Visit to Back Porch Fabrics

For our 48th wedding anniversary, my husband and I spent two nights in Pacific Grove at the Seven Gables Inn with a scenic view out onto Monterey Bay. Within a few blocks, walking distance, is Back Porch Fabrics. Frank knows what keeps me happy.

We went there first thing the first morning after breakfast and drove the short distance. Frank rationalized driving rather than walking by, "What if you have a lot of fabrics to carry back?" Here are my purchases; I was well behaved. Upon entering, I immediately saw a fabric panel displayed on the counter, and I fell in love with it instantly.

Out of habit I visited the sales table first and picked up two fat quarter bundles, basically at half price. They were made up of a majority of solids and so I feel confident that I can put them to good use. I try to steer away from novelties to rein in my stash size.

The two fat quarters on the left of the first bundle and the one chili peppers fat quarter on the right of the second bundle may be tricky to use up but the rest are solids or low volumes that easily read as solids.

I also spotted a novelty fat quarter with a knitting theme. My sister is an avid knitter. Then one of the clerks pointed out to me they the shop had that print in yardage. I bought 1¼ yards, reasoning I could make a large square pillow. The sayings are so cute..."If I'm sitting 💓 I'm knitting", "Knitting is the New Yoga", "100 rows a day keeps the shrink away", etc. Look closely for more witticisms. Also note in the selvage that there are 18 different colors in this fabric. My coordinating possibilities are nearly endless!

Once I got home I used ½ yard of the knitting fabric combined with a pink stripe from my stash to make a tote bag for knitting. It worked up really fast. The inside lining is the pink stripe so it will be nice and light for looking inside. I still have ¾ yard of the knitting theme fabric so maybe I will make a pillowcase for sleeping - perhaps to use when not knitting?

The pattern I used I also bought at Back Porch Fabrics. Called Turn It Into a Tote, the one-page set of instructions was designed by the shop owner and takes only ½ yard of the theme fabric and 1 yard of another coordinate.

I also bought a pattern called Magic Block, also designed by the shop owner. It is quite easy to piece but the assortment of assembly options were quite clever. I always like to reward a designer's creativity by supporting them with a purchase. The quilt on the wall made from the pattern was one of the options I was very drawn to. It looks like the quilt top takes only one fabric combined with a contrasting background assortment. This pattern could work well for using up many of my novelties.

The shopping expedition was fun, but fabric is not the only mighty fine thing to look at!

Fabric Follies

Today I went with my quilty friend Kathie to the Fabric Follies about 20 miles away sponsored by Diablo Valley Quilters. All fabrics were $3/yd and fat quarters were $1. What a bargain! If only someone would sell me storage space as well, since my stash continues to grow faster than I use it up. Here is what I bought... and sort of why.

I love the color and texture of these striated solids. They will most certainly get used. They totaled 2¼ yards.

This stack of 9 fat quarters with a red/white blue nautical theme caught my eye. I actually put it back twice since I have no further need of fat quarters. But I finally could not pass up that sharp, coordinated, graphic look for $9, $1 per fat quarter. These can make a small quilt or a set of placemats I told myself.

This horse print is intended for my horse crazy granddaughter. Will I make pillowcases or back a quilt? I do not know but I have 3 yards of it. I told my husband this fabric does not count because it is not for me. He laughed. "Right..." he chuckled. "But who's counting?" he added.

This lighthouse fabric is a seaside theme my husband really likes. I told him this fabric does not count either since it is for him. This will most likely become king size pillowcases. He just nodded and smiled. I have 3¼ yards.

I know it sounds a little backwards but I have 6¼ yards of this lovely cardinal fabric in my stash, so I bought 1 yard of this cardinal fabric to go with it.

I have been collecting oranges for a pumpkin pattern I want to sew up. This ½ yard will work nicely with the others fabric and it is strikingly different.

OK. Enough of the fabrics I could explain away. The rest of these I bought honestly for no good reason other than that I liked them. But I maintain that a reason of just liking them is a good enough reason. I counted eight different vegetables before this yardage repeats itself. Each color is strikingly bold in and of itself. I am also a sucker for black and white checks. With 2 yards of this I can make eight placemats or a border on a quilt.

These next two small pieces called to me but for different reasons. I had the clear green fabric on the left with the milk bottles and used it up on placemats for the Twelve Cats of Christmas (12/6/2018 post). It reads like a solid but has enough whimsy to brighten up that green even a bit more. I was an eensy-weensy bit sorry to see it go, so this is a partial replacement. As for the gray/beige tones on the right, I liked the intricate details of the stone buildings. It is only a fat quarter but I think it would make a classy, classic pillow for a gray/beige/neutral room or to contrast well on a bright colored couch.

