Road Trip!

We will go anywhere for FABRIC!

In honor of Joannie's birthday, we piled into her car on Saturday and headed up to Vermont for a mini quilt shop hop! Before we even crossed the border, we made our first stop in Shelburne Farms, MA, to visit A Notion to Quilt. Marion and I had been to this shop a really long time ago. We didn't remember much about it, only that it was really large. It was a great shop. We barely had entered the front door, when we had to stop and look at the amazing plethora of patterns.

This is just a small sampling of the patterns at A Notion to Quilt.

They had an enormous selection of fabric, including my two personal favorites, batik and Kaffe Fassett. Sue found some great food prints, including Kentucky Fried Chicken and potato chips. She said it was the best collection of food prints that she has seen in one shop. They also had a wonderful selection of bag patterns along with samples made up right next to them, so you could see the finished product. Lovely quilt samples are hung from the ceiling. The store was well staffed and everyone was very friendly. There is also a yarn shop right next door.

A modest haul for me at our first stop. A half yard of black and white,
a half yard of batik, and a yard of Kaffe Fassett.

Our next stop was Norton House in Weston, Vermont. Marion and I had also been here many, many years ago. They were having a huge power outage in Vermont that day, so we saw the store by flashlight! This time happily, all the lights were on and what a treat for the eyes. This store is in an antique New England home, circa 1760, with creaking floors and twisty stairs.

Joannie and Marion examine the merchandise.

There is a large selection of fabric and kits downstairs, as well as a small room full of batik fabrics. Upstairs were two rooms full of bargain fabrics. I found three pink and black prints for my future black and pink quilt. Downstairs, I found a great print called Plug and Play with the different types of outputs for computers. I bought a small piece to make a pouch for my computer nerd brother Jeff. Joannie got some great brightly colored fabrics for a baby quilt for her new grandson who is expected later this year. I also bought a Creative Grids ruler to make pineapple blocks. I had seen this ruler demonstrated on YouTube, but couldn't find it anywhere. There it was hanging next to the cash register. Serendipity! We had a quick lunch at Dot's Diner and headed back on the road for more shopping.

These beauties were waiting for me in the Bargain Room upstairs!

I bought this fabric downstairs to make a gift for my brother, Jeff.

We had originally planned to try and squeeze in two more quilt shops, but time was running low, so we decided to go to Waterwheel House Quilt Shop, which was our original inspiration for our road trip. My husband Mike has stopped at this shop several times after ski trips to bring me home a present and he recommended it highly. Although this was the smallest of the three, it was definitely my favorite! There was a huge selection of Kaffe Fassett fabrics, plus lots of beautiful samples, all kitted up and ready to go! We met Gracie the shop dog, a lovely golden retriever. I really had to restrain myself here. I did buy a beautiful Vermont Maple Leaf pattern that was an original design for the Vermont Shop Hop.

Kaffe-alicious! An entire aisle (both sides) filled
with Kaffe Fassett fabrics! My dream come true!

Sue made friends with Gracie the shop dog. Sue has a
golden retriever of her own at home named Georgia.

Marion checked out the patterns to see what was new.

Joannie found some great fabrics.

The front porch of Waterwheel House Quilt Shop displays a bevvy of beautiful quilts.

A group photo before we headed home. From left to right: Sue, Marion,
Joannie and me. Gracie the shop dog graciously agreed to pose with us.

A belated happy birthday to my good friend Joannie! I know you enjoyed your birthday road trip! Sue's birthday is in a few weeks, so we'll have to start planning something soon...

A warm welcome to Janie, my newest follower on BlogLovin'. Thanks for following my blog!

Hope everyone enjoyed our road trip! All of these shops have websites, so you can shop virtually in your pajamas no matter where you live.

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Linking up on Wednesday to Sew Fresh Quilts and Freemotion by the River. Thanks for visiting! I'd love to hear from you.

Out of the Blue

My Mom likes to joke that when she is on a diet she can hear the cookies calling her name from the freezer. Sometimes my fabric stash behaves like that too. Last Sunday, Marion came over to sew with me in the Studio. Since my work life has been excessively difficult the past few months, culminating this past Tuesday in the launch of my project, I have been taking a brain break in the sewing department and trying to work on easy projects that don't require much thought. So I was happily working on some birthday blocks for Joannie and Valerie, the next two birthday girls in my quilting group as well as making some extras for my own birthday quilt, when I began to hear a rumbling from my Stash...

