A Passionate Quilter

A Guest Blogger! Jennifer Todd- "Evergreen Quilting" in Tacoma, WA

A fellow quilting friend agreed to be a guest blogger and document her recent trip to Tacoma. She did an amazing job and her adventure is as follows... (Thanks Jennifer!!)

My visit to Evergreeen Quilting in Tacoma, Washington in late April was a treat.

The street was lined with trees in bloom, which was quite lovely. Pulling up to the plain storefront belied the colorful, contemporary fabrics inside. Quilting is BIG in Washington, I’ve learned.

The local Shop Hop has over 50 participating stores in the greater area. They even have a fabric line commemorating the event each year, by In The Beginning Fabrics and Clothworks.

As you can see this years’ fabric depicts forest animals in honor of the Pacific Northwest area.

Each participant receives a pattern and three of the fabrics for the block. Here are some block examples from prior years.

It was a quiet morning, so I got to spend a little time with the owner, Judy. She is warm, welcoming and Passionate about quilting.

Apparently, her stash was taking over the house, so her husband said it was time to open a shop….Sounds good to me!

She’s kept her day job as a neonatal nurse, so between the shop and her job she’s worked about 7 days a week for the past four years.

As she was ringing up my purchases she handed me a yummy chocolate stick saying something about chocolate and quilting going hand-in-hand….I couldn’t agree more.

The store is beautifully organized and carries the most up-to-date, contemporary fabrics. She’s even designed some of her own patterns, see her “Wonky Pine Tree Runner”. It looks especially cute with the strings of beads and other embellishments depicting Christmas lights!

If you are fortunate to be in the Tacoma, Washington area Evergreen Quilting at 4106 South “M” Street should be on your list of must see shops. Telephone (253) 476-9800

Say Hi to Judy for me!

Jennifer

Reno Quilt Show

The last weekend of June I attended this year's Quilting, Stitches and Crafts Expo at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, NV.

This show has been coming to Reno for the past few years, they offer tons of classes and lots of vendor booths for SHOPPING! I don't think I want to admit how much money I have spent there over the past few years!! :)

How wonderful for our community that we have such a terrific show to look forward to year after year. This year we even had Mark Lipinski as a featured teacher!

Here's a couple of vendor floor photos.

Log Cabin Quilt Kits

I was excited about one booth in particular. Jordan's Patchwork Quilts specializes in precut log cabin kits (both table runners and quilts).

Let me just preface this by saying, I LOVE quilt kits!! I love everything about them; the way they're packaged (don't they look like little presents?), the perfect color coordination (why can't I do that?), the fact that everything if packaged for you all in one little bundle!

Jordan's had tons of kits, mostly log cabin. Here you can see many of their samples. My Mom's in the background there chatting with one of the owners!

Finding a favorite kit to take home was not difficult. I chose a table runner kit (I already have too many quilt kits, I couldn't add another one!). The kit I chose was called Bali Batik Jungle!! Oh-la-la! A beautiful combination of creams, greens and browns! Gorgeous!

All of the kits included the pre cut strips (see above), borders and backing fabric. All you have to do is piece it! So Easy!!

So far I have pieced my blocks and here's what it looks like....

Don't you just love it!! Now I just need to add borders.

Here is a similar version in a very large quilt. I think this quilt sold me on the runner. It was just gorgeous!!

What a fantastic idea these guys have going. Not only can you buy their kits at shows but also in their ebay store as well. (www.stores.ebay.com/jordans)

Overall, I had a terrific time (so did my Mom). Can't wait 'til next year!!

Heather :)

New Fat Quarter Winner!

Unfortunately, I never heard back from our Fat Quarter winner so I had to choose a new winner.

Congratulations to

Jackie from Jackie's Stitches,

she is the winner of the fat quarters from Fabric-Chicks!!

Fabric Chicks in Minden!

Hours:

Tues-Sat: 11 am- 5 pm

Closed: Sun and Mon

Address:

1166 Annie Court

Minden, NV 89423

(*Just 5 minutes south of Carson City!)

www.fabric-chicks.com

Fabric-Chicks was born from owner Beth Watt's original partnership with Elinor Peace Bailey and her cloth dolls. After her husband's retirement to the Minden area, Beth and her daughter, Michelle, began selling fabric on Ebay and Etsy. As their business continued to expand, they started filling up their home with fabric and in 2008 decided to branch out into an OFFICIAL quilt shop.

Below you can see a photo of Elinor's fabric line.

Fabric Chicks loves modern fabrics and carries a beautiful supply. It's not uncommon for them to carry the ENTIRE line of fabric for as long as it's in print, often for as long as 2 years! They also carry popular Australian, African, 30's and a HUGE selection of Western fabrics and have a great supply of Halloween fabrics.

