Pot Full of Posies.....

This is a picture of a project we worked on last week. I took the picture with it draped over my green "binding" chair! That's where I sit, especially in the evening, when I have handwork to do. My husband bought me a great full spectrum light that swings over so I can actually see what I'm doing! Anyway, as you can see, I'm not quite done with the binding. And you might not be able to tell, but the yo yo's are just pinned on waiting for the buttons in the middle. This was definitely one of those "it takes a village" projects! We all contributed something, but Emily did most of it. The flower pot is cut using the Accuquilt Studio large tumbler die. And the flowers, stems, leaves and flower centers were also cut with the die machine. It was soooo cool! Emily fused the really light weight Shades fusible to the fabric and then ran it through the die cut. We all had ideas about arrangement, fabric choices, quilting, etc. Don't you think it turned out well? We cut a few kits and sold one already. They're $19.95 and all the fusible parts are pre-cut for you!

How's your long weekend? I've been pretty lazy today. Enjoyed sitting on the patio reading a few magazines and sipping my iced green tea! Did some laundry and put my heavy rugs out in the sun to dry and I'm working on about four projects at the same time in my sewing room, so I've been jumping back and forth on them! And it's the end of the month, so I need to get cracking on a new newsletter, e-mail update, payroll, June bills....but enough of that.....tomorrow's another day - right?! Hope you're enjoying the day and the weather. Hope those of you from the U.S. take a minute tomorrow to reflect on and be thankful for the sacrifices made so we can enjoy the freedoms we have here. Happy Memorial Day all!

Shop Hop 2011 Posters.....

You know it's "that time of the year" when the Shop Hop posters arrive! And they came in Tuesday. It's always a fun time to look at the different blocks and see how creative everyone is each year with the fabrics. No disappointment this year - blocks are great!! We have a very limited number of posters for sale @ $7.50 and we've already got our laminated 8 1/2" x 11" ones with the quilt on the front and directions on the back for you. We're selling those for $2.76 ($3.00 with tax) again this year. They're nice to take on the road with you so you can get excited about the next shop's block on the journey there! We're nearing the end of cutting our fabrics for the blocks. Waiting for the last fabric to arrive and then in a week it's going to be a bag stuffing party in the class area! Always feels good to have that little job behind us.

Well, I know you don't want to hear this, but more Christmas came in today. I took most of the day off, so I didn't really even look at it to be honest with you. I'll take a good look tomorrow and report back - okay? Meanwhile, we've got a great little project Emily's finishing up and we're "kitting" for you. It's mostly pre-cut using the Accuquilt Studio. We're calling it "Pot Full of Posies". You'll have to take a look when you're in.

Sewing machine is calling....working on a project I hope to have done next week so I can hand it off to be quilted. More about that later. Have a lovely evening!

Mother/daughter tandem bike.....

What a fun day today! Maybe some of you remember a few years ago the mother and daughter who took the train up here as a Mother's Day celebration and rented motor scooters so the daughter could bring her mom to Fabric-Etc? Anyway, today was another of those fun trips for them! Only one hitch.....the website was still up for the scooter place, but it had gone out of business. Not a problem for these two fabric adventurers! They found the bicycle shop, rented a tandem bike, complete with a trailer - for the fabric, of course! We had pictures of them last time, so of course we needed to do it again! (If you guys can't get the pictures from the blog, here, e-mail me, and I'll send them to you - ok?) So, while Emily and I were busy cutting fabric for the Shop Hop block kits, they were busy playing with fabrics and patterns! As they rode off into the sun headed for Fairhaven we were all smiling and imagining the rest of their fun filled adventure! Hope you made it home safe and sound!

The day was a good one here. We have only one more group of fabric to cut for our 2,000 block kits. And then as soon as "someone" gets the directions done and printed, we can start stuffing them and putting them to bed before the Hop. Then, it's on to even more exciting projects!

Hope your weekend was a good one. John and I went to Jump Planet in Bothell and celebrated our middle grandson's soon to be 8th birthday. We actually saw everyone in the family Saturday - even Bear the dog! What a great day I got to have thanks to Harriet and Alicia who held down the fort back at Fab-Etc. If you come in and twist my arm, I'll show you the latest picture of our new granddaughter, Ellie! Okay....have bindings to work on. Have a wonderful evening!

Slouch....

This was going to be a post about The Metro Slouch Bag that Alicia made. But, when I went to get the picture off of my camera tonight, it didn't turn out. Rats. Will have to show you that one next week. This, however, is another version of the Indygo Junction "Shopper" bag (remember the two tone gray one that Tracey did with the "Paris" fabric?). Jan made this one out of the Ty Pennington (of Extreme Makeover fame) decorator prints. It's really cool. She finished it and used it to take stuff to her sewing class at BTC and then said we could display it for a while. But then the next day, she said she really missed it and may have to make another one or get this one back! Aren't the colors just VERY fun?

Well, this has been quite the week for freight! It did slow down finally today when we just got some notions, Kwik Sew patterns, and the two dies we needed for the Accuquilt to finish cutting our Shop Hop block kits. Emily has been working all week with us and we've been making headway on some of the many projects we want to accomplish before Hop. Only problem is, I seem to come up with more as soon as we get started or finished with one!

Hope you enjoyed that sunshine we had this week.....wasn't it just glorious?!? How's your weekend looking? Alicia and Harriet are going to take over tomorrow afternoon for me so my husband and I can go to Jump Planet in Bothell for our grandson, Benson's, birthday party. Not so sure I'll be jumping, but it should be a lot of fun. We should be able to see everyone, so I'll try and get updated pictures for you...especially of baby Ellie....I'm sure you are anxious to see everyone ;-)

Have a super weekend!

Grab 'n' Go......

Okay....this bag is pretty cool! The pattern is from a gal in Anacortes and it's called "Grab 'n' Go". It's the perfect size shopping bag - not too big so it'll get too heavy, but not so small it really doesn't carry anything! And....look at what it does. It neatly folds up so you can easily take it with you "just in case" you might need it. You know what? I bet you could put a few yards of fabric and a pattern and thread in there too =) So here's the deal. We have the patterns at the shop, but we also have a class coming up next month for it. Velina's going to lend her expertise and walk you through the process on Saturday, June 18th. Don't have it on the website class listing yet, but call if you'd like info - okay? I am thinking I'd like to have one and they'd also make fabulous Christmas gifts...what do you think?

Today was super at Fab-Etc!! Jan, Emily and I had lots of fun with customers and we finished a few more tumbler kits, made kits for Tracey's "Bow Wow" quilt, cut more of the Shop Hop block kit fabrics, opened boxes of freight and had an all around fun day. Freight? Well, yesterday we got the newest Kansas Troubles fabric Warm Memories - it's yummy! Today, we got more batiks (you can never have too many of those!), some pant weight twills in summer colors, three bolts of fleece, a brown knit with pink dot and a romantic floral line. Plus...the seven Quilted Cowboy Boots patterns came in and more of the popular Binding Tool.

Wasn't the sunshine glorious today? Hoping to get some plants in my pots this week. Now I'm headed to the sew room to work on a few things. Hoping your day was good and tomorrow is even better!

Boot scootin' boogie....

"Boot scootin' boogie" is what Tracey texted when she sent me the first picture of the baby cowboy boots on the left! And....because she doesn't know yet whether her brother and his wife are having a boy or a girl, of course she had to make the darling baby girl cowboy boots on the right. Are these just stinkin' cute or what?!? BUT...before you come rushing in to get the pattern, I have to tell you that I sold the last one! This pattern is in high demand and most of the distributors are out, however, I do have 7 more arriving this week! But they won't probably be here until later in the week - okay?

How's your weekend? What's the date again? February....no that's right, it's May 15th for crying out loud! Oh well, it's been great weather to keep plugging away on some bindings and other various and sundry sewing projects, so I cannot complain too much.

