Crazy Quilt Shop Owner

New York City

2011-11-17T21:38:00.000-05:00

Last weekend Richard and I went to NYC to get away for a bit and see our baby boy. The first night we walked from 54th down 10th to 23rd. We hit the High Line at about 33rd and walked the rest of the way there. I took the picture on the left from the High Line. It was a nice night for a walk.

On Friday, we went to the Lower East side to walk around. We visited the gift shop of the Tenement Museum and just wandered the streets where we saw this Restaurant to the right with our baby girl's name. We then walked to Soho to meet Zachary and his room mate Gio for some lunch and shopping.

We checked out the Fluevog Store, the shoes my friend Mary loves sooooooo much. They are her signature shoes. The store was great.

This clothing store had a great window display of antique sewing machines. It was not the best lighting for a picture but I took one anyway.

We hit a really cool store called Pearl River where they had this great fabric. We also got Zachary fun hanging lights for his apartment and a great bag for Hana. I loved it!

Later that evening after Zachary and Gio left us to head back to Brooklyn, Richard and I found the Purl Soho store. It was a fun little shop of fabric and yarn, but the yarn was so high I didn't feel I could buy any and the fabric, well........I do sell fabric so I can't bring myself to buy any elsewhere unless its fabulous. I guess I didn't see any that was fabulous.

On Saturday morning, we went to Brooklyn to see Zachary's apartment. We got doughnuts from Dough that were killer! then we went to the Ft. Greene Brooklyn Flea just blocks from Z's apartment where we ate great street food and bought fun stuff. Next we went to the Dekalb Market. It was such a fun day. Here you can see my boy at the subway station waiting for his train going the opposite direction from ours. I actually teared up watching him ride away.

Sunday we got up and went out walking to Central Park. We stopped for breakfast at the Moonrock diner on 57th on our way to the park. Then into the park for a walk and a sit in the sun. I had to snap a shot of Richard looking so happy in the park.

Look at this Hawk sitting on the fence in the park. Incredible, just sitting there looking around. I got much closer and took a little video of the hawk looking back and forth. It was sooooo cool.

That's the end of NYC November 2011!

An update

2011-11-03T18:30:00.002-04:00

Hi folks,
It has been awhile since I have posted here. Life has been flying by in a flurry of colors.
Most recently I just got back from International Quilt Market in Houston where I go every October to see what is going on in my fabric world. I say lots of my fabric buddies, found new fabric to buy and found lots of new book and patterns.
Now I am back home trying to recover from a week of being sick and going right into the market trip, with poor sleeping nights and poor eating meals. We have already gotten in some new patterns and a box of Kaff Fassett's quilts to display in the shop. Next I have to organize getting those quilts hung in the shop. I don't think that will happen until Monday.
That's all for today. I will try to post sooner, rather than later, next time.

Making more progress

2011-09-07T22:32:00.000-04:00

On the progress front......
I am still going to CrossFit Decatur at least four days a week, some weeks five. I have noticed more muscle and a little less flab, yay!
I have almost finished my first scarf that I posted about on this blog months ago and have gotten about 6 inches going on my second one, which is a harder pattern so I keep having to wait for help fixing little mistakes I make.
I am working my way through a hand applique block for our Paideia fall BBQ raffle quilt.
We are working very hard at the shop to get ready for a our booth at the East Cobb quilt show next weekend.
Lot's going on!

Progress coming along

2011-07-30T21:19:00.000-04:00

So... on the progress front, I have finished the little baby quilt I was working on, and was asked to do another one, which I am hoping is not going to turn into another and another. I have put aside my first knitting project because it is too hot in my house to knit with fuzzy wool, I have started a second knitting project with less fuzzy wool, so maybe I will be able to work on it while it is hot. I got a quilt back from Regina that is ready to put the binding on so I will need to get the binding made and on it, hopefully before we go to the beach so I can be working on it while there.
As, for exercise, I made it through another week of four days and CrossFit and two days at pilates. My knees were killing me last night but seem better today. Tomorrow we have planned a bike ride and swimming. We will see if that comes to pass.
As for family stuff.....my baby girl came back from her second big summer trip yesterday, went right off to a sleepover and is in bed asleep now at 9pm.
Baby boy should be coming home this week to go to the beach with us. I hope that all works out. He is busy this week painting a mural for work and then playing tour guide to his friend who is visiting him up there.
So proud of my kids and of myself for sticking with things. Now to get work caught up from spending so much time away this summer. That will be the next step in my progress.

the exercise progress

2011-07-24T09:54:00.000-04:00

So, I am finished with two weeks of Crossfit Decatur.
I did make it in that Friday and had to do 5 rounds of 20 air squats with 5 rounds of 10 wight lifting bars with 25lbs on it (cannot remember what those are called).
The whole weekend after that it hurt to walk up and down the stairs at home, the shop and the braves game Saturday night, as well as, sitting on the potty. UGH!
Last week, I decided I can only do three days at CrossFit and then stick to my two days at pilates every week. So, last week I went Monday and Tuesday to CrossFit because baby girl had yearly check up on Wednesday morning and then Thursday pilates and Friday CrossFit. After Tuesday's workout, my arms hurt the rest of the week and are still a little funky today, but, I did it. I actually ran about 2 miles on Friday and walked about 800 meters with two rounds of 50 sit-ups in between 1 mile, 800 meters, and 1 mile. I hate tto run, but I did it.
Today I decided I could do 25 sit-ups after some major stretching to try to loosen things up for CrossFit tomorrow morning.
We will see how week three goes. I'll let you know at the end of the week.

