SewMod

Sewing Day With Paige

June 21, 2012 in longarm quilting, quilts | Tags: dresden, lone star, longarm, sewing machine cover | by Lorrie | 2 comments

I recently spent the day sewing at Paige’s house. She worked on a new quilt design, while I worked on a Christmas Dresden Table Runner, which I can’t wait to show you how cute that is. We are doing our first demo and vending at a local guild. We are going to be doing a show ‘n’ tell of our quilts and designs and doing the demo with the Easy Dresden tool. We’re very excited!!

As you know, Paige is an excellent longarm quilter. She gave me my first lesson on loading a quilt. I learned a lot.

One of the things I took away from the lesson, besides how important it is to have a square quilt for the quilter’s sanity, is to make sure that all my pieces, backing and batting are cut to size, only 4-6″ more on each side. Otherwise it creates more work for the quilter. I know in the past I’ve been guilty that. Another good tip is to remove all of your extra threads on the back that may show through on the front.

This beautiful Lone Star quilt hangs in her longarm room. Talk about inspiration. I’m always in awe of this quilt. What a find!

And check out this super cute sewing machine cover she whipped up. Of course there is a dresden on it!

I can’t wait to show y’all the fabrics tomorrow for the Fabric Friday post. New patterns & fabrics. You won’t wanna miss!

I’ll Take A Piece!

June 11, 2012 in Uncategorized | Tags: lemon pie | by Lorrie | 2 comments

It’s so hard to diet when all of your friends are darn good cooks! “Let’s make a pie” says my bestie friend Susan over cocktails at her house. “Ok”, who am I to argue with someone who wants to give my drinks and dessert, right?

Lemon Meringue Pie…yummm!

I must say we whipped this beauty up pretty fast and it was very tasty:)

Here’s the link for the recipe if your in the mood for pie too…Grandma’s Lemon Meringue Pie

While we were waiting to taste our creation, I flipped through a well used and loved recipe book she got when she was first married.

Susan is from the deep south of Alabama. Being from Oklahoma, I can appreciate the comfort foods this book had to offer, at least some of them. I’m not about to eat Brains or Fried Frog Legs but I will eat Fried Biscuits and Fried Okra:)

I came across this cute recipe for “Preserving” Children I thought you might enjoy.

Fabric Friday…Alpine Wonderland

June 8, 2012 in etsy, fabric | Tags: alpine wonderland, christmas, christmas fabric, picka bunch, riley blake | by Lorrie | Leave a comment

TGIF everyone! Our last shipment of Christmas fabric arrived in the other day. Alpine Wonderland by Riley Blake. Sheri McCulley created this line and I’m a huge fan of her work! I find myself staring at the bolts when I’m in the studio. What am I going to do with this awesomeness?!

The little deer are sooo cute! And that sleigh, oh my..

The tree fabric has sweet little critters in it too.

The Alpine Wonderland print is adorable. Can you tell I’m swooning over this line?

Check out all the fabrics in our Etsy store.

Another sweet line we got in this week is Dress Up Days by Riley Blake. Cute scooters and little chevron prints. And everyone knows I can’t resist a bicycle with a basket of flowers:)

We moved some fabrics into the sale section on Etsy also. Head over and take a look. All LakeHouse, Pick A Bunch, and Anthology fabrics are now marked down. Great prices especially if your looking for a backing for a quilt.

Have a great weekend everyone and enjoy the awesome summer weather!

Goodies From Market

May 28, 2012 in fabric | Tags: Spring Quilt Market | by Lorrie | Leave a comment

Yummies….Paige picked up Auriful 50wt. designer threads. One collection by Edyta Sitar from Laundry Basket Quilts called Over The Rainbow & the other one is Sarah Vedeler’s Silk Hearts collection.

A sample of Cosmo floss from the Lecien booth. I think I would have gone crazy in this booth!

A bundle from Adorn It Fabrics..

All kinds of freebies..

Two Candy samples from Moda..

A collection of Westminster fabrics bundled by Jessica Sloan from Remnants: Fiber [Culture], along with the postcard style quilt patterns by Villa Rosa Designs.

I’ve enjoyed spending this holiday weekend sharing Paige’s trip to Spring Quilt Market with you. I hope we’ve inspired everyone to start some new projects!

And More Market Pics

May 27, 2012 in fabric, quilts | Tags: Spring Quilt Market | by Lorrie | 2 comments

Here’s a couple of patterns for quilts we’re going to place an order from a company called Metropolitan Quilt. I love the design on this one. So many possibilities! This one is Rome.

And a cute Christmas one Abre de Noel.

