Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Some of Ollie's Mediterranean Photos

Ha!  Stole some photos from the husband...

Italy from the sea...

Pompeii

More Pompeii...

Pompeii again...

A concrete casting made from the hollow left behind by one of the bodies found in Pompeii.


A snowflake!  On the walls at Pompeii!

Grasse in France... I used to live here!

Grasse again: the view from the bus station.

Outside the cathedral in Grasse.  Love that flag.

A picture of our ship, taken from the shore in Cannes.

Somewhere off the coast of the Mediterranean.






























































































































































It was a great trip, but you know what they say: there's no place like home.

See you again soon!

XO,

Rhea

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Fail!

Oh, life.

I've been putting off and putting off writing a new blog post (even though I said I would write a new one lickety split) because I haven't been able to find the USB cable to my new camera and I didn't want to post without pictures. 

Well, I just have to accept the fact that I have lost said USB cable and need to order a new one.

So, all of my Europe pictures (and there are some good ones in there, let me tell you) are stuck in limbo on my camera.

I did borrow this one photo from Ollie of some macarons and a strawberry tart we bought... you know, the important stuff...


 














If I can't share all of my Europe photos with you then the least I can do is tell you about some of the  goings-on at the shop, because, dear reader, there is a LOT going on at the shop these days.

We received a shipment from Moda with Bonnie and Camille's new line "Vintage Modern."

It's quintessential Bonnie and Camille: lovely pops of turquoise and red and a few other colors thrown in.  Everyone loves it.
























And we got three bolts in from Tula Pink's new line of Halloween-themed fabrics called "Nightshade." 























I don't do a lot of decorating or crafting for Halloween but these fabrics are just so frickin' frackin' cool they are inspiring me to do so.



There are a whole ton of new shot cottons...






















Confession: I have never been the biggest fan of "traditional" solids, or at least have yet to use them a lot in my sewing, but I love, love, love me a good shot cotton.  There's so much more going on there then meets the eye!

I think in my next life I will get a job naming shot cottons and then sewing just with them, all day long.



And moving away from the shot cottons, about twenty new bolts of Hoffman batiks came in as well.























 I think that's it for fabric news.




Have I overloaded you with information yet?  Hang on, there's more!

In other news (stock photography alert!) the Alewives are here! 






















This is one of my most favorite times of year and it makes me so proud to live in the Mills.

There are TONS of fish this year: wall to wall.  It's crazy.

If you are even remotely in the area you should definitely make a trip to see them.

And if the Alewives are here it must be time for the Fish Ladder Festival, and that will happen this weekend from Saturday right on through until Monday.

As always, Alewives Fabrics will be painting faces, selling sodas and ice creams, and last but not least we will be showing the DVD documentary "Closing the Circle," which is all about the history of the Fish Ladder in Damariscotta Mills.

All money raised goes towards helping restore the Fish Ladder, and that is a herculean task indeed.

Finally, there is a Craft Swap this Friday night and next weekend is the Spring Into Summer Shop Hop.

Did I miss anything? 

I did want to mention one last thing and toot our own horn a little bit:

I was so pleased when we heard that Alewives Fabrics's quilt won the shop hop challenge this year. 

Each shop was given the same four batik fabrics, and you could add up to four more fabrics- your choice- and turn them into a quilt and then shop-hoppers voted for their favorite, which turned out to be us!

You can see all the challenge quilts right here.

We've never won before and I have to admit we were really proud to win this year of all years because I think ALL of the quilts were so amazing.

Thanks, hoppers!

XO,

Rhea

Monday, May 14, 2012

Wow...

I have been gone for a long time, and that's because... well... I have been gone for a long time.

Ollie and I went on a trip with my parents to the Mediterranean. 

We visited Naples, Rome, Florence, Cannes, Marseille and Barcelona, but best of all, we visited a little town in France called Grasse, which just happens to be the world capital of perfumes and also the place where I spent an entire year as a 16 year old foreign exchange student. 

It meant a lot to go back and visit that town after 17 whole years, and I have lots to share with you all, but right now I am just doing my best to catch up on some sleep, get unpacked and get back to normal.

See you again soon when I am back in the swing of things!

XO,

Rhea