Latest Progress for me

2011-07-13T20:43:00.000-04:00

Well, it is not quilting, sewing or knitting. It is exercise. I decided that I would join CrossFit Decatur this week and for some reason decided the day to jump in was one of the hottest days of the year so far, Tuesday and the same day I also had a pilates appointment in the afternoon. Soooooo........I have now exercised three times in the last 36 hours and am in soooooo much pain when I move, it is incredible. The process part of this is that I committed to going to CrossFit 50 times (already paid for) and five days a week.....Agh! Since I find that I usually feel worse two days after a workout, not the next day, I am thinking when I go back on Friday morning, after another pilates tomorrow afternoon, I am not sure how in the world I am going to make it through whatever He**ish workout they have planned for me. I am very nervous and worried.

I am doing it though because this is one of the processes I am choosing to take part in right now and I have to stick with it.

2011-07-06T22:35:00.009-04:00

I decided to visit my friend Patty's blog tonight because I have not been there in quite some time, and saw a pledge button on her blog. I clicked on the button and ended up at Rossie Blog where decided to take the pledge, too.

I, Sarah Phillips, pledge to talk more about my processes, even when I can’t quite put them in the in words or be sure I’m being totally clear. I’m going to put my thinking and my gut feelings out there.

So, to begin sharing about my process, I have put up two photos. The first one on the left is a quilt I am working on for someone else who wants a baby quilt. I am being nice and making it even though it is not my cup of tea.

The second photo is my knitting I started two weeks ago. This project is for me. It will be a long wide scarf for me to cover my head and ears with when I am walking outside in winter. My ears hurt in the cold, so I love to keep them covered. I am enjoying making this scarf because it is fun colors and a nice texture and my friend Sahar taught me finally to knit loosely so my hands do not hurt when I knit.
It's even fun to go out to the local Irish pub to hear music, drink beer and knit.

I am also in the process of making a coverlet for my bed with a Heather Bailey fabric but I have put that aside for the moment because I need to carefully cut the fabric to match the print and I just haven't had it in me to fussy cut 108 inches of fabric twice. I'll get to it soon!

Happy Wednesday!

What a Saturday!

2011-06-25T21:02:00.000-04:00

This morning I went off with a group of friends to a knit shop because they all knit and told me I have to knit with them even though I don't knit. It was overwhelming but fun. I guess I am going to start knitting. I have yarn now for three projects that I cannot mention because two of them are gifts. Hopefully I will get them made.

Then after a yummy lunch at Community BBQ with my hubby and rushed to work to get ready for the book signing Rashida Coleman-Hale was doing this afternoon She is an amazingly creative person and soooooo nice.

What a busy afternoon at the shop with the Rashida book signing, a group of women visiting from Tallahassee Florida and then a group from the Atlanta Chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild at the shop for a class this evening. So nice to see so many happy, knitters, sewers and quilters today!

To top that off, when I pulled into my driveway I saw this beautiful rainbow. I had to get my hubby out front to see how pretty and bright it was. My iphone picture does not do it justice.

Then inside for dinner finally. We had a mega-salad, as my hubby likes to call it. Mixed baby greens, carrots, cucumber, beets, strawberries, bacon, boiled egg, avocado and balsamic and olive oil. Yum!

Yay, it's Friday!

2011-06-24T20:25:00.000-04:00

Yay, it is Friday and I am home where I really love to be. I love my little house in my little neighborhood in my little city of Decatur. It has everything I need including my work, my friends, my favorite restaurants (except a few are just over the line into Atlanta), shopping (love Squash Blossom), the Decatur local food market on Wednesdays and Saturdays for fresh veggies, oh, and I almost forgot, the little veggies garden my neighbor planted between our houses. Lot's of yellow squash which I love! Look at our beautiful squash blossom here.
The only thing missing right now are my kids and my hubby, but I guess I have to get used to my life without my son close by, my nubby will be home shortly and my baby girl will be home next Thursday. I will be really happy to see her!
My new friend Rashida came into the shop today and I got to the two of her three kids I had not met before. they are all totally adorable. I wanted to hold Matthew so badly but you know when it's too soon to be grabbing up a mama's boy. He did give me plenty of smiles today though. What a nice addition to my day!
I also got to see my friend Alice today and several of our other regular customers. It was a busy day at the shop today, which is a good thing always.

Birthdays!

2011-06-23T20:30:00.000-04:00

June is full of birthdays in my world.
Both Richard's grandmother Era and my grandfather Burton, who are deceased, had birthdays in June and does Richard's grandfather Robert, whose birthday we celebrated a week ago.
Then my friend Mari's daughter's bday was the 13th, friend Ivy's the 15th, nephew Griffin's the 16th, my hubby Richard's was yesterday (as was my friend Mary Lou) and then today was Mari's son's bday and my wonderful Friend Anita's.
We had a nice dinner out Wahoo last night for Richard and then today I had lunch with Anita and our friend Mary at Farm Burger and then I was lucky enough to have dinner with Anita too, at Sundown on Cheshire Bridge. I am glad I could be with Anita to celebrate her birthday.
Happy Birthday to all whose birthdays are near by!

Summer 2011

2011-06-22T21:53:00.061-04:00

Well, I haven't been on here for 3 months so let's see if I can get back to it more frequently.

We made it through shop hop back at the end of March. We had so much fun those four crazy days. Then a week later, Hana, Richard and I went off to California for Hana's spring break. We spent the first night with my mom in Mountain view and had a nice evening. Hana had to go to the See's candy store to buy a box of candy for her friend Lizzie and family, who she was going to see the next day. On Sunday We headed onto "the city" to take Hana to meet her friend Lizzie. We were early so drove Hana to see where her dad used to live in the lower Haight and then went up Haight and stopped for coffee. Next we met Lizzie and family in San Francisco at the American Grilled Cheese Kitchen for brunch. Yum, yum! After food with friends, Richard and I left Hana with Lizzie and headed north over the Golden Gate Bridge towards Mendocino.
Once over the bridge we had to stop in Santa Rosa at the Russian River Brewery for a pint (and picked up a few extra bottles for our evening) and stopped at two wineries, Breggo (the best bottle of wine came from here) and Navarro, in the Anderson valley on our way to the Andiron Inn and Cottages which is an absolutely charming place to stop for the night.
On Monday morning we started our day with a 5 mile hike into Van Damme State Park before breakfast and then went for coffee and a pastry in Mendocino and a little shopping, we headed to the Glass beach (used to be the town dump) near Ft. Bragg and then into Ft. Bragg for lunch and a pint at the North Coast Brewery. After lunch we had plenty of energy for tackling the lost coast highway and the Avenue of the Giants. We stopped off in Legget to drive through the Drive-Thru Tree and then stopped later to hike in the Founder's Grove nature trail (seen in the picure to the right). It was amazingly beautiful! From there, we headed further north to Arcata where we had a little house rented for two nights.

Our first morning in Arcata we found a great breakfast place, and headed out to the Manila Dunes for a hike to the Ocean which was just amazing. Then we headed south to Eureka where we found a neat little fabric shop, Eureka Fabrics, and then to the Lost Coast Brewery for another pint (my favorite beer of the trip) and lunch. After lunch it was back to Arcata for an afternoon hike in the Arcata Community Forrest, which was the most amazing place I have ever seen. I enjoyed the redwoods there more than any of the others we saw! If you do the California north coast make it to the Arcata Community Forrest! That evening we ate dinner at Hey Juan Burritos where Andrew Kahn told us we had to go if it was still there, which it was all these years later.
On Wednesday we headed south in the first really drizzly weather we had, which was perfect because we were driving and not hiking. We cut over to the Tomales Bay via some beautiful dairy hills and then ended up in Stinson Beach for the night with a walk on the beach and a good seafood dinner.
Thursday morning we drove into "the city" with no problems and went into Japan Town to get Hana from Lizzie's family. Once we had Hana, we went for a nice breakfast in the Castro and then headed to Haight for some good shopping for Hana, where she hit pay dirt on the skinny people clothing. We made it down to Mountain View in the afternoon where we had a nice home-cooked meal with my mother.
Friday we took Hana to see Stanford, where her Grandparents went to college and then to the Oasis (where her grandparents and great grand-father used to go for burgers and to watch football) for a burger for lunch. After lunch it was wandering in downtown Palo Alto.
What a great spring break we had!
Since that spring break trip, Richard has been to Ghana, I went to Salt Lake City, Hana turned 15, both kids finished school, Richard, Hana and I went to Tallahassee to see family, Zachary came home for a visit, Hana got her learner's permit and left for Ireland (seen getting ready to leave to the right) on the 14th of June where she will be until the 30th, Zachary went back to Brooklyn and his new life without us, Richard had a birthday (today) and then will be heading off to Africa on Saturday if their Malaria branch budget gets finalized for the next year before then, which is not looking promising.
All of that thrown in to regular life.
No wonder life seems like it's been so crazy and gone by so fast again!
Happy summer folks!

