Whimsy Cottage Blog

Finished it

I ran into a few snags - what quilt would be complete without them?  I spent a long while at the UPS Store nearest me...the guys who work there are about 25 years old maybe - they're awesome - helpful and informed.  One of them dedicated himself to my project - reducing photos and making color copies for 30 minutes until I had a nice stack to work with.  I cut pictures apart and laid them out allowing for seam allowances and copied them onto my EQ Premium Cotton Satin Inkjet Fabric Sheet and it was a disaster.  The photos were barely recognizable - all washed out.  I freaked.  Then I paid attention:  the package said, "INKJET" .  So I came home and ran another sheet and it was fine, except my printer was dying and there were white lines everywhere...so I ran to Staples and got a new printer.  It's much faster and the colors are great, so I'm pleased.  The only other snag was not having enough pictures of the bride - so I had to wait several days for more to be mailed.  But, I finished it and mailed it to Kathy Barlow to be quilted. 
I wish I'd done the bride's pictures in dark blue instead of yellow, to match the waves, but hindsight is 20/20.

New yesterday!  Heather Bailey's new line, Pop Garden, arrived - brighter than I'd expected and very happy.  I also ordered the "go with" line, Bijou, and am anxiously awaiting it.

Anatomy of an Ocean Wave

The border for this wedding quilt is done...providing all the pictures I want to include will fit inside it!  My goal is to put groom's pictures in the blue 4-patches and the bride's in the yellow ones...about 50 of each.  Here's the border block, which is  called snail's trail.  Not being fond of snails and what they do in my garden, tho', I'm calling it ocean waves.
And here's the whole border -

Today I'm sorting and choosing pictures.  I made an actual size 4-patch (5" finished) to help me decide.  This is way harder than sewing!
One more picture - this is my grandson four days ago - I know the camera angle makes his head look big, but I love his face, so I don't care how big it looks.  He'll be 3 months old this week.

Construction of a Wedding Quilt w/Photos...really, really fast

Nine days ago, in a creative, optimistic fever, I offered to make a wedding/photo quilt for a couple getting married August 9.  Even though this blog is supposed to be about my store, somebody suggested I journal this effort, which is totally personal.  So, I'd been on a 4th of July motorcycle excursion to Montana for a wedding and you know how weddings are...well, good weddings, anyway...and I got fired up to do something special for this August wedding.  And I came home with a design in mind and pictures, scrapbooks, etc. from the groom's father.  By Wed., I'd spoken with the bride's mother and she was moving file cabinets away from the wall where they'd been moved to have carpet installed in order to look through albums for similar memorabilia from the bride's childhood.  I'm hoping to avoid soliciting photos from the engaged couple because, duh, it's a gift and therefore, a surprise.

Having visited the couple in their apartment overlooking Navy Pier in Chicago, I remember lots of blue, lots of ocean and tropical decor. I consider renigging on making this new  quilt and giving them Whimsy's 2007 Shop Hop quilt, which had a Carribbean theme with a giant palm tree on it.  So, the quilt will have ocean waves as a border and the interior will be some sort of intertwining thing going on, depicting the lives of the bride and groom before they met - they're very sentimental and have scrap booked every memorable moment since they did meet so they don't need me to do the same.  I'm hoping for school pictures, high school yearbook autographs and compromising, naked, baby photos. For now, here's the design. 

I'm off to Kinko's tomorrow to download the CD from the bride's mom and make prints I can copy onto fabric for all those 4-patches.

Shop Hop 2008

This year's Hop was great - we love seeing everyone!  The theme was fairy tales and we were 12 Dancing Princesses, so making the quilt was a no-brainer:  crowns, gowns and shoes!

New this week are 23 bolts of gorgeous batiks from Robert Kaufman, including several light but patterned backgrounds that seem to disappear overnight when we get them in.

News from Nancy

After viewing other blogs, I realize how unrealistic it was for me to think I could keep one up.  I'm not a blogger - I spend only as much time online as required to read email.  I do admit I have found and purchased a hand-forged pot rack for my new kitchen and I regularly order from Barnes and Noble online...but that's about it.  Plus, blogging assumes I have something interesting to talk about on a semi-daily basis...something about my store, or, heaven forbid, about me.  Sadly, from a blogging standpoint, from a marketing standpoint, I shy away from talking about myself...I'm a failure.  While I enjoy discussing quilting, sewing, crafting, etc. while I man the cutting counter and cash register,  alas, blogging is not a discussion, it's a one-man show, with me alone talking about me and/or the store, and I suck at it. 

But, while you're here, I have news.  In January of 2005, when I began researching a location from which to dredge the old Whimsy Cottage up from the dead, I could never have envisioned the changes that would happen in my life in the next three-and-a-half years.  Now, in July, 2008, as the store is coming into its own again, the circumstances of my personal life are having a huge impact on my ability and desire to "run" my quilt shop.  Other stuff is pulling hard at my heart strings and I have an increasingly difficult time justifying saying "no" to the rest of my life in favor of Whimsy.  When I'm there, at work, I love it and it has my full attention and I'm full of ideas.  However, at home, my attention wanders elsewhere.  So, it is painful, but at the same time is freeing, to say Whimsy Cottage is for sale.  This is your chance to own the ultimate stash.  435/901-2017 is my cell.

So Much, So Much!

 

It's been over a month since my last post and there's much to tell.  Personally, I've moved and have been working  with contractors, landscapers, furniture deliveries, etc. not to mention unpacking;  but this is a much better house for me and I'm loving designing and decorating it plus the neighborhood is wonderful.  And, any day I'll be gone for a couple weeks to my daughter's in Portland to help after the birth of my first grandbaby, due yesterday.

