Fat Quarter Friday

My LQS had a fantastic sale on fat quarters this week, so of course I had to go pay them a visit. I came back with a nice little stack of fat quarters and I must say that I am extremely happy with my purchases. I love text prints so this Sweetwater print on top was a nice find. And of course, I couldn't go wrong with some comma fabric and a few grays & blues to round out my stash.

I don't normally buy fat quarters, and instead prefer to buy by the half yard. I find this gives me enough to do a variety of projects. Or if I am buying for a specific project I get just what I need (unless I happen to L-O-V-E the fabric then I buy more for my stash).

How do you prefer to buy your fabric?

Quilt Shop Spotlight: Quilt in a Day

While in Southern California I had the wonderful opportunity to visit a darling quilt shop - Quilt in a Day. 

If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend planning an afternoon to go visit. I even took my non-quilting family members who kept their complaining about my substantial amount of time looking at fabric to a minimum.

The people who worked there were so friendly and graciously allowed for me to take a billion pictures of their shop. Sadly my memory card messed up so some of them didn't turn out, but I do have a few to share with you...a little teaser if you will.

First up, gorgeous quilts like the one above adorned all the walls. I loved the fact that there were modern quilts mixed in with some more traditional quilts...my dad was especially enamored with the lovely quilt featured below.

Quilt in a Day has an excellent collection of fat quarters displayed in fun ways all throughout the store. I really liked this bookshelf display, but there were other equally awesome displays in the other 3 rooms (yes 3!) of the shop.

This is one my favorite vignettes in the store - love the use of the oven!

They also carry a lovely collection of solids...I wanted all of them of course, but surprisingly walked away without any of them...I am sorta regretting it but luckily for me they have an excellent online store so I can remedy that...and you can too!

While I obviously wanted to purchase the entire store, I showed massive restraint and only went home with these beauties.

My Non-Sewing Summit Weekend

So this weekend was the sewing summit in Salt Lake City. And I didn't go but oh I wish I had gone. I was this close to hopping on a plane with the intention of crashing the party (good thing I still have lots of family/friends that live in SLC) but alas the price of a plane ticket was an arm, a leg and my first born child. That's what I get for not planning ahead. Procrastination...it's a killer.

Anywho in order to ease my sadness, I decided to take things into my own hands. On Sat I did what any girl in my position would do...go shopping. Of course I hit up my local quilt shop and just had to buy the following fabrics because they were on sale.

Then I couldn't resist picking up this jewel.

A circle attachment is a must have for every Bernina owner. Just think of all the circles you can sew with so much ease...Bubbles, balloons and polka dots galore. Can't wait to start sewing with this.

But of course I didn't stop there and hit up my next destination...the mall. With my friends Nordstroms and Ann Taylor Loft, I soon managed to forget about all the fun I was missing out on in Utah...that is until I got home and talked to a good friend who happens to live in Salt Lake City.

Luckily, my dashing husband declared that he was ahead in his studies and had some unexpected free time to spend with me so went to dinner, visited our favorite chocolate store (oh how well he knows me) and watched a few movies at home...so relaxing!

Of course the weekend didn't end on Saturday, and this afternoon I finished the binding on one of my many (let me emphasize that for you MANY) quilts that needs to be completed by the end of the year. I can count on all my fingers and toes and my neighbors fingers and toes the number of people I know with babies due before the year is out....that plus Christmas presents means I have a lot of bindings to finish up.

Which brings me to my next thought. Has anyone ever heard of the Bernina Binding Foot? Apparently it does everything for you in one shot - wraps the fabric around the binding and sews it all at once for an even seam on the front and back. What an AMAZING idea! If only it wasn't 300 bucks...before I shell out that kind of cash (I am, after all married to a medical student) I need to do some research on the benefits of such a device.

Finally, today I was blown away by the response my Stockings from Kids Charity Drive has got! Wow! That alone makes not going to sewing summit worth it. Thanks guys, you rock! If you haven't signed up yet, no worries, there's still plenty of time. =)

Well now you must excuse me as I am going to go finish making a massive amount of chocolate chip cookies.