Updates

2011-03-11T22:47:00.000-05:00

Baby boy got into the Industrial Design program at Pratt! He found out today and was quite excited I think. Now he will be working toward a BID degree instead of the BA degree. It will be hard work but so far he has managed. I am so excited for him!

And, baby girl is doing well in 9th grade. She seems to be getting better grades in the last few weeks which is nice for her.

Now for the next few weeks of shop hop craziness!

All kinds of things

2010-11-15T20:59:00.000-05:00

It has been a wild fall already. Since the quilt show that I posted about last, Richard has been to Africa for 10 days, then I went to Houston for 5 days with Taffy and Mary, Richard got sick while I was there, and then I caught it from him when I got back. I am just now feeling better but still covered with hives, which I now seem to get sometimes after a virus. Such fun!

During all this time, I had a nice department of labor employee audit, the yearly unemployment insurance audit and both the property and inventory taxes due at the shop, not to mention all the grumpy employees and the cold weather that I know many of you love, but I detest!

I will be waiting for winter the end and the warm weather to come back!

Quilt Show Chaos

2010-10-14T22:32:00.001-04:00

Well, we made it through the first day of the Georgia Quilt show at the Gwinnett Civic Center. Mary, Taffy and I had a fun time hanging out together and chatting with all the quilters and their friends attending the show.

There are some really great quilts hanging in the show.

Home to beer, some hand sewing and mindless tv.

Tomorrow is another day.

My Baby Boy

2010-10-13T21:35:00.000-04:00

Here is a pic of Zachary with his three roommates in the hall of their dorm at Pratt Institute.

I am missing Zachary a bunch these days.

He looks and seems good and happy at school.

Another week has gone by

2010-09-22T16:54:00.001-04:00

I made it through the crazy week last week and half of this week.

I finally got some classes set up on the website and sent out in an email.

This weekend my baby boy turned 19 on the 19th up in Brooklyn. He sounded like he had a good weekend. We are doing fine without him, but missing him.

I have purged the shop like crazy this weekend. There is lots of fabric in the sale bin now. I also worked on the running toilet at the shop and accidentally broke the toilet paper holder off the wall in the process. AGH!

Last night was high school night at baby girl's school. We had to go around the campus to all her classes and meet the teachers. UGH! Didn't get home until 10:30 so of course went to bed way too late.

OK, I hear thunder so need to go deal with dogs before they get wet.

More later!

Yay its Friday again!

2010-09-10T22:36:00.000-04:00

This week went by so quickly mostly because I had so much work to do that I couldn't even think straight.

There is still so much to do to catch.

My baby boy appears to be quite happy at school as far as we can tell. Baby girl is going through lots of growing pains learning to deal with high school.

I had a great birthday with lots of great friends.

Tomorrow the Paideia Quilters, get started quilting together the top that a few of us pieced this week on top of all our crazy work. We decided that the first quilt we were working on is way to special to go to someone randomly from a raffle drawing, so we are saving that one for the auction in the spring and making a whole new one for the raffle in a few weeks.

The next few weeks will be just as crazy as this week with lots of quilting, tons of work(still behind), shop hop meeting, and trying to get ready for the Georgia Quilt Show in October.

Agh!

Its all OK, though, because life is good, I have a wonderful family(most of the time), my own business and lots to look forward to.

Have a great weekend all!

Trying to get back to blogging

2010-09-03T10:15:00.000-04:00

After a really crazy time.

I actually blogged on the shop blog yesterday so check it out, http://www.intownquilters.blogspot.com/

I am so happy that it is almost Friday again.

I will be working this weekend on the computer trying to get classes scheduled for the shop and then next week the Paideia Quilters will start a 3 week race to get the quilt finished for the Fall raffle. Wait until you see how great it is going to be. Carrie Stockard has been embroidering all the Paideia buildings on blue oxford cloth which will be set into blocks made with a variety of striped shirts. We are using this quilt pattern from one of Kaffe Fassett's books and altering it with the embroidered blocks set into various places in the quilt.

Make sure to sign up to quilt on the quilt if you want to on the Paideia volunteer website and watch out for opportunities to buy raffle tickets for this great quilt.

Check this out!

2010-06-16T21:21:00.000-04:00

The Krog Street Bridge

guess who it is and who did it, but don't comment on it, just keep it to yourself.

The decision is made!

2010-04-20T16:00:00.000-04:00

We finally know where my baby boy will go to school in the fall. After our trip to NYC over spring break, we have decided he will go to Pratt Institute to pursue a degree in Communications Design, focussing on illustration.
I think he is very excited, although, like me, you might never know it, because we are not always very expressive with our excitement.
I am very excited for him, but of course, I am also nervous and am already missing him sometimes, even though he is still here.
Onward in life we go!

Spring Break

2010-04-03T20:55:00.000-04:00

Well, this year we will not have our normal spring break together as a family. Since Richard's trip home from Africa got delayed by two days, he will work Monday and Tuesday Richard is taking two girls to the beach for half the week and I get to go with Zachary to NYC to visit Pratt so we can try to make a decision about college.

