Something REALLY New!!!

Hey boys and girls,

It is snowing outside to beat the band. Beautiful, big, fluffy snow.

Not unlike one day this past December when we had a Baby Shower at the store for my good friend Erica.

Erica and I met when she was in one of my Turning Twenty classes. She's one of those gals who just came into the store one day and then never went away. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I would have NO friends if it weren't for all the great people I meet at the store. I am very lucky that way.

Anyhow, at Sewing Lounge about six or seven months ago, Erica announced that she was expecting and we were all delighted and started planning her shower right away. Erica isn't one of those gals who would have wanted a "SURPRISE!!!" shower, so we gave her the heads up about what we were doing. I'm so glad we did, because she was able to invite some of her "New-to-Alewives" friends and they were able to come celebrate Erica's expected arrival on that snowy day in December.

I've never hosted a Baby Shower at the store before, but since Erica is a sewin' gal, and we met at the store and we were having the Shower in the classroom at the store, it seemed only natural to do something "stitchy." Erica didn't know if she was having a boy or a girl, either, so we needed to do something "neutral."

We ended up hand-appliqueing little shapes onto lots of One-sies. You can never have too many One-sies, right? It was really fun: we sat around stitching and eating and gabbing and laughing and gifting and asking Erica all kinds of questions that were probably waaay too personal. But, she's a good sport that way. It was a really fun afternoon and I will always have a warm and fuzzy memory about Erica's baby shower.

A few short weeks later, little Cora was born to a proud Mom and Dad.

All three are doing great (especially Erica who is looking MIRACULOUSLY like her pre-pregancy self... in other words, very thin!!!). Once I knew Cora was a girl I made a trip to the hospital to visit the happy family with some Pink schwag in tow.

She will be very fun to sew for.

In the meantime, she has a healthy supply of Turqouise One-sies.

See you again soon: stay warm and dry, too!

XOXO

Rhea

Something New

Anybody else feeling the Midwinter Blahs lately?

Am definitely a good candidate more Vitamin D...

or a vacation to some place hot and flip-floppy...

or some new clothes that are comfy and stylish...

or some new fabric, which I just happen to have.

The best days at the store are when new fabrics come in. It's like Christmas.

Usually we order designs months and months before the fabrics are even printed (somewhere off in "Fabric Fabric Land", I guess) and then when the fabrics actually do arrive at the store we have totally forgotten what they looked like and even if we do remember, they always look so much better in person.

So, imagine my delight when I received a box full of Anna Maria Horner's new line called "Good Folks." The colors are fabulous: just the antidote to the Midwinter Blahs.

And furthermore, one of the fabrics comes as a vinyl-coated. It's really nice, fluid, drapey vinyl, too. Kind of like the "rayon" of the vinyl coated fabric world. So, you can probably guess what I'm going to make out of that particular fabric. I'm also waiting for Liesl from Oliver+S to come out with a Rain Coat pattern, because this vinyl is so nice it would make a totally kick-butt rain coat. Or hat. Or similar.

A lot of new fabric has been arriving lately, and if I can't go on vacation to sunnier climes and I can't control the weather and I can't afford a fabulous ensemble, then I guess the new fabrics will have to do, and that ain't so shabby.

There are some other new additions to the shop as well (named Jessie and Jessica), but more on that topic later. Right now I've got to go make some stuff out of Good Folks!

See you soon!

XOXO

Rhea

Love Letter

Seeing as its almost Valentine's Day I thought I should write a letter publicly declaring my undying devotion to...

Kaffe Fassett.

"Eh???" I hear you say.

You were expecting someone else's name?

Something that begins with "O" and ends with "liver"?

Weeeeellllllll......

Allow me to explain.

Let me count the ways that I love Kaffe Fassett

(Sorry, Ollie...)

1) I love that when I met Kaffe at a workshop he taught a couple years ago he was exactly what I expected: 1 part diva, 1 part artiste, 1 part brutally honest, all parts fabulous. I loved that Kaffe would come around and look at my quilt in progress and it would make me so nervous, like I was in school again, and he would suggest something to me. But he wouldn't just suggest. Even his comments were works of art. I remember one comment almost verbatim: He said to me, of a pink fabric I had put on my design wall,

"Alright, love. Now that you've gotten that horrible lipstick color out of your system let's take it down and put up something even better. Something like a dirty, dishwater lilac perhaps."

You can't see it via the computer but I am shaking with laughter as I type this. Honest.

But the best part was (and I'm not making this up), ten minutes later, Kaffe's partner, Brandon came by and said "That's nice but I liked the pink color better..."

Now, that's entertainment.

2) Having said that, I love that Kaffe was nice to me. He had a couple of suggestions, but on the whole, he really liked my colors. He said I had "the most fabulous fabrics in the world at my finger-tips." (He was talking about his own collection, by the way).

Was it cheating to go to a workshop hosted by Kaffe and use Kaffe Fassett fabrics? Was it just too easy? Nah. In my defense, I used a lot of other fabrics. And all the other kids were doing it, too. But for the record, if he had been mean to me and not liked my colors I probably would have had to change professions and wouldn't be able to show my face in this town again.
Luckily it all turned out okay.

3) I love that he uses Color. That's right, Color with a capital "C" because so many palettes these days are playing it safe and Kaffe would certainly never be accused of that. They call it "Glorious" for a reason.

4) I love that every time he comes out with a new collection, the store makes all kinds of money. Interesting side note: If I ever get to meet Amy Butler, I'm going to tell her the exact same thing.

5) Last but not least, and on a completely serious note, I love that "Kaffe" is his own genre. Know what I mean? When you walk into a quilt shop, they usually have everything sectioned off: Batiks over here, Reproduction prints over here, Asian prints over here, and if the shop carries Kaffe Fassett fabrics, they always say "And the Kaffe's are over here..."

He has his own flippin' section!

How cool is that?

There really is no one else who has done that. Nobody knocks off Kaffe, because nobody comes close. He does his own thang and he does it well.

Shouldn't we all be so lucky, no matter what we are doing with our lives?

So, that's why I love Kaffe Fassett so much.

And by the way, dearies, it rhymes with "Safe Asset."

As in, "You have a Safe Asset with Kaffe Fassett."

And that is straight from the man himself.

Love comes in all shapes and ways, you know...

Happy Valentine's Day to you, no matter who you Love!

XOXO

Rhea

Valentine's is coming!!!

If you don't get flowers for Valentine's Day...





















And you don't get chocolates...



















And you don't get Gifties...















And you don't get Heart-Shaped Pizza,















Then maybe you will get This...















Or This...















Or This...















Isn't that ROMANTIC???

Happy V-Day from all of us at

ALEWIVES!!!

XOXO

Rhea

Just a little piece of Beautiful-ness

Hey!

Do you want to see something absolutely beautiful?

Click on this link to the Bobbin's Nest Studio's blog and just sit back and enjoy.

It has nothing to do with sewing, or anything in particular.

Just a little piece of beautiful-ness.

Go on... click it.

You won't be sorry, I promise.

And you can thank me later.

Thanks, Erin, for posting such a neat item...

It made me smile!

XOXO

Rhea