This is a quilt by Sue Daley….oh, my…

Check out these cool quilts for boys. Looks like something my son would like. This is the ‘Crazy Old Ladies’ Booth.

Patty Young from ModKid.

Violet Craft had some beautiful fabrics and quilts. I love the yellow that they used as their backdrop.

Let’s not forget Amy Butler’s booth.

Paige brought some samples home from a new company called Adorn It. Very nice fabrics.

An applique explosion in ‘Don’t Look Now’s’ booth. It really amazes me!

Big Blocks, Big Style by GE Designs booth.

And this booth by Green Bee. Love the circles!

Tomorrow I’ll show you all the goodies Paige brought back with her. See you then!

More Market Pics

May 26, 2012 in fabric | Tags: Spring Quilt Market | by Lorrie | 3 comments

I asked Paige to visit a few of my favorite designer’s booths and take some pics for me. Here’s Bunny Hill’s booth. So cute!

Check out V & Co.’s Vanessa Chistenson’s latest line by Moda. Paige brought a sample from her booth home. I’m definitely going to be ordering some of this for myself!

The Fig Tree booth is beautiful as always..

I would love to find the time to complete these little postage stamp quilts.

I love both of these quilts by Cotton Way.

Cute totes by Serendipity Studios..

And what a clever idea for framed art from pieces of scrap fabric..

I could use up a lot of my scraps on a cute flower quilt like this one. This quilt is called Tessie from Under The Garden Moon.

Or how about making a fluffy throw rug from your scraps? This was Art Gallery’s Pat Bravo’s booth.

Check back tomorrow. More pics coming your way!

Back From Market

May 25, 2012 in fabric | Tags: art gallery, Blend, riley blake, Spring Quilt Market | by Lorrie | 2 comments

Paige just came back from Spring Market with tons of ideas, loads of flyers, books and magazines to pour over and lucky for us a lot of pictures! She had a very exciting trip and I’m so glad she got to experience it! I can’t wait till the next time so I can join her. Paige really knows how to work a room and was able to meet several designers and companies in the industry. We have lots to share, so let’s get these pics rollin’ shall we?

My fave of course has to be Riley Blake. Here are some of the booths from their designers..I’m in love with this quilt. We have some of this line coming in this week.

A cool quilt using their Chevron line..

And is this adorable or what?

Next up is Art Gallery Fabrics..This is Bari J.’s booth. She is Art Gallery’s newest designer, showing off her new line Lilly Belle. Which we have an order placed for. Beautiful fabric!

Adorable jumpers for girls..

And here’s a close up of the line…

If I ever go insane from all the fabric shopping and quilting I do, and I need to be locked in a padded room, I hope it looks like this:)

Art Gallery’s booth is a color explosion!

This pic is for my Okie friend Jeanne, who loves Dachshunds. This is the Blend booth.

Here are some beautiful fabrics from Blend…

I’m going to be posting all weekend with Market pics if you’d like to hang out with me this Memorial Day Weekend. See you tomorrow!

Merry Christmas SewMod!

May 18, 2012 in etsy, fabric | Tags: christmas candy, mittens, reindeer, tinsel, trees | by Lorrie | 2 comments

My dream of having bolts of Christmas fabric in the shop has come true! Maude Asbury’s line Tinsel arrived last week & I’m sooo pleased with it. We’ve already been planning samples from it. It’s full of prancing reindeer, whimsy Christmas trees, argyle prints & frosty mittens! I’ve even snagged yardage for my own stash, but who could blame me, right?

These are a few of my fave’s from the line..

More Christmas fabrics arriving soon from Riley Blake. We ordered the Alpine Wonderland collection by Sheri Berry, who now goes by the name Sheri McCulley Studios. Check out her blog for some sneak peeks!

I also wanted to share with you all the fabric finds Paige and I came across last weekend at our local quilt shops. I picked up a print from Rouenneries Deux by French General for Moda and some coordinating Anna Griffin prints at Pieceful Gatherings in Fox River Grove. I’m totally in love with the panel print with the birds on it!

Material Girl in Crystal Lake has a full range of colors of the Shot Cottons by Kaffe. Shot cotton is special because the warp and weft yarns are 2 different colors woven together to create a special depth, a “shot” of color. When the edge of this fabric ravels, you can see a bright contrast to the body of the fabric. It has a linen look to it and I love to embroidery on these kinds of fabrics, so I bought one of each!

We also visited A Touch of Amish in Barrington. The new Halloween line Happy Halloween from Moda was in.

I have to STOP shopping! I have too much fabric and not enough time!