Major decision making time here.

Baby Boy's new quilt

2010-03-13T21:46:00.001-05:00

Look at this new quilt I made for my baby boy. It is a queen size so that he can use it in his first apartment or house, after college. No, he does not get to take it to college with him next year. The shop gets to keep it for awhile first as a sample and then I get to keep it for baby boy, until he is responsible enough to take care of it.
The story behind the quilt is, that one day I decided that
I wanted to try to figure out what to do with Brandon Mably's Burlesque Brocade in grey. I started pulling fabrics out to see about making a sample with them. A wonderful mix of Kaffe and Brandon's fabrics came together with one Jay McCarroll print thrown in.
Then as I was picking out the fabrics, Clare opened a new box of Denyse Schmidt patterns. I just loved this pattern and decided it would be perfect with the fabric I had just picked and it would make a great quilt for my son. He loves brown, ochre, orange, rust, and grey. One of my favorite shot cottons, Ginger, was the perfect setting fabric for all these earthy colors. The colors are a little off in the photo because the lime you see is actually a mustardy yellow color and the Rosette that looks a little purple in the pic is actually a lovely brown color.

I had so much fun making this quilt top and my friend Shannon, Pieceful Kwilter, did a great job quilting it with her topo meander pattern.

You can get a bundle of the print fabrics at the shop and can pick your own solid to go with them.

VCU visit

2010-02-28T21:47:00.001-05:00

We drove to Richmond this weekend to visit Virginia Commonwealth this weekend. Here Zachary is during lunch in the cafeteria.
We had a very full day hearing about the school, taking a tour, visiting with the Communications Arts department, looking through art classrooms and eating in the dining hall.
We then went exploring around the Carytown, Fan and Shockoe districts and had some yummy sushi for dinner.
It was a long, but fun weekend!
Zachary likes it a lot, too!

VCU

2010-02-26T21:27:00.000-05:00

We are on our way to Richmond Va to go to a College open house tomorrow.

Snow Day

2010-02-12T21:02:00.001-05:00

Ok, the snow came today. No snow day from school because the snow did not come in until after lunch, but baby boy already had the day off for winter break and baby girl got to play outside in the snow at school.

They are both at friends tonight and hubby and I are having a quiet night watching the olympics.

Baby boy actually drove home and then off again in the snow, which we let him do because he has his nice all wheel drive Subaru station wagon to drive around in. He did not slide out of our steep drive way like I did an hour before him. We did tell him he cannot drive again tonight or tomorrow until we see what things are like tomorrow so he will be sleeping away tonight.

We miss them when they are gone, but have to get used to it because baby boy will go away to college in just 6 more months. AGH!

Life took over

2010-02-01T20:34:00.008-05:00

OK, so I have not blogged in forever because I was trying
to work on the shop blog during a whole Dolly Dresses
blogging event that Taffy got me involved in when
we were at market in October.

We had a very busy fall season at the shop which is unsusal for us. It is ususally slow in the fall and busier in the winter. We'll see what these next few months are like.

I also had a very busy personal life this past fall helping my baby boy work on his college applications and get his portfolio together for them. He filled out five applications and has received two acceptances so far. Yeah!!!

Now next weekend we will drive up to Richmond, Virginia to visit one of the colleges, Virginia Commonwealth. Richmond supposedly just had 11 inches of snow this past weekend, is expecting a little more on Wednesday and then it is supposed to snow Saturday and Sunday. We might be crazy to go but, you know....

I'll let you know how it goes.

Graffiti Art

2009-11-13T18:13:00.003-05:00

We are going to the art opening of a graffiti artist to see the other kind of art he does. My son is obsessed with graffiti so we have taken an interest, too.

Off to the wild side tonight.

Sarah

College Stuff

2009-11-07T21:36:00.002-05:00

So today was more college application work for my baby boy. One essay question asks what would be found if your name was googled years from now so we googled his name now. We found several with his name, one who graduated with a film degree from a school in NYC (my boy is thinking an art degree in NYC) , one who is also a high school senior in Maryland and then on who is 12 years old.

There is also a man with a slightly different spelling who is a bodybuilder in England.

We emailed the film guy through his blog to say it is weird to see another and he emailed back, good luck with the college search. Kind of cool. Kind of weird.

Also, I finally got the binding sewn on my nephews little play quilt, yeah!!!

New Intown Quilters Blog

2009-11-05T20:03:00.003-05:00

Hi All!

I recently created a new blog for my shop Intown Quilters. It is http://intownquilters.blogspot.com/ if you want to follow it. I will probably update it far more often than my personal blog, with all the new things going on at the shop.

Check it out to see the latest fabric that has just come in.

Amy Butler School House

2009-10-18T10:32:00.001-04:00

Check out all the great things Amy Butler showed in her school house at quilt market last week. The new line is really great and it is in at Intown Quilters so come see us.

