So Interconnected - A Story

 It's amazing what a small world the online quilting community really is.  Today, I want to tell you a story....

On Tuesday, when my sweet daughter posted on her blog about the quilt I made her for Christmas,  I got lots of wonderful comments on my own blog posts about the quilt.  It warmed my heart!  

One of those readers read my post about my Waterfall pillow and noticed that I said that while I was at the drugstore, this gorgeous fabric fell into my cart.  Ha!  Ha!

Not many people, I believe, buy gorgeous modern quilt fabric at the drug store.  Our local quilt shop just happens to be A&E Pharmacy.

It's really not much to look at on the outside, but inside is a wonderful selection of lovely modern quilt fabrics, notions, patterns, and a friendly, helpful staff.  If you're ever in Pensacola, this is the place for quilters to come to shop.

This is where I go when I need fabric (of course) or helpful advice.  A&E is where I pulled about 40 bolts to find the coordinating fabrics to finish the swoon blocks featured in the quilt above!  (Oh, I'll bet they loved me when it was time to put those away!!)

Anyway, back to my story...  After reading that comment, Cindy emailed me and said, "Funny, I buy fabric at a drug store too...." and we got to chatting online, quickly realized we both lived in the same town, and she invited me to the Emerald Coast Modern Quilt Guild meeting on Saturday.  I've been meaning to go for months.  I really have.  But it's an hour away, and it just seems so far, and... and... and... (can you hear me whining???)

So, thanks to her kind invitation and suggestion that we convoy over to Crestview, I decided the time was right.  I had such a good time!  The ladies there were so friendly and welcoming.  I felt right at home.

And so talented!  I was so inspired by the beautiful things everyone brought for show and tell.

Kim even brought her Madrona Road Challenge quilt.  Gorgeous, isn't it???  In a stroke of irony, Kim used BD#1's Pointed in the Right Direction pillow tutorial as the focal point in her quilt.  Isn't it fabulous (the quilt, not the picture - it really doesn't do it justice, and I only took one shot ={  )?  Everyone was so complementary of my talented daughter, I felt like I was basking in reflected glory all day!

I even got to wear my cool name tag that lovethesky40 made for me.

And, I was invited to put my Little Apples Quilt in the 2013 Emerald Coast Quilt Show.  I've never entered a quilt in a show before.  This one is far from perfect, and I don't expect it to win anything at all, but Marcy, this year's ECMQG president, said they were looking for examples of modern quilting that had an "I can do that" feel, and this one fills that requirement for sure.  It is a charm square and jelly roll combination, suitable for the beginning quilter.  Of course, I was flattered.

One of the cool things about the ECMQG is that the meeting is combined with a sew day, so there is lots of opportunity to learn and bond and work.  We had a demonstration/lesson on paper piecing by the awesome Kira, using the amazing Wonky Alphabet pattern designed by founding ECMQG member Kelly who blogs at kelbysews.  Kelly was one of my first swap partners.  I still have trouble wrapping my mind around thinking inside out and backwards when paper piecing, but her tips were extremely helpful, and I did end up with a usable (I hope) set of letters for a little Valentine gift.

I also got to meet "the other Kelly" who was the first president of the ECMQG, and who was my partner for Pillow Talk 8 (I think it was 8...)

I even spent a couple of hours quilting my Fairy Tale Friends quilt, which has been sandwiched almost 6 weeks, and sitting there since... um... July???  It's about 50% done now, I think, so I'm excited to have made some progress.  I hope to finish it this week, and start on the next one.



In reflecting on this little set of circumstances, I was struck by how interconnected we all are.  It's kind of amazing really....

All in all, it was it was a fabulous day.  I can't wait to go back.

Diamond in the Rough

You wouldn't think so to look at it, but the funnest fabric store in Pensacola has got to be the fabric store with an identity crisis.

First of all, it is, in fact, a compounding pharmacy.  When you walk in, it looks like an old fashioned dime store, with just about anything you can imagine.  A visit to the back of the store finds all of your pharmacy needs, I'm sure.  Their selection of Little Golden Books takes me back to my own childhood. It was the first place I went to buy little Abby-frog those classics  she MUST have, like The Poky Little Puppy, The Saggy, Baggy Elephant, and The Tawny, Scrawny Lion.

But take a left, and then a right, and fabric junkies, Enter Paradise!!  Who would suspect that the back of the store has bolts and bolts and bolts of fabrics from all our favorite designers?  Moda and Michael Miller are two of my favorites so far, but I can't wait to try some of the rest.   It is the only place in Pensacola I have found Moda charm squares, jelly rolls, and fat quarters.  OK, I'm new to these things, but now that I KNOW about them, I have to have them, right?

When my children were little, there used to be nearly a dozen fabric stores in Pensacola.  I have often joked and said that when I went back to work full-time, I stopped sewing, and they all went out of business.  Too sad, but true?  Maybe?  No, I couldn't have kept them all in business by myself....  Could I?

I used to work in Warrington - oh, 25 years ago now - and I shopped at AandE frequently.  But after we moved away, and moved back, I kind of forgot they had such neat stuff.  Then, in 2009, when Beautiful Daughter #2 was looking for some special trims for her prom dress that the ordinary fabric store didn't have, a lady at the cutting counter suggested we try AandE.  And I had one of those, "You Dummy!" moments.  Of course!  I knew about it all along, and just forgot.  And so we drove across town and they had exactly what she wanted.  And it was on sale, even.  And I was hooked.

But I really didn't appreciate just what a treasure it was until Beautiful Daughter #1 turned me on to how much fun designer fabric can be.  And so I have to wander by once or twice a week on my lunch hour or on the way home from work.  I browse.  I touch.  I imagine.  Too often, I succumb to the subtle charms of these beautiful fabrics.  Like I need more fabric.  But I need to feed my addiction.  Still, it is an innocent enough habit, I suppose.

And the ladies there are so nice.  And (I'm not sure this is a good thing) they remember me.  The other day, a lady and her daughter were buying some of the Michael Miller Lanterns Bloom collection, and when the lady at the counter saw me, she said, "Here's a lady that has already made that quilt," and so I stopped and chatted, and gave them the benefit of my experience (and told them that the pattern is on Michael Miller's website and they don't need to reinvent the wheel, like I did).  Then, when I was in there today after work, the manager of the fabric department told me I should have been there earlier - that they had some quilters come in with "show and tell", and I would have loved it.

And I would have, too.

I plan to spend the weekend finishing projects.  Maybe I'll have some time Monday to do some "show and tell" of my own!