Shop Hoppin’

Posted on September 11, 2010 by Barb

This weekend is the North Texas Quilt Shop Hop.  The 13th Annual for those who care about statistics.  I was the tour guide on the bus that left from Quilter’s Dream Friday morning.  At 8:15 in the morning.  I had to be at the Shop at 7:45.  That meant the alarm rang at 6:20.  For those of you who know me well, you understand that is not my favorite time of day.  Don’t tell Pioneer Woman.  She gets up before the moment when dawn cracks every day.  Or as some would say, before the crack of dawn.  And she would think me quite the wimp for complaining about getting up at the late hour of 6:20.  Late being a relative term in my world, of course.

I say all that so you’ll understand what I’m about to tell you next.  And you’re definitely not going to believe it.  Unless of course, you know me.  And understand how foggy my brain is at 6:20 a.m.  Are you ready?  I forgot my camera.  Horrors!  How is a blogger supposed to blog with no pics of the day?  I was so mad at myself at the first shop on the hop that I nearly called Dear Hubby to ask him to meet us along the way and bring my camera to me.  I can just hear that conversation now.  “You want me to what?  Drive how many miles to meet you with your camera?  For the blog?  You want me to what?  You’ve got to be kidding me.”  I didn’t really think I could convince him to leave work to drive an hour to bring me my camera.  An hour each way.

So what’s a poor blogger to do?  Well, stopping by the local camera shop for a new camera was definitely not an option.  So I settled on the only solution I could come up with.  A blog with no pictures.  Are you laughing yet? 

OK – only kidding…… I used the camera in my Blackberry!  Ain’t technology wonderful?  But I must say – there are precious few pictures.  Not nearly the amount that I’d have if I’d had my camera along.  Perhaps that’s a good thing for those of you with shorter attention spans?  Maybe you’ll get all the way through to the end of the blog today?  Only if I shut up and show you the pictures, you say?  Alright, already!

First stop – Waxahachie!  Cute town.  If I’d had my camera along, I’d have snapped a pic of the fabulous courthouse on the city square.  And the outside of the shop.  And the cute things they had inside the shop.  Their display window was fabulous by the way.  Pretend you just saw a picture of it.

I did get a picture of this cute kitty who greets you as you walk in the door.  I don’t know if he was made out of ceramic or what, but he sure was cute.  And cat lover that I am, I thought he deserved a picture on the blog.

And also might I say that my Blackberry camera takes a pretty mean picture, don’t you think?

I also snapped a picture of their Shop Hop Quilt.  I should explain.  As a part of the Shop Hop, each shop put together a quilt block and they give you a pattern if you participate.  There are fabulous door prizes too – the best for which you are entered in the drawing if you go to all 13 shops.  So each shop makes their version of a “Shop Hop Quilt” and many sell kits in case you’d like to make a quilt in their version – using the free patterns from each shop for the blocks.    I hope all that made sense.  I’m writing this late after returning from the all day bus tour.  And remember…. I got up at 6:20.  I’m not responsible for making any sense.

Next stop:  Midlothian!  They won the prize from our bus gang for the “Best Interpretation of the Theme.”  That requires an explanation of the theme of the Shop Hop.  This year the theme is “Rock Around the Block” and each shop’s block was based on a song.  Midlothian’s song was “Going to the Chapel” and their whole shop conveyed the theme well.  They had the song playing.  Each employee was wearing a corsage.  And here is their quilt……

….. complete with wedding dress!  Their block was “Steps to the Altar.”  Cute.

They decorated their refreshment table with their own wedding pictures.  And the little bridal cupcakes each had a wedding ring on top.

There were even chocolate “groom” cupcakes.  And a big bouquet of flowers.  Well done!

They also had a wedding arch above the table where you got your “passport” stamped.  If I’d had my camera I would probably have taken a picture.  But I digress.

Next stop: Burleson!

Look how different their Shop Hop Quilt looks.  What a difference color makes!

Now I have a confession to make.  At about this time in the day, I apparently forgot that my phone was also a camera.  Maybe I was afraid I was going to use up the battery?  The memory card?  I really have no excuse.  But the rest of the day, the only pictures I took were of each Shop Hop Quilt.  But perhaps that’s not a bad thing?  A quilting blog that shows you quilts?

