Saturday Stash: Road Trip Report

It was snowing when I left Colorado on my annual May pilgrimage to Idaho for quilt retreat! I had a hard time believing how warm it was in my hometown of Jerome, Idaho.

For the first time, I attended "Room to Learn's" retreat at the Monastery of the Ascension in Jerome. The monastery is lovely, so peaceful and remarkably isolated -- even though it's just a few miles from my high school!

(Image from Monastery of the Ascension)

Julia does an incredible job setting up for serious sewing. Five Oliso irons, five "big board" ironing boards, three portable design walls -- and wine tasting each afternoon! Yep, I'll be back!

In between quilt camps, I attended the High School rodeo in Homedale, Idaho. My great-niece, Bekah, rode in four events, wearing a western shirt made by her Mamma!

Bekah's High School Rodeo team sold raffle tickets for this quilt, made by yours truly. She reports they earned more than $1000 for their college scholarship fund!

The following week was spent at Payette Lake, site of Granny's Attic quilt camp and my former Girl Scout Camp, Camp Alice Pittenger. I've already shared some photos of the lake, but here is another favorite (can you believe it's taken from the window of my room at Camp Ida-Haven?):

Shop Report

On the way back to Colorado, I did some serious quilt shop-hopping.  I visited several new shops.

First, a lovely country shop outside Shoshone, Idaho.  Salli's Back Porch offers fabric, haircuts, and massages! Plus, the surrounding countryside is beautiful -- I saw a golden-headed blackbird, one I'd never seen before!


(Image from All About Birds)

(Image from Salli's Back Porch Fabrics)

Salli has an online shop, so if Idaho isn't in your travel plans, you can visit her shop vicariously via the interweb!

Another shop I've been want to visit forever is The Charm Shack in Ontario, Oregon.

(Image from The Charm Shack)

What a great selection!  I scored a wonderful handmade ruler holder to keep on my cutting table to hold the little rulers and templates I use most often. Plus, in Oregon, they pump the gas into your car for you!

I was sad that the shop in Nyssa, Oregon, was closed for the day.  Next time, maybe!

Heading home via Northern Utah (where I got lost, but that's another story!), I visited Stylish Fabrics in Logan, Utah. The clerk told me they can display 40 quilts -- and the quilts on display are stunning. This shop is a repro-fabric lovers dream!  (Sorry, I can't find a photo!)

Another shop I'd never visited is My Heritage Fabrics, also in Ogden. It was a little challenging to find, since the Quilters Club of America's iPhone app is not up-to-date, but worth it! This shop knows how to host a sale!

Of course, it was upon leaving this shop that I got well and truly lost in Northern Utah. Well, not really lost, but I didn't know Hwy 39 was still closed for snow. And I didn't have a Utah road map. And my GPS still thought I was in Filer, Idaho!

Thanks to a gracious local at the Chevron station (not an employee, who had no idea how to get to Evanston, Wyoming from wherever I was!), I took an incredibly beautiful side trip near Snow Basin ski area. Eventually, I hooked up with I-84 and found my way to Evanston and another new-to-me shop, Common Threads. Not only did I score a quilt book I've been looking for forever, the shop co-owner recommended a great place for dinner. [Always ask at the quilt or yarn shop for restaurant recommendations. They know the best places to eat!]

OK, enough about traveling.  What did I buy?

First off, do you read Quilt Sampler magazine?  Like the quilt on the cover?

Did you know shops selected to be in the magazine must present not one, but two quilts for consideration to be included in the magazine? One of my favorite Idaho shops, Quilt Expressions in Garden City, is featured in the current issue. And that's their quilt on the cover!  They also submitted this fun Dresden-variation:

My quilt camp buddy, Martha, made this quilt while we were at camp. (Come back next Saturday to see her finished quilt in the May UFO parade.) I bought only the pattern and background fabrics, and I plan to add my Malka Dubrawsky and Kaffe Fassett fabrics to make the Dresden blocks.

I fell in love with this Bonnie Blue Quilts pattern at Stylish Fabrics. It gave me the excuse to shop for more Civil War Reproduction fabrics!

One of my great-nieces will be attending BYU in the Fall. I was excited to find this for a pillowcase to send along with her!

Julia demonstrated the newest Block-Loc ruler. The designers also published a book showing blocks that can be made with this new tool (come back on a future Tuesday for my own Tuesday Tool post featuring it).

I won the first giveaway at Granny's Attic retreat! How appropriate -- the nationwide edition of Quilt Shop Navigator.  Plus some fat quarters to add to my collection:

Speaking of fat quarters, here is the fat quarter collection I'm offering to the winner of my 500 followers giveaway.  Go to this post to comment for your chance to win!

It's a long weekend in the USA for Memorial Day. I hope you'll take the time to thank a service member, current or former, for their service to our country! 


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A Few More February Finishes

For such a short month, February turned out to be pretty productive!

Once I completed my Scrap Squad quilt (blogged on Quilty Pleasures here) and my 100 Blocks magazine sample quilt, I just kept on sewing and sewing and sewing -- I think I averaged six hours per day at the machine.

First I finished the April Jelly Roll Party sample, "Garden Paths."  This is the quilt I complained about last Wednesday. Now I admit that, once the borders are on, I really like this quilt.  It turned out larger than most Jelly Roll Party quilts, too bad there isn't a great-niece with an upcoming 12th birthday!

Than I finished the most recent "Brown Bag Surprise" quilt from Ruth's Stitchery.  I love to do these projects, because Ruth cuts all the fabric -- all we quilters have to do is show up and sew!  This one is called "Indonesian Railroad."  The pattern is from the 2012 "That Patchwork Place" calendar.  Of course, it's called "Indonesian" because all the fabrics are batiks!

This is quilt #9 for 2013.

