Nirvana

 Last night I dreamed about pecan pancakes.  Although I did not want pancakes when I woke up this morning, the seed of breakfast foods was planted in my mind, and nothing short of a big fluffy omelet would satisfy.

After scratching my itch at the Denny's in Bothell, I remembered that I'd read in a couple of blogs that there was a great quilt store up in Bothell.  iPhone let me know that Keepsake Cottage Fabrics was a mere 2 minutes away.

Holy. Fabric. Mecca. Batman.



From Keepsake Cottage Fabric's website



This place is insane.  I almost don't want to tell you about it, but I will. Sadly, I wasn't brave enough to take pictures in the store, but I'll try to grab a few next time.  Picture a weird, cutesy red barn.  Now imagine that it's all divided up into a labyrinth of rooms, and every wall is stacked three layers deep in fabric. 

Now imagine that every fabric you've ever wanted is here.

Including ones that were discontinued long ago.

Ones you thought were out of your reach.

Ones you've been kicking yourself for not buying more of when they first came out.

There was a whole section of both cotton and flannel Bliss.  Two walls of Riley Blake (including the Tone on Tone Dot Blue - see it in the picture?).  An entire ROOM full of vintage-inspired fabrics... I was in American Jane heaven.  Nicey Jane, Farmer's Market, Erin McMorris' UH-dorable bicycle fabric, and that seed pod pattern (no idea what it's called), which I bought in two different colors. They had new fabric too - the entire Central Park by Kate Spain line (which I'm using for my Postage Stamp WIP, but I had to have more of that glorious orange).

Okay, I have to stop now.  I'm worried the drool is going to short out my keyboard.  But you can be sure there will be more fabric posts coming soon... I'll be back to Keepsake again soon, and next weekend is the Sew Expo!!

Nearing the Finish Line!

I love the block pattern above - it's called "Flying Over Fields," and I think Ryan Walsh designed it.  I think I'm going to do it again on one of my last fabric bundles.

This is a shoo-fly block.  I thought these graphic prints kind of spoke for themselves, so I wanted to try something simple to showcase them.

14 down, 2 to go!  Although I'm still waiting for the 16th bundle to arrive from Australia... so really only one more that I can do right now!

Two Holiday Blocks

Two more blocks for the Freedom Block Swap!  12 down, 4 left to go!

Finally! Wee Play Wild Thing Quilt - Finished!

Okay, it's taken me about a hundred years to photograph and post the finished quilt, but here it is:  the Wild Thing quilt made with two charm packs of American Jane's Wee Play line.  My free-motion quilting definitely improved on this one! 

I love American Jane, and the Wee Play fabrics were so adorable.  I found the cute orangey-red polka dot fabric to border, then bound with a navy-and-white star fabric to give it that Americana feel.  Normally I'm not big on Americana, but on this quilt, it works.  The backing is just a super-soft white cotton sheet.  I'm thinking this quilt will move onto my couch this spring when I'm ready for a little more color... I'm feeling more and more ready every day!

WIP: Central Park Postage Stamp Quilt

This week I got two lovely jelly rolls in the mail:  a white Bella Solid, and one with the entire Central Park line by Kate Spain.  I love this line - lots of vibrant blues, purples, oranges and yellows!  I'm making a postage stamp quilt, using the quilt-along directions from p.s. i quilt.

First step:  unroll those jelly rolls!  

Next, I sorted the fabrics into color groups. I've been busy sewing the strips together, alternating the Central Park prints with the white solids.  I'll post again when I get to the next step!

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

This is my latest block for the Freedom Block Swap.  These fabrics just felt like a rainy spring day to me, so I did a log cabin design and embroidered a little umbrella in the middle.  I just love quilt blocks that have a little bit of embroidery in them!  I'm not thrilled with the puckering, but I know that after the block is quilted and washed they won't be noticeable.  10 down, 6 left to go by March 15!

More Swap Blocks!

...I feel like all I do anymore is sew blocks for the Freedom Block Swap! I do have a couple of other projects going, which I'll be posting about soon.  But it's been so fun playing with fabric and block designs, that I've just been powering through the bundles I've received so far!  We're almost halfway through our time frame now, and I've completed 9 of the 16 so far, so I'm feeling good about having enough time to finish them all.  Here are the 4 latest: