Nothing but blue skies….

Saturdays used to be my favourite day of the week.  I would toodle down to Victoria, meet up with my two youngest daughters and just hang…we would shop, garage sale, mall shop, consignment shop, walk along the beach, go to a movie, have lunch…we would just hang.  In June, with University finished, they moved –one to Ottawa and one to Vancouver….you want your children to fly the coup and to be happy but….you also want things to stay the same.  I have an empty nest….so onto the next phase of my life…

Now on Saturdays I keep busy.  It is my day to DO something.  If I stay home, I mope and we can’t have that- so off I go!  Yesterday, with camera in hand (you just never know…) I drove off to Victoria.  The day started off rainy but by lunch the sun was out and the skies were blue…. it was a nice, warm beautiful Saturday!  So what did I do?  A little of this- Yes, I found my husband’s old shirts at a Thrift Shop-and they were marked down to 99 cents!!  Ha Ha!  So they are now washed and waiting to be cut into blocks (thanks Crazy Mom….just what I need – another project!)

I also went to The Satin Moon – a quilting store right in the heart of Victoria.  I only go to The Satin Moon a couple of times a year as there is always a problem with parking.  It is a lovely shop with quilts hanging and huge large windows, so that you can see everything in natural light.

As I entered the shop there was a quilt hanging with large hexagons made up of Asian Prints.  I am really into hexagons these days!  It was just gorgeous- all hand pieced….I had to have it!  Here is a picture of it- sorry it’s at an angle but it was hanging in the window….. short of climbing into the display window, this was the best I could do…

I love the way there is a frame around each smaller hexagon.  If you look closely, some of the inside hexagons are bigger for added interest.  I LOVE this pattern and can’t wait to make it!

Just one more picture before we move on into the store….

Yes, I bought the pattern and it seems easy enough and would make a good ‘Snowbird’ project for the 5th wheel.  I sure won’t have a shortage of camping projects this winter!!

Now for the rest of the store….I’m not much of a photographer, as you can see-  Nice cement pillar.  The shop was very busy and I had to take the pics around the customers.  A lot of tourists come to Victoria and if you are a quilter you would definitely walk over to the Satin Moon.

They carry lots of Asian and batik fabrics.  Plus they have a Christmas section, children/baby section,wool fiber section, tons of embellishments and lots of books and patterns.  The staff is fantastic- very friendly and helpful.  A great quilting shop!

This wall consists of already packaged kits with the finished quilts hanging on the walls.

I really liked this Christmas quilt….I would put little stitcheries into those big beige blocks…. (you Australian girls have influence me well…)

You can tell that you are at the Satin Moon as it is located opposite the entrance to China Town.  See the huge arch and big lions guarding the entrance.  But that is for another Saturday….

So all in all it was a good Saturday….minus the girls…  What I need is a new Saturday partner….but not just any partner…. She needs to be a quilter, like Thrifting, GSing, mall shopping, long walks on the beach and chick flicks…..sounds like an ad in the personals….YIKES! 

Have a super Sunday and Happy Quilting!!

Feeling a little CRAZY…..?

Dorothy Baker Designs is having a wonderful give-away- a whole mess of good things for stitchery projects.  She is doing this to help celebrate her new BOM, Sweet Nostalgia –which she is also giving away!!  Isn’t it cute?  I can  see it embroidered on a Kindergarten or Grade one child’s quilt…too cute.  It also reminds me of the Dick and Jane fabric that was out a few years ago….which reminds me I have some of that in my stash…hmmmm (can you hear the wheels turning….?)

 

After I posted yesterday’s blog entry I did my usual blog visiting and stumbled onto one crazy lady!  Notice she is now a member of my Blogs to Follow….I had ‘that connection’ with her. Her blog is called Crazy Mom Quilts.   Anyways, you must go and visit her as she is making a quilt out of old shirts…AND the quilt is going to be absolutely beautiful!  Make sure you click on her referrals as there are some incredible quilts being make from old cotton shirts- LOVE it!  The shirts appear to be checked or striped. Wouldn’t you know it - I gave all of my hubby’s old suit shirts to the Thrift Shop when he retired…darn!

So it is raining here today –  no garage sales for me…so guess where I am off to..?  Yup, I’m off to the Thrift store to check out the cotton shirt section….you just never know what you’ll find!!….maybe they will still have some of my hubby’s old shirts?  :o)

Have a Super Saturday and Happy Quilting!!

I Will Follow You…..

What makes a follower?….a blogging follower that is? 

I am a creature of habit…I do the same things, in the same order every morning.  Get up, turn on the computer, flip on the coffee pot, put the dogs out, walk around the yard so that I can make sure Rylie does her business (no accidents here!), pour my coffee and settle down in front of my computer, check my favourites, write my blog and check others’….does this sound familiar to anyone?  So as I am checking out some brand new blogs this morning I asked myself  “What makes me want to follow a certain blog…what must it have to make me want to read it EVERY morning?”

Here’s what I came up with – I have to have a connection –whether it’s the quilts, the wool felting, the stitcheries, the stories, whatever ‘it’ is, it has to grab me!  This morning I stumbled onto Cathi’s blog called Shakerwood Primitive. She wrote a great story about taking in a co-worker’s two chocolate labs (very cute I might add), I scroll down, nice quilts, very nice quilts and then I come the the enamel coffee pots – BINGO.  She collects coffee pots…not just any coffee pots but enamel coffee pots.  SO DO I!  Instant follower!!  So the dogs, I enjoyed, the quilts - I really liked, but it was a combination of dogs, quilts and coffee pots that clinched the deal for me…I got really excited!  Eureka –there is another coffee pot collector out there just like me AND she quilts and has two dogs-I mean the woman is perfect (what can I say!! –I will follow you, where ever you may go …..OK  maybe a little extreme!  And no I am not a stalker!!) So my list of blogs that I follow, grows a little longer….OK a lot longer…

Cathi this is for you….enjoy!!  The rest of you out in blogland- OK, yes it is a sickness ….  One enamel pot just wasn’t enough!! You’ve got to have more… Only a fellow ‘potter’ would understand…right Cathi..?

…It starts off with one pot….

…then another….

…and another…and another….

and before you know it….you’re addicted….One pot is just never enough!

You’ve got to have mooooorrrrrre!Yes, I even do ‘pots’ outside…..what do the neighbours say….”Nice Pots!”  

Make sure you check out Cathi’s pots…she has problems too….

Oh yeah….Quilting- I just love the string baby quilt that I am making.  Very easy and fast…so you may be asking-if it’s so fast why haven’t I finished it?  Well would you believe the dogs ate my homework?  No…well how about –my husband accidently threw it out with the trash?  No…well would you believe that I have been too busy polishing my pots….? ha ha….  Couldn’t resist!  Tah dah….this is it, so far….I love it! 

I still need to sew the blocks together and put a border on but I am really happy with it!  Love all the bright, sunny colours!  This one is more for a baby girl, so the next one I make will have more blues in it.

GIVE-AWAY SITED!!! The Fat Quarter Shop is having an awesome give away!  If you love Civil War Fabrics as much as I do,  you will love this give away- check it out!

Also check out Lynda’s new blog, Primitive Pieces.  She went to the Buggy Barn Quilt show and took tons of pics of all the quilts - absolutely gorgeous quilts!  Many of them are made from Lynda’s Patterns.  Such a talented lady!

Have a friendly Friday (that means you have to be especially nice and friendly to everyone you meet ) and Happy Quilting! 

Paulette :o)