Monday, March 29, 2010

I am checking in with you!

I am still alive...

Just the usual excuses: too busy, blah, blah, blah.

Forgive me?

I did buy a shawl to wear at the wedding the other night.

I saw it on the Etsy homepage and it just HAD to be mine.

I will show you a picture when it arrives.

Ollie said it was pretty.

(Yes, I showed him the picture)

He and I went grocery shopping tonight.

We have a good routine going where we buy tea and coffee at Dunkin' Donuts and then take them with us and sip on them while we grocery shop.

I know I love him because he spent 20 minutes looking at different coffees while I spent 20 minutes looking at different hot cocoas.

Also because I came around the corner with a bag full of peppermint patties AND a bag of dark chocolate squares and when he spied them I said "Don't give me any crap about buying these: they're good for your heart."

And he just nodded.

And he let me buy two magazines: Martha Stewart Weddings (the color issue!) and In Style magazine (also the color issue: with Gwen on the cover!)

So I have a good coupla days off to look forward to.

Rainy days, plenty of sewing waiting for me, magazines to read and chocolate to eat.

Also it's supposed to be sunny and in the 70's this weekend.

I will take it!

XO,

Rhea

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Shop Hop begins April 1st!

Hello all,


















I wanted to remind all of my local readers that the annual Maine State Shop Hop begins in just a little over a week, on Thursday, April 1st.

A lot of people have asked me what the Shop Hop is, exactly.

Well, I went Hopping for the first time last year and it is really a lot of fun.

Let me tell you all about it:

The idea behind the Shop Hop is during the month of April you visit as many different independently owned quilt shops in the state as you can.

Maine is a pretty big state, so that is why you get a whole month.

At the first shop you visit, you will get a "passport" and the passport will be stamped at each shop you hop to.

Aaand you will get all kinds of freebies at each shop you visit: most places give out a little "goody bag" (kind of like the Oscars!!!), lots of shops give out chocolate, some places give out 20% off coupons (hint, hint) and you will be entered for doorprizes at the individual shops.

In addition to all of that goodness, doorprizes that are specific to the Maine State Shop Hop (like brand new sewing machines!) will be awarded to a couple of lucky shop hoppers and at each shop you will get free fabric!

Whazzat?

Yes! You will get a free charm square of fabric at each shop you visit.

Last year, Jessica and I went on the Shop Hop together.

You can read about our adventures here.

It was a lot of fun.

We discovered new shops, found all kinds of great fabrics that we don't normally see, and half the fun was driving around together and stopping at places that had signs like "Famous for our giant whoopie pies!"

(You've GOT to stop at those places!)

Isn't that half the fun of quilting and sewing anyways?

The camaraderie (AND the food!)

I definitely plan to go again this year.

If you want to go, I would recommend setting aside a day with a few good friends and planning out the destinations you want to visit in one day: all of the shops in the midcoast area, for example!

All of the participating shops are open on Sundays (except for Easter sunday) and they will also be displaying a "challenge quilt" this year.

Each shop was given the same set of guidelines to follow and had to make a quilt following those rules.

Come see what we did!

So hop to your local quilt shop and get going on April 1st.

XO,

Rhea

PS For more info on the Shop Hop, please visit the official website: www.mainestateshophop.com or visit their blog: www.maineshophop.blogspot.com.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Spring Fever

Had a great stretch of weather here... but I guess it will be getting cold again in the next week.

They say the last week of winter felt like spring and the first week of spring is going to feel like winter.

But whatever happens, we had our doors and windows wide open this weekend and it was a very pleasant 68 degrees when I went through town and I got to wear short sleeves and flip-flops and NOBODY can take that away from me!

It made me want to DO things.

So...

We have new classes up on the website (no new online classes, yet, though... these are "IRL" classes).

We have new stuff up on the website: fun stuff!

And, if you are not already a devotee of watching CBS Sunday Morning, you should become one right away: they are doing a whole story about m+m's this morning... and Ben Stiller.

(I love both of those things!)

Anxious to see how the health care bill turns out, too.

Should be an interesting day, one way or another.

Happy Sunday!

XO,

Rhea

Thursday, March 18, 2010

fat-quarterpalooza

Hello all!

Just wanted to let you know that as a way of celebrating National Quilt Day, which is this coming Saturday, March 20th...

all fat quarters in our shop will be 20% off!!!























That means fat quarter sets, octets, Turning Twenty kits, Marimekko fat quarters, Japanese fat quarters, double gauze fat quarters, voile fat quarters, all of the above and more are included in the sale.

If you visit the shop IRL (In Real Life), you will have to choose from our PRE-CUT selection of fat quarters.

If you visit our webstore, this is one of the times that you will have a leg-up on the IRL people because you can order fat quarters of whatever you like, BUT there is one very important piece of information...

webstore customers will have to use the code nationalquiltingday at checkout.

(IRL people just have to be in the right place at the right time).

Sorry for the last minute notice, but I have been very busy shopping at Target lately!

Remember: it is JUST for this Saturday, March 20th for National Quilting Day and the 20% off is JUST for fat quarters!

Thanks for quilting with us!

XO,

Rhea

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Important news... AKA: the day I shared too much information!

Went to Target today for the big Liberty of London mash-up.

To my surprise, I did not get the bike (all sold out!).

But I did buy not one, but two Liberty of London bras!

(These are not me in the photos, by the way... OB-viously...)































I have to admit that I tried them out on a whim, thinking they would be too flimsy for a gal like me.

But...

They are surprisingly comfy and supportive!

I am very happy with my decision, as the price was great and they are so cute they will make me smile every time I remember that I am wearing one of them.

So...

If I seem a little "perky" these days, you'll know why.

(Too much information?)

XO,

Rhea

Saturday, March 13, 2010

New in the Shop: Baby Quilt Kit

Hi everyone...

Jessica made this new kit for the shop and I think it is soooo cute that I wanted to share with you.
























We found this Stacked Coins baby quilt tutorial in Moda's Bakeshop.

The Bakeshop is a great resource: it's a blog/website with all kinds of free patterns that use jelly rolls, layer cakes, charm squares, etc.

The tutorial is by Amanda of Crazy Mom Quilts and it is probably the BEST use of charm squares that I have seen.

Ours was quilted for us by Barbara Commeau at Moonsong Creations and I think she did a GREAT job!
























For those of you who may not know, a "charm pack" is a pack of 5" squares all from the same collection of fabric.

There are usually about 40 or so squares in a charm pack, but it sometimes varies by collection.

They are so cute and addictive and I love that some of the cutting is done for you already, and that you don't have to worry about colors matching because you know they are all from the same collection.

Charm packs are also a great way to get a little bit of a lot of fabrics: perfect for a baby quilt!

We used the "Whimsy" collection by Fig Tree Quilts for Moda, and Jessica (rather brilliantly, I thought) paired it with a shot cotton by Kaffe Fassett.

That's the freshest combo I have seen in a long time and I'm so jealous I didn't think of it myself!

The quilt measures 41" by 50" and has the cutest strip-pieced stripe running through the
backing.
























The backing, it should be mentioned, is this adorable ric-rac print.
























I have a feeling that this design will not be around for long and Moda doesn't reprint so you will have to be quick if you want some for yourself!

I love that this quilt would be good for a boy or a girl and that it is not green and yellow.

Nothing against green and yellow: they are just the standard fall-backs if someone doesn't know what they are having, and I think this color combo is so FRESH!

Anyhow, the kits are in the shop and the pattern is available (for FREE) here.

Have a great Spring day and don't forget to set your clocks ahead all you Americans!

(Hooray for daylight at 7:00... I am ALL OVER THAT!!!)

XO,

Rhea

Friday, March 12, 2010

Safe to Show

Hello and happy Friday night!

Now that Kay has received these, I thought I would show you what I sent her for the last round of Heather's Vintage Swap.

This time, everything had a self-imposed color-theme: GREEN!
























(Plus I made a little "fortress of candy" around everything).


She had requested some PJ pants for her little girl, Nila (AKA the "Little Monster") in green and she got not one pair, but TWO, because sometimes you hear these tales about Pajama Pants getting lonely when they are sent abroad, and I just couldn't have that happen on my watch.




















I used the Pajamas for Everyone pattern in the book Weekend Sewing, and I am happy to report there are NO mistakes in the instructions and they were a pleasure to make.

I have said this before about making PJ pants but I will say it again: they have a great "effort to final product ratio"... they are SOOO easy to make and look like a million bucks.

The worst part about PJ pants is just tracing the pattern and cutting the fabric!

Now that I've got Nila's PJ pants done, Kay: you're next!!!

Have a great weekend, everybody!

XO,

Rhea

Friday, March 5, 2010

Kewl new finds

Best best things I have found via the interweb in the past 24 hours...

