Swag, Totes, and Goodies - The Stash Bash, Part II

Yesterday, I gave you a run down of all the fun stuff we did at Stash Bash and what I accomplished.  Sadly, it doesn't seem like much, but I will lay hold to the fact that I made huge progress on some stuff that has been haunting me for years.

We got some super fun swag at Stash Bash.  It seemed like every time we turned around someone was winning something.  It was awesome.  Among other things, everyone got:

A 9x9 Omnigrid square up ruler {Omnigrid is my personal favorite, and I don't have one this size - SCORE!}

A new {turquoise} Olfa rotary cutter

A nifty Oliso tote bag (Okiso also donated irons for use at Stash Bash - Yay!)

Needles, pins and buttons donated by Dritz

A pair of {really sharp} embroidery scissors from Famore'

A fat quarter from Art Gallery Fabrics

A pack of 6 spools of Aurifil thread

A Kona mini charm pack

A Moda charm pack (mine was Fleurology by Stephanie Ryan)

A sample of Soak handmade wash (the Soak Company also provided bottles of Flatter for every ironing station - they're awesome!)

Patterns by Two Kwik Quilters and May Chappel {I got to meet Karie and Lee in person at Stash Bash!  Super fun!)

A very cool Stash Bash t-shirt by Georgia Belle Designs.

A fat eighth of our choice from Beth at Stash Fabrics.

And a cool little screen printed pouch kit by Amanda Hall who was also one of the attendees.


I know there were other sponsors, but these are the ones I remember.  One lucky attendee won a copy of EQ7!   I would have been jealous, but I managed to snag a used copy of EQ7 earlier this year.  (Now if I could only figure out how to use it!)

Ella, who sat behind me, made fun little needlebooks for everyone who was there Thursday night.  I love the selvages!  (I was much more selfish with my sewing.)

And Sharon, my table-mate, made these nifty Kleenex holders for everyone who came to Stash Bash and these bright, fun cord holders for those of us who shared a table with her.  That was amazing.

And then there were the two amazingly fun Secret Agent gifts from my new friend Charity (how did she ever find time to do this with two sets of twins??)

Yesterday I promised to tell you about my amazing new tote bag from my friend Marcy.  Look at the lovely and thoughtful package she put together for me.  M&Ms are my all-time favorite. =)

The bag itself is super cool.  Love the pieced pocket with the sewing machine.  The purple square in the lower left says "Keep Calm and Stitch On".  Cute!

 The back is super fun too.  And the tote is so very sturdy!  It will hold a ton of stuff.

And check out the super cute lining with the fun pieced pocket.  I think I'm in love!!

 And she made this super fun clear pouch (with ric rac!) to match.

And finally, I snagged these two new UR Here mugs to add to my collection, bringing my total to 7.  I think I need to make another new friend and bring the total to an even 8.

So thanks to Ella, Sharon, Charity, Marcy, and all the Stash Bash sponsors for everything.  It was wonderful!

The Stash Bash (Part I )

Weekend before last I went to StashBash.  The husband bought the ticket for me for our anniversary last October.  I've only ever done one quilting retreat before - Sewing Summit in 2011 - and I have to admit that I was a bit hesitant about going.  I'm not really a communal living kind of gal, and given that Arielle was going to arrive before I got home, I almost sold my ticket.

I'm so glad I didn't.

On Thursday morning I lugged all my stuff out into the driveway so I would be ready when Kim came to pick me up.  You would think I had everything I needed given the amount of stuff in that pile, wouldn't you?  Well, that just wasn't the case. It seems that I needed little bits of several things to finish anything I took with me, but I really did manage to get a lot done.

We stuffed the back of Kim's car full and headed out, only a few minutes later than we planned.

After exploring nearly every back road in Northwest Florida (isn't GPS wonderful?), we finally arrived at our first stop...

where we met the rest of the members of our guild who were going to Stash Bash.  Naturally, we shopped for awhile....

The Front Porch Quilt Shop is a fun little store.  It's located in Ozark, AL.

I took pictures of lots of quilts...

and other projects.  I was so inspired!

Ozark is a fun old-timey town.  We had lunch in Ozark at the Dairy KING.  Everyone said the chicken was awesome, but since we were planning on eating in the car(s), I think we all ordered burgers.

Once we arrived, we dragged in all our sewing stuff and set up our sewing space.  Kim's friend Charity snagged spaces for all of us.  (That's Kim on the right and Charity on the left.  As it turns out, Charity was my "Secret Agent".  There'll be more about that below.)

We had barely gotten the sewing machines humming when they called my name.  I was so surprised - I am NEVER first!  I won the first door prize - a FQ bundle from Art Gallery fabrics.  This bundle is from the Sweet as Honey collection by Bonnie Christine - in the "autumn harvest" palette.  I love the way Art Gallery fabrics feel.  I may not actually make anything from this bundle (although I can see some lovely pouches made with this collection.)  It might be enough just to sit and pet it.

Kira had put together a tote bag swap just among our ECMQG members, and this is the amazing tote bag Marcy made me.  This awesome bag deserves its own post, so I'm going to save the rest of the pictures for another time. 

Friday night I opted for something super easy and sewed together this bee block quilt top.  (Yup, that's a hole in the last row - it seems I dropped a couple of blocks on the way to lay this one out.  It's fixed now.)  Anyway, there was one quick finish.  I kinda wished I had taken batting and backing with me.  If I had, this one might have been done.  But since I didn't, I hope to finish this one in May.

