, Bill who passed away in 1992. A few years after Dad died, she moved from Tacoma to The Village at Cordata in Bellingham where we were privileged to have her close to us. She loved her exercise group, pinochle and walking either around her neighborhood or at the Mall. Mom could grow just about anything and enjoyed tending her plants. She dearly loved her kids, grandkids and great grandkids.

Mom loved popping into the shop to see what new projects we were working on and to hear about everybody's comings and goings. Many of you will remember her on the "night shift" at the stamp station during Shop Hop every June. She took that job very seriously and made sure we were right on with our "count" of blocks given out each day. And just like lots of you, she knew where I kept the chocolates. Tracey dubbed her the "Produce Queen" because Mom was always finding a "good buy" on some fruits or vegetables that she just knew I could use!

I will miss her very much and can only hope to be half the lady she was. I love you, Mom.

Tricks or treats....

The new "Quilts and More" magazine arrived last week. It has loads of fun projects! This is just one of them that caught our eye. Jan (with a little help from our friends Alicia and Nan) put these mini "Treat Bags" together on Tuesday. What I wanted to know was where the treats were? A customer remarked today that any little kiddo would just love to have one of those fun bags. Someone else thought putting sewing notions or fat quarters or a pattern or two in them would be a great idea too. You'll have to take a browse through the magazine the next time you're in our neighborhood! (OH....I almost for got to tell you that those Jack o lanterns' mouths and eyes glow in the dark - how cool is that?!?!)

Have you been to the Northwest Washington Fair yet? I am not going to get a chance to go this year. But I've heard a few snippets as to the quilt displays and ribbons. I guess Jan's friend entered a gift Jan made for her this year and it got a ribbon and our Tracey got a blue ribbon for her applique quilt. Not surprising that either of them would win ribbons - they are among the best in my book! I'll let you know more as I hear it.

A box of notions came today, but I haven't had a chance to sort through, price and put them out yet. I know one of the things is the Atkinson Designs new zipper assortment, plus a few patterns that go with it. And I saw at the top of the heap Anna Maria Horner's new book too! I LOVE her blog! http://annamariahorner.blogspot.com/

Hope your week is good. Cooler weather makes sleeping a bit easier - right? Speaking of which......night all!

Halloween candy....

Halloween candy would look great in a bowl set in the middle of this table topper. Remember I said Alicia was playing around with some Halloween fabric and an Atkinson Design pattern? Well, she let us borrow this before it was quilted to put up during the sale a couple of weeks ago. (Guess we'll have to give it back so she can finish?) It turned out really well....she has a GREAT eye for color. We like to call her our "color consultant" around here!

Whew....this has really been a busy week so far. Lots and lots of you are coming in to look at fabric and get some to take home with you. Good thing the UPS driver keeps bringing us more, huh? I cut some of the new blue/white group and Jan started a block or two and I'm going to try and make some more. The quilt project looks pretty good. And then we got a jungle-type print from Hoffman with another free pattern that both she and I thought looked cool, so that's next (or at the same time, if nobody catches us working on multiple projects at once!) Harriet's been making a darling jacket that will probably be my next picture for you - very cute! We're just at the point of obsessing over THE PERFECT buttons! The new Quilts and More magazine showed up yesterday and darn if they don't have a couple of projects in there that would be good made from some of our new Fall prints. Why can't there be more hours in a day for projects?!?

Well, it's late and I am very tired. So, think I'll finish up in the kitchen, run the dishwasher and head for my pillow. Have a wonderful week!

I love Kansas Troubles fabric....

It's true, I admit it. I LOVE Kansas Troubles fabrics. And because I do, I've been playing around with a quilt in the Antique Quilts magazine that we still have some copies of. This magazine is fun in that it shows the original antique quilt (in this case it was kind of a cheddar and white two color quilt.) And then it shows the same quilt done in more contemporary fabrics....in this case scrappy. And when I think of scrappy, I immediately think of KT (Kansas Troubles). Maybe because I have just one or two of them! Plus, we just got a bunch more in from the new Summers End line. This is a Jacobs Ladder block - I've never made one before. It's pretty darn simple and then a couple of folks have seen me working on it and are telling me that it is an extremely versatile block.....hmmmmm......maybe some fun rearranging about to happen on the design wall?

Well, it was a fun week at Fab-Etc. We got a few new fabrics and they are slowly finding homes for the most part. It's time to do some changing around, but I just haven't gotten around to it. And then, the rain came on Saturday! Can't tell you how many folks came in and sheepishly admitted they were really kind of glad it was raining so they could play with fabric instead of weeds!

Hope you have a good week ahead of you. I think I'll play with my Jacob's Ladder blocks and maybe start cutting for a blue and white quilt we just got the fabric for. Too much fun stuff and not nearly enough time!

Where eagles soar....

Where do eagles soar? Well, they're soaring on our design wall right now! The center of this is a panel that Diane made up into a wallhanging or small lap quilt using the free pattern from Wilmington/South Seas. Isn't it just stunning? We've sold a lot of the fabrics already, but there are still some left. Diane's husband, John, says he really hopes that this is coming back to his house to live - yes, it certainly is. Diane was thinking maybe the eagle should have some trapunto work. I think she's right!

Well, today was another busy day at Fabric-Etc. I was working alone, but managed to get the Clearance moved back to the other side of the room (thanks for helping me, Alicia!) We got a new vacuum for the shop and it got a bit of a workout cleaning up after the sale!

Tonight all of the Fabettes went out for dinner. I kept telling everybody that we needed to go out for fish after working so hard on the Tri-County quilt (remember the nautical theme and our porthole?) And then "life" kept happening, including surgery for me. So....we managed to go out tonight before Emily leaves to go back to college and Jan goes to Mexico and Tracey to Georgia and Harriet to Hawaii and Izzie to Eastern Washington and Diane to points unknown! Whew....it's going to be a busy month! We had loads of fun laughing and eating.

Well, I am pooped tonight, so it's off to bed soon. Hope your Monday was a good one. Oh, I almost forgot.....the new Kansas Troubles group arrived today - it's GORGEOUS! Of course, we had to tease Tracey about moving the KT's around while she's gone this week!! Night all.