"Get me out of here!" cried the blue fabrics in the scrap drawer. "We've been in here a really long time, and we need to be a quilt!" The blue fabrics were adamant and they wouldn't quiet down. A few minutes later, I heard them say, "Well, don't you have a special friend with a big birthday coming up?" Well, yes I do, and I certainly hope she's not reading my blog this week...

So out of the scrap drawer came the blue fabrics. They decided that they wanted to be a Lemonade quilt like the purple one that I recently finished for my friend Lisa at work. The scrap drawer had a nice variety, including navy blue, teal, royal blue, medium blue, a couple of fabrics that Marion swears are purple, and some light blues. Most were kind of tonal but I threw in a couple of prints for variety. Every single fabric came out of the scrap drawer, and I honestly cannot remember where some of them came from. I recognized one or two from a quilt border or back, there is one ancient one that I bought to make my brother Gary a quilt when he graduated from college in 1990 (I never made it past block one of the Sampler class), Sue gave me the one with tiny variegated blue squares and there are two fabrics that were fairly recent purchases from my favorite discount fabric store, Sewphisticated Discount Fabrics.

The view from one side of the table.

Same fabrics, only the photo is taken from the other end of the table.

I cut for about two hours on Sunday and had more than enough fabric to make a plethora of 10 inch squares. I also cut some 5 inch squares from the leftovers and I'm going to make a Charm Party Tote, a pattern that's been languishing in the Pattern Stash for at least 10 years. I've made its big sister, the Chubby Charmer, at least a dozen times, so it's time to do something new.

Today, Carol and I ran out to Sewphisticated Discount Fabrics at lunch time and I reeled in a big haul. Although I was originally planning to piece a back for the blue quilt from more stash fabric, I found a beautiful 6 yard piece of blue fabric on the remnant table that will be perfect.

My lunch time haul!

Some other fabrics decided to come home with me as well. I found some graduation fabric to make Joannie's daughter Jill a pillowcase. She is graduating from college next month. I found two other small pieces of blue fabric that might make a good lining or handles for my Charm Party Tote, and a nice piece of red and white fabric for my red, white, and black fabric collection (eventually to be a quilt, a jacket, or both). Carol found the leopard fabric for me. Unbelievably, I had overlooked it. And they had reels of ric rac at the cutting counter for only $1.99 apiece so I decided I needed those as well. There is about 15 yards of fabric in the photo above and I only spent $52, so I was quite happy with my lunch time excursion.

Tonight I finally saw my Thursday Girl Quilting Friends. Because of my work project and other commitments, I don't think I've sewn with them more than once in the past three months. So it was great to finally get to sew with them and get caught up. Beth has a new puppy, Ginny's son got a new job, and Nancy's grandson has 14 teeth! Karen is leaving shortly for a dream ski vacation in Banff (Mike will be jealous), Toni was celebrating her birthday and Judi has been making chocolate dipped Peeps (must visit Judi's house for Easter). I made some good progress on the quilt, but you will have to wait until it is finished to see it again.

Totally unrelated to my blue quilt or quilting at all (although it does have a blue cover)... here is a book recommendation for you. Check out The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn. Sue gave me this book and I really enjoyed it.

So, in case you're wondering, the blue scrap drawer is not empty, but I did make a small dent.

Sweet dreams.

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

P.S. I'm excited to finally be joining some Linky Parties again! Linking up on Friday to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Richard and Tanya Quilts. Also CrazyMom Quilts is blogging again, so I linked up there. Thanks for visiting! Please leave a comment!

Birthday Quilts Show and Tell

My Brown Bagger Quilting Group has been together for over 20 years. When someone in the group has a significant birthday (and admits it), we get together and make a birthday quilt in secret. It is then presented with much pomp and circumstance.

At my Birthday Weekend, I asked the girls to bring in some of the birthday quilts that they've received over the years.

I was unexpectedly touched when my dear friend Linda showed up, bringing the 30th birthday quilt that I had made her a long time ago. Linda is not a quilter, but she came on Friday afternoon for a couple of hours to hang out with us for my birthday. Although she is a talented knitter, she brought her laptop computer instead.

On the quilt, I'm in the photo with Linda on the center bottom. We are in full ski gear! I'm the one on the left in the quilt, but on the right in the real photo.

I've known Linda forever. She is a gold-standard friend. You can read more about her here.

Marion brought in a quilt that we made for her 30th* birthday. This pattern is called Sand Castles.

Marion looks smashing in her purple sweater and zebra scarf from Dress Like Nancy Day. She is also wearing three bracelets!

Click here for a close-up. It is made of Oriental fabrics.

Kim P. brought in her first 30th birthday* quilt. This is one of the first birthday quilts our group ever made. It is a fun pattern called Bug Jars. We made it out of novelty prints. I made the Mickey Mouse jar in the second row. I remember that fabric well. I bought it on a trip to Nova Scotia a really long time ago.

Make sure you click on this one so you can see all of the cute fabrics!

Kim also brought in her second 30th birthday* quilt. This is one of her sister Karen's original patterns. It is called Star Passion. You can buy the pattern here.

This quilt is made of Kaffe Fassett fabrics, a group favorite.

Nancy D. brought in her 30th birthday* quilt. You should recognize this pattern. It is a Bow Tie quilt.

This striking quilt is made of batiks. I love the acid trip border!

You just saw this quilt a few weeks ago. This is Pat's 30th birthday* quilt. She was so excited to get it. You can read more about it here.

At my birthday party, I gave her a matching Chubby Charmer tote bag that I had made. Pat is our resident Bag Queen. She makes the most beautiful bags and gives all of them away. She didn't have a bag of her own. It was intimidating to make a bag for the Bag Queen, but I did it anyway. She loved it.

Pat is all smiles with her new gift.

I hope that you enjoyed our Birthday Quilt Show and Tell.

Have a great day!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

*OK, so maybe some of the quilters didn't turn 30 just yesterday. Would you want me to publish your age for all to see?

The Job That Ate My Brain

Sorry to have been absent from blogging for the past two weeks, but the real world was calling. For the past several months I have been leading a project at work that required enough planning for the next Normandy Invasion. We are developing a personalized micro site for one of our clients. The last two weeks have been spent testing it. I have spent entire days on the telephone going to virtual meetings. And I haven't eaten in a week. At first I thought I had food poisoning, then I thought it was a stomach bug. Yesterday the light bulb went off and I realized it was stress.

In short, I have been feeling a lot like this!

Last night at 5:15 pm, after another day of meetings and subsisting on ginger ale, bread and crackers, I approved the micro site, which will launch on Tuesday.

HOORAY!

I immediately felt better. Mike and I went out to dinner. I was able to eat, although I was careful. I went to bed with a full and happy tummy!

Today, Mike and I are getting our taxes done, then Joannie, Marion and I are heading to the Quinobequin Quilt show.

So I hope that you haven't forgotten me. I still have some more birthday weekend photos to share if you're interested.

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

P.S. The photo above is upside-down LarryPug, who is lying on top of Elvis. The paw growing out of Larry's head belongs to Romeo. All of them are on my lap.

The Big 5-0!

Ingredients for a successful birthday party:

1. Start with three days of non-stop quilting
2. Add in a visit to the quilt store
3. Saturday lunch at the Chinese restaurant

Don't forget:

CAKE!

Solid chocolate...YUM!
This is the chocolate flourless cake from Whole Foods. Pure fudge shaped like a cake.

 BALLOONS!

Pink and black zebra, my personal favorite!

A special pug balloon brought to me by my friend Kate!

DECORATIONS!

TIARA and FEATHER BOA!

Thanks to Kim P., my birthday outfit was now complete!

and of course... GAL PALS!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday was Dress Like Nancy Day! Everyone had fun! Check out all the pink and the animal prints. I coveted Karen's pink fur hat (on far right), but Cordula stole the show (and won first prize) decked out completely in zebra and finishing her outfit with a pink and black zebra print cowboy hat and leopard print Ugg boots!

The Gal Pals should wear pink more often! From left to right: Terri, Jo Anne E., Kim P., Joannie and Pat.

A special thank you to: Joannie, Marion, Sue, Pat, Linda, Kim P., Karen, Joan S., Jo Anne E., Joanne S., Nancy D., Kim G., Cordula, Debbie, Lexine, Terri and Kate for an AMAZING, FABULOUS, SUPER-FANTASTIC BIRTHDAY QUILTING WEEKEND! And to my darling husband Mike, who performed a special guitar concert and spent Saturday evening with us (and also took me for a delicious Sunday breakfast at my favorite restaurant, the IHOP).

