Team Fab-Etc.....

Well, we are down to the last few days and the last few things to have our "Birds of a Feather" quilt done for the Tri-County Quilt Merchants' Association Quilt Tour next month. I'm taking a break from sewing the binding to blog. I'm sure you know how wonderful the staff is here at Fabric-Etc....they have all pitched in and worked so hard to make this fun quilt come into fruition. Alicia has lent her artistic expertise in so many areas and Tracey did a fabulous job quilting it for us. Harriet and Linda came to my rescue yesterday and sewed every bit and piece we put in front of them. Diane has worked her special kind of magic with a sewing machine on many of the blocks this year. And Janice has been my rock, always ready to try anything and positive we can pull it off! You should have seen us today...."How many Fabric-Etc employees does it take to square up a quilt?" What a hoot....four of us practically sitting on top of one another on the tables holding rulers and rotary cutters! But it worked - square as can be!! There are still some finishing touches before we unveil it, but thanks to them, it's looking like the picture I saw in my little pea brain. What a team!

We've gotten freight and other things this week, but have been so busy, I'm not sure all that's come in. I know there's new flannel and two wonderful new vinyl covered fabrics. I've got patterns on order for some of the smaller foot square little hangings that Diane has been making. New batiks that came in as well.

Okay....break is over.....hope your weekend is wonderful!

Sewing Circle.....

This is a picture of a great book we have at the shop - "The Civil War Sewing Circle" by Kathleen Tracy. What's that in the basket? Well, we are using this book for our KT Klub this year and our facilitator, Tracey, made these pin cushions for each of us in the Klub from a pattern in the book. Aren't they darling? She used some of the crushed glass in them, so our pins and needles will stay sharp, too. The book has some wonderful history and LOTS of great projects. All of us are looking forward to this year's Klub. If you are interested, I think there is one spot in the Wednesday night group and one spot in the Friday morning group. We meet 6 times/year.

What a week so far! And my dear husband just pointed out that the snow flakes are starting to fly at our house. Good thing Jan came in on Monday to help me with the birdhouse quilt 'cause I am not so sure she'll make it tomorrow if the weather is snowing and blowing! We are handing the quilt off to Tracey tomorrow to work her longarm magic on it. I just need to cut a piece of batting and backing to give her. We'll still have a few things to do on it when she's done, but all in all, we're headed into the home stretch! It's got to be hung a week from today, so stop by and take a look.

After I hand it off tomorrow, I've got LOTS of catch up to do around the shop. UPS came at 5:50 today with two boxes; there are more Fat Tuesdays to get ready; notions orders to fill; batting to order; and just some general all around clutter to take care of! So, if it's snowy tomorrow, I won't be at a lack for something to do with my day at Fab-Etc.

Hope your evening is good.....my dryer is done....bye for now!

Like magic.....

Sorry I haven't posted anything this week. We've had our noses to the grindstone getting our birdhouse quilt ready. The blocks are done and we're working on the final "put together" so Tracey can quilt it for us. We're pretty excited to see our idea come to fruition. As always, it's a "Team Fab-Etc" effort with everybody lending their ideas and strengths to the project. We really enjoy working together on something like this and I am truly blessed to have such great friends/staff to help me when I say, "I have an

idea!" (I know they must all secretly cringe when they hear those words, but they're such good sports to "play" with me!) So.....we have to have the Tri-County Quilt Tour Birdhouse project up on March 1st. Stop by and see it after then - ok? I'll plan to once again "blog the blocks" in March, so check back here for that beginning right after Fat Tuesday (March 8th).

Okay, I know, you're saying that these pictures do not seem to have a thing to do with

birdhouses. You are so right! This is our Cool Tool for February. It's the Pilot Frixion Erasable Gel Pen. Now, these were developed for use on paper, but funny thing - they work on fabric too! See the first picture - I drew a flower design with one of the pens. 2nd picture - apply heat. 3rd picture - voila....design is gone! Pretty neat, huh? Now, since they were designed for use with paper, not really a light color that works on dark fabrics, but there are 6 colors to choose from. Regular price is $3.49...Cool Tool price until end of month is $2.75.

Today was a crazy, fun day! Applique Society met in the morning and Linda and I were soooooo busy all day. Lots of folks out enjoying the sunshine and shopping for projects. Thought we might get more on the "to do" list accomplished, but not to be today. Guess Diane and I will have to pick up the slack on Monday!

Hope your weekend is good. We're going to meet our daughter and two of our grandsons for lunch at the halfway point between our homes. Yippeee.... I can't wait! All right - couple of birdhouse things to accomplish and then bed! Stay warm and cozy under a quilt tonight - ok?

Halloween.....

