Beginning Needleturn....

Saturday was the Beginning Needleturn Applique class taught by our resident Needleturn Applique Queen, Jan. When they weren't looking, I turned the flash off on my camera and snuck this picture peeking over the bookcase at them. Alicia thought I was being kind of sneaky...well, I guess I was. Don't you love some of her examples on the design wall that Jan brought in to show the class? Jan's helping Nora Jean with her stitches in this picture. You can't see her, but Nora's friend Nora Louise came and took the class too. Jan had to use their full names so no one would be confused with the two Nora's there! A grand time was had by all and they got quite a bit done in a short time....it's lots to absorb and try and make your fingers do in a day! There were so many people on the waiting list that I think she'll schedule another class in November and then another after the first of the year.

Well, how was your weekend? We had a great time at Fab-Etc Saturday with the class and fun customers. We moved a few things around and tidied up as best we could. Tomorrow morning I'll be taking down the Bonnie's Team quilts for Linda to take to the Infusion Center. Think we have over 40 quilts for her ~ you guys are so awesome! Thanks! Then, Harriet and I will try and put the samples back up I took down so we could hang the quilts. Bet she'll have some good ideas about how to arrange them when we put them back!

I've been on the typical end of/start of the month marathon ~ getting payroll ready; 3rd quarter taxes done; November newsletter and calendars ready; paying November bills; fixing flash drives; getting an e-mail update ready to send tomorrow night...whew! I think I might just go downstairs and stitch some more on my hexagons to chill out. Hope your weekend was good. Can't wait for another great week at Fab-Etc!

Lots of quilt blocks.....

This magazine came the other day.....what a great reference it is! There are scads of blocks in here. Each one has directions to make them in 6" or 9" or 12" and ways to put them together for a 24" block. all in all over 200 block choices ~ how cool is that? And...there are sampler layouts for 6 different quilts and lots of basic info on techniques, cutting, binding, etc. For $9.99 it's a great tool to have.

Today, the Mary Jane's Farm magazine came too, but I didn't get a chance to look at it. Jan was just getting ready to leave when, ding, ding, ding...the door kept opening and more folks kept coming to buy "stuff" for projects. Thankfully, she stayed an extra hour and helped me wait on everyone!

Before that, Jan was finishing the quilting on the "baskets" project she'd been working on for us. She got the binding sewn on and the quilting done. I brought it home tonight and if I get my other chores done, I'll start handstitiching it down. Pictures soon!

We got some really cute fabric yesterday ~ My Kitchen Farmhouse. It's a blue/red/yellow grouping with recipes, kitchen stuff and a chicken thrown in for good measure! We're hatching ideas on what to do with them =)

Washing machine just went off.....need to go throw clothes in the dryer. Have a super evening whatever you're doing tonight!

Banana Cat....

Look at this guy.....doesn't he just look like he's ready to pounce on something? This is Block #19 of the Garden Patch Cats by Helene Knott. You've probably heard us say we had no idea that there would be so many in this series when Diane started making them. We even made the first four into a little quilt, thinking that would be all ~ WRONG! She's evidently going to have 24 in the series. Bless her heart, Diane has made very single one of them so far. We have a whole "rogues gallery" of them in the class area. Everyone seems to love them, so we just keep on going with the flow!

How's your Monday? We had a fun one at Fab-Etc today. Got some new batiks ~ Diane was working with me and was trying to nicely tell me that we have no room for them. I, of course, knew that, but they were soooo nice! What else came? A magazine from Fons and Porter, I think.....didn't have time to look at it. And we got some more of the wonderful hemmed toweling from Moda. We are now officially ready for the season of giving embellished towels!

The other thing I did today was to hang all of the Bonnie's Team quilts we've received so far this month ~ over 30 have come in! If you get a chance, stop and take a look at them. They'll hang this week and then go with Linda C. to the Infusion Center. Thanks to everyone who helped this year!

I've got a few more things to do tonight, so I'm going to sign off for now. Sorry I haven't posted in a few days.....been having too much fun, I guess! Happy Monday evening all!

Bath time.....

Sew....I've been working on this project for a few weeks now. Jan, Tracey and Linda are really the stitchery/embroidery pros around here, but I really liked this little project, sew I thought I'd try it. Took me a while to get the stitching done. I tried a new thread to us ~ Sulky 12 weight cotton. Comes on a big spool. I know that Carrol @ Aunt Mary's Quilt Shop in Smokey Point uses this alot for her redwork and other stitchery. I really liked using it. Jan used it on some redwork and liked it too. It can also go in your machine for decorative topstitching. But....I digress. Okay, the stitchery part was done, but now for pieced borders. You'll have to look at the pattern when you come in 'cause they made it super scrappy. I just couldn't get it to work. Sew....Alicia and I went to my one of my fav fabric lines ~ Kansas Troubles ~ and came up with this (the picture's not that great...it looks better in person). But, now there was another problem. I had stitched it on some pretty white broadcloth. Hmmm...too white....bath time! I got some tea and heated some water and gave it a bath. Scary, but it turned out just fine! Sew, now I have to do just a tiny bit of quilting; give it a sleeve; bind it and since it's just a 12" square it can hang on one of those cute stands ~ hooray!

Diane and I had a BUSY day today! Lots of customers doing lots of fun "stuff". We had hoped to work on another Halloween project with our leftover panel, but not to be....maybe tomorrow?

Well, it's getting late and I still need to run the dishwasher. I have another project nearing completion that I thought I might work on tonight. I'm making another one of the Dollar Menu EQ Tablerunners only in Fall prints this time. Have the center all done and just need to add stopper and borders. Maybe if I wake up early enough in the morning????? Night all!

Ding dong ~ tricks or treats in the bag.....

Monday, Monday....it was a fun day at Fab-Etc today! Diane and I were pretty busy most of the day. Then in the late afternoon, it got kind of quiet. Probably lots of folks were doing what I did yesterday ~ clean up some of their pots and outside stuff in the sunshine instead of in the rain! Hmmmmm.....sew.....what to do? I know, let's get that RJR panel out and see if we can't design a Trick or Treat bag! Well, that's what we did. We took a couple of the pieces of the panel and made the bag and then sewed the Trick or Treat strips to black twill tape for handles. And...our bag comes complete with candy ~ that's the lining! Aren't we just sew clever!?! Do you like the owl? There's another scene on the other side ~ I think it has an owl too. There are four other pieces left in the panel, maybe tomorrow, Alicia and I will have to play around with those and create something to hang on the door for the Trick or Treaters? Or, you could just make more bags.

Other than helping customers, tidying and designing that bag, we did get some more notions in today. Got those all put away and started a list for the new things we need to order!

What is on your agenda tonight? I'm pretending to know how to put pictures of the newest fabrics on a flash drive for the picture frame we have on the counter. I had all of the classes listed on there complete with pictures, but just about every one of them is full with waiting lists. Sew....I thought maybe we should scroll through some of our newest fabrics. But wait, there's more! How about adding words. So, the retired guy gave me a quick lesson on adding words in Paint Shop Pro and then went out to the garage. The question now is how long it will be before I have to go out there and get him to bail me out! =)

Have a great evening!!

All present and accounted for.....

Good Sunday morning to you! Hope your day is off to a good start. I'm sipping my coffee and looking forward to a crisp, sunny Fall day around here. Maybe a bike ride later after I clean out some of my sad looking pots?

I wanted to share the runner we dreamed up at Fab-Etc. We "lifted" the gift box block out of the "Presents" quilt pattern from Moda and designed a very quick and easy runner. We just used two of the present blocks; a 15 1/2" x 8 1/2" strip between them (or any size that "works" for your table); a 2" (unfinished) border of background fabric; a 1" (unfinished) red stopper; and then a 3 1/2" (unfinished) border last. Think we'll bind it in the same fabric as the border. Tracey saw it on the design wall at KT Klub Wednesday night and asked what we were going to do in the middle. I told her she was going to quilt something there! =) [Didn't send it home with her cuz she's had a busy week ending as Mother of the Bride last night ~ Congrats to Katrina and Josh!! We want to see pictures!] But wouldn't it be a great spot for a poinsettia plant or some holiday display....or even Christmas cookies!! If we had more time on our hands with nothing to do, we were going to design a placemat, but maybe we'll let you figure that one out. We have the glossy patterns for $1.25 at the shop or you can download it at the Moda website. http://www.unitednotions.com/fp_flurry.pdf
Enjoy!!

