2009 Crazy 8 Shop Hop

This upcoming weekend, August 7th, 8th, and 9th, is the 2nd Annual Crazy 8 Shop Hop. All shops will be open Friday and Saturday 9am-6pm, and Sunday 12-5pm. Visit each shop for prizes, free patterns, snacks, and fun! Draw a poker card at each shop, choose to hold or draw a new card after you have 5, and may the best hand win!
Poker hands will be ranked according to traditional poker rules, and the highest hands will win fabulous prizes! Contact any of the participating shops for details.

Email me through www.crazyforquilting.com, or call the shop for more information, a list of participating shops, or a shop hop map.

Garden Patch Cats

Even if you're not particularily fond of cats, you can appreciate these fanciful felines! Garden Patch Cats are my latest offering for a block of the month style program. The wallhangings use the new Maywood Woolie Flannels I posted about below. They are fast, easy fusible applique projects, and can be easily finished on your home sewing machine. Avocato begins shipping the 20th of August, and all of the cats will be on display at the shop through September 20th.

New Woolies Flannels

I FINALLY finished uploading the new flannels that arrived this week. This is the first of 2 shipments of Woolies Flannels from Maywood. These fabrics are some of the best feeling flannels I've seen. They look like wool, but are soft like flannel. Fantastic for "guy quilts!" I have a fun new project of the month planned that uses these as well. Watch for more details on it in the next month, with samples in store for the Crazy 8 Shop Hop August 7-9.

Don't Mess With Me This Week

I haven't been writing on here lately, as I'm sure you have all noticed. I'm having a very hard time being cheerful these days, so I've been avoiding writing to spare you all. I will spare you all from my private life, which has become the mother of all country songs lately. Instead, here is what's going on at the shop as of late:

My quilting machine had the big one (again) last week, midway through a twin sized quilt, and had to be taken to emergency care. It is currently being resusitated by the closest dealer/mechanic, who happens to be a two hour drive away and slow to boot. I am not very patient to begin with, and looking at my mountain of quilts every day is not making me any more so. I haven't yelled at the repairman on the phone........yet.

Some of the new Roses de Noel line is starting to trickle into the store. I received the charm packs last week, but am waiting to upload them online until the fabrics arrive. With the month I'm having, they'd better not short me on my order or someone will definately hear about it!

I am continuing to work on the Sunflower Hill BOM sample. I finished all of the buildings last night, and am now buttonhole stitching the sunflower blocks that go in between. Then it's on to the rail fence border for the big finish! (hopefully soon)

My mom made a fantastic sample quilt from the new Flourish fabrics, which I'll try to upload a picture of later. It is from the new Anka's Treasure's book, Stop, Drop & Roll, and it was super fast. My mom pieced, quilted, and added binding in a week! Picture coming soon...

Figgy Pudding

I've uploaded the brand new holiday line from Moda that I chose for this year. Figgy Pudding is a fun yet elegant fabric line that reminds me of the old blown-glass ornaments and fancy ribbon candy. It will be arriving in the store by the end of this week!

Happy Hollow Designs

I am so excited to start offering patterns and kits from Happy Hollow Designs! They specialize mainly in Fall and Christmas/Winter projects, such as runners and small hangings. They have a fantastic fusible grid product that makes their projects easier than you would ever think, and you'll get an informative flier of instructions to help you get started with your order! Plus, ALL of the accessories are available with the pattern. This is a big must for me, since I hate trying to run around gathering everything to make the project perfect. The accessory kits include all trims, buttons, jewels, EVERYTHING to make the project as pictured!
The products I have in stock now are only a small sampling of what I hope to carry soon. Plus, they are great scrappy projects since they take a variety of small squares from many fabrics! You can see what's available now by looking under Happy Hollow in my online catalog. Be sure to order at least a yard of the fusible grid for each project you're making.
I hope to have samples made soon, but don't hold you're breath because I'm in the middle of Sunflower Hill right now!

New Fabric, New Kits, Never Enough Time

Now that I'm done with school, I feel like I have TONS of time! Consequently, I'm getting a TON of stuff done. Or, at least I'm doing a good job of fooling myself into thinking I'm getting a lot done! And yes, believe it or not, that quilting list is starting to show signs of progress.

New things in the store this week include a gorgeous fabric line from Maywood Studios, called Paisley. It's already selling online, so if you have something in mind don't hesitate to get your fabric! It will make beautiful tonal, one/two color quilts!

Just in today, the remaining fabrics for the Sunflower Hill BOM I posted about earlier. I hope to get my own sample kit cut today or tomorrow. Then, I'm making myself put that last border on Comforts of Home before I start my Sunflower Hill! By the way, Comforts of Home is looking gorgeous, with the final red border half sewn on!

Arriving this week also, some new kits from Happy Hollow Designs. I've seen this company's projects around, drooled over them at previous Quilt Markets, and now I am finally taking some time to try them out. They specialize in holiday projects, mostly Fall and Christmas, so I am ordering them in plenty of time to make some stuff before this Fall! (in theory, anyways)

With the kids' final day of school being this Friday, my TONS of time will probably soon be gone. Oh well, it was good while it lasted! With the beautiful weather we've been having, I'll have to squeeze in some time for fun anyways. My wake board has been collecting far too much dust, and I am looking forward to finally learning some fancy tricks. And no, I'm not delusional, just optimistic!