Quilting is Grand

I got a lot of quilty activity in while enjoying some gorgeous weather over the long weekend.  An email notification alerted me to the Grand Opening of the new location of one of my fave quilt stores.  I took my leftover Christmas money and made the drive through some lovely country backroads part of the way, towards Thousand Oaks, to the new location of Cotton and Chocolate.  The shop moved to a much larger storefront in the same shopping center and it was so nice to have lots of room to see everything (note: the pictures on the website are not of the new shop).  There was a chocolate fountain (I had a marshmallow), and a wheel of fortune to spin for discounts and prizes.  I won a coffee cup and three fat quarters.  It was so hard to choose!

None of these fat quarters have anything to do with the others--I just liked them.

The coffee cup has been put to work in my sewing room already.









My eyes always find the clearance racks and bargain bins first...I snatched up these Thimbleberries fabrics which were at the ridiculously low price of $3.00 per yard.  Just a week or so before this I found a $5 bolt of a Thimbleberries print at my local fabric store and thought that was a good price, but who could pass up $3 a yard?  I bought the remainder of one bolt and 3 yards of the other.


There's no particular plan for these either.  Can you say stash enhancement?

The remnant basket was my next stop.  All these lovelies were $5.98 a yard.  They were all different size pieces.  Again, I just liked them, though there are plans for at least two of the fabrics!














I've been seeing basket blocks all over the web!  I wanted the Schnibbles pattern but they did not have it, so this bargain Miss Rosie pattern is the stand in.  Hmmm, I can see some baskets from thoseThimbleberries fabric in my future.  What do you think?













The crackle fabric I have previously bought in fat quarters in a couple of different colors.  I just love it for the texture and warmth it gives a background.  The purple dot will fill help me complete my Rick Rack Road quilt, as part of a pieced backing and also the binding.  These two fabrics were not on sale, unfortunately, so that added a good bit to my bill.  However, with my Christmas money I ended up only paying $35 of the total of around $90.  Not bad, not bad at all. 


I spent a lot of time cutting and sewing as well over the holiday weekend.  Got a bunch of bow tie blocks made for my brother's quilt and firmed up my design; also washed, ironed and cut squares for Erica's quilt (pics to come!), finished the hand quilting on the giveaway quilt, cut, sewed and attached the binding, and did a bit of cleanup.  My list making needs updating as it seems I am working on five things at once with five things standing in the wings ready to pop out and take over at any time.  Feeling a bit overwhelmed with this short month and all that has happened in less than three weeks! 

On the St Patrick's Day front, I located a free pattern I liked.  See if you like this as much as I did!  Some of that new green fabric will definitely end up here. What are YOU working on?