2009-10-18T10:31:00.001-04:00

Back to blogging after a long break.

Found a place

2009-10-03T15:22:00.004-04:00

I finally found a place to have the Kaffe Fassett lecture. It is a really neat room with three walls of windows set in a beautifully wooded property right in our neighborhood, called the Frazer Center and Cator Wolford Gardens.

New Brandon Mably Fabric

2009-06-05T17:14:00.002-04:00

We just got Brandon Mably's entire new line in today. It is so cool!

I just love this new "scales" pattern, especially in the blue color.

New fabric in the shop!

2009-06-04T21:34:00.006-04:00

We are all excited in the shop to have the new line Lantern Bloom by Laura Gunn in already so soon after market.

Didn't she have a great booth at market?

I enjoyed meeting her at market, too, along with many other great fabric designers.

Boys setting up the quilt Show

2009-05-27T19:28:00.002-04:00

The three "teeny" boys setting up the first ever Decatur Quilt show this past weekend. They were such a big help as were many of my wonderful friends form the quilt shop.

Me and my buds!

2009-05-20T23:08:00.002-04:00

Just one of the fun moments at International Quilt Market this year!

Don't Brandon and Kaffe have on great shirts made with their fabric!

Slumber Party

2009-05-16T23:35:00.001-04:00

Well, I am home from quilt market in Pittsburgh to house full of girls having a 13th birthday party for my Hana Banana.

Yummy Dinner

2009-03-03T19:58:00.001-05:00

Well, we have been trying new recipes to break from the same old food. My daughter Hana went through some old recipes in Food Magazine and came up with this one to try.

tonight was the night and the little people loved it. I guess we have a new recipe to add to the same old food.

Winter vacation

2009-02-22T20:43:00.002-05:00

My baby girl learning to Ski on our recent trip to North Carolina. The kids had a short break from school, so we made plans with two other families to go to the mountains. There were six adults and seven kids all together for three days.

We had so much fun!

DHHS USB

2009-01-24T22:53:00.005-05:00

I have been away for a long time.

January started off with inventory at the shop first of all and getting back into the swing of work after a nice long break with my husband and kids.

Then last Saturday I went off to New York City with a friend for some fun girl time. We walked and walked and walked and stopped at museums and shops in between walking. It was quite fun!

Then back for lots of chaotic work. It has been a very bust week at the shop which hopefully is a sign of better times ahead for everyone!

Next weekend in the auction at my son's school, Druid Hills High Schoo l. This is the piece her did as a donation for the auction. Don't you like it? It is a collage scanned in and printed out on Printed Treasures, then washed with a water color wash, a little student out of white fabric and black fabric marker fused to the top and borders sewn on before being stretched round wooden frame. I like it!

Check out the other art and good stuff to bid on at the online auction. You can see the t-shirt quilt I made for the auction there, too.

New Years Day!

2009-01-05T20:55:00.002-05:00

Well, we don't have pictures yet of the celebration this year so I thought I would put up a picture of last year. My two babies and those of our friends around the fire pit on the back deck. This year the kids were inside more, around the new Wii system, while the adults were out around the fire pit.

The "big" boys played in the fire four hours on end, until they finally gave in to the cold at about 9pm.

We love New Years day, with all the good food, friends and family.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-04T21:19:00.002-05:00

This is just a little post to start the year off.

We had a great holiday with family and friends.

My kids got the Wii and the Wii fit which we all had fun trying out, although it was sad to see how old I am physically. I have to keep up with my new pursuit of exercise.

Tomorrow school starts for one of my children and then Tuesday for the other.

It is also back to work for my husband and I and what a busy week I will be jumping right into. A shop hop meeting, sales rep and school auction meeting for one of the two schools on top of inventory and work.

I am happy to say that I finally finished the top of the t-shirt quilt I am making for the Druid Hills High School auction, which is the end of this month. You can see some of the items being auction at this link, www.druidhills.cmarket.com but the picture of the quilt is not up yet.

Little kiddies!

2008-12-20T21:52:00.003-05:00

My little ones being silly together; such a rare thing, since the 17 year old is usually out and about with his friends and the 13 year old is usually home alone, doing some of her massive amounts of homework (yes even on weekend nights). Zoe, the cat, had to put herself right in the middle of everything, thus getting a picture made, too.

I have enjoyed a quiet Saturday evening listening to them having fun!

Out of Our Hands

2008-12-06T22:23:00.003-05:00

This show has great hand crafted items for your holiday shopping. There are several jewelry artists, some wearable arts, ornaments and all kids of other neat stuff.

Shop Newsletter and blogging

2008-12-04T21:23:00.003-05:00

OK, I have spent much of my free time, and work time actually, working on the classes and the newsletter for my shop over the last few weeks. It is an intense and tedious job that takes forever.

I am done, I think, but tomorrow morning before I send it out, I will probably find something else to change for fix. As always, I will not catch all the mistakes, I am sure.

