Shop Hop Eye Candy

Alright, so maybe not everyone would consider deer "shop hop eye candy", and I never expected to see deer at any of the quilt shops. BUT one of them had a pen-full of deer in their side yard, and you can see this one was quite friendly!

I couldn't decide whether to be irritated by the penned-up deer?? Why were they penned up? I'm hoping they don't serve as this family's yearly "deer meat" or something similar?? 

Though now that I think of it, it's not so dissimilar to what we do to cows & pigs now, is it? And don't get all freaky-deak on me~ I'm not some squirrelly vegetarian with no tolerance for pig and/or cow eating & being all judgmental ... I eat mean... just making an observation!

This same lovely shop (the one that went on and on and on and on) provided the most comfortable gliders on which we sat & had our lunch. And might I just add, we had the more glorious day for this weather-wise.

Now to some pictures of the loot! This first set of fabric is for making birthday place mats for the most part. I made them for my own gang at home & want to make some "generic" ones as well.

I was lacking browns in my stash:

(I think the one is actually black?)

Tea fabric!

 

Coffee fabric!

A homespun I plan to turn into napkins for us.

A couple fun novelties: 

And we went to a new shop that offers a very nice array of wool felt! It's difficult to find in stores around here, even with us being in Lancaster, PA, which seems to be the quilt store mecca of the USA!

(the small brown piece on top is actually 100% wool)

These are the four shop hop blocks I'll make "someday". 

A few nifty patterns:

 

Notions~ If you enlarge this one you can see the labels say, "Created by Denise". How cool is that??!?!

And another random-makes-me-laugh picture, because yes, this was found within the deer quilt shop. The Amish & Mennonite are well-know for their herbal remedies, but the presentation & location cracked me up.

That'll be enough quilt shop-hopping for a little while. I'm still not back in my sewing room since our home was flooded in September of this last year, and all of my fabric is still in boxes. I can dig through them if I REALLY want to sew, and I have on a few occasions. But really the process is so annoying & exhausting that by the time I've dug through everything trying to find anything, I have no patience or energy left to BEGIN a new sewing project. Instead I just keep stock-piling :) 

Happy Weekend everybody!

Hershey Quilt Show Loot

I went to the Hershey Quilt Show with a couple of friends this past Sunday, and came home with some fantastic loot!

This is an over-view picture. The pictures below separate it all into groups...

WOOL - Since I did my snowman candle mat, I'm hooked!! It's fantastic to stitch on & I think it looks fabulous to boot! I haven't tried felting it yet, but that's up there on my "things-to-try-soon" list!

NOTIONS: a couple lighted crocheted hooks, a chalk liner, rubber thimble, Marvy erasable fabric marker, a few HQ reusable bobbins, and that round thing is a chalk eraser and/or fuzzy remover.

I didn't buy much fabric. Unless I'm looking for something specialized, most likely something novelty, I resist buying fabric at the shows because it's darn expensive. So I look for smaller cuts of novelty for the most part.

FAT QUARTERS: pickles, "manly", lime green, orange w/spider webs, "I love soccer", two purple bats, and a couple candy corns.

Had to show a close-up of the "manly" -- They're more difficult to find. I cannot fathom what I'd make with it, but well, you know, I still NEEDED it.

FREEBIES: Oh yeah, you read that right!!! I got all these various sized cuts below FOR FREE!! I guess the folks at Epicurean Crafts thought I'd spent enough at their booth that I'd earned some free loot!! I'm all for that :) 

(the stuff I bought from them are the patterns at the end for stitchery)

THREAD: Cones for the HQ16

ORNAMENTS: Halloween & Christmas patterns for felted wool

SEWING: a Bible cover & a 12"X 12" mini quilt for summertime

STITCHERY: Halloween, Autumn, runner, and Easter wall-hanging, and a book of "edgings"

Are you all familiar with "stitchery"? I've come to love it! It's simpler than full-out embroidery & works beautifully in my very old home. I was thrilled to see so much of it at the show this year. Last year this wasn't the case & choices were more limited.

That's the end of my loot-sharing. The pile seems a tad small to me when I consider the total price tag, but alas, I know I haven't picked the cheapest hobby. 

AND I don't have the most restraint when I find myself in a room filled with sewing/quilting stuff... or books for that matter... or in bakeries ... or in any other restaurant... or in an education store... office supplies stores...

Perhaps I need to work on self-restraint??