White knuckles and sweaty palms from hanging on too tight

      Granted I am a little late posting this, but I have been recuperating from an awesome weekend of adventuring. Last Friday I flew in as usual to the Milwaukee airport, Papa Peach picked me up at the airport and we drove from the airport to the ferry terminal and shuffled off to Michigan. If you haven't had the opportunity to ride the ferry across lake Michigan add it to your bucket list. We took the Lake Express, which may not be the cheapest way to get to Michigan from Wisconsin but you don't have to drive through Chicago! (Twice). My husband is a former navy sailor and was greatly comforted by his return to the water. We took our car on the ferry since the rental car location at the ferry terminal is not open when the last ferry arrives (dumb dumb dumb). We were able to watch the sunset from the rear of the ship and try out our sea legs. The ride on the way there was a little rough but as long as you remained sitting it was pretty relaxing.

View from the back of the boat, Milwaukee off in the distance

     As an added bonus Papa Peach brought my new books that came in the mail. I am now the proud owner of Sewn Toy Tales and The Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt. I can't wait to join the QAL for The Farmer's Wife at Fussy Cut. I look forward to becoming a Farmer's Wife soon!
       We got to Muskegon and drove to Grand Rapids late Friday night. Saturday morning we met up with a group of fellow quilters at Queen Bee Quilt Shop. Carin from Margaret's Hope Chest organized an end of summer work party to put together the amazing amount of blocks she had collected for quilts. We had 15+ ladies show up and over 1000 blocks donated. Amanda Jean from Crazy Mom Quilts was among the attendees and brought some quilts from her book. I was able to snag a copy of her book while we were there. We sewed and sewed and ended up with some pretty snazzy looking quilts if I do say myself. There was a reporter there from the paper, quilter's from all over, and lots of machines humming. Here are some of the charity quilts that we made, and I didn't just pick them because they were the ones that used the blocks I made. So many seams to snip. I was happy to have my Rag Scissors with me, worth every penny.

Carin peeking over the blue rag quilt

Pink Rag Quilt

        Upon arriving home I had lots of goodies in my mailbox. This box of fabric from Fat Quarter Shop (12 pounds of fabric for $56 bucks). It turns out to be 20-25 yards of fabric for 56 dollars which is less than three dollars a yard. I was really happy with the selection. Mostly all quilting cottons, well known designers (Tula Pink, Moda, Riley Blake, Michael Miller, Hoffmann). I liked it so much that I ordered a second box. Bad Bad Bad.....I keep telling myself I will use some of the goodies for charity quilts and not just become a tragic tale on an upcoming episode of hoarders.

Look what the fabric fairies left at my door

Some of my favorite fabrics from the mystery box

There were one or two fabrics that I didn't love. This one of possessed kittens takes the cake. Thank you Michael Miller, what were you thinking?????? Anyone want to swap for some cross eyed demon kittens???

     

The road is long with many a winding turn....

        It's been a while since I posted but in my defense I have been hella busy. The first couple days of August (2nd-5th) we went on the Route 127 Yard Sale. This is the second year we have gone on a yard sale road trip. Last year we did the Lincoln Buy-Way. This year since we were closer to the 127 yard sale we headed that way. On the way there from Wisconsin we hit up a number of quilt shops for me and bike shops for Papa Peach. Two of the quilt shops we hit were Erica's in South Bend, IN (it was AWESOME!) and Lolly's in Shipshewana, IN. Lolly's is having a back to school sale during the month of August and all fabrics in the store are $6 a yard. I almost hurt myself shopping this sale, and they have a rowboat full of fat quarters, what's not to love! Then we spent the next couple days yard saleing and bought a bunch of random treasures. On the way home we hit the Warm Glow Candle Outlet. They have this giant candle outside. It's not the biggest ball of twine in Minnesota but it was cool to see and I bought a bunch of candles. The last quilt shop we stopped at was Quilts Plus in Indianapolis. They have a pretty good selection I would definitely stop in if you are in the area.
        Last weekend I celebrated my 7 year anniversary with Papa Peach. I can't believe it has been 7 years since we met. Times flies when you are having fun.
        On the quilting front I have joined the Dots Blog Hop at Quilt Taffy. I will be post my block on Sept 12th and will be sponsoring a give away of dotty fabric. I have been cleaning and reorganizing my sewing room/office at home. I will post pictures when I get it all situated. If you have pictures of  your quilting space Moda is sponsoring a Show Off Your Stash link party.
       Things are coming together for my Bloggers Block of the Month. I have gathered a baker's dozen of blogger to join me in this adventure. I am finishing up the details and cutting of the fabric. More information to follow on that project. Here is the list of participants.