Sp, now that I am done with it, I am on to planning out how to make the blog for the Greater Atlanta Quilt Shop Hop better. I think we will start some giveaways if all the shop owners agree to it.

December is here!

2008-12-01T21:05:00.002-05:00

There were snow flurries today (unheard of in Atlanta this early) that had many excited. It made all the dreary rainy weather we have had since Friday more palatable.

We have been on a soup kick this weekend because my husband has been sick. First out to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Pho 69, for Chili soup.

Then last night we made Tortilla soup with our left over turkey, yum!

Tonight out again to one of my other favorites, Doc Cheys, for Coconut Chicken soup.

Hopefully I will continue to fend of the sickness and get lots of work done this week because there is a ton of it to do.

Love Pilates

2008-11-25T22:45:00.004-05:00

Well, another pilates class under my belt tonight. I just love the classes and hope I can keep it up.

After I came home to bake little chocolate pecan pies/tarts for my daughter to take to school tomorrow for the great Feast.

It is the best recipe and so easy.

I do buy store bought Pillsbury crust in the box.

1 stick butter

2 eggs

1 cup sugar (I mix half white half brown)

1 cup pecans

1 cup chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla

Optional 2 tablespoons flour (I leave out)

Melt the butter then stir in the two eggs slightly beaten, the sugar and the vanilla. Next Stir in the pecans and the chocolate chips (it is best to make sure the mixture is cool before adding the chips). Pour into two pie shells and bake at 350 degrees for about 30-45 minutes. Check it to see if it is firming up in the center, but leave a little soft.

Yum, yum!

Six Feet Under

2008-11-24T21:51:00.002-05:00

Tonight I had a great dinner out with my family at Six Feet Under

My husband loves the catfish tacos and my son loves the combo tacos(one shrimp, one catfish and one calamari). I think they have the best shrimp poboy.

Yum, yum!

Thanksgiving week

2008-11-23T20:01:00.002-05:00

Well, it is Sunday night before the week of Thanksgiving and I have plenty to be thankful for. My husband and children (most of the time), my work and my life in general.

I took my daughter shopping this weekend to find boots and jeans. She is now in a women's 6 1/2 shoe and fit into junior size 1 jeans(they must run small, because she is very tiny). This is huge for us because she has been in-between sizes for some time now. She found great purple suede boots and three pairs of colored (red, turquoise, and fuchsia) skinny jeans. She is so happy, she has been in her room for hours cleaning thoroughly.

I myself went off to a Pilates class today after going to one yesterday, too. I started classes about three weeks ago. This is the first real organized exercise I have done for seven or eight years. I really need it and am excited that I am doing it. It feels really good.

After Pilates I went to the grocery and picked up the makings for chocolate chip pecan pie since my daughter wants to take on to school on Wednesday for the great feast and she is already looking forward to having her own pie to eat over the holiday weekend.

Tomorrow off to work again and looking forward t it after being away for the weekend. I can't wait to get in there and play with the new Amy Butler fabric. I am thinking about making a small quilt with the new prints and solids together.

Earthy fun!

2008-11-21T17:07:00.001-05:00

What do you think?

Fiery Sunset

2008-11-21T16:59:00.000-05:00

My colors!

More Amy butler

2008-11-21T16:58:00.000-05:00

Tell me which color way you like best.

Yeah, new Amy Butler!

2008-11-21T16:43:00.002-05:00

We opened boxes yesterday from Westminster Fibers thinking it would be all kinds of re-order bolts, come to find out that it is the newest Amy Butler fabric.

It is so pretty!

I love seeing the springy fresh colors, when it is so cold and the sun is low in the sky.

Quilt Market Fall 2009

2008-11-17T21:39:00.005-05:00

To backtrack a bit, I just visited Melissa Averinos' blog (there is a link to yummygoods blog over on the right side of this page), which made me think of fall market. I got her new fabric line in the first day I was back in the shop after market. It was such an uplifting surprise since I was exhausted that day after a cancelled flight causing our night to be very long.

Taffy and I went off to market this year again together, a trip we both love. This year we took our friend Mary with us. She wanted to go and we were happy to have a new perspective on the market offerings. Mary introduced us to all kinds of new people, which was quite fun and exciting.

Here Taffy and I are at an evening social that Mary dragged us to, where we met Jay McCarroll, Melissa Averinos, Patty Young and quite a few other new folks. We also a couple of old friends from previous markets. We had a great time!

The end of the weekend

2008-11-16T20:22:00.006-05:00

Yesterday I went to the Indie Craft Experience show in Atlanta that my friend Mary (she was there with her beautiful little girl, too) told me about, with my daughter, my friend Anita and her son Bing. I have not seen Anita and Bing, who is 9 months old for a month. He is the most wonderful baby. I got to hold him almost the whole two plus hours we were there. My daughter got a little time in there. She loves him so much, too. Bing is pictured here in his Rasta onesie I got for him at the Burnside market in Portland. Bing shares Bob Marley's birthday. He definitely has music in his bones, too. He just jammed at the ICE show to the great music the DJ was playing. I'll post a picture or two soon.

