More fabric shopping

On Thursday. Willa and I drove to Annapolis, MD to visit  Cottonseed Glory.  This is a lovely little quilt shop with a great collection of wonderful fabrics.  I loved browsing through the batiks, the Kaffe Fasset Collective collection, and the color walls.  There were many fabrics I wanted, but I only bought a couple of pieces.  The prices in this shop were higher than the other places we have visited unless you looked around for the older bolts.  The fat quarters were $3.00, but Annapolis is a very pricey tourist town, and I am sure the rents are high.  It was wonderful to see all the fabrics they had.

After we left Annapolis, we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge heading to Easton for another fabric shop.  This is one of the world's best bridges, I think.  It was great fun to be a passenger and look at all the beautiful scenery as we crossed the bay.  Next stop was lunch.

We ate at the Fisherman's Inn, right near the water.  I had forgotten how good a shrimp boil could be.  Willa had a steam pot of mussels that looked very tasty.  It is interesting to try and stay on my diet when there is so much great food here to eat.  This restaurant had a very impressive, and large, collection of oyster plates displayed wherever there was wall space.

This is the small shop in Easton.  The collection of fabrics is small, but I found several pieces I had to have.  The plum colored PT Cruiser is the car Willa drives.  It is very comfortable for tooling around and visiting quilt shops.

Now, for the fabric.

Friday, we went into DC to see a couple of memorials I hadn't seen.  I will post those photos tomorrow or Monday.

Tomorrow is Easter.  I hope you all have a joy filled day.

Victoria's Color Challenges on 15 Minutes Play

If you are interested in taking a challenge to work with colors that may be outside your regular color choices, be sure and stop by 15 Minutes Play where Victoria has come up with a fun new color challenge.  Each Wednesday, she will post a new color to play with.  Our first color is

Mauve!

There seems to be quite a bit of difference of opinion about just what color mauve is.  I happen to like the color, but it turns out not to be a favorite of most quilters who are playing along.  Fortunately, my Sister-In-Law had a piece in her stash, and I brought my favorite scraps, so I was ready to play.

The mauve borders are 3" wide, so that should give you some idea about the size of the block I created.  This is the block style I intend to create for each color.  I hope I like the rest of the colors in the challenge, 12 in all, as much as I like this one.  At least I hope I can create something interesting that I can live with.  I am sure Victoria will throw in a brown at some point, and I will just have to cope.  After all, it is a challenge. 



Hokule'a finished at last

I finished quilting and binding Hokule'a in time to hand deliver it to my sister-in-law in Northern Virginia.  This photo was taken indoors, in natural light from the skylights, so it looks a little faded.  This quilt is made primarily from shirts and dresses of mine and Tom's from our time living in Hawaii.

I quilted it with an over all irregular loop pattern to symbolize the tosses and turns life can take you on.  The center mariner's compass star symbolizes the guiding star, Hokule'a in Hawaiian navigation.  The outer log cabins are the symbol for home, with the red center standing for home and hearth.  The friendship stars are for all the wonderful friends and guides who help you along the way.  As I was making this quilt, I was mindful of not creating any closed off areas, leaving paths through each border.  It was a joy to make this quilt, and I am pleased that Willa likes it.

The back is a piece of Hawaiian shirt weight bark cloth that I bought in Hawaii, intending to make Tom a cover for his yoga mat.  The red is from a piece of fabric given to me by a friend.

Later today, I will post about our trip to Annapolis and the Eastern Shore in search of more fabric and good seafood.

Until then, joyful quilting everyone.

Fabric Shopping in Amish Country

I have been enjoying my stay in Northern Virginia.  I arrived late Thursday night.  Friday, I spent the day settling in while Willa and David were at work.  I took some time to cut fabric for the doll quilt for the April swap.  Saturday morning, Willa and I went to a couple of fabric shops where I found some beautiful batiks on sale, and a piece of peacock fabric I fell in love with.  Sunday, we had a brunch with many old friends, and that was great fun.  Monday morning, we set off for Pennsylvania and Amish country to shop for fabric.

We headed around Washington, DC on the beltway, then headed north through Maryland until we reached Pennsylvania.  Our first destination was The Old Country Store in Intercourse, PA.  We stopped here at the visitors center along the interstate.

The Old Country Store is a wonderful place where they have a quilt museum upstairs, a gift shop with locally made handcrafts, quilts, and food, and a fantastic fabric store.  Willa and I found wonderful fabrics at extremely reasonable prices.  I found beautiful Kona solids at less than $7.00 per yard. 

I already have plans for all of them.  I also found some homespuns for the house quilt that I am starting soon, at very low prices.

If you buy 10 fat quarters, they are only $1.99 each.  I found some great batiks and other things.  I should have picked up some more.

The Old Country Store also as an online store here.

After lunch at Stolfus Meats and Deli, we headed back, planning on stopping at a couple of other fabric shops along the way.

I believe this was called Bird In Hand Fabrics and Notions.  This was more of a local shop carrying fabric and notions for making plain clothes, as well as quilting fabric.  I have never seen so many different bolts of black fabric.  The prices here were also very reasonable.  As you can see on the sign, many were on sale for $4 - $5 per yard.  I bought a small piece of fabric and a quilting stencil here.

I didn't get a photo of the last place we stopped, Log Cabin Quilts in Bird In Hand.  Here, I found the black and yellow fabric I needed for this months Stash Bee Hive 1 block. 

Here are some of the odd pieces of fabric I picked up at the different shops that are for various projects.

Some were on sale, some I just fell in love with.  A couple are for bees and other WIPs.

All in all, we had a wonderful and successful day.  We spend way less than we expected, and came home with more fabric than we thought we would.  The drive was beautiful, and we didn't run into any of the bad traffic that I expected in the DC area.

Today, I am going to work on sewing my April doll quilt.  I will leave you with this photo of a farm field in Bird In Hand.  Joyful quilting, everyone.