One Million Pillowcase day at J'Ellen's

I drove up to J'Ellen's House of Fabrics today

for the Million Pillowcase event hosted with American Patchwork and Quilting.

Have you been there?

Have I told you that Joyce is a peach?

well she is.

This is Katrina, she understands me.

She never asks what I am going to do with my fabric

because she's a fabric stasher too.

I love Joyce's displays...

always wonderfully coordinated.

Here are some of the gals that came to sew pillowcases.

Jennifer Keltner was there and she showed me how to use a serger.

I have a serger...but I have never used it.

I MUST use it.

It was awesome.

I feel like I have such a cool tool that I have been ignoring

because I was fearful of how to use it!

 More sewers....

I can't wait to find out how many pillowcases they sewed.

I made one as I only had a short time at the shop before I had to head home.

See the fabric? that's a new Kate Spain fabric that Moda donated....

don't think I wasn't tempted to take it with me...LOL

It was brand new Kate Spain from the sample room!!

All in all it was a great day at the shop.

Many quilter's bonded for a common good.

simply good stuff ...

Super quick re-cap: Iowa in 2.5 days

Last weekend we headed to my hometown in Iowa.

While we were there my sister invited me to go on a riverboat cruise on Friday evening.

It was about 2 hours long, an absolutely perfect evening with 70's, sunshine and a little breeze.

I took this picture with my i-phone.

Just look at the foliage - amazing.

But was just a small  highlight of the awesomeness of the weekend.

One of the coolest places we stopped was Candle Ready Cakes

in downtown Dubuque.

Can you see their tables?

They are made of dry erase board material....

so the kids can draw while you hang out and have a cupcake and a coffee!

It was a clever set up and the flavors were out of this world.

These gals can bake.

My fave was the Triple Chocolate....

so if you are in Dubuque, stop down to Candle Ready Cakes on Main Street.

You won't be disappointed.

Anyhow, no road trip is without hand sewing of some sort.

I finished the binding on the Sunshine and Lollipops quilt.

(sorry for the small pics...I used my camera and when I enlarged them....they were blurry)

And although we visited many places, and did many cool things...

my trip favorite was Yarn Soup.

It is also located on Main Street and houses a delicious assortment of yarn and color.

I was trully dumbfounded at how nice the downtown looks now...

they have really spruced it up and this shop makes it even better.

So that's my super quick re-cap.

Four Square Fun Toddler Quilt

I have a new toddler quilt pdf pattern available called

Four Square Fun.

I was totally and completely smitten with Lucy's Crab Shack by Sweetwater.

I have made two quilts with the line,

one for my new book "Large Block Quilts"

and

this toddler quilt.

It's just 48 1/2" x 48 1/2" and made with very large pieces so it sews up in just a few hours.

It is available on Craftsy, the Fat Quarter Shop and Patternspot for convenient downloading.

splurge

I splurged on Liberty of London Bloomsbury Garden from Sew Mama Sew.

I have been pining for this since I saw it at quilt market in Kansas City.

It is not my usual types of fabric, all bold, florally and mixed prints.

I am going to try to make a quilt with it...but not sure what pattern yet.

I also thought some of the prints would make great Blythe dresses.

I have a special request from DD1 for a Blythe for Christmas and

I have been carefully collecting and making items for her.

It's quite fun making doll clothes for them.

anyhow...I'm off to work on a new quilt pattern to sell on Craftsy.....

I'll show you soon.

More Quilted...

As I mentioned last week, Natalia quilted a few more quilts for me.

I made this basket quilt to test/use my Go! cutter basket die.

Some of you might remember that I struggled with the applique of the handles

and finally gave up and used rick rack.

I love the rick rack on this quilt plus the machine quilting :)

**************

This quilt was made origianally for the Moda Bakeshop but it didn't make it there.

I was demonstrating a windmill ruler that I bought at JoAnn's.

I really loved this one because I used a charm pack of

Neptune...one of best Tula Pink fabric lines ever.

I can't say that I would have used Neptune now,

knowing how much it is/was in demand :o

Here's some close up shots.