Mystery Quilt Weekend Photos

We had such a good time this weekend at the Mystery Quilt class...

What is the Mystery Quilt class?

I designed a pattern, and the gals in my class had NO IDEA what they were making: they were just given a list of materials to purchase (i.e., 30 "light/background" fat quarters, 15 "dark" fat quarters, 15 "medium" fat quarters).

It turned out to be a really good lesson in color-intuition, because sometimes when you see a pattern, you can't get past the colors/fabrics used on the cover.

The pattern I designed turned out to be little houses... I think they are so cute!

I think these all came out great: what do you think?



































































































































































































































































































































Are they not the cutest things ever?

Which ones are your favorites?

I can't decide: I like them all and they all look so different and take on different personalities depending on the fabric choices.

I love how some of them look so traditional and old-fashionedy while some of them look like Caribbean beach huts, or gnome-houses, or British town-houses, or Greek Island adobe homes, or little Christmas elf houses, and all depending on the fabric and setting choices.

And those little chimneys kill me.

Great job and a huge thank you to the wonderful group of ladies who spent this past weekend with me. What a treat to see your colorful little creations...

Thanks for going on this quilting journey with me!

I will see you all again soon,

XO,

Rhea

Oy!

This picture has nothing to do with anything, except that this is a funny apron Ollie and I got at the wedding. Sometimes the phrase seems to hit the spot. Except in my case it was more like 7 years in college.


Aaannnyways...


At the risk of being shushed by everyone out there who is sick of the snow and ready for it to be spring, I was so glad to have a snow day today.

It was a much needed reprieve.

I took so long deciding what I wanted to make for the Craft Swap that when I finally committed I found myself in the scary position of perhaps having to present someone with an in-progress gift.

This would be a first for the Craft Swap, and although I have always wanted to be a trail-blazer, I don't want to be that kind of a trail-blazer.

So, the snow day was well-timed for me.

And besides the extra time with the Craft Swap, I had a nice, quiet day at the shop today.

But not too quiet.

I feel good and caught up now, and I am home safe and sound with a glass of Prosecco and a big bag of Little Lads and a dark chocolate Toblerone.

Thank you, snow day.

I will see you all again soon!

XO,

Rhea

Closing at Noon

Hello,

Due to the storm Alewives will be closing at noontime today: get your behinds in here and stock up so you can spend the weekend in sewing bliss.

The Craft Swap has been rescheduled to next Friday, March 4th and there will be no Sewing Lounge tonight.

Stay safe and hunker down with your loved ones!

XO,

Rhea

Craft Swap Rescheduled...

Hello One and All,

According to the "experts," we are in for some wild and wooly weather tomorrow. If you haven't had your eye on the weather reports, they say we are in for snow/rain in the morning, changing to rain in the afternoon, changing back to snow/rain in the evening, with strong wind gusts, slippery roads and power outages expected.

I don't know about you, but these do not sound like ideal traveling conditions to me. In fact, they sound quite the opposite!

I wish I had a crystal ball and could tell if the weather will manifest the way they are expecting it to, but I would rather be safe than sorry, and let people make their plans sooner rather than later. And I know some of you (myself and Jessica included!) could benefit from an extra week to work on your Craft Swap projects, so I am officially rescheduling the Craft Swap to Friday, March 4th (one week from tomorrow).

I would greatly appreciate it if you would please pass this info along to anyone you know who has signed up for the Craft Swap.

Other than the change of date, the details will remain the same: the Swap will start at 6:00 sharp and be held here at Alewives Fabrics. Please feel free to come a bit early and please feel free to bring some food and/or beverage with you.

And I have just one more favor to ask...

We have 32 lovely ladies signed up for the Craft Swap (a record number of attendees for us!) and we don't have quite enough chairs for everyone. If you have an extra folding chair or two that you would be willing to bring along, please do so!

Thanks very much and I hope to see you all next Friday, March 4th.

(Let's cross our fingers for better weather on our new date and while we're at it, let's cross our fingers that tomorrow's weather turns out to be not-so-bad, after all!)

XO,

Rhea

Winslow Market Tote Chronicles: Episode 5

So, I was kind of hoping to get better pictures of this particular bag: pictures with my now 13 year old (as of Friday February 13th) sister modeling.

But manashevitz, that gal is busy, busy, busy. Almost as busy as me!

I had visions of a much cuter post, but sometimes you have got to let these things go.

Especially when you need to clear your sister's schedule with her manager (also known as my business associate and oh yeah, our MOM!).

We are a bit like Romeo and Juliet. Two ships passing in the night.

I was able to snag her bag, but not the girl herself for a photo shoot.

The girl herself is busy with math meets (not sure where the love of/aptitude for math comes from: not from me, I assure you!) and she is playing one of the lead roles in her school's production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (That bit she gets from me, for sure!).

Anyhow, here is the Winslow Market Tote I made her for Christmas.
























I love how it turned out: just right for toting things to and from math meets and play rehearsals.

The fabric is from Heather Ross' "Mendocino" line that has now been discontinued, plus one of the Echino solids for the bottom of the bag and the lining.

And as always, the fabulous Winslow Market Tote pattern, designed by the equally fabulous Kathy Mack is available for free here.

I love ya, Noo Noo: you thirteen year old, you! Don't get any older okay?

XO,

Rhea

Happy Valentine's Day

To all of my friends out there in blogland: Happy Valentine's Day!
























It has been one of those crazy few days for me: lots of running around like a chicken with my head cut off, but I couldn't let Valentine's Day go by without wishing my favorite blog readers a happy day.

Ollie and I are getting ready to go out tonight: hope you have something fun planned with your sweetie. And if you are single-ish today: I know what that's like to! Celebrate your love for yourself (a la Carrie Bradshaw!).

X's and O's,

Rhea

Random (healthy) Friday

Hi Everybody,

For the first time in a long time, someone else is covering Sewing Lounge (Thank You, Jessica!) and that has been a nice break for me: VERY good for my mental health.

And speaking of mental health...

I have been going to Baptiste-inspired yoga at Melanie's quite a bit lately. I love it lots. The studio space is amazing: not too big, not too small with no detail overlooked (I am nothing if not a details kind of gal). Plus Melanie plays really good music. She had me at the sheepskin rug on the floor and the Carla Bruni on the speakers.

But in all seriousness, the yoga feels so good: especially at this time of year when it is bitter cold and you just want to go someplace hot, hot, hot and sweat, sweat, sweat. Trust me, we do plenty of that.

The other activity I am loving these days is Zumba with my friend Francesca. I go to Zumba on the days I am not going to yoga and I love how opposite from one another they are. Zumba is held at the Come Fit Zone: a local-yokel, fun and funky studio that is housed in a converted gas station, if you can imagine such a thing.

At Zumba we listen to latin music and shake our booties and wiggle our hips (and usually go out for a drink afterwards, but that is beside the point) and for sixty minutes we are not a bunch of white ladies from Midcoast Maine, but instead we are sexy, mysterious, dancing Latinas.

At Zumba, I am constantly playing the Meringue lesson scene from "Dirty Dancing" in my head. You know: the one where Cynthia Rhodes says to the crowd of Catskills tourists: "Aw, come on, ladies! God wouldn't have given you maracas if he didn't want you to shake 'em!" I keep waiting for Francesca to bust out with that line, but so far nada.

Again, I think a lot of my love for the Zumba has to do with wanting to be some place hot and steamy during these winter months, and Zumba makes you feel like you're in Argentina or on the Mexican Riviera or sumpin'.

Between these two places (Yoga at Melanie's and Zumba with Francesca), I feel like I have FINALLY found an exercise routine that not only works for me, but that I actually look forward to. This is pretty much an alien feeling to me, but I am going to ride this wave, for sure.

I am very lucky that the scheduling works for me, too. So, thank you, Scheduling Gods, for smiling on me this one time.

Along these "healthy" lines, I have found a really yummy, healthy snack that I love. Little Lad's Herbal Corn. Just don't eat it in public (or while hovering over your keyboard) because the magic pixie dust they put in this stuff gets all over the place.

Aaannnddd... (drumroll, please...) I have been drinking lots more water lately. If you are a long-time reader of this blog you will know about my love/hate relationship with water. I know I'm supposed to drink lots of it, but I don't usually like it. Turns out all along the secret for me was to drink Sparkling Raspberry Lime water. Inexpensive and refreshing: especially when it's gone a little flat. So, that's kind of a breakthrough for me.

I didn't really set out to make all these changes in my life, they just kind of happened. I guess I am lucky that way, too. Not far behind the search for the perfect man were the searches for the perfect exercise routine, perfect healthy snack and perfect non-alcoholic beverage.

(So far, so good, 2011!)

And finally, to bring this whole post full circle and talk about something Alewives-y, we got our shipment of Cloud Nine's new "Nature Walk" collection today.























I heart Cloud Nine.

Especially this new collection.

I love the "Nature Walk" colors and I love that this collection is a little more mature and not so nursery-y.

I love that these fabrics are organic and good for the environment.

I love the price.

These fabrics are substantially less expensive than previous collections, especially when you consider that Cloud Nine is a small, organic company and that the cost of cotton has gone up so much this year, making these fabrics a total deal.

Kudos to you, Cloud Nine for actually lowering your prices when everyone else's prices are going up!

We bought the whole collection of 8 fabrics: you can find them listed individually, among other great organic fabrics on our "Organic Fabrics" page. And Jessica made fat quarter bundles today (Thank You Again, Jessica!).

So, I know this post is a little random, but hopefully not super-boring and full of all good, healthy things for a Friday night.

(How did that happen? Whose blog is this?)

Have a great weekend: don't forget Virtual Turning Twenty sign-ups are still open, and spaces are going fast!

XO,

Rhea