Rally in the Valley Shop Hop Day Two!

 Last night Kathy and I sewed up our 35th Ave.  BOM blocks.  Mine on the left, hers on the right.  I also made two Zippy Strippy bags.

Today Kathy and I met up with Jamie and Tiffany for shop hop day two.  This was our first stop.  The shop had more than doubled in size since last year and it was fun to check it out.

 They were demo-ing Jaybird Quilts' Hex and More ruler and patterns.  I don't have this ruler yet and I really do want it one day!

 This was their shop hop mystery quilt.

 Here we are smiling for the camera.  Next we stopped at Etc. (which we already did last weekend) to pick up a pattern we ordered that they were out of.  I love this circle quilt.

 Next stop 3 Dudes Quilting which is really a fun store!

They had a dueling banjos set up in the doorway which was too cute.  

These are their shop hop quilts.  The one on the right has a little oops which turned out great, so he had to make two.

 They demoed their patterns one of which is a freebie online.  We bought two others too.

 This happy scrappy quilt was hanging in the store too.

 Next stop was here.  They featured a cool seam ripper with a beehive end, which I got.  We ran into Becky and Suzy here which was fun!  We were going to pal around as a larger group, but we hadn't eaten and they had so we parted ways.  We had lunch at Lee's sandwiches and then made a quick run to 35th Ave. for the Black Bag Day.  Both Tiffany and Jamie wound up buying black bags and playing along.  I was tickled to get free needles, a free fat quarter and with the purchase of this book I also got a half yard of fabric free!

 The author of this cool book did a demo at 35th Ave.  Really cool and simple (but looks complicated) and since I am into that, I had to have the book.  Kathy is going to get it spiral bound for me too :)

 Next we went here.  They were featuring Paper Pieces which I love!

 Our last stop on the journey was here.  This is the closest shop to our house.  Both Tiffany and I could not stop staring at this quilt.  LOVE it!  They were all sold out of the kit for it so apparently others also loved it.  Did a little checking online and found another freebie!  It is my lucky day today!

 So all in all, here is my loot and I am a happy girl!

 Tonight I sewed another Wild and Goosey block, so now I have ten!

Hawaii Sunset Rises Again :)

Some of you may remember my Hawaii Sunset bucket list quilt...just looked back through my blog and I see it has been about a year since I worked on this quilt.  Where on earth does the time go?  Today I got all the sashes and cornerstones on the nine patches.  I had to cut a few more since I apparently eye balled the count back then!  I also picked out fabric for the border triangles (there are a few consistent fabrics to tame this scrappy quilt) and realized I still need to buy several yards of dark blue for the larger sashings--so that is on my list for next weekend's shop hop.
Check out Andra's blog at http://simplifyandquilt.blogspot.com/2013/09/sunset-in-my-living-room.html to see her completed Hawaii Sunset--it is stunning and Amy has her blocks done over at http://skattebo-skattebo.blogspot.com/2012/12/hawaii-sunset-blocks-done-easy-street.html so I am catching up to these gals.  We swapped fabric awhile back and it is so much fun to see fabric I recognize in their quilts!
I made a a big pot of Chili for dinner tonight (despite the fact that it was about 100 degrees outside) and now am about to settle in with Stephen King's "11/22/63" about traveling back in time to stop the JFK assassination.  I have been reading a lot (which means sewing less) lately..I have missed it!  A friend recommended Hugh Howley's series a few weeks ago and I read all three--"Wool," "Shift" and "Dust."  I really enjoyed them--love to read time travel and dystopian books for some odd reason!  have a great week folks!

Rally in the Valley--Shop Hop Day One!

Today Kathy, Tiffany and I headed north for the Rally in the Valley Shop Hop.  With only three of us this year (some of the gals are out of town, one is working on the end stages of her master's degree and one just plain didn't need anything this year!) we made quick time and actually got to all of the northern shops and to two that weren't on our list.  Tiffany had never been on the hop before and it didn't take her long to be having a good time with us nuts!

