Oh! FRABIC!

Do all little boys love fabric this much? I started quilting when my little Caleb was not quite 2 years old. I started because I needed a quilt for his big boy bed and couldn't find one I liked. I've been addicted ever since. Not long after I started and before I finished his quilt I was invited by a girl in my ward to be in a shoo fly swap. I also signed up for a row of the month class. I only bought a little fabric at a time for Caleb's quilt. That's when it started. During my search for the perfect fabric for his quilt. He would see us pull up at The Quilting Cottage ( before I discovered Broadbent's) and he would say in a frustrated voice "Oh! Frabic!" It took awhile to convince him that we love fabric. I'm still working on that one.

A couple weeks ago my dad came over and we were going to take some branches we'd pruned from our yard to the dump. On our way out to the truck Jake started to stink. I took him back in, but he wasn't quite finished yet. When Caleb decided it was taking too long he told my dad it must be because I was looking at fabric and they better come in to and get me or I'd never come out. Apparently he thinks everything that takes a long time must have to do with me and fabric.

Yesterday I picked Caleb up at the bus stop after kindergarten. He asked where we were going. I told him I needed to go to Home Depot to get some floor cleaner. On our way into Home Depot he asked if we had anywhere else to go. I told him there was a quilting store across the street, Threads of Time. I promised we'd be quick. The whining began. He suddenly had to go to the bathroom and needed to go home to do it. He wanted to know why I wasn't waiting until Saturday to go fabric shopping when he could stay home with Dad. He told me from now on I should only go on Saturdays.

Well.... Threads of Time is closing. I was quite disappointed to see that since there are not many quilt stores around here. However, as I was looking one of the other shoppers asked one of the workers where she was going to work when the shop closes. She said that one of the other workers is going to open a shop in Farmington! I'm so excited! One close to me! I hope it opens soon.......

Threads of Time didn't have what I was looking for. I had to go over to Quilter's Haven, which is one of my favorite stores. I needed more 30's fabric for my flower quilt. I thought I had tons of scraps, but I feel like I needed a few more since I don't want to do green, aqua or yellow flowers since the centers are all yellow and the stems are aqua. Caleb chippered up at Quilter's Haven. Really, how can you be grumpy there? The boys love the ramp on the side of the store. We were also quick as promised.

When the new quilt shop comes to Farmington I will hopefully be able to get there and back and do everything else I need to do during the time Caleb is at kindergarten. That way he won't have to use the word "fabric" to describe something frustrating.

My friends and I are having a quilt show a week from Saturday. Here is the flier and all the information you need! I hope to see some of you there. We are also going to have a raffle for a free quilt plus you can try Kristin's new long arm and learn how to sign up for classes to teach you how to quilt your own quilts!

Did I just do that?

Yesterday I had a family reunion in Spanish Fork. I had a baby shower in Pleasant Grove 2 hours after the reunion so I had time in between. One thing I miss about Utah County is the quilt shops. There are no good quilt shops here in middle Davis County (if someone wants to open on I promise I'll shop there!). I need to make quilts for my boys beds. They love to share a room and my 2 year old will soon be in a big boy bed. I went to Cornwagon in Springville but didn't find anything. It's hard to find cute little boy fabric! Then I went to American Quilting in Orem. They had the cutest little football quilt hanging up! I got two of the kits. They are not quite twin size so I'll have to add boarders. The one hanging up was boarderless. We aren't big football fans. To tell you the truth, we got caught in BYU football traffic twice yesterday and I was a little annoyed, but I thought the fabric was really cute and would be super cute on a little boy's bed.