Storewise, there's even more going on.  I don't remember when we've gotten so much new fabric in so short a period and it's all fabulous!  Above is fabric by Bigfork Bay Cotton Co., whose patterns we carry - they're those great crow/chicken/rooster wallhangings.

Please mark your calendars for June 25 - 28 - for the Wasatch Front Shop Hop!  This year's theme is "Once Upon a Time" and each shop has adopted a fairy tale and will make a corresponding quilt - the complete pattern for which will be given to each Shop Hop participant.  So, find a gaggle of friends and someone with a car big enough for everyone and set aside a couple days to visit all 15 shops!

The kits for the Autumn Quilt are ready - $110 plus $24 pattern -picture is under Quilts.

" Midwest Modern" by Amy Butler arrived this week - softer than her other collections.

"Rhapsody" is great colors and has a retro feel - altho' lots of these fit right in with other lines.

This is Brookfield Court, designed by our own Dana Baker.  It measures 25" x 38" and we made up kits that cost $35.  It started with a mini pack of 3" squares that Moda sends with our notions orders - I gave one to Dana and she came up with this - and we made it up again in fabrics from Whimsy.

And, here's Phoebe - another pattern from Melly & Me - that darling company in Australia - we got lots of other animals, too - a giraffe, frog, cow and ?  Fish - there's a fish pattern.

And, last but not least, and the earliest to arrive is Ginger Blossom, which we got in March.  Another new group is "Shiki", by Kumiko Sudo, a true pastel group that is so versatile - baby quilts, backgrounds for applique or piecing...but my pictures of it are gross, so I'll try again in my next post.  Pray for Spring.

Class Updates

Here are updates to our Spring Class Schedule - you can go to Spring Quilts in the sidebar to see projects.
    Barbara's Bamboo & Pinwheels has moved to Sat., March 29, from 10 to 1 and there's still space in it.  You'll make one block, divide it, and make two different quilts.
    Rebecca's Applique moved to Sat., April 5, rom 10 to 1 and there's still one space left.
    Sandy's Stars Across the Prairie is Saturday, May 3 from 9 to 4, includes lunch! and has space.  What a gorgeous quilt - it looks difficult but is not.
    Sandy's No Tears Tumbling Blocks is Saturday, April 19 from 9 to 12 and still has room - this is a great chance to learn a new technique for an age-old block, actually making it do-able.

Hope Springs

  Life has been crazy - the store's been busy and my other life has been busy with the move to a different house.  But the thing that's making the biggest impact on me is the weather.  The snow's almost gone.  It was 55 degrees outside when I closed the store at 5:00 today AND it was still daylight.  So instead of working or packing boxes, I drove home, loaded the dogs up and took them for a walk at the park.  I've forgotten this is possible...that the days DO get longer and warmer and snow-less. I feel rejuvenated and the dogs are beside themselves with glee.

Many fun things are happening at the store.  All those orders I placed at the Houston Market in October are showing up.  I love when I open a box and am happy with what's inside.  It does happen that I open one and wonder what I was thinking to have ordered such bizarre stuff...  So, here are pictures of wonderful new fabrics and trims.

This is ric rac made from gathered bias - and it comes as just plain double-fold, bias trim, too.  We have both.

This is Prince Street - made from the City Girl collection by Benartex.  We've kitted it - including pattern and binding, it costs $40.

And these are gorgeous, giant prints -

Ginger Blossom is a wonderful collection from Michael Miller - very retro and in great colors.

And, it appears I didn't take a picture of my new 30's bolts - there are 5 or 6 of them.  I don't really do 30's, but these made me laugh.  They're traditional designs, but HUGE - like Aunt Gracie on steroids.  Come see.

It's President's Day

Our Mystery Sunday was a week ago and I realize I haven't said anything about it.  What a fun day - serious sewing and eating.  Several quilts were completed during the class and others have shown up during the week.  Here are the wenches, who ironed and ripped all day long without a break (except to eat). 

And I took pictures of completed quilts, but I'll offer this again, using the same quilt, so I probably shouldn't show it, right? 

Happily, I'm waiting for the birth of my first grandchild...well, I've been doing that for a long time.  The difference now is that my oldest daughter is pregnant and due mid-April.  Because they're not finding out the sex of the baby, they decided to do the nursery in their wedding colors, aqua and lime green.  So here's what I came up with for a quilt and we'll paint the room to match. 

For those of you waiting for the Enchanted Autumn quilt kits, I'm cutting daily.  There are 83 fabrics in it, so it's really slow going...

Acronym, Schmacronym

Do you ever look at your house or your sewing room with new eyes and wonder how it got that way?  Like when you return from a long vacation and your neighborhood looks different and walking into your house, you see it as a stranger would?  I've been trying to do that at the store...I think it needs some shaking up. 
So, when I realized this is a Leap Year, I thought I'd have a sale to do that shaking and work toward a better balance of fabrics. I thought I'd call it something cute for which the letters L, E, A, and P were the acronym.  Now I've spent hours on that effort and am most disappointed in the results. 
Large Enormous Ample Pfabric Sale
or maybe what it isn't:
Lackluster, Exiguous, Abysmal, Puny (peewee, petty, petite or pint-size) Sale
But, I think the sale itself is a good one:
Starting today, Feb. 8, thru Feb. 29, Asian, Black-and-White fabrics and Westminster Fibers (that's Kaffe Fasset, Martha Negley, etc.) fabrics are 30% off (min. 1-yd., please)