Shop Hop

I had a wonderful time on vacation! I spent several days with my sister, Debi, in Boise before driving to Missoula to catch up with more relatives. My aunt Karen and I had planned our own “shop hop.” In three days, we visited Deer Country Quilts in Seeley Lake. We visited my dad in Great Falls and while there we shopped at JoAnn’s, Quilt-A-Way, and Big Sky Quilts. We had a terrific time at the Quilting Hen in Carter, just north of Great Falls. In fact, after we returned to Missoula, my aunt Karen ordered the Hinterberg frame and Voyager 17 machine from the Quilting Hen!

We visited Creative Stitches and Ben Franklin in Helena. We chose to skip the Creative Closet in Townsend because we were an hour too early! Cozy Mountain Quilts in Whitehall was a great stop as was the Quilter’s Corner in Deerlodge. Then it was on to the Cotton Patch Quilt Shop in Drummond. We ended our trip with Vicki’s Quilts Down Under in Missoula.

After returning to Boise, I stopped in at Hancock’s Fabrics, JoAnn’s Fabrics, The Quilt Crossing, and Quilt Expressions. Quilt Expressions has 5 Gammills set up for classes and renting by the hour!

Below are some of the projects I will be working on. I also purchased a lot of "stash fillers" and fat quarters. I'm so excited! We had so much fun. The stores we visited were great! With the exception of one store, the staff was so friendly and helpful! Lots of stories and laughter were shared by all.

Shop Hop

I had a wonderful time on vacation! I spent several days with my sister, Debi, in Boise before driving to Missoula to catch up with more relatives. My aunt Karen and I had planned our own “shop hop.” In three days, we visited Deer Country Quilts in Seeley Lake. We visited my dad in Great Falls and while there we shopped at JoAnn’s, Quilt-A-Way, and Big Sky Quilts. We had a terrific time at the Quilting Hen in Carter, just north of Great Falls. In fact, after we returned to Missoula, my aunt Karen ordered the Hinterberg frame and Voyager 17 machine from the Quilting Hen!

We visited Creative Stitches and Ben Franklin in Helena. We chose to skip the Creative Closet in Townsend because we were an hour too early! Cozy Mountain Quilts in Whitehall was a great stop as was the Quilter’s Corner in Deerlodge. Then it was on to the Cotton Patch Quilt Shop in Drummond. We ended our trip with Vicki’s Quilts Down Under in Missoula.

After returning to Boise, I stopped in at Hancock’s Fabrics, JoAnn’s Fabrics, The Quilt Crossing, and Quilt Expressions. Quilt Expressions has 5 Gammills set up for classes and renting by the hour!

Below are some of the projects I will be working on. I also purchased a lot of "stash fillers" and fat quarters. I'm so excited! We had so much fun. The stores we visited were great! With the exception of one store, the staff was so friendly and helpful! Lots of stories and laughter were shared by all.

Dakota Pathway

I have been busy planning a trip to the mainland next month to visit friends and family.  My sister, Debi, thinks she's going to get me out on the golf course so I can try to hit that little bitty ball.  We're going to catch up with Lani, another sister. I am so looking forward to this trip.

My Aunt Karen and I have been plotting and planning a fabric shop hop across parts of Montana to build up my fabric supply and project list.  However, I couldn’t wait and needed a project so I could play with my latest little toy.  I received a Connecting Threads catalog and fell in love with their Irresistible Indigos collection and bought the Dakota Pathways twin-size quilt kit.  

 

I was so anxious to get started that I just jumped in – wrong thing to do!  It suddenly dawned on me that I was cutting the wrong direction.  At least these were uniform squares and were cut on the straight of grain.  That scare was a wake-up call to slow down and think things through before I destroyed something.  So far, half the top has been pieced and it is going together beautifully, I think.  

 (And the little Featherweight has been an absolute joy piecing this together.)

Dakota Pathway

I have been busy planning a trip to the mainland next month to visit friends and family.  My sister, Debi, thinks she's going to get me out on the golf course so I can try to hit that little bitty ball.  We're going to catch up with Lani, another sister. I am so looking forward to this trip.

My Aunt Karen and I have been plotting and planning a fabric shop hop across parts of Montana to build up my fabric supply and project list.  However, I couldn’t wait and needed a project so I could play with my latest little toy.  I received a Connecting Threads catalog and fell in love with their Irresistible Indigos collection and bought the Dakota Pathways twin-size quilt kit.  

 

I was so anxious to get started that I just jumped in – wrong thing to do!  It suddenly dawned on me that I was cutting the wrong direction.  At least these were uniform squares and were cut on the straight of grain.  That scare was a wake-up call to slow down and think things through before I destroyed something.  So far, half the top has been pieced and it is going together beautifully, I think.  

 (And the little Featherweight has been an absolute joy piecing this together.)

Featherweight 221

Look what came to live with me yesterday! She’s a little Singer Featherweight 221-1 born October 28, 1947.

I bought her off eBay and she was shipped out of California. I brought her home, cleaned her up and oiled her. She runs like a champ, nice and quiet. I’ll have to take her in for a tune-up as there was a receipt in the carrying case for service in November 1968 for $7.50!

My husband, bless his pea-pickin’ heart, just rolled his eyes and said “cute.”


Of course, I got on the phone with Aunt Karen to laugh and compare notes. Now we’ve got to name her. Any ideas?

Featherweight 221

Look what came to live with me yesterday! She’s a little Singer Featherweight 221-1 born October 28, 1947.

I bought her off eBay and she was shipped out of California. I brought her home, cleaned her up and oiled her. She runs like a champ, nice and quiet. I’ll have to take her in for a tune-up as there was a receipt in the carrying case for service in November 1968 for $7.50!

My husband, bless his pea-pickin’ heart, just rolled his eyes and said “cute.”


Of course, I got on the phone with Aunt Karen to laugh and compare notes. Now we’ve got to name her. Any ideas?

Yellow Brick Road

My niece, Jaymi, and her boyfriend recently got engaged which gave me an excuse to make a quilt. I decided on the Yellow Brick Road pattern and started gathering fabrics in pinks, greens, and blues. Here’s the top before I sewed the blocks together.


This is the first real quilt I put on my new quilt frame. I was so nervous that it took 4 tries before I figured I had it on straight. Then it took another couple of weeks before I could summon the nerve to even take a stitch. I got it about two-thirds done before I ran out of throat space on my sewing machine (great excuse to get a bigger sewing machine!) and had to turn the quilt on the frame. That was a trick! It’s like working on something backwards while looking in a mirror (I think).
And then I had to fight with Devan’s cat who thought it was her personal hammock!

I finally got the body of it quilted and took it off the frame just in time to break down the frame and make room for my Dad and stepmom's visit. I’ve been doing a meandering stitch on the border and should have it done in the next few days.