Fabric Chicks has a great play area for small children. If looking to rent some time on their long arm, they'll even throw a movie into the DVD player and let your kids relax while you have some fun!

Their longarm rents for $25/hr for the first visit. Included in this price is all the hand holding and assistance you might want. After this initial visit, it's only $15/hr to use it all on your own and it accomodates up to a King size quilt!

Some of the beautiful lines of fabric that they carry include designs by: Patty Young, Heather Bailey, Laura Gunn, Tina Gibbons, Kaffe Fassett, Joel Dewberry and Rob Apell's ENTIRE line of fabric. In fact, you will find the whole line for most of these designers. That's an incredible selection!!

In fact, when gazing up at these HUGE fabric lines it's wonderful to picture the endless design possiblitlies with so many choices from one designer.

Beth describes their shop as different from the typical quilt shop and that description fits in a very good way! They want to be a place for people to come and socialize and they offer endless opportunities for both quilting and socializing all at REALLY great prices!

As you can see below, they LOVE to embellish. Tote bag embellishments are a favorite and they carry a large line of rick rack, ribbon and lace. Rick rack is such a popular trim for quilts these days and they have a great selection!

If you check their calendar, you'll find lots of monthly quilting and socializing opportunities.

Here are some of their ongoing monthly activities. They also have regular classes so check their calendar.

1st Friday Freebie- join for $45 and each month when you bring in a finished block you'll get the next block free. A finished quilt for $45, what a great deal!!
Quilts of Valor- first Saturday of the month from 11am-5pm
Tuesday Sewcial- every Tuesday from 10am-2pm
Valley Chicks- third Friday of the month from 10am-12pm
UFO club- finish your UFOs on the first Sunday of the month
Not to mention the Doll of the Month and Block of the Month clubs!!

And guess what, if you don't want to haul your sewing machine down to the shop, they will rent you one for only $3.00!

Below is a picture of the current Block of the Month quilt. The pattern was designed by Fabric Chicks and the fabric is from designer Patty Young (yes, they have the whole line!). This is a beautiful quilt, you've really got to see it in person!

The first Friday and Saturday of the month they offer a $6.00 fabric sale. Fabric Chicks puts out one entire line of fabric and offers this fabric for this special price for two days only! You're saving more than $4.00 a yard!!!

As you can see below, they also offer a $6.00 "Show Special" bucket which can be found everyday.

Can you believe these deals?

Fabric Chicks also participates in the September Shop Hop for Northern Nevada. Don't miss this year's Hop, September 23rd-26th, 2010. Visit the shop hop website at: Sierra 2 Sage Shop Hop

And you CAN'T miss their famous bathroom! Too cute, Too fun. It's a must see (very pink as you can see below)!

I, of course, could not leave without a few new treasures. LOVE these fabrics! Thanks Fabric Chicks!!

You will just LOVE both Beth and Michelle. Stop by and see their wonderful shop and keep supporting our local quilt shops!!

Fabric Chicks Fabric Winner!

And the winner is...Sandi!!

Sandi, you have won the gorgeous Fabric Chick's fabric giveaway.

The winner was generated using a random number generator (in order to be fair)! :)

Sandi, if you will send me your mailing information, I will get this fabric off to you! Contact me at: passionquilter4u@aol.com

Thank you EVERYONE for commenting! My blog is just getting started but I so appreciated each and every comment. THANK YOU!!!

Heather

Fabric Chicks GIVEAWAY!

This weekend I drove down to the Fabric Chicks Quilt Shop in Minden, NV. I had a terrific time and can't wait to share with you my interview with shop owner, Beth Watts. She has such an AMAZING shop. So creative and so many different things going on there.

Beth provided us with a special giveaway. A collection of fat quarters in 8 different patterns. Representative of Beth's shop, these cuts are modern fabrics in a variety of colors.

Want to win them? Just leave me a comment and you'll be entered into a drawing for these fabulous fabrics! I'll pick the winner on Sunday, June 27th.

And please, check out the Fabric Chicks website and visit them next time you're driving through the Minden, NV area.

Tiny Ticker Tape Tutorial

Over at Sew Mama Sew, I discovered a really cute way to use up small scraps with a tutorial for making a Tiny Ticker Tape Quilt for dolls.

(It was actually based on a quilt from Crazy Mom Quilts- the original was a much larger version, as you can see in this link, and if I'm reading it correctly, Crazy Mom Quilts is actually the creator of this doll quilt as well.)

Since I have a 4 year old niece I decided to try my hand at making one!

Here's what it looked like before binding...

And with binding...

I gave it to my niece this weekend and she happily agreed to pose with it out in the sunshine.

She's so beautiful!