Hot August Nights AND Christmas Fabric

Summer has finally definitely hit Wisconsin. All week we have had temperatures in the mid 80's and not a cloud in the sky. I'm stitching only small projects that don't add load up my lap with piles of fabric...probably good that I don't feel like finishing the hand-quilting on a king size BowTie Quilt I've been working on for 3 years!!! I am enjoying doing Sophie's Perfume Bottle in colored floss though. That type of little project is just right for this kind of weather.

But in spite of the August dog days we are experiencing, I just ordered some gorgeous new Christmas Fabric from Pink Chalk Studio. I decided to go with the Sheri Berry Holiday fabric line that is brand new from Northcutt. I love the soft palette and am really excited to design some new Christmas patterns with this line. I think I finally decided on 1/2 yard cuts of 8 fabrics-can't wait to get started!

Sophie Block 2-Getting Pretty!

Take a look at our girlfirend Sophie! I love the mirror and mascara-don't you??? Jeanne started out by having Sophie's mirror say "Diva". But that seemed a bit bold for our girl. Of course, we think she IS a diva but didn't want you to pre-judge her without finding out a bit more about her.



Sophie can be downloaded from our website. We'll be keeping each of the month's blocks on the site all year round in case you mis-place her or find out about her mid-year. Jeanne needs to do some clean up on the web site and will be adding her picture to our home page later today, as well as making sure Sophie's name is spelled correctly (we don't want an identity crisis at this time in our lives!). I will be posting a colored floss version of Sophie #2 later this week with the floss numbers and a view of the fabrics we have selected.



Pink Chalk Studio delivered my new fabrics on Saturday and I'm ready to start playing with them. I'll share the work in progress as it develops. It's only 3 degrees here today so the wonderful bright fabrics I received are making the day feel warmer.

Sohpie Floss Choices

Sorry for delay in the floss selections but I thought Jeanne had the baggie with the floss and she thought I did...typical sisters--kind of like button, button, who has the button??? So, anyway, here are the floss selections we picked out to go with the printed fabric. We use DMC floss and 2 strands- 349, 834, 311,958, 906, 355, 738 or 758 for the flesh tones. We pick floss by laying the fabrics out and kind of just hunting and pecking for what we like. Sometimes we don't agree-that's the trick when there are 2 of us picking!

I am just finishing the final stitches on the 2nd Sophie block. She should be ready to post Monday or Tuesday. We decided to show 2 blocks with Sophie herself and then March will be what will go around one of these blocks. We are working towards a wall-hanging that will have views of Sophie herself and then the things that go into making her the fun Dress-Up Queen that she is! With March we will also give you the layout of the entire wall-hanging so you can start to think about the whole thing. We also think the blocks will work up quickly into a pillow or tote bag design.

I am loving the Crazy Quilt concept-what do you think???

I got the fabric I ordered from Pink Chalk Studio and am in love. I'll snap some pics and post them later--I have to have something to do during the Super Bowl Game!

Sophie Fabric and other Stuff!

Jeanne and I went shopping on Saturday to our local quilt store and found some great fabrics for Sophie. Besides the obligatory red and white prints that we must have missed last time, we fell in love with Terry Atkinson's Paisley Party for Red Rooster Fabrics. See the picture next door to get a feel for the lovely colors. I should be ready to post our first Sophie block in living color at the end of the week. AND our second block is about ready to be posted come next week! What a gal that Sophie is.

I also placed an order for some fat quarters from one of my new favorite web quilt stores Pink Chalk Studio. I placed the order yesterday and have already gotten an update that the order is shipped-how's that for quick service??? I've been reading their blog for about 6 months and have enjoyed what is going on at their store. I ordered some Kaffee Fassett, Heather Bailey and Elizabeth House fabrics. None of the quilt shops in my area carry these lines and I just couldn't resist-besides the shipping costs were much less than a tank of gas! They have collections of fat quarters already made up so it's a fun and easy way to try out some new fabric lines.