It was so fun being with the other ECMQG members (Kira is on the left, Kim on the right.) We really had a blast.  (Kim found this awesome Munki Munki nightgown at a local discount store - most of it is now a tote bag.)

Friday morning we all went to A Scarlet Thread in McDonough, Georgia, which was about 20 minutes away from the retreat site.  (What's a quilting retreat without a visit to a quilt store, anyway?)

A Scarlet Thread is a super cute quilt shop, just filled with color and inspiration.  It's everywhere.

One of the first things I saw when we walked in the door was this beautiful hexi quilt.  Naturally I had to buy the supplies to make the quilt.  (No, I didn't get the quilt made....  Yet.)

This shop was just overflowing with quilty inspiration.  Here's another quilt I want to make.

Here's an idea for a super fun baby quilt, don't you think?

I loved these little signs.  The one I really liked said "Stitch Your Stress Away."  That's perfect for me.  Sadly, my picture didn't turn out.  But they wouldn't be too hard to make, I think.

Friday night, we received our first gift from our "Secret Agent".  This was so thoughtful and cute.  Milano cookies (a personal favorite), Lemonheads, chocolate almonds, a little notebook, and lots of other fun goodies in here.  Made me smile!

I intended to work on my Single Girl on Friday, and I did - a little bit.  I actually finished one set of rings. But after I picked out the stitching for the third or fourth time, I decided I needed an easy project.  I just wasn't focusing, and Single Girl is a project that requires more concentration than I apparently possessed at that moment.  But I had grabbed this Vintage Modern layer cake and stashed it in my stuff on the way out the door on Thursday, so I sliced it up and made this Piece of Cake 3 quilt by Camille of Thimbleblossoms.  It was a fun and easy project and required little more than running strips through the sewing machine.  I think it made a bright and fun quilt.  This one is done, except for the outer border.  I hope to get to that this week.

Saturday I felt much more alert and managed to get the other three sets of rings made.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any tracing paper and I didn't want to cut up my original pattern, so I have the blocks yet to make.  Still, the hard part is done.  I hope to get at least the blocks made this month.

Saturday evening was our second gift from our Secret Agent, and I did a much better job of photographing this one.  Look at all the fun goodies in this one.  And the cute drawstring bag!  So fun.

Sunday morning we packed up and came home, and these two were waiting for me when I arrived, having traveled more than 30 hours to come visit.

Naturally, I dumped my stuff in the sewing room and spent the week with them.

And since this post is long enough, I'm going to wrap it up for now.  Tune in again tomorrow for tote bags, swag, and other goodies.

A Little Family Time

As I mentioned in my last post, I came home from StashBash to find these two young people waiting for me.  It was a super homecoming!  Arielle wrote a couple of fun posts on her blog here and here describing what we were up to...  Shopping was high on the list.  We hit the outlet mall and every discount store in town, I think.

We had record rains - rains that certainly fit the description "torrential" - while they were here.  Next time, I think they need to moderate their prayers for rain, as they were entirely too effective.  (Apparently there isn't much rainfall on their Caribbean island paradise, and they were kinda missing the wet stuff.)  I am grateful that our neighborhood didn't suffer any damage.  Sadly, many others weren't as fortunate.

My sweet daughter wanted a few items to make her rental condo seem a bit homier.  When I visited her in her island paradise last February, I took a few items that I thought might help make their space feel more like home.  But while I was making a last minute bee block, she saw this Soul Blossoms Peony fabric by Amy Butler in my stash and requested pillows.  She loves Peonies - so much so that she would have had them at her wedding if they had been available (sadly, they weren't - maybe this is the next best thing.)

So, while she and the mister were out running errands one day, I made these pillows - the churn dash one (above), this 9-patch...

and a pinwheel.  Classic blocks make great pillows, don't you think?

Hopefully they will look great on her couch and bring a touch of hominess to their space.

After all the rain earlier in the week, Saturday dawned sunny and beautiful, so we made a trip to the Farmer's Market.

I loved seeing all the flowers in bloom.  Such a perfect piece of springtime!

And I really loved this little planter made from a twin headboard, painted my {current} favorite color.  (I wonder if I can get the husband to make me one if I find a cute headboard at a garage sale or something???)

Their visit seemed all-too-short, and when I left them at the airport Saturday afternoon to make their almost-24-hour trip back to their island paradise the house seemed way too quiet.

Sure do miss them.

About April - a 14 in 2014 Update

If you've been following my blog for awhile, you know that my goal for 2014 was to finish 14 quilts from the WIP basket.  A couple of weeks ago, I noted that i had finished quilting my Modern Maples quilt (which has been sitting around since last summer sometime) and

my Faux String quilt, making a total of six quilts so far in 2014, so I'm doing pretty well.

I also made a couple of baby quilts.  It seems there is something of a baby boom around these parts lately.  This one was for Kai.

And I can't show all of this one because the pattern hasn't been released yet, but it is for a little girl that was born in the middle of the torrential rains we had this week. 

I had hoped I would get a lot done at StashBash (which will be the subject of a future post) and I did, but I didn't actually finish anything there due to one circumstance or another.  I was missing about an inch of sashing to finish one project, didn't take paper to trace the pattern onto for another...  Oops. 

And when I got home from StashBash, my sweet daughter and her husband were already here, just waiting for me to play with them.  We had such a fun time, despite the massive amounts of rain.  But finishing quilts just wasn't on the program for last week.

So, I'll push them all forward another month and hope for the best. 

Eight quilts in eight months isn't so much, is it?