This is the quilt at the shop in Granbury.  They added a totally different center with appliqué.  Nice look!

And this was the quilt at the shop in Weatherford.  All purple and blue batiks.  Striking!

And this quilt greeted us at the shop in Fort Worth.  Their song was “Dancing Queen” and they’d been dancing to that music all day. 

I even failed to get a picture of the quilt at Quilter’s Dream!  But all is not totally lost.  If I go get my camera right now and set it next to my purse, I might remember to take it to work on Saturday and get a picture of the Shop Hop Quilt there.  Although these pics from my Blackberry aren’t too bad, are they?  Our song was “Time in a Bottle.”  Beverly even brought in a phonograph and some old albums to play!

And if you read this early enough on Saturday, there’s still time to join in the fun!  I am not the tour guide on Saturday’s bus, but they will be going to Rockwall, Whitesboro, Gainesville, Keller and two shops in Arlington.  Of course it’s also acceptable to just hop in your car and drive to any or all of the shops.  Each shop is also giving away a fat quarter and you get to choose from all the inventory of FQ’s in each shop!  You can find more information at the website: The North Texas Quilt Shop Hop.

If you go, please take your camera along and take a picture of each of the quilts.  If you email them to me, I’ll put them on the blog next time.  Then we can all enjoy 6 more beautiful quilts.  And while you’re at it, take some pics of the cute little towns, the shop signs and anything else that would make for a good blog.  Apparently I can’t be trusted with blogging without help these days.

Happy with BB pictures,
Barb

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Miss Kitty Demands Equal Time

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Barb

She coughed up hairballs on the carpet three times tonight.  I think she was trying to tell me something.
 

What?  What’s that you say, Mom?  Li’l ol’ me on the blog?  She told me that Boo has been getting way too much coverage lately.  Right between hairball #1 and hairball #2.

Aw shucks, Mom.  I get to be the Star of the Blog today?  If I’d known it would get me noticed, I’d have coughed up……..  But you get the picture.  And so did I.  If there’s one thing I don’t need around here, it’s an upset kitty.  So I decided it was high time you saw a few more pics of Miss Kitty.

Miss Kitty is really Dear Hubby’s kitty.  He affectionately calls her “Missy.”  She arrived with him when he returned from Tulsa where he had been working for 14 months.  He told me he wasn’t going to bring her home with him.  But they had bonded and I wasn’t surprised to see her when he pulled in the driveway in our big motorhome.  She’s been here for just over a year now.  And one of these days she’s going to like me.  I’ve been working on her.  For some reason she just doesn’t understand what a big huge cat lover I am.  And even though I give her treats, she’s still not sure she likes me.  But she is the “other woman” after all.  Or maybe it’s me who is the other woman.  At least in her little cat head.  She has the biggest purr you’ve ever heard in your life.  Her whole body gets involved in purring.

Doesn’t she look like a lion?  She really does have a beautiful “mane.”  And she can be quite sweet.  When she isn’t biting my arm off. 

She learned to appreciate quilts even while she was living in the motorhome.  And she claims them as hers, just as any good cat would.

Here she is doing her early morning exercises.  Crunches for Kitties…. 1 and 2 and 1 and 2 and……

Do you suppose she knows what trouble lurks just beneath her here?  I think she’s oblivious……

She’s laying beside me on the couch as I type this.  Sleeping.  I think she’s warming up to me.  She’s been in the house more this summer because of the heat, so maybe that contact with me has helped?  Or maybe she’s just plotting to grab my arm and dig her claws in to tear the flesh off.  I am the other woman after all.  She may never forget that no matter how nice I am.

But who could resist those big blue eyes……

Loving my kitties,
Barb

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A Baltimore Beauty

Posted on September 5, 2010 by Barb

Recently I posted pictures from my Dear Jane Club meeting and several of you commented about a quilt that was in the background in a couple of the pics.  Leave it to quilters on a blog to notice all the background quilts.  Do you notice them in movies too?  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve paused a movie just to see the quilt on the bed.  Or on the wall or a table.  The quilts are often more important than the movie.  I’m sure you quilters out there understand.

So yesterday I decided to get a lot of pictures of the quilt that so many of you noticed.
 

