Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Autumn Firldtrip

Twiice a year Clothworks in Seattle open their doors for a tour. That was today and it was great.  They rep  a lot of well known designers as well as a couple of lines of their own.  If you buy any Laurel Burch fabrics or That Patchwork Place, for example, they come through Clothworks.  This location in a very non-descript building is Wholesale only.  But they showed us their entire process from receipt of printed good, to measuring it out onto bolts and shipping to their customers.

We then had a very informative presentation on the growing, finishing and weaving of cotton in the US. Clothworks produces their own line of solid fabrics 100% American.  It is called, not surprisingly "American Made Brand" (AMB). For the first time they will be at Houston with this line next month.  We were all given a packet of 2 1/2" squares of that line.  



They are adding another 13 colors to the 57(?) they already have. One of the ladies there said it was very well priced.  


They also gave us 6 fat quarters of their fresh batiks line. This is not American but does have a very nice hand. 

Altogether a very interesting and fun day. It was hard not to drool over shelves and shelves of lovely fabrics in a zillion different colors.  

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Autumn has indeed arrived around here

It may not be raining lots, but the grey and clouds and much, much cooler weather tell that autumn is HERE!

Got a back for this one.  I love that it is called "Hello Betty".  Doesn't that just sound like something from 1930.


And as I needed to visit a quilt store that I was passing (need being the important word there) I found some "neutrals" that all happened to be on sale.  And for one of them, as I bought the end of the bolt, I got it for 50% off.  Now how can a girl pass that up?



While on that little adventure I found some fat quarters that just called my name.  So I cut them up and made a couple of split nine-patch table runners.  So I got everything washed and ironed this evening.  Tomorrow evening is "Days for Girls" sewing group, with women mostly from my church.
Busy days.


Here are my "playing with FQ's"

Today was a mostly grey and rainy, but extra fun day.  We met our friends Maud and Alayne at the Washington State Fair.  Lots of things to see and try and wonder about.  The quilts are always one of the highlights.

The lady on the left was MOST anxious that I wasnt making photos of the paintings. A HUGE NO NO!!
But rather I pointed out that I wanted to show how the quilts are hung - very high. So here are some that impressed me:
This one was so intricate.  Alayne and I decided that it had to have been all reverse applique with magnificent quilting in the light squares. And it didnt win anything 
Oh well - different strokes, I guess.  Hope you're having a great start to fall.