Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Day #1 of Our Great Blogging Adventure

As you know, my gal pal, came to visit me this past weekend! Of course as soon as she got here I caught "the cold" that had been going around my house! I wasn't going to let that ruin my special weekend, so I drowned myself in cold medicine every night! However, I did loose my voice and I did have to spend the weekend wispering to her! Doesn't matter, we had a great time anyway!

Day 1 of our Great Adventure began with a trip to Olde Town Temecula. This area is filled with charming little shops. It is also home one of my favorite quilt stores. I knew that RED lived in the area and I invited her to meet up with us.

We met RED (AKA Sharon) outside The Quilter's Coop ( RED knows this store very well because she has nicknamed it the "Coop"!) Anyway, it was like meeting a long lost friend because I felt like I already knew her!
Before doing our shopping, we headed to Sweet Lump's BBQ for some good old fashioned BBQ and quilters' fellowship! What a great time we had just talking about blogging, quilting, and life in general! We even took a moment to take this cute photo!
After lunch we had to say "goodbye" to RED even though we could have talked (or in my case, whispered) to her for hours! Lets see, how could we get over our sorrow......I know shopping!

At "the Coop" we were overwhelmed by all of cute quilt samples, patterns, and fabulous fabric! However, here is a photo of their version of the Moda U Piece N Plenty BOM. (You know the one that I am WAY behind on!)
(Mar, I thought that you might enjoy seeing this version of the quilt since you are also working on it).
Boy did we shop! Is it bad if you blow your budget on the 1st day at the 1st store that you go to?
I thought that I would add this cute photo of the flag quilt hanging outside of the "Coop." ( If you want a glimpse of the inside of the store, check out my gal pal's photos.)
Next we headed to Rooster Creek!




















You know that you are in trouble when there is a BIG HUGE sale sign outside the store! And boy were we in trouble!

Stay tuned for more on our adventure and our LOOT! However I am going to post one last picture. This ones for you RED ! You are AWESOME and I am so glad that we met!

Until Next Time......Happy Quilting!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Blog friends are the BEST!

What a GREAT weekend I had with my blog "buddies!" My gal pal from the Quilt Nook made a last minute trip out to see me! She knows that she is welcome at anytime! Then we met "Red", who is just AWESOME!

We did lots of cool things, like shop hop, go to the Country Loft Sew for a Cure Quilt Show, eat, check blogs, cut out hexagons, and think of more quilt projects! Of course I caught the cold that has been going around, BUT I didn't let this stop us from having a good time!

Anyway, I am way behind on downloading my pictures! When I get this done, I will share all of the great stories with you! This could go on for awhile!

Until next time...Happy Quilting!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

I must be insane!

When I was at the Long Beach quilt show, this quilt

inspired me to purchase this.

So here is the insane part. I am going to cut up the squares like this

and make these cute 1" hexagons!
I bought these from the Cotton and Chocolate booth. The lady demonstrated the technique by cutting charm pack squares into 2.5" squares and then wrapped them around the template. She didn't cut them into hexagons and neither did I.

Then I am going to hand-piece them together! What am I thinking? Am I insane to start a hand-pieced project? I can't help it, but once you start making a couple of them, you are hooked!

The second insane part about all of this, it the amount of Simplicity fabric that I have! As you can see, the basket is overflowing with the fabric. This has become my favorite Moda line of fabric. I dream about it and I am even going to make a table skirt for my sewing table out of the blue floral fabric. I guess I better love the fabric because I am going to be seeing a lot of it now that I am going to turn it into a hand-piecing project!

If you want more hexagon inspitation, check out Camille's tutorial . You too may also want to join the insanity!

Until next time.....Happy Quilting!

The "COWS" have come home

The "cows" from Lynnette Anderson's BOM have a new home! The cows are actually month #3 of her Noah's Ark free stitchery BOM.

I have the next few blocks prepared and ready to be stitched. So for now, the "cows" will be joining my rabbits and dove, where they will await the company of my other "ark friends!"