• Nicole                  http://www.patchworkduck.com/
• Carin & Carol      http://margaretshopechest.blogspot.com/
• Natalie                 http://craftinmechanic.blogspot.com/  
• Jennifer                http://www.knotted-thread.com/
• Jennifer                http://ellisonlane.blogspot.com/
• Tracey                 http://itching2bstitching.blogspot.com/
• Stephanie             http://littleladypatchwork.blogspot.com/
• Jenny                   http://sewkindofwonderful.blogspot.com/
• Natalie                 http://mamalovequilts.blogspot.com/
• Sandra                 http://sharpquilts.blogspot.com/
• Felicity                 http://felicityquilts.blogspot.com/
• Erin                      http://billybuttondesign.blogspot.com/
• Julie & Bree         http://distantpickles.blogspot.com/

When I was cleaning up my sewing room I came across this flannel baby rag quilt.

I had finished up the stitching but not the snipping of the seams. My husbands niece just had a baby boy so I am finishing up this quilt for the new baby. I almost had to have words with the TSA at the Milwaukee airport as they were trying to yank my rag scissors. It turns out that they were on high alert since Mitt Romney was in town with his new Vice President Paul Ryan. I ran into the motorcade going in the opposite direction when I was on my way on the airport. I am also hoping to put together a quilt for my friend Elizabeth's new foster baby girl. It will be the same pattern but different fabric. If you want to make one of your own check out the tutorial here. I am linking this up to WIP Wednesday At Freshly Pieced!
        My step daughter Gabby wants a red and blue quilt. I had been having trouble picking a pattern until I saw this picture at A Little Bit Biased. I love love love them.




Here's what I have been working up for her quilt. 8 point squares with mixed middles. Can you think of any I missed???

Quilting In The USA - Milwaukee, WI

I was able to spend sometime in my home sweet home this weekend and since it was my birthday I took a couple extra days. I got a lot of sewing and shopping done while I was home and have some new shops to add to my growing list as I travel the USA.

The closest shop to my house is actually a Ben Franklin Crafts in Oconomowoc, WI. This Store is located at 1083 Summit Avenue in Oconomowoc, WI. Although this is not a traditional free standing quilt shop it is close to my house and it has a number of things that I enjoy. They have a great selection of fabrics and wool, numerous classes and quilt samples and something I haven't seen elsewhere AccuQuilt rental. They have the machine and a number of dies and you can rent it by the hour to cut your fabric. I haven't taken advantage of this yet but it certainly is a cost effective way to try out or use the machine without the investment of having one of your own. If I was at home more I would definitely take some classes here

Heading toward the south of where I live The Quilt Patch is a store I stumbled upon going to meet my husband for lunch. He apparently drives past this place everyday on his way to work and conveniently forgot to mention its exsistance. This is a smaller store which is part of a house and is only open limited hours. Inside they have packed a lot into a small space. The fat quarters are $2.50 each and they have tons of very well packaged quilt kits. They also have some mystery boxes available for $5.00 each, I am a sucker for mystery anything. I ended up buying one of these boxes and had two generous quarter yards of fabric and a panel as well as a pattern inside. Can't be beat and I love the surprise.