This week we'll be working on cutting Hop block kits and I am soooo excited! Emily will be working this week! She's back from college and her folks are thrilled and all of us at Fab-Etc are thrilled as well. We'll be thinking of some new stuff to make and catching up tomorrow. Hope your week is looking equally as fun as mine!

It's back.....

Sorry.....been trying to make a blog post, but "Blogger" has been temporarily out of service for a while. Anyway, this is a picture of some of the new books we've gotten in the last week or so. That top one is one we had a lot of requests for. It's Edyta Sitar's newest book for Laundry Basket Quilts "Friendship Strips and Scraps". I've thumbed through most of these and they're all really good ones!

Hey - the sun was shining a little bit yesterday and today! WOW! I took part of the day off yesterday and got some geraniums in pots. Would like to do some more, but think I heard the weather's supposed to change again...oh well. Spring will come - right?

Today, Harriet and I got lots of "stuff" done. Figured out what we need to get and cut for our 2,000+ Shop Hop block kits - hooray!! Got most of the new fabrics scanned for the May flash drives. Got some cute polka dots in brighter pastels today. Got a bunch of new flannel the other day too. Harriet's working on one of the new Advent calendars. It's a darling angel. Going to be really sweet....hmmm...maybe I know a granddaughter that might eventually like that? The 4-H kiddos had a fun afternoon in the back.

Tomorrow is Baltimore Halloween class in the morning and then I'll be working on some projects in the afternoon. Hope your weekend is SUPER!

WOW, Happy Mom's Day....

Happy Mother's Day to all of you! I just had the most delightful day....ALL of my kids and grandkids showed up at the house today. Even our brand new granddaughter, Ellie who will be two weeks old tomorrow was here for the day! Didn't know they were coming until Dave texted, "Happy Mother's Day...look out your front window!" And there they were. Don't you love the card my daughter the BEST teacher in the world, made me. It's perfect for one of my favorite sayings about "WOW, say it backward, WOW, say it upside down, MOM!" And our oldest, Pete, brought these beautiful flowers. We ate lunch together (Lydia brought her yummy blue cheese scalloped potatoes to go with the BBQ beef and salads), laughed and took turns holding Ellie (but Lydia got her the most!), went for a walk using Benson's treasure map as a guide and just had an all around fabulous day. This was the first Mother's Day without my Mom, so it was even more than special to have the whole family together for the afternoon.

Tomorrow will be another fantastic day at Fab-Etc! I'm sewing the binding on the little tumbler quilt and then I need to make another Shop Hop block for the store and get started on cutting 2,000+ kits for June. Have some ideas for projects we want to get done and of course, there's always the tidy, tidy thing too!

Hope your weekend was super and your week is even better! Now I need to do a little more clean-up down in the kitchen.

Hot.....cold....

Hot....cold.....nope, not the weather lately (never was hot yet, right?) I know, usually we feature fun projects you can make, but when my sales rep from Kona Bay Fabrics showed these to me, I just had to get some. They are insulated hot/cold bags. You could carry your lunch in them, or use them for grocery store bags, or......? They aren't huge, but they're not too small to be useful. I heard that - $8.50 each.

Sorry I've been lax in my blogging. My husband tried to politely tell me that I am getting old and that's why I was so pooped after the sale last week. I don't believe that for a minute....well, maybe one =)

This week we've been tidying up and rearranging a bit more. Got new fabric! There's a cool indigo/cream group from Red Rooster and we put out the Artful Home from Anka's Treasures even though there are still two bolts left to come. Mary Jane's Farm magazine arrived yesterday too!

Tea Party was sooo much fun yesterday! One of our Canadian gals showed us these fabulous little quilts she'd done that won awards in a show - they were spectacular! And a couple of our "snow bird" friends were back from Arizona. A grand time was had by all!

Today, Harriet and I are going to work on finishing up tumbler kits and quilting the border on a small quilt. We're also revamping our nursing cover-up pattern, so my daughter-in-law Nikki will get the fruits of that endeavor. Hope your day is super!