AN EXCITING HEART OF WINTER TOUR

This post might be a little long, but I wanted to tell you all about the Heart of Winter Tour that took place this last Saturday and not stretch it out to a full week like I did last year.  Also because I got so busy looking and buying that I forgot all about taking pictures.  There were four quilt shops participating in the tour.  A bus started out early in the morning at each shop.  Those shops will send their bus on the tour, each one eventually making a visit here at the Attic Window.  Above Chris (owner of the Attic Window) talks to us while we wait for everyone to arrive so we can get on our bus. 

These cute little dolls sitting in the shop window look like they are sad to see us leave.

Here we are on the bus.  Well, not all of us.  Eleven more will join us soon!  Note the cute little young lady in the front.  I’ll tell you more about her later.

What a wonderful day for a bus tour.  It had snowed in our area and earlier in the week I was concerned that we might not be able to have our tour.  But Saturday morning the sun was shining, the roads were clear, and all of us house-bound quilters were glad to get on the road.  Isn’t this a beautiful view?

I’d like to introduce you to Brynn, our youngest quilter.  She came with Grandma Louisa who tells me that Brynn loves to sew and has made numerous pillowcases.  Brynn is nine years old and has been sewing for three years. She is currently working on a quilt for the big quilt show next year.  We all fell in love with her.  She and Grandma Louise had made cookies for us.  Brynn walked up and down the aisle making sure that we each got one.  And, I might add, they were wonderful.  Louisa said she would send me the recipe and I’ll share it with you when I get it as it was the best chocolate chip cookie I had ever tasted!  Brynn was so helpful during the rides to the various shops.  She distributed water, and the wonderful snacks that Chris provided us.  Brynn also helped with making sure the gift items that Chris also provided got to the correct person.  Between Chris and Brynn we had a wonderful time on the bus!  Thank you Chris for all you do and thank you Brynn for all your help.

Speaking of the wonderful bus ride, above our handsome driver in gentlemanly fashion helped each of us off the bus, making sure we didn’t trip on the ice or snow.  (Then again he may have driven quilters before and wanted to make sure there wasn’t a stampede! LOL)  What a charmer he was!

Quilted Memories in Montague, MI was our first stop.  This is a darling shop with a wide selection of quality fabrics and supplies, as well as a full line up of classes and special events.  The owners and workers greeted us with warm smiles, hot coffee and cookies, and lots of samples, fabrics, kits, books/patterns, etc.  The first thing I saw was this cute little pot holder kit. 

Owner Jill, above, smiles as she works the check-out.  She said that she came up with the idea for the pot holder when she had left over pieces from the hot dish carrier that she was featuring.  I got the kit with the red pepper fabric and can’t wait to make it.

Back on the bus and to the next shop.  At Around The Block Quilt Shop in Portland, MI we were made to feel welcome when the owner climbed on the bus to greet us and tell us of the discounts available and that the shop had a gift for each of us.    Above, the driver again helps us off the bus.

This shop has a rich selection of colorful fabrics, motivating books and patterns.  They were featuring kits for making these adorable place mats.   As we walked into the store I heard someone from the bus groan as she looked around and said, “I’m gonna be in so much trouble.”

The shop also provided a fantastic lunch for us.  They had deli sandwiches and sloppy Joe sandwiches.  Above is what I chose.  That salad was to die for it was so good!  Of course I’m not showing you all the dessert I ate. 

Above is the shop owner, having a good time with us.  Look at all the samples on the walls.  Again I got so wrapped up in looking at fabrics and making choices that I forgot to take more pictures.  Maybe it was the time…I’ll blame it on that, as there was so much to see and we had to concentrate because we still had another shop to visit.

Above is Steve.  He and Kathy (who got on the bus to greet us) own Quilts Plus in Kalamazoo, MI. Check out all the samples on the walls.  They had a lovely wool corner too.  Of course there were refreshments waiting for us after our long trip, then we all got down to the business of shopping.  I wish I had taken more pictures here because this is a terrific shop with lots and lots of samples as well as patterns, books, and anything quilty.

Back on the bus, we headed for the Attic Window in Grand Rapids.  We talked and shared cooking tips like, you don’t need to precook your lasagna noodles, and how to make your own vanilla.  And as quilters do, we fondled our fabric.  Above Brynn is doing what all true quilters do.  Don’t you just love her? 

Back at the Attic Window we found our cute little goodie bags lined up and waiting for us.  They contained so many helpful items, such as thimble, seam ripper, marking pencil, fat quarter, tape measure, recipe for cream cheese bars!  Wow!  We also received our free pattern for the table runner that the store featured. 

Then, since we were all too exhausted from our trip to cook, Chris had dinner waiting for us!  There was salad too, but I had to save room for turtle brownies also on the table. 

Thankful for the dinner, and exhausted from our trip and day of shopping, we got in the check-out line so we could go home and rest. 

