A New Quilt Shop

This past Saturday I visited my sister. While the husbands enjoyed watching a game on TV or sitting on the patio with a cold one or two, we went to a new quilt shop she had seen on her way home from work.

2nd Street Quilt Shop

What a great name. It is on 2nd Street in Rochester, MI. If you click the shop name above, it will take you to the home page. The shop opened just 5 weeks ago. They set up in a house and have used each of the main floor rooms to showcase themes of fabrics. I had a very nice time talking to Heather, one of the owners. They are very enthusiastic and delighted to talk quilting!

I got permission to take some photos to show you what they have. They have fabrics I like--brights, geometrics and solids to name a few. The displays are done nicely. It is bright and open. It is fun to explore the various areas.

This was the door we entered. 

And the first item that caught our eyes was this lovely sample of one of 

Laura Heine's patterns, Perfect Form Dress Form Collage!

Kaffe Fassett fabrics were to the right. 

To the left we looked and saw the batiks and this lovely giraffe collage pattern sample. 

We headed through the door to the back porch area and found a wrap around porch. This had baby items in it. There was minky on a shelving section. I bought a bit of light pink to make some Funky Friends Factory bears from the free pattern on the website. (You'll find the pink bear on the Home page.) On the floor in the photo there is a sample of a tuffett that my sister and I decided to work on when we get together this summer.

And who wouldn't want to make their own umbrella with any choice of fabric(s)?

We made our way back into the main quilt shop, but only after passing by these fun kids prints.

The largest room held so many modern prints. I found light grays with small prints to use as 

neutrals in my projects. There were some wonderful solids and floral prints. 

A view from another angle.

 The front porch was a seasonal embroidery area with Christmas and Halloween samples.

We left the quilt shop and walked next door to the Cupcake Station 

where we bought a carrot cupcake to split. It was delicious and I forgot to take a photo!

If you are in the area, do make a stop. Tell them you read about them on my blog. 

Giveaway Winner Selected

 Just a few moments ago I pressed the Rafflecopter button to select 

a random winner for last week's giveaway. 

I am happy to announce that it is Quilting Tangent! 

I emailed Quilting Tangent for a mailing address 

and will be sending out the leftover Island Batik fabrics (about a yard or so)

from the Funky Friends Factory patterns I made very soon!

I took a tally of the patterns that people said they liked. 

The pattern listed the most was the Hedgehog.

There was a tie for second place between Raff the Giraffe and the Bear. 

Thank you to all who visited my blog and Facebook page and entered the giveaway. 

I wish you happy sewing!

Funky Friends Photos Found and Giveaway

My last blog post was about the Funky Friends Factory stuffed animals made by Island Batik Ambassadors for the Island Batik display at Quilt Market this past week. I wasn't able to find any photos of my stuffies and the other IB Ambassadors' stuffies on social media.

Thanks to Pamela, from Pamela Quilts, I was able to see photos of my two stuffies on display, along with many other Funky Friends. You can see the photos HERE on Canton Village Quilt Works.

I enjoyed making the stuffies. If you are interested in sewing something a bit different, visit Funky Friends Factory HERE. Sign up for the newsletter and Pauline has a free pattern for Honey Teddy.
Follow her blog to see the new patterns and other activities she has going on. While you are there, grab one or more of the free patterns on her blog (Felt Cupcake Pattern, Christmas Hat Sewing Pattern, Knitted Sheep Pattern, Gingerbread Man) and watch video tutorials showing how to easily make these patterns. Gaining confidence by using a free pattern will help you choose a pattern to purchase to make for a gift or donation. The next pattern I want to try is Hannah Hedgehog.






Giveaway!
I have Island Batik fabrics left from the Funky Friends Factory stuffies I made. Enter through the Rafflecopter form below. There are 2 entry chances. I will choose the winner on June 5, 2017. Unfortunately, I can only mail to United States addresses. If your name is selected and you live outside of the United States,  I will email 2 of my PDF quilt patterns to you.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

10 Days of Quilting

Since I last blogged (10 days ago), I have been able to work on quite a few sewing projects--even some that were not quilting related. It really does energize me when I get some sewing completed. And I cherish each day I can sew, as I have hip replacement scheduled for later this spring and I never know how long I can sit comfortably.

Rachel, who is also a member of the Gridster Bee, began making the monthly block for each Queen Bee, and one for herself, too. This way she'll have 12 Gridster bee blocks for her own quilt. I decided that I would do this as well. I completed the pineapple block for myself as well as Sherri, who requested them. Pat Sloan has a tutorial HERE.

 Sherri's is on the left. Mine is on the right. On mine, I tried the leaf patchwork that Elizabeth used for her pineapple HERE. I am not sure which one I like better. 

I will make my own New York Beauty (Susan requested them in January). But it is a block I have not done until now. I found the curved piecing on the machine to be nerve-wracking. But I was please with the 2 I sent Susan. 

I spent about 3 days finishing my niece's T-Shirt quilt using her sorority shirts. I put it together in January. I quilted it on Feb. 2 using the Sweet 16 at the art studio I go to once every so often. This week I put the binding on it. One shirt had a pocket. I printed a photo on fabric of her and her dad at the Dad's Day event. I fused it to a thicker fabric, stitched around the raw edges and tucked it into the pocket. A nice memory. I forgot to take a photo of the finished quilt before I mailed it out. So you here it is trimmed and ready for binding. 

I finished my sister's birthday present. The center panel was 1/4th of a table cover our mother had in the 1950s or 60s. It was one of the things I saved after she passed away (many years ago). I have now made each of my siblings a table topper with one of the pieces. I have mine yet to make.

I was very pleased with the mitered corners. 

I had happy mail one day. I received the rotating Calibre Arts Cutting mat I won from the Sunbonnet Sue and Sam Travel The World BOM at Seams To Be Sew. I have wanted to get a mat from this company because of what I have read about their products. 

The mat does rotate very smoothly and I am pleased that I don't smell an odor in the room like I have when I have purchased mats from the stores. If I put my nose right up to it I smell a little odor, but my sewing area doesn't smell!

On the same day, my order from Missouri Star Quilt Co. arrived. I am going to make a quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild Challenge with Riley Blake fabrics. I tried to find Riley Blake fabric locally, but to no avail. MSQC had the best selection, so I placed the order. 

I saw these Island Batik Stamp packs and couldn't pass them up. So they went on the order, too. 

One final project that I sewed yesterday was Dilby Duck from Funky Friends Factory. I am sewing it for Island Batik Fabrics with some of their new fabrics. I have not sewn any stuffed animal this involved before. It wasn't too hard. I thought 4 hours total wasn't bad for my first time. I stuffed it while watching TV that evening. I don't know if I can show a photo of it yet, but here is the photo from the Funky Friends Factory site. You'll have to believe me, I made him much more colorful!

So that is a summary of the past 10 days.