Thimbleanna – Page 43 – My little online diary.

Spring Quilt Market: The Booths

26 Comments / May 21, 2014 May 21, 2014 / Quilt Market Report

{Warning!!! Picture Heavy Post!}

I have lots of market pictures to show you. No matter how many photos I take though, it always seems like I forgot a LOT — and I did. Market is so busy and so inspiring and so overwhelming and sometimes I just forget to take pictures! These pictures are definitely lacking in quality — many booths have random bodies in them, so I hope you can at least get an idea what some of the booths were like.

Back to the first booth — Anna Griffin. Her booth is always so pretty and here’s the side that featured the Halloween print that I showed on my last post.

Sandy Gervais’s booth was beautiful and sadly this photo has cut it in half. I Love the colors of the fabrics in this collection — those chocolate prints are yummy!

And look at these clever “flowers” she had at the center of her booth. They’re made from Q-tips. I heard the man in the booth assure someone that they were never-been-used Q-tips. Whew!

The Westminster booth was fun — they had live models standing on each side. All day in those heels doesn’t look like much fun to me.

Amy Butler happened to be in the Westminster booth when I walked by but I didn’t venture in.

I was on the same wavelength as Sherri when I saw the Edyta Sitar booth. I love her new house quilt. I LOVE pieced blocks combined with applique and I think this is such a cute combination.

(As an aside, look at these cute hexagon papers that Edyta Sitar will soon be offering. Each hexagon has a little saying on it (Love in Stitches, Life is short buy fabric, etc.). Edyta said there are 100 different sayings in each package and the papers will be in two weights depending on whether you’re a baster or a gluer. Very Clever!)

The indomitable Pat Sloan. Her new fabric has some really cute coneflowers on it.

The ever cute Gail Pan. I talked to several of the Aussie designers — I’ve been missing Kellie and I just wanted to hear their Australian accents LOL!

The Michael Miller booth was very pretty — I didn’t even get a shot of the fountain. Those big panels in the foreground are all fabric and were so pretty.

I loved this wall and I don’t even know the fabric manufacturer. Dots and plaids in any color you could imagine.

Jillily always has a pretty booth.

Hatched and Patched from Australia.

And both sides of Jen Kingwell’s booth. There’s the famous Steampunk in the corner!

I Love the quilt on the table on the right. Again — the combination of pieced and applique blocks. I talked to Jen a lot about this quilt. She said they ran a quilt-along in Australia for this quilt and I’m thinking it would be really fun to do the same thing here. The pattern will be available this summer and you will be hearing more about it LOL.

Jennifer Sampou.

Darlene Zimmerman.

Dear Stella.

Alexander Henry. Their booth was all about the Ghastlies.

Carrie Nelson of Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co. SO many cute new patterns!

And Look! She’s used the Moda Mochi Dots as sashing!

Riley Blake had a fun beach theme, although I didn’t capture it very well.

How cute are all those little flags in the American Made Brand booth? They’re all made of fabric and they were hanging on strings. This may have been the second most photographed wall at market!

Art Gallery’s Cherie line is really pretty.

Windham is bringing back Far Far Away by Heather Ross. I love the cute Princess and the Pea quilt!

So, that’s enough for now! When we get back together I’ll show you a few quilts at market that I thought were really pretty. And then we’ll be done and we can get back to real life — which isn’t very exciting at the moment!

XOXO,
Anna

Spring Quilt Market 2014: The Fabric

18 Comments / May 18, 2014 May 18, 2014 / Quilt Market Report, Store

Whew! I’ve just returned from quilt market — it was a super quick trip (luckily I’m close enough to drive!) and I even had time to sneak in a quickie visit with SweetiePie. When I arrived at her house, she saw my market bag and started laughing at the fabric I bought from sample spree — and she only saw part of it!

I have lots of booth pictures to show you, but I need to hurry so I can run to MeMum and BigDaddy’s, so I thought I’d just show you the fabric that jumped out at me while I take a few extra days to sort through market pictures. I failed to take pictures of all of the fabric (which is just impossible) and some will appear with the booth pictures.

Blend Fabrics was the first booth, so I’ll start there. As you may know, I love Cori Dantini and her cute little illustrations. She has a new woodland line that includes hedgehogs, foxes, owls, and squirrels. It’s super cute!

She also has a new Christmas line out — I love the whimsical Santa.

Also in the Blend booth, but not new was their Halloween line by Maude Asbury. I’ve always loved those pumpkins and I finally had to get some!

Speaking of Halloween, Alexander Henry has a new Ghastlies line. Rumor has it that this will be the last one. Some of you are thinking “Finally!” and others just can’t get enough. If you’re a collector, this is a fun one. (Coming to a shop near you soon — ha!)

Next up is Moda. Moda always has a lot of new stuff and I love almost all of it! More later, but here are a few of the fabric lines I loved:
Rambling Rose by Sandy Gervais. My photo doesn’t even begin to do justice to the beautiful colors in this fabric. Some of the prints are just so pretty too!

Miss Kate by Bonnie and Camille.

Elementary by Sweetwater. I love every. single. print in this collection! {Swoooon.}

Horizon by Kate Spain.

I also love this collection of dots by Moda — what a fun stash enhancer!

Riley Blake has a super cute little celebration line coming out in June. I’m really excited about this Happy Birthday print and I’m looking forward to making some fun things with it.

Then there were the Japanese fabrics. I was so star struck that I hardly got any pictures.

Lecien usually has a new Flower Sugar line and this is the entry for spring 2014.

The fabulous Pam Kitty fabrics are always so pretty they remind me of Japanese fabrics. The new Pam Kitty collection is SOOO pretty. I LOVE the aqua prints!

I also loved this cute little fabric by Dear Stella. How fun would it be to applique (or embroider) clothing for all of those little animals. You could use scraps from all of your children’s clothing that you’ve saved!

And last, but far from least, there was much buzz and commotion about the debut of the Cotton and Steel division of RJR Fabrics. I didn’t get a good close up of their fabric (I’m sure you could google it) but here’s probably the most photographed wall of market:

Ok, more market pictures next time — it sure would have been lots more fun if YOU had been there! If you just have to have a few of those lines before they officially come out at the end of summer, I managed to snag a few extra fat quarter packs at market and I’ve put them in my little etsy shop.

XOXO,
Anna

Poppin’ In

29 Comments / May 13, 2014 May 17, 2014 / Around the House

Hey Kids. Just a quickie update. It’s still really busy around here — I’m hoping it will start to slow down a bit next week. I’ve barely been home this week, but I’m making the most of the time I am here.

I was a machine tonight — I think you would have been proud LOL. I rushed home from work after yoga and in three hours I made two different casseroles, planted 2 flats of begonias, ate dinner with hubby (it was quick), ran to get a haircut, and packed for market. (Oh yes, boys and girls, it’s quilt market week! ) And the best part is that I did it all in my yoga pants. I blame them for my increased productivity!

Sadly, there’s tons of yard work left. I’m hoping to get to it sometime next week. Most of the beds look like my happy little oregano plant (it survived the harsh winter!) above — full of leaves and weeds. Oh well, it will all get done eventually.

And, just for documentation purposes, I thought I’d show you my little garden . Another moment of productivity — weeded (it was full), three tomatoes, three squash and lots of zinnia seeds planted and covered in an hour. Aren’t gardens fun? So full of hope and promise. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn’t. I’m hoping for a no hail spring this year. Oh, and no yoga pants were involved. There may or may not have been jammy pants at 7 a.m. in the morning though.

I’m looking forward to my little market break. Anything you want to see while I’m gone?
XOXO,
Anna

Union Jack

28 Comments / April 29, 2014 May 17, 2014 / Quilting

Well, Boys and Girls, it looks like my posts are getting less frequent, rather than more often like I was hoping. Lots of work happening behind the scenes here, with not much crafty goodness. BigDaddy came home from the hospital last week and it’s been slow going. MyDadLovesMeBestSister and I have been busy busy managing Dr. appointments, caregivers, and just spending time with MeMum and BigDaddy — not to mention our day jobs. Thanks to many of you for the sweet e-mails — it seems that several of you are in a similar boat and working hard to help parents.

After my last post, Wendy left a heartwarming comment that I found very comforting. In case you missed it and you’re also caring for someone, I thought I’d share her words of wisdom:

“I have had a hand in caring for someone who is ill also. It’s amazing how much time is consumed, and how you can feel like you have accomplished so little. But it isn’t true, bedside sitting is invaluable, and is an intangible benefit to the patient. I have always been in healthcare, and you can see the difference when patients have the support of loved ones around them. You can’t put a price tag on it, but its value is often overlooked. Sometimes it helps to have a visual result (like a hand-knitted sweater and a loved one on the mend) to “quantify” the value of one’s efforts. Am I making sense? I have recently been working on “teaching” someone I love how to be a calm and peaceful bedside companion. It can feel so helpless, when you want to be “doing Something”. It can be important to realize that “Being There” *is* “Doing Something”.”

Thanks Wendy — you’re a peach!

Wendy’s peptalk really puts things into perspective and I know that there will be plenty of time for sewing and knitting. For now, I’m content to sneak in a quilt block here or there. I’ve always wanted to make a Union Jack quilt and I’ve been collecting fabrics. When the British Invasion line from Riley Blake arrived, I thought I’d make a few blocks and play. I’ve seen several patterns and I wanted one that was proportionally correct so, I’m using the pattern in the January/February 2014 McCall’s Quilting magazine.

The four quadrants of each block are paper pieced. I’ve probably never told you that I detest … urm … HATE paper piecing. It’s so fiddly and slow and wastes fabric. But, I can’t see any other way to piece all those little strips with any hope of getting them remotely even. So, paper piecing it is. VERY slow. I want to make 32 blocks, so this will be a long term project for me!

Okey Doke — I’m on night duty tonight, so I’m outta here. Oh — if you’d like some British Invasion for your fabric stash, I have a few fat quarter packs left in my little shop.

XOXO,
Anna

Kross

28 Comments / April 13, 2014 May 17, 2014 / Knitting

Thank you for all your sweet comments about BigDaddy. He’s in a rehab hospital now and verrrrry slowly getting better. Not much fun stuff is going on around here as most of my non-working hours are spent at the hospital with him and MeMum. I do manage to sneak in about an hour each night before bed though, so I’m hoping I can piece a few blocks this week.

In the meantime, when BigDaddy was in the regular hospital, I finished a sweater. (And boy, I don’t know what happened this year, but I think I’ve had BIG sweater karma. It took me for.ever to knit the 10-year sweater (about 10 years!) but in the last 7 months I’ve knit my first Lopi, Kilmory, and now this sweater. Yay for sweater knitting!) I was going to wait until I’ve blocked the sweater to show you, but who knows when that will happen? Definitely before next winter, when I expect I’ll be wearing it as much as I wear my first Lopi.

Around the time I was getting ready to start this sweater, I was telling Berglind how much I love Lopi yarns and that I was planning on knitting another lopi sweater. She mentioned that she was going to knit the Kross pattern by Vedis Jonsdottir. As luck would have it, the pattern is in the Knitting with Icelandic Wool book that Berglind sent me this winter, so I thought it would be fun to knit a version along with Berglind. Of course, she finished her sweater in a week or two, because she has way more than sweater karma — she has Icelandic sweater karma. You know, being Icelandic and all! It’s fun to see both of our sweaters in the different color combinations. The pattern says to use five different colors of yarn, but like Berglind, I thought three would be just fine. I didn’t look at her sweater while I was knitting mine, and we’ve done our color changes in different places, so that’s fun to see too.

This sweater is knit on bigger needles but with fewer stitches than my first lopi sweater, so the fabric isn’t as dense. It also fits a little looser than my first sweater, but it’s not too big to wear it. One thing that I thought was interesting is that the crossover stitches (the rows in white and light blue in my version of the sweater) are done differently around the neck than they are at the bottom of the sweater and the sleeves. The neckline crossover stitches are knitted in groups of four stitches but the others are knitted in groups of six stitches. I much prefer them done in groups of four (the resulting “hole” isn’t as big) so, if I ever make this pattern again, I’ll do groups of four around the bottom and the sleeves. (That will probably only make sense if you actually knit this sweater!)

Ok kids, it’s off to bed for me — work comes early in the morning these days. I hope you have a wonderful week!

XOXO,
Anna