no diets here

Yep, I've been shopping. While the whole rest of the world seems to be on an extreme fabric diet, I have decided instead to do my part to keep the fabric industry afloat. And since I have nothing I've made to show you, I'll share some of my new yummies.

Above is a fun smattering of prints from my favorite online shop, Superbuzzy (I couldn't resist throwing a few boy prints in the cart - we find out what baby number two is next week!), and five colorways of Sweet Grid by Yuwa (from Charm Stitch).

The new baby on the way was a good excuse to finally pick up Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings. And after seeing this gorgeous quilt Anna herself made out of Innocent Crush, Pastry Line and the Square Dance panels, I just had to pick up some of the voiles to add to my IC collection.

The Drunk Love WIP made me order a few more coordinating prints to throw in - that quilt is getting huge and the more prints the merrier!

Then this fat quarter set of hard to find Henna Garden just happened to pop into my Etsy cart. Who could resist that?

And every single one of these prints was a definite necessity: flowers from Lecien Flower Sugar, mingle dots in Steel, the new quilting weight Heath check from Alexander Henry, some Robert Kaufman Metro, campers, elephants, a Megumi Sakakibara print and some new Kokka Snow White beauties.

The yarn stash has grown a little bit too. I've developed such a madeline tosh yarn fixation, it seems like every project I have planned is destined to be done in tosh. I think that beautiful grey colorway, Gossamer, is going to be cast on tomorrow for the Effortless Cardigan by Hannah Fettig.

Even my fabric imp, Mercury, has gotten a new outfit. This sweater set was hand knit by the talented megipupu, and it is absolutely lovely. You can occasionally find her Blythe knits on Etsy. Mercury is perched atop the Ruby Star Rising and Robert Kaufman Quilter's linen she made me order from Pink Chalk.

So yes, I have added a lot to my stash. Now I just need to find the time and energy to sew! The cold bug has finally landed on me and now it's back to bed. I hope you all are staying warm and healthy - and getting all your supplies together for the Single Girl Quilt-along! It's been so exciting seeing how many of you are joining in. Everything is kicking off on Valentine's Day so there's still time to quilt with us!

Design Class Weekend with Heather Ross

What an absolute ball of a weekend! Road trip and fancy hotel with Mark, fabric shopping galore, eating  delicious food in Portland, drinking champagne and getting to take an all-weekend long workshop on fabric design taught by none other than Heather Ross!!

Yes my head still hurts a bit -from all the thinking too hard and staring at a computer, not the champagne! -but I think I have walked away with a good basis to maybe actually be able to do some of my own fabric designs someday. For those of you who weren't aware, the Portland Northwest College of the Arts invited Heather to teach her method of designing in photoshop to a small class. When I heard about this opportunity there was no way I wasn't going to make this work. I'm so glad I did! Photoshop is a mammoth of a program that I wasn't at all familiar with, and I still have a looooooong way to go before feeling comfortable with it, but it is an incredible tool and really thrilling to get to see your own sketch come to life in a way that can be translated to fabric.

And look, not only did I get to meet so many wonderful talented and crafty women, but I got to hang out with John (quiltdad) too! Heather, by the way, is everything you would expect - stylish, witty, funny and brimming with creative ideas. I loved meeting and working with her and Heather, if you're reading this, I'm really sorry for being such a complete nit-wit to teach photoshop to!

So the design I came up with for the weekend was requested by Mark. He really wanted me to do a print of little bacon and pork chops. And because I wasn't feeling any of my other ideas I had I decided to humor him. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Here is a blurry eyed me at the very end of class with a print out of my creation. Yep, a cheater print of pork chops, bacon, dots and little piggies. I'm going to get a smaller scale of it printed on linen to make some dish towels and potholders for our kitchen.

