Purchases and gifts.....

Several of you have asked what I bought in the fabric shops when I was with Pat and Gene on Thursday. Below I have put photos of the purchases as well as gifts from both of them and another fabric purchase made earlier in the week in Florida.

Gifts from Pat W........a traveling quilter's kit, triangles on a roll, a Jim Shore kitty, a quilted tree skirt pattern of hers that I've been coveting and was planning to buy AND a bag of Cheetos. (What is funny is that she gave a bag of them to Gene, also, along with some gifts AND I'd given her a box with two bags of Cheetos in there! (They are her favorite quilting snack...of course, chocolate is another favorite....and I gave chocolate to Gene.) Check out Pat's Silver Thimble store for her patterns and she has a book that is in the works...to be published by Martingale in the fall.
Gifts from Gene.......my flash washed the photo out so it doesn't do justice to these....but you should go to his website and look for his artwork. These notecards are beautiful and they are reproductions of some of his paintings. He is one super-talented guy.......paints beautifully, makes nice jewelry, and does wonderful quilting!Flannels purchased (on clearance) in Florida for a collection I'm building (mostly greens) to make a rag quilt with my GO rag die.Some Christmas fabrics that will be added to ones I have already at home and will be used to make one of the tree skirts in the pattern Pat W gave to me.A 10 degree wedge ruler that is needed to make the tree skirt.Some "dotted" fabrics to be added to my ever-growing collection at home of polka-dot fabrics. SOMEDAY I will decide what I'm going to do with all these dots!!!I did buy 4 other items, but since they are gifts for the gals in my little quilting group (and some of them read my blog), I'm not going to picture them here.

Today....the fabric.....

I could have gone absolutely wild and bought yards and yards more fabric last week.......but I tried to maintain a little bit of self-control. I came to the realization that with the shops being about 2 1/2 hours away, I COULD do it in a daytrip.......so that consoled me when I realized I was leaving behind lots of fabric I really loved. I told myself I can easily drive back up and get it if I REALLY want it! LOL We did tally things up and found the average price for fabrics was just under $5......most non-sale items were $7 a yard and many places had sale racks with prices as low as $3 a yard. The prices are much better than what we pay in our area...that's for sure!

So....without further delay...here is what came home in the bottomless Amish shopping bag (that was shown here yesterday)...double click on them if you wish to see them enlarged....


The Christmas fat quarters on the left were bought with a gift card so kindly given to me by a gal who I accidentally met on Facebook (a real small world story) who stayed in the SAME rental house as us and left the day before we arrived...she left a gift card for me to Bitty Kinna's shop. Thanks, MaryAnn!!!Much of the fabric I bought was just because I liked it....although some was bought with a purpose. This next photo shows fabrics I will use to make a cute snack throw for the grandkids to use when they visit us. I figured they will find that amusing.This next fabric is Girl Scout cookie fabric...perfect for a pillowcase for my granddaughter who is becoming a Brownie. (I saw this fabric at MaryJo's in NC a few weeks back and forgot to buy it there...so I was happy to see it in the shop in PA.)I've heard good things about wool batting, so I bought some to give it a try. The other fabrics pictured below are 108" wide backings.......for $8.50 a yard....a STEAL, in my opinion, so I stocked up on them!The last two photos are fabrics I bought at a last-minute stop at Zook's and The Old Country Store on the day we were leaving. I'll finish showing photos taken during the retreat week in my next post in a day or two....there are some nice shots taken around the Amish area. Hope you enjoyed seeing my fabric. I love all of it and think my bottomless Amish shopping bag did a great job!

Today the stores......tomorrow the fabric!

I know you've been waiting to see what came home in this bag.....some of you recognize this bag. It's an Amish shopping bag and last year, we came to refer to it as my "bottomless" Amish shopping bag.


The shopping bag got a workout this trip, also. The day we arrived in the area, we made a quick stop at one fabric shop. The following day, we went to two very large fabric shops.....both about a 45-minute ride from where we stayed. One was called Hayloft Fabrics and they advertised that they had 7,000 bolts of fabric. There are 2 photos below of that shop. It is an interesting place as it is upstairs from a gift shop and Martin's grocery store and is really a loft.