I found the cutest Gnome pendant and earrings for my son's best friend to give to his sister for Christmas. Crazy, I know, but I just knew she would love them and just knew he would love to give them to her and the how was a bit far for the kids to get to, since they are still not driving.

After the show we tried a new restaurant, No Mas, for dinner that opened in the Castleberry Hills area of Atlanta. We enjoyed our dinner and the time away.

Today was cleaning and purging day. It is going to be cold enough tonight here that the plants had to come in. We decided to purge a bunch of things from our sun room so that we could put all the plants in there instead of the garage, which we have done in the past. My husband took a trunk load to the Last Chance thrift. I even cleaned out the kitchen junk drawer, yeah!!! It is such a good feeling to clean stuff out.

A visit to the Japanese Garden

2008-11-14T16:52:00.002-05:00

On Saturday evening we went to visit the Japanese Garden with some friends we met in the Bahamas last Christmas. My daughter made great friends with a little girl on our holiday trip and then I decided to take her with me to market so that she could see market, but also to see her friends again.

Our new friends were gracious enough to come and get us from the hotel, take us to the garden, and then to their home for a great meal.

It was amazing how it could be 90 degrees in the city and only a few miles away and up the temperature could drop enough for us to get chills.

My Baby Girl at Market

2008-11-14T16:34:00.002-05:00

On the second day of market I brought my daughter in to see what it is all about and to meet all my friends I have made at market over the years.

She loved the Valorie Wells booth as well as most of the Wesminster artists' booths.

If you check out her neck tie and purse you will see what she was up to earlier in the day. She went to the outdoors market under the Burnside Bridge and found this really neat artist who makes things out of duck tape. She got a great purse for herself, and a tie for her dad that has little rubber ducks with devil horns on it. This duck tape artist finds really neat tape on Ebay from Asian countries that has all kinds of little scenes on it. I went back later in the day to get my son a wallet made out of duck-tape. I got the ducks too. He still carries it to this day. He has also started making them. Duck-tape is a great thing!

Revisiting Spring market

2008-11-13T21:00:00.004-05:00

I have been thinking about blogging on Fall quilt market, but I might have to revisit Spring market first. It was a special market for me because I brought my daughter with me. Her birthday fell on that weekend so I took her out of school for almost a whole week to head out to the west coast. First we went to Seattle to visit my friend Mari, who owns the best bead store and online bead site. We met her one year old for the first time and got to know the four year old much better. We had such a good time!

We headed to Portland on the train the day before market. I took the train five years ago from market to Seattle and just had to share the beautiful ride with my daughter. If you have never done, it you should. The weather in Portland was great, around 90 degrees which is just fine with me. I love the heat!

When I walked into market I saw the Westminster booth right away. I had to see my friend Jeff, the sales manager for Westminster. He was near the Heather Bailey display, which caught my eye. I had to sit down and order right away, which is going against my rules for market. I usually wait to order until the second day, but I was blown away by Heather's line. The colors are just fabulous!

I ordered all of Erin's Park Slope Line, too. My daughter is using the orange, blue and green color-way to make a quilt for her bed. She is on an orange, turquoise and green kick.

As usual I already had an order in place for all the new Amy butler and Kaffe Fassett. I always order all of their fabric so my rep just knows to check with me the minute he has heard of a new line. I often order before there is anything to see on paper. I just tell them to write it all up.

Anna Maria Horner's booth was so cool! I love the new home dec fabric and ordered quite a bit of it. I plan on using some of it in my daughter's room on a chair. It works well with some of the colors in the Park Slope line.

2008-11-13T20:36:00.002-05:00

I have just added several blogs of people I met at quilt market and am inspired by. They are all really creative and put things together in such a great way.

I am getting to play a little on the web since I had a great meal cooked for me tonight and am not in the kitchen cleaning up. I should be working on one of the two school auctions I am involved in this year, my shop website or maybe even some paperwork, but am playing instead. This could turn into an escape from life if I am not careful!

We measured our kids on the wall tonight and my 12 year old daughter has grown an inch in 5 weeks. Blows my mind. She will catch up to her 17 year old brother in no time at the rate she is going.

Second post

2008-11-12T22:33:00.002-05:00

Ok, I have added several things to this blogging page including information about myself and a picture of myself with my husband, the love of my life!

We are boating in this photo, which is another of my favorite hobbies, although I don't get to do it very often and don't know much about it. I just like to be a passenger floating on the water and sometimes swimming in it.

More later.

First Posting

2008-11-12T21:52:00.000-05:00

Ok, it is time for the crazy quilt shop owner to get with the times and start blogging. Here is my first attempt.

I should be working on the website to make it better, but instead I am trying to start a blog to catch up with the world at large.

Check out my blog over time to see how things go for me in the blogging world.