Also At The Show . . .

Of course, half the fun of quilt shows is looking at the quilts, but the other half of the fun is visiting the vendors, right?! I thought the Manteca show had a great mix of non-quilt shop vendors. I was most excited to see that Tracy Souza of Plumcute Designs had taken a booth, because I had SO MUCH I wanted to talk to her about! She actually lives in the Sacramento area and teaches here but up until now, I kept just missing her at one event or another.

Do you subscribe to or buy Create and Decorate magazine? Tracy has published a series of projects in the magazines that are just wonderful, and they all use a bent spoon as a "hook"--take a look at the photo below to see what I'm talking about.

There was a similar heart in red and white around Valentine's Day and all of us in our little stitchery group showed the photo to our hubbies/significant others who told us they didn't know how they'd be able to bend a silver plated spoon the way Tracy did in her projects. So when I got to meet Tracy, that was the first thing I asked: How do you bend a spoon? As it turned out, it wasn't too hard after all! She uses a lighter weight, more bendable craft-type spoon and she had a bunch for sale in her booth. Easy-peasy! I purchased five! Tracy has a website if you want to browse, and although she doesn't have the spoons on the site yet, she said she will soon. (Click HERE.) She can also be contacted through the site via email.

I could have easily purchased everything in her booth, her stuff is just that cute! I DID buy a little Easter bucket kit I'll have to show you when I get around to making it. And some wool.

In fact, all of us bought wool at several vendors. Really, when you love to work with wool, you'll know that the best place to find it is at quilt shows, and Manteca's show was no exception.

One of the vendors had older embroidered (redwork) blocks--she had a pile that came from a quilt that had been cut apart, and I picked out two that I liked:

Can you tell I'm thinking about Easter? I'm not certain what I'll do with the blocks, but I was thinking about simply framing them. Any other ideas?

All of us visited the show's boutique at least once, if not more than once. I found several baggies of old lace, ribbons, buttons, and floral trim that were priced inexpensively. And there was a row of chairs in the hallway right outside the boutique that were perfect for resting while awaiting one's companions.

Are you a fast shopper or a slow shopper? Throughout the day, I found I was WAAAAAY ahead of my friends, so I spent a bit of time waiting, and those chairs came in handy! We noticed that some of the ladies who seemed to be working the show were wearing vintage--and somewhat eccentric!--hats, so I stopped one as she passed to find out the story and she explained the hats were worn by the persons working the show who could answer questions and help attendees. Another hatted woman appeared and we soon learned she was Janet Dyk, the person in charge of the whole show. Wonderfully nice women; but then aren't most quilters?

After we left the show and stopped for lunch at a delish Mexican restaurant, we made a short trek to Manteca's quilt shop, Ladybug's Quilts.

I hadn't visited the shop since it had changed hands a year or two ago, so it was nice to stop. Have you seen the fabric line Papillon by Three Sisters for Moda? Really yummy colors. Ladybug's had it, and of course, we NEEDED some! Outside the shop before hitting the road, we met another quilter, Judy from Lodi. It's so much fun to find such friendly people! Quilters are just the best, aren't they?! We finished our day back in Sacramento with an ice cream cone at Vic's, a long-time favorite creamery and grill for most of us around here. You couldn't possibly hope for a better day!

Speaking of the kindness of quilters, a very kind woman offered me the book I was looking for, Summer Weekend by Blackbird Designs. She told me that it and a few other books were ready to go to a quilt book exchange, so I didn't feel I was putting anyone out--thank you so much! But also, a few other quilters offered to loan me their copy, including the quilter whose quilt I photographed at the show, Lisa Van Groningen. (Lisa, I couldn't email you back as you're "no-reply," but I loved your quilt! Thanks!) I truly appreciate everyone's generosity. I know, too, that a couple other quilters left comments indicating they were interested in the book as well; once I'm done with it, perhaps we can set something up so that it will pass from quilter to quilter. I'll post something on my blog one of these days and see what we can set up.

Well, the weekend is over and it's back to work for me in the morning. I guess I'd better earn my paycheck, because the next quilt show is in two weeks, and I think I'd better replenish the coffers!

Thanks for visiting!