My favorite shop along this route is located in Milton, WI. Loose Threads is not only an awesome shop but it is also in an old schoolhouse which combines my two favorite things. This place is packed to the gills with fabric, room after room of bolts. They also have a selection of discount bolts for $6 a yard and "misfits" which are remnants that are width of fabric and are sold by the length. They have a separate classroom area as well as fairly priced fat quarters ($2.50-$2.60). This is one of the only places I have found that have Sunday hours so if you need a fix on a Sunday this is the place to go.

The final shop we went to was located in Genesse Depot. This address does not want to come up in my GPS. I blame it on the crazy Wisconsin street addresses, the longitude and latitude method should only be used by pilots and sea captains in my opinion. If you can find this place it is a smaller shop with no crazy bargains. Pamella's Place is a Bernina dealer and it is pretty tightly packed. I don't know if I would seek it out again but it was worth a visit at least once.

We tried to hit up a couple other shops in Fort Atkinson and Whitewater but they were closed early on Saturday. I have some more shops headed toward Milwaukee which I will give you the info on the next post and I have a bunch of quilting projects I need to share as well. I hope to catch up this weekend. Happy stitching!

Quilting In The USA - Columbus, OH Part 2

I'm back in Columbus, Ohio this week (Week 7!) I am proud to say that there is an exit strategy in place and I should be done here by the end of the month. I am pretty pumped. I have a couple trips to Missouri planned for later this month and next. I have never been to Missouri and am excited to cross another state off my list, I am also excited to locate some shops in the Kansas City, MO, and St. Joseph, MO area.

Last night I went to two more Columbus quilt shops. I think I have exhausted the available quilt resources in Columbus but if i have missed any let me know. I have also added a quilt shop map to the blog so you can see where I have been if you want to check them out yourself.

The first shop I visited yesterday was Sew To Speak in Clintonville. If you look at the map you will see that Clintonville is in the North central part of Columbus. It is a cute suburb with lots of boutique shops, restaurants and such. A place where a girl like me could lose track of time and money. I had read many reviews about this shop and was scared/fascinated at the prospect. The general opinion of this shop in everything I read was that they have the cutest designer fabrics that are hard to find anywhere else, also that you are going to pay dearly for them. I headed out expecting to look at all the store had to offer but leave empty handed as I am cheap cheap cheap. Initially I missed this shop, twice, and had to keep turning around to find it. The signage is not the best on this place. The store itself is small but does have a lot of less common designers as well as some old favorites. The prices i found to be fair for quilt shop fabrics. Moda and Robert Kaufmann were starting at $9 and $10 a yard. They did have some local designers and imports that were significantly more (up to $21.50 a yard). Some of these higher priced fabrics do make their way to the 20% discount rack. I did end up grabbing some 1/8 yard chunks of fabric for my on going 6 point star project and I found some more owl cuties. I am not sure if these will go with my current owlets but I haven't seen these before and am willing to risk it. I like to call them "how now brown owl".

Owls In Retro - Robert Kaufmann - Suzanne Ultman

Overall I would say that Sew To Speak is worth a look. The prices were pretty fair, they do have some designers you just won't see elsewhere, the store is on the small side and you have to be looking for it. They have reasonably priced fat quarters ($2.75) and some of the most unique notions that I have never seen in a quilt shop before (leather squirrel zipper pulls!!!). If you are looking to take a class they have a pretty wide variety from kids to adults, skirts to quilts. They also sell oilcloth and patterns for some oil cloth projects.

From Sew to Speak I continued down the street to The Glass Thimble. I have been in Columbus for some time and haven't been to this shop yet. Their website did not inspire me to hop in my car and head over there. I gave in last night since they were open until 8pm and it was only 2 miles from the other shop I had planned on visiting. The store itself is not hard to find, finding the entrance is another story. The store front is on N High Street but the entrance and parking is in the rear which can only be reached by turning on East North Broadway Street and then turning onto Broadway Place which is a one way street. Once you find the parking lot there is plenty of parking to go around. The shop itself appears to be two houses that have been conjoined by a pass through. As a result the store is somewhat of a maze. It seems to go on forever and there is a lot to take in. The fabric selection is pretty good, fat quarters are $3.19 and fat eights are $1.69. This store has many many patterns and most of them have a quilt top example made and displayed in the store. Who ever is doing the quilting for this store has an amazing eye for color and is a very adept quilter. The displays are amazing. The Glass Thimble also offers classes and a long arm service. Overall a very nice shop, worth the maze to get in there.

