Wrapping Up Quilt Week

I love it when AQS Quilt wWek comes to Lancaster!  I look forward to it all year.  It means that in addition to the events surrounding the show, all fabric stores in the area run sales.  Yay for me! 

I started off at The Lancaster Quilt Show at the Continental Inn on Wednesday.  Although the venue isn't that spectacular, the vendors make up for it. There I purchased an assortment of 30's fat quarters to add to my collection, a few low volume FQ's, a base for my automatic thread cutter, a Clover Tailor's Awl, a Gyspsy Cutting Gizmo, and visited my favorite vendor by far, Ameila's Garden.

On Thursday I headed to the Marriott for the AQS show.  That venue is definitely worth visiting!! 

 I played with the Bernina sit down long arm; it's an impressive machine, but it's way out of my price range and space options for the time being.  So, instead, I bought some thread at the Superior Threads booth for English Paper Piecing, and picked up a set of Hobb's batting samples.  :)

Saturday was Sarah Fielke's Trunk Show at the Eden.  

Very inspiring....

Then, since I ran out of time last week for fabric shopping, I finally made it to Good's and Mook's today.  You can't beat their sale prices - $3.19 and $3.99 per yd!  I found some goodies for my stash.  :)

That's it for Quilt Week this year!

Sarah Jane and My Design Wall

This dear backing fabric...

... by Sarah Jane was the inspiration for the colors and size of the quilt!

So dear....

:)

PS - Sara Jane is also the illustrator of one of my favorite recent books, French Kids Eat Everything.  That's how I discovered the book - I love her fabric, so I checked out the book and then read it.  It's fabulous!

Westwood Acres New Year's Sale

Honestly, really, truly - I have been trying not to buy any more fabric!  I have enough fabric to keep me busy for the rest of my days.  And, I often worry that my fabric stash will not be respected when I'm dead and gone - that whoever is stuck cleaning out my house will simply pass judgement on me for still having unused fabric on the day of my death.

But, I could not resist Westwood Acre's New Year's Day sale!  Their prices are already so reasonable, and when they dangled the 35% off sale in front of me, my resolve disappeared.  I'm glad it did, because I LOVE what I purchased:

This lovely fat eighth bundle of Lecien's Flower Sugar fabrics.  I've been collecting them for my Farmer's Wife quilt.

This fabulous "Type" FQ bundle.

This sweet Windemere jelly roll.  I kept eyeing it at my favorite local quilt shop, but couldn't justify buying it until now.

And this dear, dear, dear Vintage Market panel by Tasha Noel.  I so wanted to buy a fat quarter bundle of the entire line last fall when it was released, but I resisted, and now I kind of regret it....

OK, I need to get away from the keyboard and head to the sewing room!  :)

A Quilter's Christmas

I LOVE getting quilting books for Christmas.  It's such a wonderful thing....   During the rest of the year if I purchase a quilting book, it feels extravagant and somewhat irresponsible.  But at Christmas, there are no guilty feelings involved whatsover - it's pure joy!!

Here are the books I received/purchased with Christmas money this year:

All Points Patchwork by Diane Gilleland - My sister Renee bought this for me last July at the Quilt Odyssey quilt show in Hershey.  She refused to let me have it until Christmas.  She hauled it home to CO, wrapped it up, then shipped it back to me in December.  I tried to convince it would be cheaper and easier for her to just give it to me then, but she didn't bite.  I've been eagerly waiting to get my hands on this book!  It's an outstanding resource for English Paper Piecing (EPP) which I am becoming more and  more addicted to.

The Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt -  I already have the original Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book and love it, so was eager for this 1930's version.  The letters from farm wives are so endearing.

Quilting on the Go by Jessica Alexandrakis - This is a great book on portable quilting projects and is where I first heard the term "quilting in public" - don't you love it?!  In fact, it makes me want to gather some friends together and meet in public to stitch together for the next "World Wide Quilting in Public Day" on June 20 (I think that's the date!).

Sara Feilke's Quilting from Little Things -  I love Sara Fielke....  I love her approach to quilting - to slow down and do more hand stitching, to savor the process vs. rushing through it.  I had the chance to meet her last summer at the Sister's Outdoor Quilt Show and see several of the quilts in person that are featured in the book.  So, this book immediately was placed on my Christmas Wish List when I got home.  :)

Sara was kind enough to let me snap a picture of her at the Stitchin' Post in Sisters.  I celebrity stalked her for a while before I worked up the courage to ask her if I could take a picture of her.  :)

This is one of her quilts that is featured in the book.

Isn't her detail work fabulous?!

Also, my younger sister gave me...

...a gift certificate to The Old Country Store in Intercourse, my favorite local quilt shop.  I love everything about that store!

And last,

... this charm pack of Jen Kingwell's Gardenvale from my dear friend Kathy O. of Stitch by Stitch.  She knows me well enough to know what fabrics I love - that's a dear friend indeed!

Aaaaahhhh, I love this year's Christmas quilting goodies!

 

Sometimes the Backing Fabric Inspires the Quilt

Today I was shopping for some backing and binding fabric for several quilts I'm hoping to finish for the fair.  I popped in at Good's Store.  No luck in finding what I needed, but look what I found instead.  I love it!!

How fun is this?!