Paige comes back from Spring Market this weekend to share with us all her great finds for upcoming fabric lines so be sure to check back for that.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Shop Hoppin’

May 11, 2012 in fabric, quilt shop, quilts | Tags: quilt samples, shop hop | by Lorrie | 2 comments

Last week Shelley and I took a day to shop hop. We hopped to 3 stores, had lunch, & bought too much fabric, at least I did! So I’d say we had a great time:)

Our first stop was Quilter’s Destination in Arlington Heights. I scored more of Anna Griffins Christmas line from last year. They had it 40% off so I managed to get some yardage.

The shop has a great selection of Batiks & Art Gallery prints, which I love! Check out this piece that looks like paper doilies. I should have bought more of this one.

Here’s a few shop samples she had made up.

Next stop, The Quilt Merchant in Winfield. Mostly reproduction fabrics, but they had added a new section on for all us modern peeps. I put together a cute selection of fabrics for a Mother’s Day gift, which I cannot show you for obvious reasons. There were lots of great ideas in this shop if I wanted to bring a reproduction pattern to life with bright colors. I was especially drawn to a section of patterns by Sue Daley. All hand work of course…what am I thinking??!!

They also have a great section of wools & stitchery.

Last we headed over to Batavia & visited Prairie Shop Quilts. They always have great samples hanging in their shop.This is the shop where I learned to applique. This Piece O’ Cake applique was hanging in their classroom. Lucky for me, Shelley had this pattern so I can add yet another project to my to-do’s:)

A pattern wall you can spend all day on…

And a very well stocked book section.

And of course some pretty great fabrics too!

If you’re dyin’ to go on a shop hop but can’t find the time, pick up the new spring 2012 issue of Quilt Sampler for the top 10 shops to visit. This is my favorite magazine. Lots of interesting stories about how the shops get started, free projects and eye candy to keep you entertained.

I hope everyone has a Happy Mother’s Day & a great weekend!

Austin Texas Shop Hop

April 30, 2012 in fabric, quilt shop | Tags: amy butler gypsy caravan, batiks | by PaigeAlaine | 2 comments

Hi all, yes this is Paige. I don’t get much time to blog but I’m hoping to change that so I can share some of my quilting journey as well. A couple weeks ago, I spent a wonderful relaxing vacation in Austin with one of my dear friends and her cousin, who lives there. We did a little bit of everything from touring caverns to live music to helping a bit at a bicycle race for MS to the best tex-mex cuisine and margaritas! Definitely hard to come back to the cold and overcast skies.

Of course, all quilters know the best way to plan a road trip is to layout the route based on where the quilt shops are located, am I right?! Well, Karen and I developed our own shop hop and visited 10 shops over the week. I did my Google Maps search and here are the shops we chose based on location, their websites and images of their shops. I must say, they were all worth the stop.

*Stitch Lab -Austin, TX stitchlab.biz
*Las Colchas -San Antonio, TX    lascolchas.com
*Creations‎ -Kerrville, TX   creations-online.com‎‎
Honey Bee Quilt Store -Austin, TX honeybeequiltstore.com   (Will be featured in the 2012 Quilt Sampler Magazine)
The Quilt Store, Inc. -Austin, TX    quiltstore.com
Ready To Sew Bernina   -Cedar Park, TX readytosewbernina.com
Poppy Quilt ‘n Sew‎ -Georgetown, TX    poppyquiltnsew.com‎
B & B Quilting & Gifts -Buda, TX   bbquilting.com
Quilt Haus -New Braunfels, TX   creativesewlutions.com

Here is a little bit about my top three favorites:

The Stitch Lab in Austin was such a cool place. Leslie, the owner, was so kind to take a moment and tell us a bit about herself, her journey and how her place was evolving. Her selection of fabrics included cottons, voiles, linens and home dec – all were current and vibrant. There was lots of energy flowing thru the rooms and lots of busy hands cutting and folding the new fabrics that just arrived. We fell in love with the quaintness of the shop and wanted to hang out all day –click here to see more pictures of her shop.

Las Colchas was another must see shop in downtown San Antonio. A charming cottage home converted into a quilter’s paradise filled with fabrics from modern to folk, a cozy classroom and deck off the back. The staff was pleasant and very helpful.

When we walked into Creations in Kerriville (NW of San Antonio), I was instantly drawn to the 100’s and 100’s of bolts of Batiks. Their selection was amazing…I had to touch each bolt and wanted a yard of each for my stash. About 15 minutes into the shopping spree, my phone started beeping -I had a new text…hmmm, who could it be…it was Karen texting me from the front of the store telling me “this place is huge!” and before I knew it she was at my side saying “you’re still here? You’ve got to see this place”. Creations had a separate room for every style quilter and do-it-yourselfer. The staff was so personable and helpful I didn’t want to leave –a definite must see!