But It's a Good Tired

Boy, but shopping and traveling and looking at quilts really makes a person tired! Or maybe it's just not being able to sleep in on a Saturday. Whatever it is, a day spent with friends doing fun things is worth every bit of tiredness and getting up "early." Let me tell you a little bit about our day at the Manteca quilt show.

Four of us met up at our friend Sandy's house and piled into her car. After a quick stop at a location equidistant from Peet's and Starbuck's, we each grabbed our drink of choice and got back in the car to drive south for about an hour. We arrived at the site of the show about a half hour after the doors opened, and there was still a line of quilters waiting to get in!

One of the things I like about the Manteca show is that there's a section devoted to dolls, and this year's featured doll artist, Susie Crawford, had a marvelous display. Here are some of her creations--

I could have looked at these dolls for hours--each one had a personality of its own, and Ms. Crawford is amazingly creative! Here's a close up of a pair I thought were particularly well done--

If I had more play time in my life, I think I'd turn to doll making. Have you ever tried it?

As for the quilts, I didn't take too many photos but mostly the applique quilts grabbed my attention . . . because, of course, this is the year of applique in my world. I think there were three, or maybe more, versions of quilts made from Anne Sutton/Bunny Hill's free A Tisket, a Tasket pattern. I took photos of two--I'm not sure why I didn't get a photo of the third except that it's pretty typical of my photography abilities. I just get carried away looking and forget about snapping!

Finally for tonight, I'll show you the applique quilt that was my favorite--this one from a pattern by Blackbird Designs.

I just love their stuff! A little research has helped me identify the quilt as being from their book Summer Weekend, but I can't find the book available anywhere--or anywhere reasonable, anyway (there are two used ones listed on Amazon for nearly $80). If you have a copy of the book you're interested in selling (or know where I can get one), I might be interested in buying--let me know, thanks!

I have more to tell you about our day, but it's going to have to wait until tomorrow. I think it's time for bed now, and you'd better bet I'm sleeping in on Sunday!

Blog Spam

Two or three of you commented a couple days ago about the new double word verification when leaving comments, and that was the first I heard of it. When I visited someone's blog a little bit later, I experienced it for the first time. What a bother! I have a hard enough time with just one word, let alone trying to type two.

So I decided to remove word verification from my blog. Within a few hours, I started getting spam comments on one of my more popular blog posts so, thinking I could solve the problem, I closed comments on that post. Then I started getting spam comments on another post. At that point, I decided I'd better put word verification back on.

I'm sorry that spammers have made it so difficult for the rest of us to enjoy the internet. I'm not sure what they think they'll gain from their oh-so-obvious spam messages, especially since most of the time they go into a spam folder without being posted anyway!

I appreciate the time you take to overcome these annoyances and post comments on my blog from time to time. It's good to know that someone out there is reading what I write and enjoying the quilts I make.

On a different note, usually my favorite thing to do on a Saturday morning is sleep in, but not THIS Saturday morning. THIS Saturday morning I have to get up at my normal time and get ready and leave the house just like I do each weekday morning for work. The only reason I'm doing it tomorrow morning is because it's going to be fun--I'm meeting a couple of my friends and we're going on a little quilt show road trip. I'll tell you about it tomorrow night. Now it's time to get to bed, because I don't want to be late!

Well, I Think It's Obvious . . .

Miss Jean came up with the perfect name for the quilt:

RABBIT TRANSIT

When I read her comment, I loved it! The word play is absolutely fantastic and it sums up the entire quilt in just two words! I knew it would be hard to top Miss Jean's suggestion, but the rest of you certainly made a good effort, and I thank you all for coming up with so many great suggestions.

Miss Jean, please email me your mailing address and I'll get the prize out to you soon.

Chicken or the Egg?

Last week I attended my guild's monthly meeting. You may recall that I recently cleaned out the Sweat Shop and gave away and sold a lot of "stuff" I didn't think I'd ever get around to using. At one point in the process, I was starting to feel like that neighbor with ten zucchini plants in August--how could I possibly get rid of all this stuff? Who would take it? Right about then, two things happened: (1) Bonnie Hunter had a "garage sale" with links from her blog to everyone who had stuff to sell (there are still some "garage sale" things left in my Etsy shop if anyone's interested) and (2) a couple of you mentioned that guilds often have "free" tables; a prime place to donate anything unwanted. Hallelujah!

By the time my guild's meeting rolled around, I had two large-ish paper bags about 2/3rds filled with fabric. I planned to take it all to the meeting, but I got cold feet and only took a bit over half of it. Because, after all, I didn't want to bring more fabric than people could possibly absorb at one time. How sad would a pile of orphan fabric be to find itself left on the table at the end of the night?

That night, I arrived at the guild hall about 20 minutes before the meeting. There were a number of ladies milling about the various tables, including the free table; in fact, I found it hard to get close enough to the table to unload my bag o'fabric. I waited a few minutes for an opening but everyone remained planted around the table. Finally I resorted to grabbing fabric out of the bag, one handful at a time, and snaking my hand between the closely packed women to drop each handful of fabric on the table. With each handful, I'd move along to the next little opening and repeat the process, over and over again until my bag was empty. Then I stood back to see if my discards would be adopted or left behind.

A few minutes later, when a small gap occurred and a line of sight opened up, I was amazed to see that the table was completely bare of fabric. A school of piranhas could not have done a better job stripping a leg of beef.

Now I'm not suggesting my giveaway fabric was ugly, but none of it was anything I'd get excited about--obviously, since I was giving it away. I started wondering whether these women simply saw fabric and grabbed it, no matter what it looked like, or whether what they took was something they truly wanted/needed/LIKED! It also made me think about things like greed versus sharing. And I know the economy has been hard for people the last few years, but I also know that some of the people who are always at the head of the "free" line are people whose pocketbooks aren't hurting one bit. Then again, I'm charitable enough to believe that some of the fabric will likely end up in projects donated to those among us who will find a great deal of comfort in whatever they receive. Besides, who am I to judge? I'm the person with no self control, who is so self-indulgent, she wastefully buys much more than she needs. No stones thrown from these hands!

But then I also wondered how many of us FIRST have a passion for fabric that makes us turn to quilting as a REASON to buy fabric, and how many of us FIRST develop a passion for quilting that leads us to buy the fabric. Which came first for you? Do you know?

As far back as I can really remember, I've loved fabric--the textures, the colors, and the designs. I tried making clothing one or two times in my life but I didn't really like the results that much. AND I was still sane enough back then to realize I didn't need more fabric than I'd ever be able to use, so I pushed my desire for fabric to the end of my potential addiction list. When I realized quilting could be more creative and artistic than sewing together four-patches made from old, discarded clothing, the fabric and quilting addiction jumped to the top of the list again and my sanity fled out the door.

At any rate, I still have about half a bag of fabric left to bring to the next guild meeting. I'm not sure how I'll do it next time, but I think I'll try something different. Maybe I'll get there earlier or wait until the meeting has begun before getting the fabric onto the free table. Maybe I'll give it to the community service people. Maybe I'll donate it to one of the other tables. I guess I'll have to give it some thought. I'll let you know if that last half bag of fabric leads to any other fabric psychology revelations.

Remember THIS?

As I was reading some of your suggestions for quilt names, this song popped into my head:

Do you remember it? Here are the lyrics, adjusted slightly in honor of the quilt, so you can sign along:

HARE they come again, mmmm-mm-mm
Catch us if you can, mmmm-mm-mm
Time to get a move on, mmmm-mm-mm
We will yell with all of our might

Catch us if you can
Catch us if you can
Catch us if you can
Catch us if you can

Now we gotta run, mmmm-mm-mm
No more time for fun, mmmm-mm-mm
When we're getting angry, mmmm-mm-mm
We will yell with all of our might

Catch us if you can
Catch us if you can
Catch us if you can
Catch us if you can
Yeahhhhh

HARE they come again, mmmm-mm-mm
Catch us if you can, mmmm-mm-mm
Time to get a move on, mmmm-mm-mm
We will yell with all of our might

This little trip down memory lane has been brought to you by the Dave Clark Five.

Remember This?

Well, it's going to need a good name soon, because this is what I spent the evening doing--

I'm a little less than halfway done quilting the background "texture." After that, it's just quilting the detail on the applique and then the borders--and I'd guess that the quilt might be ready for binding by the end of the week or thereabouts.

If you're a new reader or missed a few posts, then you probably don't know, but this quilt started out as the Rabbits Prefer Chocolate block of the month by Bunny Hill, until I got a little sidetracked and distracted. Or maybe someone slipped me a hallucinogenic drug. Or a flashback to the 60s? In any event, the rabbits got carried away and turned into something a little different from what they started out as.

Now, of course, the original quilt name, Rabbits Prefer Chocolate, no longer fits the quilt, so it needs a new name. Can you think of one? Suggestions will be accepted through Thursday evening (March 1st). I'll either pick a winner then or, if I can't decide on my own, I'll post a poll with a few of my favorites so everyone can help pick a winning name.

Of course, there's always a prize for winning, and this is no exception. The winner will receive two Redwork Renaissance charm packs. Everyone's gotta love red and white, right? Just like everyone's gotta love rabbits! Good luck and thanks for helping me out!

What I Did Next . . .

I didn't mention it last night, because I hadn't uploaded any photos to show you yet, but Izzy came over (with Soccer Son and His Lovely Wife to Be Someday) on Saturday and met her dog father, the Drooling Dog. Here's a photo of the two of them approaching one another for the first time:

I took several other photos but in each, one or the other of the dogs was a blur--they had a wonderful time romping around the yard together. At first, the Drooling Dog didn't know his own strength and sent Izzy tumbling a couple times, but no harm was done, and he became quite gentle. In fact, she was the one chasing after him much of the time! It was really cute to watch. I'm just sorry the Wild Child wasn't here to see it, but she's settling into her life in New York, and Soccer Son sent her photos.

I sure don't know what was in that hot chocolate I drank last night, but I couldn't keep my eyes open long after drinking it, and I think I was asleep before 11 p.m.! On a Saturday night! I think the last time I was asleep before 11 p.m. on a Saturday night was when I was seven. What a party girl I'm turning into.

I wanted to show you what I've just finished. I worked on the pinwheels a little bit on Saturday evening but I got bored with them and . . . well, you already know about the hot chocolate. Anyway, I got up this morning and worked on this little hanging all day, finishing the binding around 11 p.m.

The center is a screen printed block I purchased online from Olde America Antiques. The have a large selection of vintage/antique images that they print in different sizes onto good quality cotton. If you'd like to check out their stuff, click on their name.

Now it's time to start thinking about the end of the weekend and going back to work in the morning. Bath time, for one thing, if I can get Stitch out of the tub. I'm really not sure what he does in there, but I can hear him thumping and bumping around, and I suspect the bath tub is a little like a skate park where he can slide and roll around.

Pets! At least they're entertaining.

Because You Can't ALWAYS Play . . .

As much as I'd like to spend each and every day playing--in the Sweat Shop, spending time with friends, dreaming creative dreams--every now and then reality slips into my world and I force myself to do the things that need to be done. Like house work.

And that's what I spent most of my Saturday doing. Sure, I thought about doing it one evening last week so I didn't have to give up a weekend day . . . but I didn't. I put it off. Until today.

But now it's done, so I think I deserve a little treat. This is what I think I'll do--

Right after I put on my comfy jammies, grab a good book, and climb into a newly made, soft bed. Yum!

Ah, Yes!

Okay, it's done! Well, at least it's done as far as I'm ready to go for now. Want to see? Of course, you do!

I had to lure Spike out to the kitchen with the promise of dinner in order to get her off the quilt top, and then she came back and tried to get on it again while I was folding it up! At least I know SHE likes it!

By the way, I realized I hadn't shown you the pattern inspiration for the original block swap--this pattern was printed back in 2004, and I can't remember which magazine it was in, but I loved it at first sight. Maybe you can click to enlarge the photo to see if it has the magazine name on the page--if you need to know.

What I mean when I say it's done as far as I'm ready to go is simply that I don't know if I want to add borders or not. You can't see very well, but the quilt is barely wide enough to extend over the sides of the king size bed, which would make it fine for a twin and maybe a double but it isn't as large as I'd like for a queen--and I think I'd like it large enough for a queen. So I think I'll set it aside for now until I pull the monthly Thimbleberries project out of the jar and find I'm to work on "Thimbleberries Tree Blocks"--because I think I might like to make those blocks into a border with the addition of a few more trees and maybe houses. Of course, I might change my mind between now and then and just add traditional borders. But for now? It's on to the next project! I wonder what it will be?