I had seen this "Milking Day" quilt in one of the vendor stalls at the Quilt Odyssey last month, then realized I had the book at home - Lori Holt's Farm Girl Vintage.

This fabric will be perfect for the back of the quilt, so now it's on my "Quilting-to-do List!"

Love the selvage too.  :)

Delicious Gardenvale

Oooh, oooh, oooh - I bought this luscious fat quarter bundle of Jen Kingswell's "Gardenvale" today at Web Fabrics, a fabulous quilt shop in Purcellville, VA.  I've been eyeing this fabric online, certain I would love it, and certain it would be perfect for Jen's Green Tea and Sweet Beans quilt pattern, yet every time I viewed the fabric on my computer screen, it didn't look as appealing as I had hoped.  But, when I walked around the corner of bolts in the shop today, I was smitten!  It's fabulous!!  I was happy to purchase this complete set of her line, which also included a few extra fat quarters of the yardage prints which run selvage to selvage.  The icing on the cake was this free tote, and a $5.00 coupon for a future purchase.  :)

Photo courtesy of amitie.com

I had purchased the Green Tea and Sweet Beans pattern booklet almost two years ago, and it has been my bedtime reading ever since!   I absolutely love the pattern, and am so fascinated and intrigued by the choice of fabrics Jen Kingwell used in the quilt - vintage, quirky, and bit funky - very typical of  the fabrics used by those talented Australian quilters.  Simply amazing....  I didn't see how I could pull off the fabric selection on my own.  So, this fat quarter bundle will be the lovely answer!  I'm not sure yet whether I'll hand piece the entire quilt, but an number of the blocks are quite intricate (what to you think?!) and do require hand piecing.  It will be so fun to start another long-term project!

I plan to add some 30's prints and Denyse Schmidt fabrics from my stash.  I've been studying the fabrics - every single print in Gardenvale has a bit of off white in it, so I'll keep that in mind when selecting additional fabrics.  I plan to use a lot of text prints for the background fabrics, so they will need to be in that off white/vintage range as well.

You can purchase Gardenvale from Web Fabrics, Westwood Acres (where I've been eyeing it ever since they announced it was coming!), or the Fat Quarter Shop.  All three shops carry the pattern as well.

Also, you can check out my Green Tea and Sweet Beans Pinterest Board for more inspiration!

Yummy, yummy, yummy!

A Very Good Day....

 Checking out the AQS quilt show in Lancaster with a dear friend,

followed by some bargain fabric shopping ($1.99 per yard for high quality fabrics!!) at Good's Store in Schaefferstown.

That equals a very good day!!

:)

The End of an Era and the Thrill of the Hunt

So sad to see this iconic business come to an end....  

I've been hearing reports that the lines have been insane ever since the start of the sale, but I popped in as soon as the doors opened this morning, got in line promptly and made it out the door in about an hour.

Nothing like the thrill of the hunt!

Glorious Kaffe

Kathy shared some beautiful Kaffe fabrics with me.

I can't bear to put them away!

Solids Galore!

I finally broke down and ordered color cards for Kona and Bella solids.  I had been holding off, as they are kinda pricey, and because both companies keep coming out with new colors.  But, after driving 45 minutes one way to the fabric shop last week and not finding the shade of fabric I was looking for, AND in the process, buying some additional fabric I didn't really need, I figured purchasing color cards would save me time and money in the long run!  That way, I can simply order exactly what I need on line, as I need it.

I purchased my cards from the Fat Quarter Shop - here are the links:

Kona Cotton Solids Color Card

Bella Solids Color Card

Update - I went to yoga this evening, came home and decided to cut borders and sashing for one of my WIP's.  NOT A GOOD IDEA!!  Note to self - NEVER attempt to do quilt math after yoga!!  I totally screwed up the measurements and miscut the fabric - totally unsalvagable.  And, my perfect shade of 1930's Windham solid fabric is not available on line.   Boo hoo!!  But, the good news is that I could locate an almost identical shade on my Bella color card.

More money down the drain!  :(

Today's Mail

Look what arrived in today's mail from Westwood Acres!

A fat quarter bundle of Downton Abbey Lady Rose,

and Jen Kingwell's Bring Me Flowers pattern book.

:)  :)  :) 

Birthday Fat Quarters

For days I've been studying this group of fat quarters that I received from members of my quilt guild (more to come!) for my birthday next month.  I LOVE the wide assortment of fabric that I wouldn't normally have chosen for myself.  

Love Patchwork and Quilting magazine

I can't wait to make this quilt out of them - a celebration of the diversity of personalities in my quilt group!

Yummy Fabric

Some fat quarters of  Lecien's "Old New Fabric Collection 30's" from Simply Sweet Fabric.

:)

A Quilt for Ella Marie

I just received these lovely fabrics last night to stitch a simple patchwork quilt for Ella, a customer's little two-year old girl.  Ella is getting ready to move into her own "big girl" twin bed, so she needed the perfect quilt to match her vintage bed frame.  Ella's mom is a graphic artist; she did a great job selecting fabrics and colors.

But, this fabric takes the cake!

Here's a closeup - it's a graphic Ella's mom Jenna designed of Ella's "fwens"; 

she had it custom printed through Spoonflower.

This is going to be one lovely quilt...

Photo by Grace Photography

for an especially lovely little one!!!