More quilting news...

Last Saturday I dragged Cameron and Ruby to the quilting store in Cordova Bay, on the hunt for background fabric for his quilt.  We arrived at 3:50 pm and the door was locked, even though it said they were open until 5:30 pm.... After a few minutes of thinking to myself "Wha??" I ended up banging on the door to get the woman's attention (who was clearly ignoring me).  She finally let me in after realizing that she had the wrong time on her clock... she had closed up the till and was heading out the back door when we arrived! Seriously??  Then she proceeded to ignore me again while she re-opened the till.  Um, hello?  Can we get some help here?  It was basically a waste of time for both of us because they had absolutely nothing in the store that worked for me.  Again.  I'm so done with them.  I tried to "support the locals" but this isn't the first time I've had issues with this store.  The last time I went there, another employee miscalculated how much fabric I needed so I had to go back the next day.

So when I was at the quilting show last month, I realized Victoria has a quilting store that I had never heard of before.  So a couple of days ago I thought I would check them out.  They are located in an industrial area, in an odd building which shares a parking lot with the gravel yard. So there are big dump trucks coming and going and you have to get out of their way... they stop for no-one.  So anyway, I was completely caught off guard and wasn't expecting what I saw when I walked in the door... QUILTER'S HEAVEN!!!  Oh. My. Word.  Bolts and bolts of fabric everywhere, stuffed wherever there was room, like a warehouse.  A small warehouse but it was awesome!  It reminded me of Mook Fabrics in Medicine Hat - no frills, nothing fancy, but scads and scads of gorgeous fabrics!!  And helpful staff who actually know what they are talking about.  Imagine that!!  I was so happy.  Sigh.

I found my background fabric... woot woot!  And I changed my design for Cameron's quilt because the other idea was going to be too finnicky and tedious.  So the block when from this:

To this:

I think it looks much better.. it's a more defined pattern (not as random as the first one) and it's way easier too, which is a bonus.  Also, I was lucky to find a pattern that uses 4 strips of fabrics sewn together, which is what I had already started doing for the original pattern.  Yay!!

Now, if I could only bring my sewing machine on our road trip, I could get this quilt done lickety-split!!

Say NO to Quilt Guilt

After 3 years (or more?), Simon's quilt is finally done and on his bed where it belongs!

I ended up getting some "help" in finishing Simon's quilt, but I am so pleased with the end result!  After I spent countless days/months stressing about how I was going to quilt it on my machine, I finally let go of the guilt and sent it off to be long-arm quilted.  I found a lovely woman (www.quiltasdesired.com) in Dean Park to finish it for me and she did an amazing job!  She even put a rush on it so it would be done by Simon's 12th Birthday - bless her!  Simon was thrilled, I was thrilled, she was thrilled that Simon was thrilled... a win win!!  YAY! 

I've already started on Cameron's quilt.  I bought a Batik jelly roll from a recent quilting show in Victoria.  Love the colours!!  But I'm not sure if I love the pattern I chose... it may be too random??  It's a "3 Dudes Quilting" jelly roll quilt pattern that I found from the Missouri Star Quilt Company.  They have a bunch of really cool UTube videos for jelly roll quilts.  Anyway, I've started sewing my strips together already so I don't think I can change my mind anymore.  I'm sure it will be fine! If anything, it's easy enough that I should have it done quicker than 3 years from now!! :-)