Purely organic in nature......

From time to time I get requests for "organic" cottons. Usually, they're for a project that has to do with the upcoming birth of a baby. Well, Clothworks has just introduced this line of organic cotton...Organic Elements. There are solids and a few prints so far. They had hoped to do a flannel, but evidently, it did not meet their quality standards, so it was back to the drawing board on that. Organic ~ they define it as "non-genetically modified cotton; no harsh chemicals; sustainably grown; low impact dyes; GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified". Okay, that was a mouthful! Sew....these are the fabrics we got. The prints are called "Safari Sweet" and they match their name! We got the entire line of solids to go with them. FYI, we also have a few other organic solids that we will be putting together with these. Now....let's think of a fun project to use them in!

How's your week been? Ours has been busy at Fab-Etc! Lots of customers and of course, today when we just got everything plopped on the floor to move the Clearance back to its home, it got CRAZY for a while. Sew, after things calmed down, I left! Yup, took the afternoon off with the retired guy. And then, we even got a quick surprise visit from our oldest son ~ what a treat!! I'm tidying things up around the house and washing clothes. Then, think we'll go out and grab a bite of dinner.

Tomorrow, we have KT Klub at the shop and then 4-H. Saturday is Applique Society and the Thia Tee shirt Class Part 1 in the afternoon. Should be a fun couple of days! Pop in and see us if you're close ~ okay?

"Picturesque" Sunday....

What a perfect Sunday!

Bag it for Fall.....

I mentioned a couple of blogs ago about the tumbler bag I was making. This is it! It's made from the Artful Home line. I had made a tablerunner using this line and Alicia and I were looking at the fabrics when we both had those little lightbulbs light up over our heads ~ Hey! What about a Tumbler Bag made like our other one? Of course, I couldn't wait to crank out the tumblers on the Studio die cut machine. But....then a lot of life happened and I didn't get back to them. Sew, last week I managed to finish this. I really like it! I have left over tumblers from what I cut, so I might just have to make a kit or two from those. The bag isn't so big that you can't find everything in it, but not so small that you can't fit your wallet, cell phone and a few hexagons or something to stitch while you may be waiting somewhere =)

The 91 Mile Yard Sale was fun! We had lots of folks through the shop having a good time buying Fall and Halloween on sale and perusing the Clearance rack. At the same time yesterday, Martha was teaching our Intro to EQ class....I always love the "Wow's" you hear when they see some of the cool things the program will do! I'm going to draw the winner from our shop today to send down to Julie at Keepsake Cottage. She'll draw the two winners for all of those gift certificates ~ lucky people!!

Well, tomorrow Diane and I will tidy up a bit. It may take me all week to move the Clearance back where it was before....oh well...not a big deal ~ right? Today? I am so excited ~ we get to see ALL of our kids and grandkids at the same time ~ woohoo! Maybe I can get a picture of them to show you ~ because I just KNOW you wouldn't want to miss that! =)

Have a super Sunday all!