Where is your favorite quilt shop????

Quilting In The USA - Columbus, OH

I travel quite extensively for my job. Monday through Friday I am on the road throughout most of the central United States. I don't get to see my husband or beagles nearly enough. I am on a first name basis with most TSA agents at the Milwaukee airport. However when I travel I seek out local fabric and quilt shops to entertain myself and add to my stash. I have been in Columbus, Ohio now for about 6 weeks......(sigh)

Columbus, Ohio....Looking Snazzy

I have found a couple great quilt shops here in town.

Here are the highlights.....

Red Rooster Quilts- Located in Dublin, Oh (North-West of downtown). This is a great store with a nice selection of quilting fabrics and wool. They offer classes in the back studio which is also where they have a selection of bolts that are 40% off. They have a lot of quilt kits, pre-cuts, patterns, and finished display tops. The are an authorized Janome dealer and have a longarm quilting service. They aren't the cheapest store I have ever been too, the fat quarters are $3.25, which is a little rich for my blood, but I did find the cutest owl print here.

Ten Little Things - Yellow Owls - By Moda

The fabric is Ten Little Things by Moda in yellow. I just want to squeeze that little green owl until his eyes pop out. They have this print in a number of colors. I am proud to say that I bought the green and the yellow. This fabric was the inspiration for my friend Megan's baby quilt. They aren't going to find the gender of the baby until its born and I was looking for a neutral fabric. This is not an easy task if you have ever spent any time looking at children's fabrics. They are all pink or blue!!! I plan on making a version of the quilt below (New Wave Quilt) using this pattern I found at Oh, Fransson!.

New Wave Quilt by Oh, Fransson!

Hopefully my quilt will look half as nice as her's when I'm finished. If you haven't been to Oh, Fransson! stop what you are doing and click the link. I love every one of her quilts more than the last. Her tutorials are very very easy to understand. She does great work and this pattern is available for download from her website for free!. She also has a number of beautiful quilt patterns available for sale on her website.

Back to the task at hand. The next shop I found here in Columbus was Quilt Beginnings, they have two locations to the north or east of the city. I first went to the store to find Quilt Patis templates after watching this video on how to make a six point star. As I mentioned before I travel a whole bunch and my sewing machine stays at home. So i was looking for a project that would be portable and airplane friendly. I started searching and found Quilt Patis which happens to be a product created by someone who lives in Columbus. I took this as a sign and went out to buy said Patis. I found Quilt Beginnings on Quilt Patis website and went to the North side location one day after work.

The North side location does not have the Quilt Patis but they have a lot of other great stuff. Large selection of quilting fabric, sewing machines, many fat quarter bundles, and a classroom in the back. The fat quarter here are $3.00 each which is a little pricey, but they have a selection of $5.00 a yard bolts (minimum cut of 1 yard) and often have fat quarter bundles of 12 for $18.00. So there are some bargains to be found.

The east side location is very close to the Columbus airport, which works out great for me. If I am looking to kill some time before my flight this is where I will be. This store has a different selection of items than the north side store. They do have a bargain area with $5.00 per yard bolts (1 yard minimum) and fat quarter bundles of 12 for $18.00. This location does carry several type of the Quilt Patis templates. I use the 1.5" diamond which come 60 to a pack and are $20.00. At first I thought why spend $20.00 when i could make my own. Then I did some math and figured I didn't want to go through the trouble to make them to save a couple cents each. They are reusable and very handy. I will be posting a tutorial on using the Quilt Patis and showing what I have made with mine.

Hope you have enjoyed this trip through the quilt shops of Columbus. Let me know if you have any other gems I need to check out.