Also, during the shop hop in the summer American Quilting had a darling appliqued quilt hanging up in the shop. It's out of 30's print. I love any 30's quilt and wanted to buy the pattern then, but they were out. They had the pattern yesterday and I bought it. Did I really do that? If you look at my list of quilts on the side you'll see that I don't really love applique, but I couldn't resist this pattern. It looks so old fashioned. So today I find myself cutting out flower pieces. All my 30s scraps that I have been saving for many other 30s projects just found a new use. I don't know if this quilt will be the size it says on the box, but if nothing else I'll make a wall hanging. I have to have these darling flowers! Each flower is running stitched in black floss. Hopefully this will go quicker than the Baltimore Album. I found myself a new Conference Project!

Gifts

I've been busy sewing gifts for family members. My husband's mom's birthday was in August. In fact, it was the day we moved. She was so sweet to come and help on her birthday. I had bought stuff to make her an apron before we moved, but didn't get to it until today. Here's a picture.

I couldn't find my pattern instructions, but I did find the pieces. Add that to the growing list of the lost. I also can't find my turners for the apron strings which is a HUGE pain to turn those narrow things without it. I cant' find at least two other patterns either. I hope they turn up soon as everything I know is missing I haven't even used yet.

My sister-in-law is having a baby girl in October. Her shower is tomorrow night and I decided to make these for her. The first is a reversable smock. The plain side is the front and the criss cross is the back. The second is matching booties for one of the sides. FrontBackFront

BackBooties. Now I am really wanting a girl!

Baltimore Album

It's been 6 months and time to start thinking of a new General Conference project. For the past several I've been working on my Baltimore Album quilt. I'm getting a little tired of it. What was I thinking? I've thought about totally cheating and machine appliquing the rest, but I can't bring myself to do it. After last Conference I thought I'd work on it more as I really don't mind it, but I have yet to work on it in the last 6 months. As you can see the one that doesn't have the flowers needs to be unpicked and straightened. That one the pattern shows is crooked, but on the picture on the front it's not crooked.

Process on the sewing room is proving to be slow going. I'm also making some gifts which I'll post this weekend after they've been given.

Organizing my sewing room

Be prepared to see some very messy pictures of my sewing room. As my husband and I were looking for houses one of the things that got me excited about a house was the laundry room. Laundry room? Well, if it was big enough I could use it to sew! That's what my plan is for this laundry room.

In our old house we had a loft. I had a desk with my sewing machine set up on top. I had my fabric in these bins. When we found this house I planned on putting the bins in these cupboards. However, the cupboards are not big enough for the bins. So today I've spent a good portion of the day sorting fabric and putting it on shelves. This is some of my Christmas fabric and next to it is other holiday fabric.
This is the other side of the room. You can see the washer and dryer..... If those weren't a necessity I'd get rid of them. I need more room for fabric. I have to put the laundry detergent on the dryer. The other day I was sewing something and my two year old decided the laundry detergent was kind of like a small sandbox. He used the scoop like a shovel and started dumping it on the floor. Now it is on top of the dryer instead of in a cupboard. Anyway, I will use this big counter to put my cutting mat on.... when I get it cleared of other misc. craft stuff. There are cupboards under the counter. Those are the ones I had planned on putting the bins in. They aren't wide enough though.
This is the first cupboard I showed. The laundry room has a built in desk which is perfect for a sewing machine. It has three large drawers which I am using for fat quarters and scraps that are too small to fold with the other fabric. I had to hurry the other day and make a baby gift and I got out just what I needed and it left the desk a mess. Can't wait to get it cleared and organized. I am still in the planning process of organizing. If you have any suggestions of what to keep where let me know!
One of my favorite things about this room is it opens into the basement family room which we are using as a playroom for now. We don't need two family rooms as our kids are only 5 and 2 so we are using the downstairs one for a playroom. My boys can play right by me while I sew. Or I'll think they're in the playroom and really they'll be dumping my laundry detergent. At least I will be able to hear them.

Online fabric shopping

Here in Fruit Heights there are no really great and convenient fabric shops. Ben Franklin has fabric, but mostly holiday and maybe 5 or 6 other lines. What online fabric shops does everyone like? I have ordered from fatquartershop.com before. What else do you like?