Stay tuned for a few more fabulous, fun-filled weekend details!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Happy Birthday to Me!

My Mom and I are very close. I am her only daughter and the oldest of her three children. I talk to my Mom on the phone every day, since the day I left home to go to college 32 years ago. Sometimes we talk for five minutes, sometimes we talk for much longer. Some days we talk more than once. Every year, my Mom calls me on my birthday and tells me the story of the day I was born. The story changes slightly from year to year. Sometimes new details emerge. My Mom wrote the blog post below but she left out the part where she was wearing her brown plaid wool coat and her fur hat. 

Here I am this past January in Florida with my Mom, my niece Rachel, and my sister-in-law Diane.

Fifty Years Ago Today, The Day Nancy Was Born... A blog post written by my Mom

It’s the middle of the night and I am almost jolted out of bed. Though this is my first time, I know immediately that this is it. That long expected blessed event is beginning now, three weeks early, but who is complaining. I wake my sleeping spouse who reluctantly opens his eyes and tries to comprehend what is happening. I hate to tell him this is his last uninterrupted night of sleep (for the next 20 years or so) but together we decide to wait a while to call the doctor. These were the days when we wouldn’t want to trouble the doctor by a 2 a.m. phone call. Dozing and groaning we wait until 9 a.m. and after a brief talk with the nurse by phone, we stop at the doctor’s office. Too early, he decides. Go home and come back around 5 p.m. So back we drive through the cold and snowy Massachusetts’ streets and I decide to take advantage of my time by putting up a nice chicken dinner for the new daddy to enjoy. Big mistake. Barely had I taken the chicken out (which I would later remember as looking strikingly like a new born baby) than the real baby becomes insistent. Back we go to the hospital and before I know it, I am prepped and sedated for the big event. In those days, the doctors preferred that we not participate so I sleep through the whole thing.

Late in the afternoon, I am finally awake enough to realize where I am and say in a groggy voice to my husband at my bedside, “Did I have the baby?” He laughs and replies, “Yes, a baby girl.” The nurse comes in with a tightly swathed baby and I get my first glimpse of Nancy, a full head of straight black hair adorned by a green ribbon (for the upcoming St. Patrick’s  Day holiday) and two bright dark eyes in a face still red from her journey. Her two little fists are tightly clenched and she has a look that seems to say, “Where am I and how did I get here?” With a baby blanket tightly wrapped around her, she looks like a little papoose, a nickname her grandmother would call her for a while.

So we all began our journey together as a family. Nothing would ever be the same again and we would all grow together and learn from each other, bound by that strong bond of love that only a baby can engender. So Happy Birthday, Nancy! You are still my baby.

I am having a 3-day quilting birthday party to celebrate! It's the big 50 this year! Hard to believe that I am half a century old (young?).

Happy Birthday to me!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Heaven is made of Chocolate!

Last Saturday, Joannie, Marion, and Sue took me out for a pre-birthday celebration at the Cafe Fleuri's Chocolate Bar. This is an all-chocolate buffet at the Langham Hotel in Boston. A gastronomic pleasure for a die-hard chocoholic, we had last eaten there two years ago for Marion's 75th birthday, and ten years prior when I turned 40. You have to pace yourself.

My special birthday plate (just a warm-up)

The Chocolate Bar is a veritable feast for the eyes as well as your stomach. Full warning that the following photos may cause you to go into diabetic shock or race to the nearest candy machine.

Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate! It was everywhere you could see, in every shape and form!

Delicious!

Chocolate truffles on a stick. The most sinful thing I have ever eaten.

Pastry swan swimming in a sea of chocolate!

Chocolate-dipped cannoli! Yum!

Sue checked out the chocolate fountain!

My plate: made to order chocolate crepe filled with dark chocolate and berries; chocolate bread pudding with whipped cream, chocolate truffle on a stick and a chocolate dipped strawberry!

From left to right: Sue, me, Marion and Joannie.

We also went to two fabric stores on the way home... Thanks Girls for a perfect day!

Hope you are eating chocolate wherever you are!

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy