Shop Hop!

On Thursday and yesterday a friend a I "shop hopped".

The Western Washington Quilt Shop Hop is a huge event held every year.

A theme fabric is designed especially for the Shop Hop (usually by In the Beginning Fabrics).
I'm normally not crazy about the fabric, but this year I'm in love!
It was designed by Julie Paschkis who does a lot of children's book illustrating as well.
(Her regular line for ITB is called Folklorica and I'm hoping to get my hands on some of that soon.)

Participating quilt stores have to design a block using the theme fabric and coordinating fabrics. About 50 quilt stores normally participate.
They have to make kits for their blocks with fabric and instructions.
And then we hop!
At each store you collect a free kit and have your "passport" stamped. If you have more than 16 stamps you're entered into a drawing for great prizes.

We visited 22 stores, 18 of them on Thursday!
Phew!

A sight for sore eyes

I've reduced my blog subscriptions from over 250 to less than 140. I think I may now be able to keep up. Yay!
(BTW why does Blogger ruin every picture by resizing it to death? This one was only 40K and I had to use Flickr because uploading it directly was a complete fiasco.)

Pinwheel Party Prettiness

Thank you SO much for all your support on my previous post! I was relieved to see that many other bloggers are of the same mindset as me.
I still don't have anything interesting to blog about, so I thought I'd share with you two of the amazing Pinwheel Party quilts out there. (I'm still working on mine.)


(by faith_hope_love_grace on Flickr)


(by Applique Addict)

(If this is one of your photos and you'd rather I don't use it, please let me know and I will remove it.)

I've also simplified the newsletter signup process for the store. You now don't have to tell me everything but the kitchen sink about yourself to sign up. Just your email address and name.

Food for thought

This morning I read this post by Autum (Creative Little Daisy).

It really expressed what I've been feeling for some time now.

Blogging used to be a fun way to share experiences and creative endeavours with like minded people.

The blogging world has gone completely haywire.

No matter how hard I try, I always feel inadequate.  I can't compete with the "super bloggers".

I'm constantly trying to keep up and failing.

Upset because I'm not getting the glut of comments they're getting.

Not enough "followers" and visitors.

Not enough giveaways and free patterns.

Because I have a store I feel very dependent on my blog readers for business.

This has led me astray.

Away from the orginal purpose of this blog.

I'm done trying.

If you love my store and would like to continue to support me and be informed of the arrival of pretty fabrics and great deals, please "like" the store on Facebook.

Or subscribe to the newsletter.

I really appreciate your support.

I'll keep a link in the sidebar.

But from now on this blog will be what I intended it to be.

About sharing.

Amen.

Merry Christmas!

This is "12 Days of Christmas" by Kate Spain for Moda.

Isn't it lovely?

If you're ready to get an early start on your Holiday gifts and quilts, this is your chance.
"12 Days of Christmas" is 20% off in the store until June 30th.
(Brand new collections don't normally go on sale so this is probably the best price out there right now.)

Back to my crazy life...

Happy Sewing!

I'm still here

My new job is taking over my life I'm afraid, but I need the extra money right now.

I'm still going to try and pop in here as often as I can.

I don't really have time for new projects, but I think I'm going to HAVE to make this one:

It's from the new issue of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, which arrived on my doorstep last week. It took me nearly a week to get these in the store.
They're listed over here with some more "sneak peek" photos.
15% off list price as usual.

Two big boxes arrived from Moda. I think it might be the new Christmas fabric! I'm going to try and unpack those before the weekend and there will be a special "Christmas in June" discount so stay tuned.

(BTW I found two copies of the June 2005 American Patchwork & Quilting magazine with the pattern for my Blogger's Quilt Festival quilt. If you're interested in buying one, please email me and we can work out the details.)

New Don't Look Now Patterns!

A little shop talk...

Kellie has two brand new patterns she just unveiled at Quilt Market!

the twiddletails store is now taking pre-orders for these.
I don't have all the pattern details yet, so if you decide to pre-order and change your mind once the patterns arrive I will be happy to refund your pre-order cost.

But gee, how cute are they?

Alphabet Soup:


Worry Dolls:

Happy Sewing!