The first shop on the trip was one that hasn't been on the list before.  It was fun to check it out.  After that we met up with Ros at 35th Ave. and got our BOM blocks (and did a little shopping) and gave her Tobacco Road and Swoon to be quilted!  I also passed along Monica's mom's quilt that she wants to figure out how to finish.  It is a baby quilt that is all stamped cross stitched that her mom made.  Then we hugged Ros goodbye (you were missed girl) and got on the way to the next shop.

Quiltz is in a new location since last year (round the corner) but we had been there once since the move.

This shop is one I love because it is on the road (out of town) to my mom's place.  It is also the one Carrie Nelson does stuff in and since I am a Schnibbles fan I like that about it too!

We thought of BJ as we went to her favorite shop too!  Below is the first mystery quilt picture I snapped from there--we are getting a clue for the mystery in each shop and it is fun to see what each shop does with the fabric choices.

Next up we headed to lunch at Arby's in Sun City and found our way into this shop.

This is their take on the mystery.

This shop has also moved since last year...funny though it had the same feel and organization of the previous shop so I finally asked them if they had moved (I didn't recall the name since I only get to some of these more northern shops each year on shop hop) and sure enough they had moved.

We bought a curved ruler at this shop...the Japanese lantern quilt uses the ruler (they also featured a cool log cabin ruler which I resisted buying).

This is Urban Pods and can also be made with the ruler.  Kathy wanted the ruler more than I did so I am sure she will be trying it out before I do.

This is their take on the mystery.  They look SEW different from each other!

About this point in the day I spaced taking pictures of the shops!  So next up was Bernina Connection.  This blurry picture is their mystery quilt in Christmas fabrics.  Love it!

Our last shop of the day was Etc.  This is the shop the PHXMQG meets at sometimes and it is seriously a modern quilter's dream shop.  The store is large and their is a huge selection of LOTS and lots of modern lines.  This is their mystery quilt.  The picture doesn't do this one justice.  Look at that awesome quilting too!

They featured a special ruler and some patterns that make this "Rock Candy" pattern and some others.  Loved it, had to have it.  So did Tiffany.  Enough said!

So here is the photo of my loot I took when I got home.  I bought red fat quarters and a few animal prints for my plan to finally join in on Bee in My Bonnet's Quilty Barnalong which I have been watching for awhile and thinking about doing...I found Quilty magazine *YAY--I made a trip to Barnes and Noble and JoAnn's last week looking for it with no luck.  I am planning on signing up for a subscription now that I have looked at two issues.  Love it too!

Then after my photo above, we realized I had left one of my purchases in the car so below is more loot, lol!

The greenish fabric below was purchased to back my embroidered elephant pillow.  Wish the design had been a little bit bigger, but I really like it.

I am all kinds of inspired to get to sewing right away tomorrow--and with the Packer game on too life should be good!

Long Overdue--Vacation Quilt Sightings!

 Alien Quilts in Roswell, New Mexico.

 They were in this shop which was the first quilt shop stop of the trip!

 At a gas station at the side of the road on the way to Wisconsin we found an Amish gentleman selling baskets, aprons and QUILTS!

 Way past closing time we found the coolest quilt shop (in a small town with the streets already rolled up) so I made them stop so I could get out and take pictures of all the quilt blocks.  I really wish it would have been open, but just seeing the shop made my day!

My Aunt Nancy, whom we stayed with in Wisconsin, had a cute log cabin quilt at her place.  Each block has a traditional red center and I liked how it looks like spools between blocks!

This picture I got off the internet after glimpsing it on a barn just off the highway in Story County, Iowa.  I was on the lookout for barns the entire time, but we only saw a few!

 This was the next quilt barn we spotted off the highway on the way to Wisconsin.  It is called the Brock Friendship Star and is near Swaledale, Iowa.  We actually got off the highway and drove a little bit to double back to it!

 We spotted this fun Log Cabin at Mill's End (outlet store) in Eau Claire.  I found all kinds of fabric to come home with me while I was there.

 We spent one night at my best friend Monica's house.  We got to sleep under Smith Mountain Morning that I gifted her!

 On the way home we stopped in South Dakota at the 1800's town and spotted some quilts too!

 On the way home we stopped at a random quilt shop and I bought the pattern above.  I thought it looked alot like a drunkard's path quilt and it was pretty!

 I read two quilt books cover to cover..this was one of them.

 We stopped at both these shops too.