Yes, I am aware that Halloween is at least 8 months away. But, if these gals want to have the fun Baltimore Halloween quilt done by October, then they have to work on it now. This is a picture from the class Betsy taught that rainy, very windy Saturday we had yesterday. They are making good progress on their blocks! See how hard at work they all are?

And look on the design wall. I got the directions to block three for the Paris in the Fall BOM and that gaping hole is now filled in! Hooray!! And then to the left of that is my project for our KT Klub last week. I don't have it quilted yet, but it's all layered and pinned. After we get our birdhouse quilt done for the Tri-County Quilt Tour next month, then it will be full steam ahead on finishing my Paris in the Fall and a few other loose odds and ends.

Wasn't it just a wonderful day today? I had a few errands to run this afternoon and it was so nice to not have rain blowing sideways at me! I even saw somebody in their convertible with the top down - I was driving the old Mustang, but didn't really even think about putting the top down. I must be getting old!

Tomorrow, Diane will be working her magic on some of the fusible applique birdhouse blocks for Team Fab-Etc. This is going to be the "push" week for getting it ready to be quilted. We've also been cutting and rolling beau coup fat quarters for Fat Tuesday next month. Hope you have had a lovely weekend. I'm going to go sit in my chair and do a few "hand" things until bedtime....sounds good, don't you think?

Steady sewing.....

I've been steadily sewing on a few projects for the last few days both at home and at the shop. We're working on our birdhouses for the Tri-County Quilt Tour at the end of March and I was determined to have my project mostly done for KT Klub tomorrow night. Success on the KT project, and still plugging away at the birdhouses! (They're looking pretty good.....but still a long way to go to get what we have in mind for our quilt!)

I put this picture up here because I LOVE my Sew Steady tables - both at home and at the shop. See that cool little swing out tray to hold your essentials - like my seam ripper!! Anyway, I'm getting ready to place an order this week, in case anyone is interested. this size is the 18" x 24" table and they retail for $94 I think. The little tray is an "add on" that we have at the shop for $14.95, I think. Let us know if you're interested....each table is custom made to fit your machine, so we need to know the exact model.

Today was a great day! Got some work done on the birdhouses and Izzie finished another box of Fat Tuesday FQ's. AND.....Jan is a grandma!!! Kaleb was born today around noon. We are so happy for parents, Jaisha and Steve and the proud Grandparents, Jan and Charlie. Congratulations!!! We can't wait to meet Kaleb.

Not sure if this time stamps my blog, but it is getting late. I've cleaned up my mess and got my "stuff" ready to take with me tomorrow....now for my pillow. Good night all!

Seeing batik stars.......

Look what Diane made! isn't it just too cool? This was a free pattern from Timeless Treasures that they put out in conjunction with that large grouping of batiks we got a few weeks ago. Since we're kind of like General Electric (we've got a better idea - all of you that are close to my age will remember that commercial) we changed it just a bit. Some of their stars were made with the more green tone batiks in the grouping, but we wanted ours to be gold. And then, since we have the advantage of the Accuquilt Studio, we cut all of those "interesting" angles using the die cutter. Turned out really well! And.....notice what you can do if you really play around with it? See that circle kind of in the middle - neat!

Well, it's been a fun week, with one more fun day to go! Tea Party was super on Wednesday with lots of our customers popping in for a scone and a spot of tea. We just love to stand back and listen to the happy conversations, giggles and out and out fun that everyone is having. Jan and I always say we wish we could have a recording to listen to of all the laughter and happiness - does a soul good! I took part of the day off yesterday and Harriet and Linda tidied and worked hard for me....I so appreciate it. And then Alicia and I started getting serious with those birdhouse blocks. I kind of did a bit of a 180 degree switch on part of the "plan" and we're pretty pleased with it. Tonight, I plan to see how it looks with a block or two. Tomorrow will be another couple of EQ classes - always a super time. Jan and I can't wait to show Velina how we made the project from last time in real fabric!!

Hope your weekend is super! Are you doing Super Bowl things? Regardless, enjoy!

Love and kisses.....

As promised, here's the runner Jan and I made from the last EQ class lesson! You might want to "click" on it to make it bigger. and you definitely should look at it in person, because you can't see the gorgeous quilting Tracey did on it in the picture very well. There are these cool hearts in each of the green triangles! I'm going to send Velina a picture of it so she can be proud of us. She's such a great teacher for EQ....we're really fortunate to have her help us with that.

Jan and I both said this afternoon that we couldn't believe how fast the day had gone by! We did manage to get the table set for the Tea Party tomorrow. And we got some really cool fabric from Windham this afternoon, as well as a reorder on a Riley Blake line.

John and I got groceries after work tonight and I just now got everything squared away. I am pooped, so since I got you the picture I'd promised, may I go to bed soon? Thanks!! Nite.....