The sample quilt has a wide border of medium blue batik, but I really think this looks better as a "No Borders" quilt.  Vivian quilted the sample in the shop with a variegated blue and purple thread, which really sets off the various colors of the batiks.  (PS I hear there are one or two kits left over from the class, and as a bonus, when you buy a kit you get 12 patterns with the included calendar!)

Quilt #10 for 2013 is the last "Strip Club" quilt from High Country Quilts.  I will really miss that group, we met for seven years!

It's called "Iphegene's Walk," inspired by a walking path in New York's Central Park.  The path is named for preservationist Iphegene Ochs Sulzberger.  Go here to read more about her and about Iphegene's Walk.  I made my quilt from Kona cotton solids, and looking at this photo of the Walk in Springtime leads me to believe I made a good choice!  (photo from New York Focus website)

Isn't it beautiful?  Doesn't it just make you want to fly off to New York?  OK, let's wait a month . . .

BTW, according to Wikipedia, in Ancient Greek mythology, Iphegenia was a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, whom Agamemnon was commanded to kill as a sacrifice to allow his ships to sail to Troy. Her name means "strong-born," very appropriate for Iphegene Ochs Sulzberger, who was influential in forming the Central Park Conservancy.  

On the schedule for today is the next "Sew Sweetness" bag sample, another 100 Blocks sample and the March UFO.

Here are the blocks I have completed for my March UFO project:

Only four blocks to go!

Today is the last day to comment on the Bag It! giveaway for a chance to win one of Sara's bag patterns.  Go here to comment, and good luck in the giveaway!

From the desk of your

Saturday Stash Shop Hop

OK, so it's Sunday.  I spent most of the day yesterday making a quilt for a shipmate of My Little Sailor.

Quilt #41 for 2012, "Braids" is made with an Eleanor Burns pattern that includes a template to cut the braid pieces.

 
The template and pages of directions make this a fast top to sew.  It took about 4 hours of sewing, plus two hours shopping for the right fabric to match the braids.  The braid fabric is a "strip tease bun"  from  Island Batiks, "Iris."  Jacob had requested a purple quilt for his friend, so I bought a Tonga Treats Island Quilter on Vashon Island, Washington.  But when I got it home and opened it up, it was really more pink than purple.  So off to High Country Quilts I shuffled.  When I whined to Shelly that I needed a "purple jelly roll," she got down on her knees and dug around under the display table.  I heard "Marti, Marti," but couldn't see who was calling.  Shelly emerged from under the table proudly waving the perfect jelly roll.  Thanks, Shelly!








Speaking of Island Quilter,  here is a photo of the inside of the shop, lifted from their website. DH called the shop "the IKEA shop" because he felt like he had to follow a specific trail to get around the display shelves and out of the shop.  But what a display!

Vashon Island is accessible only by ferry.  We boarded the ferry in Seattle, drove down island to the shop and asked for a lunch recommendation. Not only did they recommend the Hardware Store restaurant, but they offered a 10% discount coupon!

In addition to the batik jelly roll, I found an "end of bolt" special on this lovely purple Laura Ashley print from 2009.  Only two yards, so isn't it lucky that Kwik Sew 3870 takes just two yards to make a tunic?

 

The first shop we visited in Washington was The Quilting Loft in Ballard.  We almost skipped this one, thinking it was too far out of our way.  Boy, am I glad we didn't!

I added to my growing Anna Maria Horner Field Study Collection:

I have about two-thirds of the complete collection now.  I love shopping for the fabrics at various shops rather than ordering the complete collection online.  It makes it feel like a treasure hunt!

And bought some pink and red "amelie" from The Alexander Henry Collection, along with black and red "rivoli garden" also from Alexander Henry.  This will make an Anna Maria Horner Multi-Tasker Tote requested by a niece in Idaho.

We then drove through familiar neighborhoods in Tacoma to Pacific Lutheran University.  PLU will always be "home" to me, it's where I earned my MA in Ed Admin, where the boys' first daycare was, and where I worked at my favorite job ever.  Plus, it's one block away from Parkland Parish Quilt Co.  Housed in an old church, Parish Quilt Co. offers the complete Marti Michell template collection as well as a wide variety of fabrics, from Civil War repros to -- Denyse Schmidt!

I plan to make an AMH Multi Tasker Tote for myself from this decorator-weight fabric:

I think Denyse's "pink seeds strip" will be perfect for the lining, don't you?  It's available from The Quilted Castle.

 

On Sunday, we took another ferry to Bainbridge Island to visit my nieces and Churchmouse Yarns and Teas.

(The photo of the Bainbridge Island ferry is from Churchmouse's website.  It's so much better than the ones I took myself.)

I was looking for yarn to complete my Color Affection shawl.  Found it, but not enough.  Terri graciously offered to contact her supplier and get more for me. 

While walking the streets of Winslow on Bainbridge, we happened upon a wonderful little shop, Esther's.  (Photo lifted from their website.  Visit:  You'll be glad you did!)



Best collection of modern fabrics I found on our trip.  I added two more AMH Field Study fat quarters, and this lovely fashion fabric to make another Fall tunic:

Burda 7213 is an oriental style tunic closed with seven buttons -- which gives me something to shop for this week.


We left Bainbridge Island on the south end via Gig Harbor and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.  This is the same location, but not the same bridge known as Galloping Gertie, slender, elegant and graceful, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge stretched like a steel ribbon across Puget Sound in 1940. The third longest suspension span in the world opened on July 1st. Only four months later, the great span's short life ended in disaster. "Galloping Gertie," collapsed in a windstorm on November 7,1940.  Watch a video of the bridge collapse here on YouTube.

 

52 Quilts has 198 followers.  When we hit 200, it will be time for another giveaway.  Wait 'til you see what I found for it!

 



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