91 Mile Yard Sale ~ we're ready for you....

Okay.....in just over 12 hours we open the doors for the 91 Mile Yard Sale. What's that? Well, we belong to the Tri-County Quilt Merchants' Association including some of the best quilt shops in the Pacific Northwest. There are 13 shops from Lynden to Bothell and it's right around 91 miles between the two furthest ones. In the spring we have our Quilt Tour and in the Fall we have our Yard Sale. Each shop has a large "Clearance" area and in addition puts one of their "departments" on sale at 20%. We each have some other fun stuff going on ~ drawings, games, etc. Plus, for every $20 you spend you get to put your name in a drawing for either a $20 or $10 from EACH shop ~ WOW! Last year one of our Whatcom County customers won all the gift certificates. This year we added an extra $10 g.c. for a second place prize. Harriet, Linda and I spent the day moving stuff and getting the Clearance ready. There are lots of bolts of fabric and great books, some samples, magazines, "oops...why did I order that" kinds of stuff. There's a bolt of 96" fusible Hobbs Heirloom batting marked at $5/yard and a great "free" table. I'll be looking around some more before we open to see if I've missed anything else to put out there. Plus our department for the sale is the whole rack of Halloween/Fall fabrics at 20% off for those two days only. Hope you can pop in.

As you might imagine, I am pooped after the moving stuff around and digging in the back room thing today. Plus, I managed to send an e-mail update to everyone last night without including dates for the Yard Sale, so I had to resend an "oops" e-mail before opening the shop this morning! My dear Mom used to have a saying, "I feel like I've been drug through a knothole backwards!" Of course, not to fear, a good night's rest and a chance to see lots of folks having fun at the shop is the cure for the knothole thing!

Sew, I am off to finish a load of laundry, print some more newsletters and signs and then hit the hay. Have a great Friday everyone!

Tea and handwork.....

Okay, I've been up and at it since early this morning. As Jan likes to call it ~ it's Tea Party Wednesday today ~ our regular first Wednesday of the month Tea Party. Lots of the party- goers bring something stitch on or to knit or crochet. Today, I can either sew binding on my Dollar Menu EQ Tablerunner or I can work on my hexagons. Haven't decided yet which will be the winner =) Last month, though, we had so many tea drinkers, the staff gave up all of their spots so someone could sit and stitch. I can't claim the dishtowels pictured here. Our Linda does fabulous hand embroidery. She did these using a Bird Brain design (don't you love their company name?) There are several more of these in this particular pattern, but Linda started with these two.

This has been a great week at Fab-Etc so far. Diane and I worked on getting the place somewhat tidy on Monday. Yesterday, I worked by myself and confess to trying to sew something in between customers. I almost finished the quilting on the aforementioned Dollar Menu Tablerunner. I still have to quilt a flower in the center of three blocks, but I went ahead and sewed binding on it. I also have been working on a new Tumbler Bag made using the pre-cut tumblers on the Accuquilt. Nancy came by yesterday and finished cutting out her Double Wedding Ring on the machine. She showed me some of the "rings" she's started. WOW...they're in batiks and gorgeous.

Look at the time! I've got to run ~ since I was sewing yesterday, the table's not set at the shop for tea yet. Hope your day is sew much fun!!

Show and Tell.....

You know, one of our fav things around here is when our customers bring in their "show and tell" or "bring and brag" as we like to call it! We've been watching this project in process for a while....Janet's been bringing parts to the Tea Party and Applique Society. She took a class while she was wintering in Arizona and has been working on this since. It is absolutely stunning! She came in to buy batting and now she's going to hand quilt it. There are a few ruched roses that will go on after that, but it is essentially a done deal. Wish you could have been here to see it in person.....this picture doesn't do justice to her color choices and wonderful handwork. Great job, Janet!!

Sew ~ that was only part of our day yesterday. Linda and I watched the Dash Away class get finished on their hangings and we tackled another fabric move! After having a number of you ask if we still had Christmas fabric, we decided it was time to move it more front and center. It was quiet when we started and then it got busier and busier, so we hurried and got it all put in place. Then we squished and rearranged a few other areas in between customers. Looks pretty good. Still need to finish moving some Christmas panels and samples, but we are getting there!

Hope your Sunday is good. The retired guy and I are just kind of lazing around so far. He's got a garage project and I had some orders and paperwork. Got all the Fab-Etc bills for the month ready to go, so maybe if it isn't too chilly we'll take a bike ride to the Post Office and drop off the lease payment for the shop on the way back? Enjoy your day!