And of course I had to hit up Sisters and Ruby Street Quilters on the way down to P-town. There are many hidden gems at these out-of-the-way quilt shops. I scored some Uptown, Summer in the City, lots of old Amy Butler and more. We also stopped by Bolt fabric boutique in Portland, where I made some additions to my Liberty collection and picked up some pretty new organic prints too.

Look at all the $5 a yard Amy Butler Ginger Bliss, Charm and Temple Flowers!

All in all, a wonderful trip. But the very best part was getting to come home to this funny little lady. She thinks she's pretty hot in sunglasses.

In my haste to pack and leave for Portland last week I forgot to thank all of you for your kind words, both posted and private, regarding this blog post. It was so incredibly heartwarming to feel all the love out there from all of you whom I've never even met. It just shows you that life can be tough sometimes and no matter how separate we are or how similar or different our lives, I think we all just want the best for one another. Thank you.

Inspired Friday

How could it not be with all this new loot? Mr. Mailman was nice to me this week. I went a little nuts but I just had to have all this stuff, right? Castle Peeps, some of Erin McMorris's new line Weekends (love the bikes), the first of my Far, Far Away 2 and some new solids and linens. I also lost my patience with the US printing of Material Obsession Two and ordered one from the UK. And after I saw these blocks Amy (badskirt) came up with, I just had to order the curved hexagon star template from Australia (it's Matilda's own, and I bought it here). And the best yet? I won a little contest Ryan (I'm Just A Guy Who Quilts) had over on his blog and he sent me a Moda Bella Solids color card and fat quarters in the sorbet colorway from Tufted Tweets!!! Thanks so much Ryan!

Why can't all quilting books be as cool as the Material Obsessions? Not every design is my style but there are some beautiful quilts and ideas in these pages. Jazz Hands is my favorite in the new book....

and it is taking all my will-power not to start cutting into these lovelies. I already have the quilt all planned in my head.

And here is block two for my Kerchief Girl quilt. I'll be working on brown kerchief girl tonight after dinner (Mark is grilling a Kobe New York and crab-stuffed salmon right now - YUM!)

So while all of you are out having a wild and crazy Friday night, I'll be humming away at the ol' sewing machine. I've been staying close to home lately, just the way I like it. Happy Weekend everyone!

Goodbye 33, Hello 34!

Here are the glorious spoils from the "Great Birthday Fabric Expedition"! Not a bad bunch of loot, eh?

I can't begin to express to you how exciting this all was to find! And I'm sure I don't have to, because I know all of you would feel the same way. It was seriously more than I could've hoped for. 

On Thursday morning, Mark and I dropped Lucy and Norman off with their Grandma and drove off down the Interstate to Portland to celebrate my birthday. Thanks to the tips of three lovely ladies (thanks Sarah, Raven and Tiffany!!), we made stops at three small-town quilt shops along the way, and I must say it was a ridiculously great success!!

The first shop we hit had some of the elusive aqua colorway of Mendocino - underwater sisters and fish! I had to get the rest of the bolt of the aqua sisters! They even had some old Lightning Bug prints like dogs on blue and yellow and blue ponies, along with Tula Pink butterflies which I snagged and lots more I had to leave behind. I'm talking Cake Rock, Jackie Shapiro Pop Botanical and Tula Pink Nest. I was already on a high after the first stop!

The next shop had more bolts of yumminess than I have ever seen in one place. Entire collections of Heather Bailey Freshcut and Pop Garden, Amy Butler galore and lots of the hard to find Moda Uptown and Summer in the City collections, just to name a few.

I got a few prints I've been missing from my AB Belle and Love collections,

and even a fat quarter stack of some very rare old AB Ginger Bliss.

The third stop was way out of the way and turned out to be a funny old tin barn full of awesome finds. I sort of blew my fabric budget at the previous shop so I behaved myself, but wow! It was cool to see every single Midwest Modern and Lotus print side by side. There was even lots of Katie Jump Rope, Good Folks and Alexander Henry. This sweet woman had so much fabric in this place that her new Momo Freebird and Hope Valley was still in the plastic wrap!

I started my Joel Dewberry Modern Meadow collection and I'm hooked....must get more of that!

I have my wonderful husband to thank for it all. I am a lucky woman to have found such a patient guy to drive me on all these wild goose chases and just gets a kick out of seeing me happy.

We had an awesome weekend in Portland, one of my favorite cities. I won't bore you with too many of the details of the rest of the trip because I know most of you don't read this to hear about that stuff. But in case you get a chance to visit this great city, here is my short list:

 - The Heathman Hotel for lodging

-Ken's Artisan Bakery for Stumptown coffee and pastries mmmm Marionberry croissant

-Pok Pok Thai for lunch (the wings and a Salted Plum Collins are a must)

-Oregon Wines on Broadway for a glass of good Pinot Noir

-So many places to go for dinner, but a few of my favorites are Olympic Provisions, Castagna, Pizza Ascholls and Le Pigeon

-and if you have time, a drive down to the beautiful Willamette Valley wine country, only 45 minutes south

I've been reflecting a bit today on the last year of my life, and I really do think 33 was my best year yet.  I have the best husband ever, my sweet little girl is almost one year old and the absolute best thing that's ever happened to me and I'm surrounded by such loving friends and family. Yep, I'm a lucky girl. And looking forward to 34:)

Spoonflower Snow White is here!

It's here! My first very own fabric design printed by Spoonflower. I can't believe how fast it got here. The print and color is incredibly true to my original drawing! There she is, surrounded by her seven dwarves, animal friends, the evil queen, and even her Prince Charming! I would show you a few more photos but I am not getting any good shots with the dark weather, but I wanted to show you something right away.

This was such a fun process - I only ordered a yard to begin with to be sure I liked it. I think I would make the scale a bit smaller if I have more printed along with a few other changes but other than that I love it. The cogs in my brain are churning with the next girls to be made into fabric - Cinderella, Thumbelina and of course Little Red! There can never be too many prints of her, can there?

In honor of Miss Snow White's arrival, I will be posting my first giveaway soon - tomorrow if all goes as planned!

I also wanted to mention the new group and blog put together by some uber-talented ladies, The Block Party. They are putting together a book about virtual quilting bees, and starting a new Flickr Group as well. I have also just joined my first quilting bee, The Bee-utiful Quilting Bee, and I am so excited to be working with this group of awesome women. Their work is beautiful and I can't wait to start!

Heather Ross MISC package arrived!

Finally! It feels like I have been waiting not so patiently for this parcel to arrive for FOREVER! It was on the doorstep when I got home this evening, with this cute little note written on the outside.....

It reads "Sorry about the Addams family packaging, I'm hopeless with a tape gun." - H. I know I am sort of a groupie (I won't even tell you all about my Prince obsession) but this was pretty cool.

I couldn't restrain myself and blew my whole months fabric budget on the package! So this is what two hundred duckets gets you.....

I did specifically ask for some Recess or Field Trip, but alas there was none! I am guessing she doesn't have enough to spare because I haven't seen any of you other lovely ladies score a piece either. Oh well, plenty of other goodies in big, fat pieces! There is roughly a yard of Alice in Wonderland on poplin, pink dandelions, white dream bikes and goldfish! Also some very generous half yardish pieces of kittens on poplin, Munki dogs, sushi and pink dots. In varying sizes was some vans on flannel, ice cream trucks, girls on twill and a sea scene one - not sure what it is called. The one I found to be very exciting is a large scrap of what looks like to me the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland with mushrooms, but I have never seen it before! I wonder if didn't make it into production? It is very cute!

Oh yes that is a piece of Flea Market Fancy seeds in the corner - I mentioned in my letter I love Denyse's stuff too!

She also included lots of adorable outfits for Lucy! Gotta love the little green gnome pants! And also sock monkey flannel PJs, a dandelion top with pants and a knit 2T Sushi dress- score!

Overall, I am really thrilled with my loot!

More Hubby love!

My wonderful husband Mark has seemed to have started a tradition of hitting a quilt shop when he goes away on business and bringing me back a surprise package of fabrics he picked out all on his own, with a little help from the sales gals. Isn't that about the sweetest thing you've ever heard? I used to complain that he didn't bring me flowers as often as I'd like him to, but this thoughtful gesture is so much more romantic than flowers if you ask me! Just imagine my giant six-foot-five, bearded man walking into a fabric store and telling them his wife loves Heather Ross and Japanese fabrics - could they help him find something I would like?

When I heard he had to go to NYC without me :( I was hoping he would be able to get over to Purl in the Soho district. He knows I am collecting honeycomb dots (I guess he is observant after all!) and got two colorways of the Cake Rock Beach dots, as well as a couple of adorable Japanese prints and three from the organic Cloud Nine line. The birds are so cute!

I think he did pretty well this time! I'm not sure if it softened the blow of not being able to go to The Spotted Pig and Babbo, though, well maybe just a little bit.

Inspiration (and Sunday Stash # 4)

Look at what goodies arrived in the mail yesterday!

Japanese Hansel and Gretel.....

and Little Red Riding Hood!

They are so unbelievably cute. I had been on the prowl for both of these prints for quite awhile with no luck. Then suddenly one of my swappy friends lets us know one of her Etsy sellers just got this in stock! Totally made my day! They make me happy just looking at them. Both were purchased from Japankawaiiya on Etsy.

I was under the impression that they have both been long out of print - maybe this is hope that Cosmo textiles is reprinting these popular fairy tale prints? I really can't understand why a textile manufacturer rarely does second runs of the most popular lines? Why not make money instead of letting the secondary market cash in and raise prices (i.e. Flea Market Fancy)? Seems like poor business planning to me, just my two cents.

So by now you may be realizing I have an obsession with these Japanese fairy tale prints. I literally pour over them on a regular basis (haven't yet sewn with them, though. That would mean having to cut them, haha!). I have always loved drawing and sketching and I was even a Fine Arts major for part of my college career, but it has been years since I picked up a pencil to draw. But these fabrics have been such an inspiration.......

I have been checking out Spoonflower fabric designs for a long time now and have decided to start some planning for my own fabrics. I was really intimidated because of all the computer designing involved, but after seeing the lovely designs of Ariel (Pocketful of Pinwheels) and Aneela (Comfortstitching) and a little reassurance that it really isn't that difficult, I am ready to take the plunge.

These are some preliminary sketches and experimentation with markers. By the way, if you love markers, these Copic Sketch pens are far and away the best I have ever had the pleasure of using - but beware, they are not cheap (although I did find some online for about two dollars cheaper a piece than the list price). It feels so good to create in this avenue again!

Snow White is the first one I am seriously working on - trying to go for a very obviously Kawaii-inspired style. Someday I hope to make Lucy a quilt with fairy tale fabrics all designed by me. Wish me luck!

Sunday Stash #3

Twenty nine fat quarters from Anna Maria Horner's Garden Party. Aren't they lovely? My mom fell in love with this line and I am making her a queen sized quilt for her bed for Christmas. At least for once I'll be starting early!

Heather Ross Studio Sale!

Drawing from Heather Ross, not me! I hope this is OK to post here.

I feel like I won the Lotto today!!!! I skimmed by in mere seconds to what has got to be the coolest sale in the history of sales. Heather Ross herself announced this morning that she would be cleaning out her studio and putting together packages for varying amounts. All you had to do was write her a little email about yourself and what you like. I of course had to blow my month's fabric budget and order the biggest box available, begging for maybe a little Munki Recess or Field Trip! I can't wait to see what the little crocheted lobster looks like. I may pass out from anticipation! Thank you for such a rare opportunity, Heather. It is things like this that make us all adore you even more.