Hope you can join us next year for this fun filled day!

On Another Note:  Shabby Fabrics has a free BOM for this year.  Check it out and get patterns for the first two months now.

Until next time,
♥
Stay Calm! Stay Kind! Stay Positive!
Caroll

MAKE A WONKY CIRCLE BLOCK

It’s snowing….AGAIN!  I should be taking advantage of this time and doing something useful like cleaning house, getting rid of the clutter.  I’ve signed up for motivational emails from Flylady, (your personal on-line coach to gain control of your clutter).   I’m sure she’d have a few choice words of “wisdom” for me today for not following her plan.  Instead of doing my 15 minutes of picking up clutter, I was going in circles, thinking about what I “should” do and not doing anything.  So I went to my sewing room and made this circle block.

 When I was blog hopping the other day I saw a stunning quilt on Kitchen Table Quilting and fell in love with it.  I love the modern look and the quilting.  Since I’m trying to create a more modern look in my house, I decided I had to give this one a try.

My next step was to go to the Pink Please blog and look at the tutorial.  She is helping out with the Heroes Helping Heroes quilt project.  I’m not sure if she is still looking for more contributions, but it might be fun to give this a try and send her a block.  The tutorial is well written with lots of pictures and you can have a block done in no time. 

On Another Note:  Color My World has a wonderful tutorial for making the cutest fabric postcards for Valentine’s Day. 

 Until next time,
♥
Stay Calm! Stay Kind! Stay Positive!
Caroll

EMBARRASSMENT, REVIEW, AND FREE eBOOK

Have you ever had an embarrassing moment?  Well, let me tell you about mine.

During the holidays I was asked by a representative of Fons & Porter to review a new free eBook.  I said I would, but with all the demands of the holidays, I never got around to it.  I could have done a simple post, I suppose.  However, I wanted to give an honest review and how could I do that unless I actually made something from the book.  For me, who is not that great at patchwork, I felt that was the only way I could give the book a truthful appraisal.

Yesterday, I finally got around to making something from the eBook.  So I opened my computer and started flipping through the pages of the book.  I was pleased to see that there were clear steps to follow.

I fell in love with this beautiful quilt that Ricky Tims created exclusively for Love of Quilting.  However, I decided it was a bit much for me to tackle on this first project.

There are even instructions for doing Trapunto.

I liked the way it showed you how to organize your strips in a pizza box, and the many layout diagrams.

I finally chose to make this Linked Chevrons designed by Marti Michell.  The book said it looked complicated but is actually easy.  I was going to impress my friends.  Since it is only 20” x 20”, I thought I’d make a doll quilt for my great granddaughter.  Last night, I read and re-read the instructions and for the life of me I could not understand how to make this quilt.  Finally, tired and irritated, I wrote the man who originally wrote to me, and asked him why it said the block ended up  2” square when by my calculations it should end up 4” square.  I also complained about no sub-cutting instructions.  Was I supposed to guess that piece #2 should be the same size as piece #1?  It was late and I was cranky.

 I went to bed thinking about the eBook, as I am the first to acknowledge that I have problems following instructions (as attested to when I made the 3 zip pouch).  And surely Fons & Porter wouldn’t put out an eBook that lacked clear instructions.   At 5 a.m. this morning I woke with a start.  “What about seam allowance?” I screamed into the dark room.  That was the reason the block would not end up being 4" square.  Still, I wondered, would that make the block as small as 2 inches?  I drug myself out of bed, opened my computer and looked over the instructions again.  The first thing I saw was “cutting instructions.”  Duh!  How did I miss that?  I swear to you I was not drinking the night before.

I was mortified! That man will read my email and think I'm a total idiot!  Embarrassed, I wrote the poor man back right away, in the hopes he hadn’t yet seen my previous message.  I then made coffee, fed the cat, and went to my sewing room.  I used 30s fabrics because I thought they would make a cute quilt for a little girl’s doll.   I made two blocks and sure enough, when I used the cutting guide each block ended up 2 ½” unfinished.  Later in the day the dear man did write me back.  His nice note said that they had found some errors in the eBook and hoped that wasn’t my problem and sent me the latest, updated issue.  My heart melted.  What a gentleman!

Above, I placed a quarter next to the blocks so you can see how small they are.  That corner red square  is smaller than a quarter!  I’m shocked that I was able to make it.  But with these instructions I got a great start on making this cute little quilt.

 Build Your Best Log Cabin is put out by Fons & Porter and you can get a copy here.  It is free and comes as a  PDF.  The book is only 24 pages long but is packed full of inspiring pictures and clear instructions  that even I can follow.  Besides all the wonderful patterns for the various Log Cabin block styles, it also includes instructions on making a piped binding and a lumpless binding.  Thanks Fons & Porter for this wonderful opportunity!

Until next time,
♥
Stay Calm! Stay Kind! Stay Positive!
Caroll