After that, we went to Burkholder's and they have 20,000 bolts of fabric. It was totally overwhelming in there. (Some photos below show Burkholder's.) We had lunch after that and then didn't do any fabric shopping until the next morning......when we went to three other fabric shops......Bitty Kinna's.......The Old Country Store (photo from yesterday showed us outside that shop) and Zook's. The next day we stayed in and sewed......except for a quick trip to The Fabric Shack. And the morning we left for home, two of us made a return trip to both Zook's and The Old Country Store. My next post will show the fabric that was stuffed into the bottomless Amish shopping bag. For now, here are a few photos of two of the shops mentioned above.

Kathy browsing in Hayloft Fabrics......nice selection....friendly staff....and gave a "group" discount!Another photo taken in Hayloft Fabrics.......grocery store can be seen on the floor below. On the far side of the photo, you can see more of the fabric loft.See this peaceful place? Well.........behind where I was standing to take this picture.........is this brown building (with a house and some cows behind it)......and inside the brown building.........is Burkholder's Fabric Shop. Yes....20,000 bolts of fabric. Three full rooms filled with ceiling to floor racks (like the photo below) of fabric....a real feast for the eyes of any quilter! Can you see why it was overwheming? Can you see why the bottomless Amish shopping bag got another work-out this year? They even had a floor to ceiling rack of VERY nice fat quarters that were only $1 each.....and were very recent, good-quality fabrics. This shop also gave a guild discount. What a place!!! Quilters who live near to that area are lucky indeed!

Fabric in my mailbox.....

I recently won the first prize on Pat G's blog and she sent me these 3 pretty fat quarters. Thanks, Pat!I think I am going to take the easy way out and make a set of reversible, fall placemats with NO piecing. I'll use the fabrics below.....the apple fabric on one side....the gourd/pumpkin fabric on the other side and the green for the binding. I am not good at making multiples of the same thing, so I figure it will be easier for me to stick with this if I make them simple...and it can't get much simpler than this!!! LOL

Day # 5.......MaryJo's fabric store!!!

Day # 5 dawned bright and RAINY......see??? Below is a photo of us driving in the rain a little over 80 miles (each way) from Boone to Gastonia so I could get to MaryJo's fabric store. (Actually we only had rain on the way down...was sunny by the time we headed back.) Mary of the Quilt Hollow blog had hoped to meet up with me and Tonya at MaryJo's but she had a conflict with kitchen countertops that were being delivered, but I hope to meet her another time.