Thanks Lynette for this GREAT BOM! Soon I will be up to date!

I also have a few other projects in the "works", so check back soon!

Until next time...Happy Quilting!

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Has it been 3 months?

Last week I received my next Block of the Month from Fat Quarter Shop. After admiring the fabric, I stopped and realized that this is Block #3! Has it been 3 months already? Where did the summer go? The amazing thing is that I have actually been able to keep up with this BOM!LOL!

Block #3 of the Designer Mystery BOM is called "Peace in Flight" by Joanna Figueroa of Fig Tree Quilts. I love the red paisley fabric, which shouldn't be a surprise because I am a paisley fanatic!

So here are the completed blocks (3 months worth). They are are now hanging on my portable design wall so that I can enjoy them and be reminded of how time flies!


(By the way, I still love the blue and chocolate polka dot fabric!)

Until next time......Happy Quilting!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Quilt Show #4-The Cutest Booth

Ok one last post about the quilt show.......Here is one of the cutest booths that I saw at the quilt show.

It was done by Gigglee Designs . They had some cute stitchery patterns, so check out their website.

Farewell Long Beach Quilt Show!

Until Next Time........Happy Quilting!

Quilt Show #3- The Loot!

Finally down to the good stuff...the LOOT! (Sorry that it has taken me so long to post about it, but things have been crazy at my house:the little person's pink eye incident, the little person's birthday, family in town, sight seeing with family, and just exhaustion!)

Of course there was booth after booth of fabric at the quilt show just calling out my name! I tried to restrain myself from buying too much fabric because I could buy most of it at my local quilt shops. However, I just couldn't resit buying a few things!












How could I resits buying anthing Fig Tree... especially those cute little postcards? I bought more Dandelion Girl because I haven't been able to find it at my local shops. Then how could I resist the booth selling the charm packs for $5,00?

I bought the little hexagon makers after I saw the beautiful quilt that I wrote about in my previous post. I bought it from the Cotton and Chocolate Quilt Company and it is perfect for the charm packs that I bought. You simply cut the pieces into 2.5" squares and away you go!

How could I resist the YLI thread booth? How could I resist the Connecting Threads booth were I bought the cute blue vintage tin? How could I walk away from the Acorn Quilt & Gift Company Booth?

I found this great book with tons of stitchery images! They can be transferred to just about anything and they are just too cute! I thought that they would be a great way to personalize gifts!
Finally, this was my BIG purchase! Well it was really my DH's BIG purchase. He wanted to buy me something, so I chose the portable design wall. I had been thinking about purchasing one for quite awhile, so I thought that this would be the perfect thing for him to buy me. It is portable, light weight (6 lbs), and huge (72"x72")! Wise decision and it was a good deal!

Well that is about it for my loot! Trust me I could have bought 2 of everything that was there, but I did restrain myself!

Hope that you enjoyed them!.........Until next time.......Happy Quilting!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Quilt Show #2-The Quilts

Now onto the prestigious quilts that were displayed at the Long Beach Quilt Show....


Let me start by saying that ALL of the quilts that were displayed showed lots of creativity and talent! However, most of the quilts that were displayed were "artisitc quilts." I could appreciate their beauty, but I enjoy traditionally pieced quilts and there weren't as many displayed!


Another challenge was getting pictures of the quilts! Most of the quilts had been labelled "DO NOT PHOTOGRAPH or TOUCH!"

With these thoughts in mind, I was able to get a couple of pictures. This quilt had won an award for "best hand applique".
Of course, I was drawn to this quilt because of the blue & white colors!

More quilts.....












How about these?....
This quilt has a great little bit of history. The owner rescued the quilt, "undid" the quilt, hand-pieced it back together, and then hand-quilted it!Now that deserves an award! I was drawn to the quilt because of its history and it inspired one of my purchases!


Hope that you enjoyed seeing some of the quilts that were at the show! Check back to see my "LOOT!"

Until next time....Happy Quilting!