These next two fabrics are so bright and fun I could not pass them up. The first is many different animals and the second is many different vehicles. I have 1⅓ yard of the animals and only a ½ yard of the vehicles, but with each, the segregated individual squares will make them easy to expand to a quilt for a child.

Final fabric tally was:
1 + ¾ + ½ + 3 + 3¼ + 1 + ½ + 2 + 1⅓ + ½ = 13⅚ yards and 11 fat quarters.

I had a fun couple hours with my friend and we went out to lunch afterward. That is a win-win situation for sure. Now I get to stroke the fabric it, refold it, and put it away.

Savage Quilter with My Daughter

After the Quilt Show in Oklahoma at the end of July 2023, Robin and I did a quick mini Shop Hop to one of her neighborhood stores that I like to visit whenever I travel out to visit her from California.  It is called Savage Quilter and is a well organized shop with color walls by hue around the perimeter for convenient fabric browsing.

I needed to curb my purchases to the limits of my suitcase but I did indulge in some retail therapy. I bought a few fat quarters in an attempt to quench out my orange binging. I also added a couple patterns and a panel. I seem to have a penchant for pumpkins and red pickup trucks with trees. These pumpkins have that peeled back rounded technique of Southwind Designs that I enjoy. These trucks are slightly more unique since they are carrying gifts and not trees.

The panel just seemed to call to me even though I have a drawer full of them. When I bought it, I reasoned with myself that I could use it on the back of a holiday quilt.

But now, after having seen this treatment for a panel at the Brentwood Quilt Show in September 2023, I am wondering if I could be a bit more creative with a judicious choice of fabric in just the perfect colorway. I enjoy pinwheel blocks and they could help put a cute "spin" on this panel. Picking the right fabrics in pink, aqua, and gray-brown, for a winter scene, would be a real blast! It is, after all, a winter scene, but not necessarily Christmas.

That's all for now. My list of want-to-do's keeps growing but is is so much easier to just dream and blog about it.

Tipus and Treetops - Completion

This is my completed quilt from Lotta Jansdotter feature modern fabric in a teal and gray colorway and a 5 x 5 block array. I've titled it Tipus and Treetops. Tipus and Treetops'  predecessor and inspiration, made for the same Lotta Jansdotter fabric line and titled uncreatively Orange and Grey, had been  presented in my post published 8/10/2016 and is shown after its teal and gray cousin.

 

My Tipus and Treetops post for 6/30/2023 displayed fabric choices and construction. The main focal fabric choices from Lotta Jansdotter were a teal mesh and white background fabrics with tipus (little chicks), treetops, and balls and leaves. My post for 7/4/2023 showed the block arrangement, pieced backing, and striped binding. To FMQ, I chose a light gray rather that a white thread which really pops on the dark grays, does show up a bit on the whites, but still is fairly hidden on the really busy mesh and critter fabrics. These next photos show the different FMQ patterns I chose in order of inner rectangles and outer borders. The patterns include: 1) echo quilting + clamshells, 2) curved grid +  parallel piano keyboard stripes, 3) wavy lines + echo quilting, 4) diamond grid +  diagonals to match tipu angle, 5) dot-to-dot four-leaf clusters + straight lines, and 6) echo quilting + dot-to-dot four-leaf clusters. I am most pleased with the curved grid because I have been wanting to do this for quite some time and I finally figured out how to do it.

1. echo quilting + clamshells

2. curved grid +  parallel piano keyboard stripes

3. wavy lines + echo quilting 

4. diamond grid +  diagonals to match tipu angle

5. dot-to-dot four leaf clusters+ straight lines

 6. echo quilting + dot-to-dot four leaf clusters

I finished off with my standard labels of grosgrain ribbon with lettering from my Pfaff domestic. 

Tipus and Treetops measures 48" x 48". Here are the front and back of Tipus and Treetops and my attempt to display it an aesthetically pleasing way. My FMQ is improving (as long as it is planned and not too freeform) but I need to work on the artistic part for my draped displays. 

Brentwood Quilt Show

On Saturday August 19th I went with my quilt friend Kathie to the annual quilt show of the Delta Quilters Guild in Brentwood, CA , a town about 24 miles north of my home in Livermore, CA. I have been to this show several times and it is one of my favorites. It is of a moderate size with an enticing boutique feature.  The quilts are creative and inspiring, while remaining within the range of skill and techniques to which I can aspire.  This year was a 30 year anniversary of the show and it sported a bemusing theme of imparting "Pearls of Wisdom".