Selfish Seamstress Blog (**love**)

Liberty of London for Target (I may have said a very bad word for a very good reason when I saw the BICYCLE in a Liberty of London print. Tax return money, I will miss you, but that bike WILL be mine, oh yes, it will be mine. )






















This quilt on Diaries of a Craft Junky (Wha??? How'd she DO that?)

This photo on SouleMama (Love, love, LOVE the colors!)

Kaffe Fassett article in Living Crafts magazine (Can't wait to read it... I love that man...)

And there's still a couple of days left to enter my giveaway for the last spot in the whole wide world for my Virtual Turning Twenty class (Closing on Sunday night! Your odds are pretty good!)

XO,

Rhea

Thursday, March 4, 2010

New in the shop

Lots of new stuff lately!

New laminates from Free Spirit:





















































These are all from the Nicey Jane collection by Heather Bailey.



New Joel Dewberry:




















































I love how these look like vintage sheets!!!



And hold on to your hats, I do believe that we have saved the best for last...

Hedgehogs!!!

(I'm so in love.)


























































(I know, I know!)



See you again soon!

XO,

Rhea

Monday, March 1, 2010

Catching Up on Everything!!!

Starting to get caught up with everything...


















This is a picture of our class from the Mystery Quilt Weekend.

You can see the little puppy rear end there is Cooper, our neighbor's dog.

I was glad he came along because he really made the ladies smile!

I was going to post pictures of what the finished quilts looked like, but then it occurred to me that anyone who takes this class in the future would also know what the quilts looked like and that would defeat the whole purpose of a Mystery Quilt!

So, I don't want to ruin any other shopkeeper's future Mystery Quilt fun.

While I would like to think that no one out there would try and cruise the internet for pictures of what their Mystery Quilt is going to look like when it is all finished, I had a dose of reality when I found out that not one, but two (TWO!!!) of my students did JUST THAT.

But, they were unsuccessful.

I won't name any names as to who the students were that tried to cheat, but there initials are JULIE and GINNIE!!!

(Big trouble, you two!)



Anyways...


Here are some pics of the big storm that happened the weekend after the Mystery Quilt Class...
























(A very funny sign, if I do say so myself...)

























And something not so funny: this is only about one fifth of the tree that fell on our neighbor's house!


Here's a pic of their roof in all its glory:
























(Oooof.... that roof!)


And here are some pics from the Craft Swap which was held but held at an alternative location.

































































































































Yes, folks: all handmade, all local.

Don't you wish you were at the Craft Swap?

We will do another one in a couple of months when it is warmer weather.

Here's what I made for the Craft Swap that I hinted at before:























My very own fabrics printed up on Spoonflower (addictive!).

(And no, I am not pregnant: safety pins and orange and green do not a pregnant lady make!)




2 new Anna Maria Horner patterns arrived at the shop today and I just had to snag a copy of each for myself (you know, in the name of research!)


















The Roundabout Dress and Slip, which I have to write more about and share a picture of the back of the pattern, because the silhouette of this garment from the cover does absolutely nothing for me, but I suspect that the real-life garment is AMAZING.



















And the Sidewalk Satchel which I am also enamored with.

These are not up in the shop yet, but they will be soon, I promise.



So, that's pretty much it and I think you are all caught up.

Even if I am not.

Speaking of not being caught up...

Between you and me, I told Mom today I was terrified I was going to forget to do something for the shop and that something bad would happen.

Thoughtful silence on her part.

And then she said "What are you afraid is going to happen?"

Thoughtful silence on my part.

I flashed back to when I was in Design School and we were doing our embossing assignment and after days of preliminary work I was at the part where I actually had to dive in and do the embossing.

I stared at the paper and at my embossing tool.

Then I tentatively raised my hand and told my teacher that I was too scared to start.

He looked at me (there was probably a bit of thoughtful silence in there somewhere...) and then he said "Rhea, what's the worst thing that could possibly happen?"

To which I replied "I don't know... I could die in a freak embossing accident?"

At which point he promptly stopped paying attention to me.

And that is kind of the conclusion I came to today as well, when forced with my Mom's similar question.

I guess nothing could go so wrong at the Shop that I could not recover from it nicely with a hot bath and a glass of wine and perhaps a Creme Brulee.

Or two.

So I am officially giving myself permission to chill out.

In other news, Ollie and I are loving the show American Pickers.

If I can't go Flea-Marketing yet, then watching this show is the next best thing.

Also I am loving the song about "cousins" by Vampire Weekend.

And now you are all caught up!

XO,

Rhea