Actually, Tonya ended up with a migraine that didn't respond to the prescription meds she takes so she had to stay home. I felt very bad for her and she was very sad about not getting to go that day......and also about the fact that she and I didn't get to see each other one more time to say goodbye. (TJ has promised to take her to MaryJo's, though...and when she is there, she will pick up a fabric I meant to get and forgot! And they might come here for a visit....so that will make up for not getting to say a proper goodbye in NC.) So.....now more about MaryJo's Cloth Store, which carries all kinds of fabrics...not just quilting fabrics.
It is big.......no....let's say HUGE......and quite overwhelming as you go inside. There are no shopping carts...just hand baskets, so that immediately threw me for a loop. I mean...how can you wander such a huge store with 1,597,283 bolts of fabric (or at least it seemed that many) and NOT have a cart at your disposal?? And how can you carry bolts of fabric if you are also trying to carry one of those little hand baskets, too (the kind you see in the grocery store)??? Well....I looked around and saw this......and this.....and this......fabric and batting and threads and sewing tools and notions and patterns of all kinds as far as the eye could see and beyond......(but no GO! cutters, I'm sad to say).After the intial shock of the place wore off, I forced myself to stop staring and start shopping.....yup..this is me!I'm sorry that there aren't more (and better) photos of the store but I couldn't carry my camera AND that basket AND the bolts of fabric, so I left hubby to do the photography and I suspect he was in a hurry to get OUT of there and go read and play his electronic handheld game in the car! He did take a video, though, and one time I'll link you to that. Anyway....... I figured out my plan of attack....I'd find a bolt or two of fabric and take it to one of the MANY cutting tables so that one of the MANY employees could cut it and then placed each cut piece in my basket. (I quickly discovered I was supposed to have picked up a blank ticket on my way into the store on which they write what they cut for you as soon as they cut it....so I had to go back to the front and get one before my first fabric was cut.) The cutting set-up was good and quick on the day I was there. They then immediately reshelve the bolts so nothing stays long at the cutting tables. (I'm sure that gets a little trickier on days it's super-crowded...which it wasn't that day.) I did this back and forth shuttle to the cutting tables a number of times. I found out at the end that on non-crowded days, you can pile your bolts on the cutting table and ask them to put a "HOLD" sign on top of your pile until you are done and ready to have them all cut. Not knowing that, though, I just went back and forth a lot! Truthfully...and you will think this is nutty because I'll probably never get there again......I used a lot of self-discipline and did NOT buy a lot. I have my quilt retreat for a week in November and want to shop at the Amish quilt shops, too. SO.....while others around me in the check-out line were spending hundreds of dollars, my purchases went just a tiny bit over $100...I just had to squirrel away some of my fabric money for November!! Be assured that I could also have easily spent hundreds of dollars there as the selection of quilting fabrics was beyond belief. I've never seen such a store and doubt I ever will again. If you have the chance, go visit this store....just try not to stand there with your mouth wide open as you look around!!! And...take $$$ with you....lots of $$$!!!! Below is a photo of the fabric I bought that day. I did buy some notions, too....but didn't take a picture of them and now they are put away and I don't even remember what they were!
I was in the store for about 90 minutes and when hubby saw the bag (which wasn't big), he said, "You were in there that long and only got that one little bag of stuff?" He doesn't undertstand fabric shopping....but he was good about taking me there and waiting while I enjoyed my time in the store, so that is all that matters. The selection there is amazing...that's for sure! We went to a Golden Corral buffet for lunch as hubby LOVES places like that and then we stopped at a small winery in the town of Lincolnton and bought some bottles of wine. There are lots of vineyards and wineries in NC. I suppose one could make a vacation out of visiting just them! Then we headed back to the hotel. Sadly, it was time to get our bags packed in preparation to start the drive home the next morning. Tomorrow I'll post some miscellaneous scenery photos (of which I have MANY) so you can enjoy more of the beautiful fall foliage we saw on this trip.
NOTE: Meant to mention the cost of fabric at MaryJo's and forgot...thanks for the reminder, Jackie. Most quilting fabrics were $6.99 a yard....even wide backing fabrics (not much selection of those, though). Some fabrics were $5.39 a yard and there was a sale section in which prices were lower than that.

A day in the "big city".....

A day in the "big city"...otherwise known as Dover, Delaware. I know...I know...it's not really a big city but in comparison to the pretty rural area in which I live, it IS the big city for me (and it is our state capital, too, so that automatically makes it a big city, in my head). Anyway......Monday was a pretty rainy day and chilly. I picked up Kathy early as I said I was going to do...and then we met up with Michelle by JoAnn Fabrics since Michelle lives not too distant from there. We did a little shopping in there (and I got a bit annoyed that they now have the GO cutter and dies in a rather out-of-the-way area of the store instead of prominently-displayed like they used to be) and then we went together in one car to Shady Lane...an Amish quilt shop a few miles outside of Dover. Now...you probably know the Amish don't use electricity, so with it being a dreary, rainy day, it was pretty hard to see the fabric colors very well with just a few gas lamps around but we had a good time anyway. It's a cute shop and the ladies who run it are so sweet. This photo shows the extent of my purchases.Are you impressed with how disciplined I was?? LOL I only got 3 fabrics and two quilting templates and that was between JoAnn's AND the Amish quilt shop. The reason for that is because I know I am going to several Amish quilt shopsin PA early in November and also, next week, I expect to be going to MaryJo's....a supposedly very super-duper fabric place in North Carolina...with a good blogging/quilting friend!!! (Can't wait for that!) After the Amish shop, we went to an Amish market nearby and I did get a few things there but didn't take any pictures...some bulk candy and snack items and some wonderful pumpkin scones...oh, wait...the scones are in a picture. First, though, look at this.....it is SO cute!
It is the cutest "mug-rug" (coaster) and it was made by Michelle and she gave it to me. She gave one to Kathy, too (slightly different fabric). I love it! And here is it in use...early last evening when I had one of the pumpkin scones and a nice cup of pumpkin spice tea......YUMMMMM
After the Amish market, we went for a nice lunch at a bagel/sandwich shop and we sat and chatted for a bit. Then it was time to drop Michelle back to her car by JoAnn's and Kathy and I headed home. I expect we will do this again soon, as it was a very nice day (but next time we will hope for a little nicer weather)! We also made plans to meet up the first Saturday in November at a large craft show outside of Dover, so that will be a fun time, too! Gotta love blogging/quilting friends....right???

A "get-away" day.....

Yesterday hubby and I had a "getaway" day to Dover. For us, that is the "big city"......about 40 miles north of here with many more stores than we have here. The day promised to be sunny and warm, so off we went (after being sure good friend Linda No-Blog was able to let our dog out midday). First stop was the Amish fabric shop. You need to go on a day with good light as the only source of light other than the windows in that shop is some small gas lanterns. Hubby enjoyed looking out the back window at a little Amish girl handing clothing piece-by-piece to an Amish woman to hang on the clothesline. It was really cute! I got some fabric there.......
some are "just because" fabrics and the 4 on the right, I believe I will use to make a "fractured diamond" runner using a technique shown on Rhonda's blog. She made a great quilt with that technique. Go look to see how easy it is (and tell her I sent you).I also got a few other items there but I'm not showing them as they are going to be put aside for my next giveaway....which isn't too far off and is only for my regular readers who comment on my blog (so....stay tuned!!!) We made a stop at the Amish food store and then we went to Joann Fabrics as there were some very good sales there yesterday. Actually, we went there TWICE. When we first went, it was super-crowded and there were no shopping carts available and the line at the cutting table was VERRRRRRY long. We decided to leave and go to a few other stores and to eat lunch and then went back there. Since my arm is still sore, hubby was kind enough to go into the store with me (usually he'll wait in the car at that store!) and helped me load bolts of fabric into the cart. This is my haul from there: green fleece that I am going to use as my backing for the siggy quilt so it will be nice and cozy!
I also got some Kona cottons....black and white...on sale for just $2.99 a yard.....GREAT price! The fabric on the right isn't showing well in the photo...it's a pretty green with a gold design in it....I will use that to make new valances for the kitchen windows.Then I went a little bit DOTTY....as you can see. The one on the right will be used for some of the centers of the pineapple quilt blocks I'll soon be starting. The others will be part of a "collection"....you know....that good old "just because" collection!!! I did get some boring tan flannel that I use as a thin batting in some of my runners and also some boring Heat & Bond Lite.....not showing them as they are not fun to see. (Kind of like underwear....a necessity but no fun to buy or view! LOL)Oh, yes....one more really fun purchase....a Jim Shore figurine to add to my collection and this one is suitable for Valentine's Day. It is a kitty and it's called "Cozy Heart". Isn't it cute? Now.....just so you don't think it was all about ME in Dover, hubby got a new game for our Wii. It's a music game and he is loving it so far. We both had a good "getaway day"!!!

Short post.....

Wrist and shoulder still bothering me but JoAnn's suggestions are good ones (in her comment yesterday here)...thanks, JoAnn!

Look at these photos.....fabric that jumped into my arms when going to buy the extra yardage of the dotted fabric I needed for the siggy block quilt. How DOES it happen that fabric just jumps out at us and insists on coming home with us?

These fabrics will be used in a "healthy" food quilt I hope to make...already have lots of other food prints to use in it (modeled after Peggy's "junk food" quilt...but healthy since I need to start eating healthier!!!)I say these fabrics are "just because fabrics" (just because I liked them!)

The block is done...

Yesterday I did get to make my sample block for the green/neutral no-sew block swap. This is a photo of it. It is called Austin and it's one of the many 12" blocks listed on Quilter's Cache. It's a simple block, but I like it a lot I also cut out the fabrics for this block for the 11 other gals in the swap. I ran into a little snag.....running OUT of the lighter green fabric for two of the other gals. I called the quilt shop and...luckily, I recalled the name of the fabric (as it is a silly name......."I wish, I wish, I'd catch a fish" by Tricia Cribbs for Northcott Fabric. The gal at the quilt shop went to their green shelf and came back to tell me they have a good bit of it left on the bolt. I will go there this morning to get it. While I only need a half-yard more, I will get more of it to keep for myself as I do like that fabric a lot.

YIPPEEE........

I'm going to start making blocks for a pineapple quilt after the first of the year and have been cutting 1 1/2-inch strips. WANDA at EXUBERANT COLOR was kind enough to send me a big "squishy" full of strips.......51 different fabrics, to be exact!!! Just LOOK at them........aren't they wonderful? And......they will go far in helping me make blocks. Imagine being lucky enough to get fabric cut into the exact width I need. THANK YOU, WANDA!!! (Gotta love our blogging friends!!!)

A giveway and more retreat fun......

Barb at Pinelands Patches is having an anniversary giveaway. Go check it out!!!

Now......do you want to see some of the items that were in my new Amish tote bag (from 3 1/2 days of solid shopping)??? If you didn't yet see my new Amish tote bag, check the posting I did last night when I got back from the retreat.

First, is some fabric to be used to make more blocks for my Sylvia's Bridal Sampler quilt. Up to this point, I'd been working with scraps from my stash, but I was starting to "need" some more fabrics for the blocks. SO....I think these 28 fabrics will do nicely...don't you agree? LOL Listen......when fabric shops in our area charge an average of $8 - $10 a yard and I was able to get fabric for $4 - $6 a yard on the retreat, I think it was a no-brainer to stock up on it!!! (People who live in that area are very lucky to have so many shops with such a great variety and such wonderful prices.....I envy them!!!)

Fabric report and a great bag giveaway.....

First the giveaway......Kim at Bitty Bits and Pieces is having a very nice bag giveaway. Her work is top-quality, so you may want to click on the link and visit there to see if you can be the lucky winner!!! If you feel so inclined, tell her I sent you. She has a very nice blog, so if you've not read it yet, you may want to become a follower there.

And now a fabric report. Yesterday I went to my favorite quilt shop, Serendipity, with my buddy, Kaye. We both made purchases that made us very happy. Kaye got a really cute purse pattern (The Two-Hour Tulip Purse Pattern by Janice Pope) and fabric to make it. She also got the first two BOM kits for a butterfly quilt that the shop is doing right now. I added to my batik collection with the 13 fat quarters pictured below. I then cut the fat quarters and started sewing some sections for the blocks of the quilt I talked about the other day here.....the one I will make with my batiks. It's an easy quilt to assemble....the most difficult part will be juggling around the blocks until I'm happy with the color arrangement since I'm making it such a multi-colored quilt to feature my entire batik collection.

My Batiks........

Just below, you see the batiks I have collected so far (about 50 different ones)....some were bought by me...others were kind gifts by fellow quilters who know I love batiks. So far, I've not made anything with them, but I am ready to start soon. I have found a pattern I really like that (thanks to Nancy at Patchwork Penguin blog) and I think it will nicely showcase such a wide variety of my batiks. It's called "Wickedly Easy"and HERE is the link for it. (I think it's the 3rd pattern down on the page.) The nice thing about this pattern is that it only calls for one fat quarter of each print/color....and many of my batiks are just fat quarters and not bigger yardages. If possible, I'd like to get a rainbow effect in each of the 16-inch blocks in the pattern. (Wish me luck!)When I pulled out the batiks and sorted them into color groupings (sort of...some were hard to decide which group), I saw quite quickly that I need to go buy more purples and reds and I think a few yellowy-golds. Also, I see that some of the batiks I have might stick out like a sore thumb in this particular quilt and do not belong here at all, so some will be set aside for other (yet to be decided) projects. I feel good, though, that I am getting some sense of purpose for most of the batiks I have so far. It is obvious that a lot of this quilt will be greens and blues, but that's okay as those are my two favorite colors!

I'm in a fun year-long swap.....

My blogging friend in FL (Quilting Fiesta...click HERE to see her blog) decided to do a year-long cottage swap and I am pleased to be part of that. She and 11 others (myself included) each have a month. I am "Miss February". For our month, we are to make 12 wonky cottage blocks with fabrics that represent that particular month. We keep one for ourselves and send the other 11 to their new homes. It sounds like a lot of fun. I ordered a batch of fabric and some cute buttons (to send along for doorknobs on each of the cottages) from Fabric.com and it came today. (See the photos.) I am happy with the fabrics and they included a couple of "cutesies".....a lollipop that says "Go Sew" and a packet of seeds for their 10th anniversary with a cute saying on the back (shown in the last photo). ALSO...any of you who were following the bag giveaway that was seen on here (after I won Round 3) and didn't win can go try your luck for one of the two remaining rounds by clicking on HERE and going to Ooglebloops' blog.