THE PEARLS OF WISDOM

There were six stations scattered through the show where an attendee could gather a pearl and learn accompanying words of wisdom, truisms mixed in with humor.  Although I missed photographing the first one, I did document the other five.

After collecting the pearls there was an assembly station where they could be strung on a string along with a clip on one edge and a charm on the other. I assembled mine once I returned home. Only my pink pearl is missing its accompanying pearl of wisdom.

FEATURED QUILTER
The featured quilter of the show was Bobbie Whitlock, a current member of the Delta Quilters Guild. Her quilts are beautiful; two of them are presented in the following photos. I asked how she got the quilting to stand out so impressively in the flower one and she suggested the use of wool batting to give higher texture levels.

OPPORTUNITY QUILT
So impressed was I with the opportunity quilt, that I bought twenty-four tickets for it. The drawing for the winner was to be on the final day of the quilt show so it was not going to be traveling about to more shows collecting even more entrants. At least I brought along my inked stamper so I did not have to write and my name with contact information twenty-four times. Alas! Twenty-four was not enough to win. The pattern is titled Summer on the Delta, designed by Material Girlfriends. I suppose I could buy the pattern and sew one for myself but it is quite large at 92" x 92".

QUILTS THAT CAUGHT MY EYE

I did not take photos of all the quilts (122 of them, not counting those of the featured quilter) but here are the ones that caught my eye. For most I supply a brief reason why I was attracted to them.

Sunflowers alway make me smile, so the assortment of them peeking out between blocks of Field of Sunflowers amused me. The color combination and subject matter were very cheerful.

Who doesn't enjoy the variety of colors and shapes in Quilters Color Therapy? 

This quilt photo of Fine Wines from Local Vines was taken to remind I have been wanting to make an attic windows quilt.

With a few fine black of lines of detail in Little Nugget, it went from black/white neutrality to wild whimsy. Aren't those circles transformed into loopy hedgehogs so precious?

I am fascinated by the use of colors to convey transparency. Mia's Quilt succeeded quite well. I also liked the diagonal plaid effect.

Having complete a Grinch quilt of my own back in 2014, I needed to capture the festiveness of Merry Grinchmas as well. Seeing others' creative deployment of panels is always interesting. My own Grinch quilt was made from a panel intended for a cloth book. Details for completed Grinch quilt is in my blog post published 7/2/14; its completion photo is in this post after the Merry Grinchmas images.

I like the random splashes of orange in Sharks Hunter Star. Photographing it also reminded me I had been intending to make a Hunters Star quilt.

Once again I was impressed with the look of transparency by judicious fabric color choices. I also admired the use of English Paper Piecing as well as regular piecing in A Twist in Time.

Watercolor Pinwheels caught my eye as another creative use for a panel.

RANDOM OTHER EYE-CATCHING ITEMS

The honeycomb stitch on this baby set was so soft and welcoming. The green kitted braid around the edges added creative and tactile interest.

This small placemat-sized quilt was one of many others in a display. I noted how effective the HSTs and itty bitty yellow corner triangles were for stars peeking out in the snowy sky.

In the area for the Quilts of Valor, this quilt had a very interesting pattern to it.

I also notice the decor of guild sponsored quilt shows when I go. I thought this small painted drop leaf table was beautiful. The beach colors and lighthouse theme are so inviting. Fortunately, it was not for sale. I would have had a very difficult time passing it up even though I do not own a beach cottage nor do I live anywhere near the shore. Very, very pretty!

PURCHASES

This Brentwood show usually has an extensive and reasonably-priced boutique section. Maybe the influence of the table I'd just seen stayed with me, because I was drawn to this beach fabric themed tote bag. I have way too may tote bags and walked away from this twice. But the third time was the charm and I could not resist its magical draw. The next photos show the front, the back, the inside with its pockets, followed by closeups to display the front and back fabrics. Ya gotta love those sand dollars!

In the vendor section I picked up a delicate eyeglass case that called to me. Could I make something like this myself? Of course I could. Would I ever get around to it? Nah! I might as well reward someone else's industry.

I could not leave a quilt show without buying some fabric. I have been on a kick to collect orange fabrics so I added one yard of this to my stash.

This is a great show and I love to visit it annually. I am so, so glad it recovered and came back after COVID isolation. My to-do list of quilts I want to make, patterns I want to try, and techniques I want to learn suddenly grew in leaps and bounds. This show is a fantastic source of inspiration and fun.