Isn’t it a beauty?  A Baltimore beauty.  Saturday at Quilter’s Dream was the first in a year long series of classes to make your own personal version of this glorious quilt.  Eighteen ladies showed up for the class with 2 guest teachers who will be at the shop once a month.  It will be a fun year, watching their quilts grow and their technique improve.  I’ll get some pictures of everyone’s blocks as the year moves on so you all can see.  But first you need to see some of these blocks up close.

The appliqué is pretty wonderful, isn’t it?  And the cross-hatch quilting behind each block really sets off the work well.

Beautiful broderie perse.  And if you google those words you can find out more than you ever needed to know about the technique.

Wonderful appliqué using the fabulous border and sashing fabric.

The pineapple in this block was made using a product called “Texture Magic.”  You stitch it to your fabric and then steam the piece and it shrinks and shrivels and becomes a really cool 3-dimensional piece.  It was perfect for that pineapple!

And the large blue flower on this one uses a technique called “ruching.”  This quilt uses lots of three dimensional techniques that give it a ton of character.

I love the symmetry of this block.  And all those blue rosebuds are also 3 dimensional and fabulous!

I’m sure there’s a lot of symbolism in this block.  Each month the gals in the class will learn all about the history of Baltimore Album quilts and the symbolism involved in each block.  I have threatened to stand in the room next to the classroom straightening the bolts of fabric for 2 hours so I can get in on all that they are learning.  It is quite fascinating!

Aren’t the blocks all wonderful?  This is a fabulous quilt for sure.

If I didn’t have deadlines and way too many projects already started, this is one quilt I would love to make.

Love the appliquéd border too!  This focus fabric is really lovely.

And although you may not have known it, Saturday was an official “wearing of the green” day.  We couldn’t believe how many people came into the shop wearing green!  I almost thought they’d moved St Patrick’s Day to a new month.

See?  At one point, out of 10 people in the shop, 7 of them were wearing green shirts!  So we decided to take a picture.  And now you got to see three more pretty quilts on the wall behind these smiling ladies in green shirts.

What color shall we wear next month, Janet?  That’s Janet and me on the far left – we work together on the first Saturday of the month.  And if we show up wearing the same color next month – unplanned like we did today, I’m going to think we really have been spending too much time inside each other’s heads.

Here’s to Baltimore Beauties and green shirts,
Barb

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A Special Day

Posted on September 4, 2010 by Barb

Happy Birthday, Pam! 

You’ve met Pam here before.  She’s the sister of my Dear Hubby and a good quilting bud.  And today is her ?? Birthday.  You know.  One of those ending in “0” ones.  Extra special birthdays.  I can’t tell you which one.  You’ll have to figure that out on your own.  Because she reads the blog and I don’t want to incur her wrath. 
 

This is Pam standing in my kitchen.  Chowing down on some yummy Pioneer Woman blueberry thing that we had that day.  She keeps me supplied with Starbucks coffee.  And makes me special Cinnamon Dulce Lattes whenever I drop in at her place.  And stops by the quilt shop when I’m working to bring me Starbucks Cinnamon Dulce Lattes just to make my day extra special.  Notice the theme going here?  She’s my favorite sister-in-law.  (She’s also my only SIL, but shhhhhh… don’t tell her.  She just needs to know she’s the favorite.)

And I love her.

Hope you have at least ?0 more, Pam!  You don’t look a day over 39……..

Happy, happy day,
Barb
P.S.  Your birthday has now been announced to millions nationwide through this blog.  OK, thousands.  OK, hundreds.  OK, OK…. ONE hundred.  On a good day.  Does this qualify as a card?

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PB & J Day!

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Barb

OK – these pics have been sitting in the archives on my computer.  I almost forgot that I took them!  Remember how I told you these JSS gals are relentless in trying to outdo each other on Bee Days or any get-togethers, for that matter?  Even when we just bring potluck things to share on our Day Retreat days, the food is incredible.  So I promised I was going to “bring it down a notch” the next time anyone visited my house.  And I declared it PB & J Day!

But I couldn’t just make it any ol’ peanut butter and jelly.  Or any ol’ bread, for that matter.  It had to be gourmet.  Which sort of defeated the whole “bring it down a notch” idea.  But oh, well.  It was a JSS gathering after all.  I couldn’t let the girls down.  It just wouldn’t be right!
 

Did you know it is super simple to make homemade peanut butter?  I sure didn’t.  So I did a little research.  Here are the ingredients: peanuts.  Yep, that’s it!  Peanuts and a food processor is all you need.  You’ll notice I went all out and bought the WalMart store brand peanuts. 

So here’s the difficult recipe:  Put the peanuts into the food processor and turn it on.  Let it run for 2 minutes.  Voilà!  Peanut Butter.  Gourmet Peanut Butter.  Because you made it from scratch.  Go ahead.  Wow your friends with that recipe.  You don’t have to tell them how easy it is.  Just tell them it’s homemade.  And it’s really very good!  No artificial sweetners, colors, nasty chemical preservatives.  Nothin’ but peanuts.

So I had to dress the sandwiches up a bit.  Since the peanut butter was so easy.  Oh, I forgot….. gourmet peanut butter.  So I made cashew butter too.  Same recipe only cashews.  I bet you could have figured that out all by yourself.  And we had smooth and crunchy peanut butter.  For crunchy you just throw some extra peanuts into the food processor right at the last.  Easy.  So we had three kinds of bread – including cinammon raisin.  And we had peanut butter with bananas, peanut butter with marshmallow creme and also two kinds of jelly.  And then, because I saw it on a menu at a restaurant not too long ago…….

……….. grilled peanut butter and jelly.  In a cast iron skillet.  It’s the Pioneer Woman influence on me.  That link even shows you how she cares for hers.  I can’t cook any more without my cast iron skillet.  And the hardest part about making these?  Getting peanut butter on one side of the bread and butter on the other without making a total mess of yourself.  But they are yummy.  And later the girls made me make two more – only with peanut butter and marshmallow creme.  Oh, my!  That yummy melted marshmallow over the peanut butter?  You absolutely have to try it sometime.

So here’s how the table looked.  I was going to cut the sandwiches into fun shapes, but that meant too much waste.  So I just quartered them and threw them onto a plate.  I was, after all, trying to tone down the day.  Bring it down a notch, remember?  They told me I was not successful.

The grilled ones were a big hit.

But these were all equally delicious.  And it was really necessary to have the potato chips to cut all that sweetness.  They were just Lay’s out of a bag.  And before the day was over, we even had the marshmallow creme jar sitting on the table.  With a spoon in it.  And we had consumed multiple bowls of chips.  Too much sweetness.

And now, because this is a quilting blog, I have to show you some pictures of a fabulous quilt that Susan brought that day.  She had just picked it up from the longarm quilter, Susan Corbett.  And it’s quite necessary that you see a lot of pictures of it.  It is just too spectacular for words.

I didn’t get a good picture of the whole quilt.  This one shows most of it.  And I will get good pics of it soon, because it’s going to be in our guild’s quilt show in a couple of weeks.  I predict it will do very well in the quilt show.  You heard it hear first.

Susan’s appliqué is absolutely exquisite.  Perfect.  Unbelievable.  And Susan C’s quilting absolutely shows off the appliqué pieces perfectly.  Exquisitely.  Unbelievably.  OK, I’ve run out of descriptive words.  But you have to see more.

I hope you can see the quilting stitches in the pictures.  Perfection.

I don’t know what else to say.  So maybe I’ll just let the rest of the pictures speak for themselves.

The quilting echos the shapes of the appliqué.  The entire quilt could not be more perfect.

I love the way there are straight lines mixed in with all the curvy quilting lines.  And can you believe the tiny circles on those little white flowers?  Perfection.

This picture really caught the light just right to see all the stitching.  It’s an absolute one-of-a-kind quilt.

I’ll have more pictures of it soon.  Hanging at the quilt show.  If you live in the Fort Worth area, you can get details about the quilt show here:  Trinity Valley Quilters’ Guild website.  We’d love to have you come.  And you can see this beautiful quilt up close and personal.  In person.  I predict it will have lots of ribbons hanging on it.

And by the way, Pioneer Woman was on The Today Show the day the gals came over for PB & J Day.

It’s the second time that something has been happening at my house on a day that she was on a major morning show.  She plans it that way just for me.  I’m just sure of it.  She’s my hero.  One of these days she’s gonna need to learn how to quilt.  Maybe someone will tell her about my little blog.

Happy quilting!
Barb

Posted in food, quilts | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments