My First Color Wheel

I took a class at Acorn Quilts in Rockford.  Have you ever been there?  It is a beautiful store.  The class room is a little small, but this was mostly lecture so it was fine for the eight of us who took the Color Theory class.  We learned how to read the wheel, the subtle differences in the tertiary colors (red-orange vs. yellow orange). Then we looked at paint chips and made mini wheels.  Paint chips are hard.  The color variants are so slight, it takes a good eye.

The instructor talked to us about reading our stash of fabrics and building up in the areas we are lacking.  The most fun was letting us go out into the store and grab bolts of fabric and making our ideal color wheel.  We had homework: to find the colors in our stash and make a wheel.  I'm proud to say I had at least one of every color but yellow.  No true yellow.  Entirely too much pink and blue and brown.  But, can you have too much blue fabric?  Hmmm... let me think about that.

There's more to do for homework... I'll share that later.    But... here it is, my first color wheel.  I enjoyed the process very much and will be pursuing other color wheels in my future.

Also, I can't really sew in a circle.
I'll need to work on that...

Status Report

I'm a sewing machine... wait. That doesn't sound right. I'm a sewing maniac. Yes, much more accurate. As time allows, Sharon tries to quilt, quilt, quilt. Well, piece really.

In February I went a little fabric shopping crazy. Kah-ray-zee. On my blog feed I've been seeing future projects and wanted to get the fabric before it sold out. So I bought fabric.

I've also been working on my BOM project. I'm a little behind: the project gives me three blocks to complete a month. I did January in time, but I've only done one block for February. It was practicing half square triangles. You remember half-square triangles from my Basics class, right?  When you put four half square triangles together you get a windmill.  Well, my BOM for February is focusing on half-square triangles.  I was going to finish my February projects this weekend.

Then it snowed.  It snowed nine inches and I was home and needed something to do.  So I started one of those rainy day projects.  This project was one of the first projects I wanted to complete when I decided that quilting was for me.  So I got the fabric that I purchased in my February Fabric Frenzie, and started.

Did you guess? Yes!  It involves, almost exclusively, half-square triangles.  100 of them so far.

there are 19 windmills

There are 24 large half square triangles

there are 100 half square triangle in all.  I love the color combinations.

Now what?  Well, I need a place to put everything together.  Placing my squares in the order i want them on the ground isn't conducive to my sad knees.  I need a large table top.  Also, the fabric isn't ready for purchase.  I've learned that pre-cuts are sold before the yardage (marketing geniuses at work).  

Also, I won a blog challenge:

... hey that's me!

.... and I want to buy the border, binding, and backing for this quilt with this gift!

It's so exciting, isn't it?

The Basics -- Hourglass Pinwheel

I just finished my Basics Quilt Class.  Here's one of the squares I learned to construct ...

The square: Hourglass Pinwheel

Why it's a Basic: Two sets of hourglass squares in a 4-patch design

What I learned: That I haven't perfected the hourglass technique. 

What I like about this square: Start in the middle... work your way out, do you see the pinwheel?  That's what I like.  Also, the fabric.  They're additions to the mix and I love them

What I don't like: maybe it's just this picture, but those pinwheels don't look like they're all right.

Would I do anything differently:  Well, this is the second one I did... it's a little better than the first.

The Basics: An Easy Guide to Beginning Quiltmaking by Kathy Delaney

Taught by Barbara R. at the Prairie Quilt Shops

Just a reminder, this unfinished quilt was photographed on an ottoman and may not appear square, but it is!

The Basics -- 9-Patch

The square:9 3.5" squares sewn together

Why it's a Basic: This is as basic as it gets... Like the 4-patch, other patches work off of its construction

What I learned:  It takes me a while, but I got much better as cutting fabric. Those seams are lined up! and yes, Virginia, we have 1/4" squares

What I like about this square: Visually, it's one of my favorites (probably it's the blue).  The colors. I love the birdies. The orange fabric was in my stash and I raided it.  

What I don't like:  Not a whole lot.  Probably, I would say I don't like that it took a while to conquer, but really, I like this one.

Would I do anything differently: Nada.  This was a good one.

The Basics: An Easy Guide to Beginning Quiltmaking by Kathy Delaney

Taught by Barbara R. at the Prairie Quilt Shops

Just a reminder, this unfinished quilt was photographed on an ottoman and may not appear square, but it is!

Hippity Hippity Hop

I'm finishing the Northern Illinois Three Month Quilt Shop Hop. I went to about 8 shops in early August and wrote a long shop-by-shop discussion about each store with pictures. Well, 22 stores is a lot to blog about and I'm too pooped. Truly, I gave up on take pictures. The rest of the 14 shops deserve a better presentation, but I just didn't have it in me.

 On Tuesday, September 13th I hit the following shops: 1. Judy's quilt N Sew in Hampshire, Illinois. I've driven passed this store countless times and I'm glad I finally went in. They sell Bernina machines and were quite busy the day I visited. I would go back to this shop for the classes they hold. Also, full color newsletter. Glossy paper. Tres professional.

 2. The I headed north, way north ... so north the smell of autumn was in the air. It turns out the smell of wood burning was from a wildfire in northern Minnesota. Huh. Sawdust and Stitches in Elkhorn WI was a little far for me but you really never know when you'll need fabric, so it's good to know they're there. I remember seeing lots of wool there as well as more traditional fabrics. I thought the bolts of fabric looked like elephants feets, sort of scrunched.

3. Back south to All My Stitches in Belvidere, Illinois (link goes to a Facebook page). This is a sweet little store with lots of fresh fabrics. She has some beautiful 1930's reproduction fabrics. I'd go back to this store for the fabrics.

4. The next two stores were easy to get to. Quilter's General Store in Rockford, IL was worth the trip. You have to go to this store. It's in an old farmhouse and gorgeous. There are mostly traditional fabrics, but a whole porch of batiks. Wool. A room of wool / felt. Bolts of them. Upstairs are the more contemporary fabrics. They have classes. This store turned out to be one of my favorites in the hop.

5. Quilter's Haven was just down the block and also in Rockford. It's tucked in the back of a shared building. Cute. There's all kinds of fabrics there and I remember drooling over some bolts of chenille.

6. Yikes! I was hoping to be home before 5 but I really wanted to get to Basketcases in tiny Clare Illinois. It's located in a barn. A majority of the fabrics were upstairs and I really enjoyed this store. I liked the fabric selection. According to the websites, Basketcases has lots of crafting options. I just know I liked the relaxed feeling the women there presented. They were busy sewing and chatting and were very welcome. My husband (and dogs) joined me in the next leg of the Hop: Saturday, September 24

7. Leaf River Quilt Company is on the outskirts of Leaf River IL, which would be left of Byron. Does that help? Located on a farm, the store is warm and welcoming and filled with wonderful fabrics. She has a lot of those pre-cut bundles that are so popular. I enjoyed this store.

8. Not far from Leaf River is Pecatonica, Illinois. Watch your speed while driving through Peck-ah-tahn-ih-ka... on your way to Lucky 2-B Quilting... the police want your money. The shop is an interesting mixture of contemporary fabrics, 1930s reproductions, and the more traditional quilting fabrics.

9. Back to Rockford for Quilter's Haven. Quilter's Haven is also in an old farm house, and when I say this store is filled with fabrics would be an understatement. But the fabrics are lovely. I would like it if they had better lighting. QH also sells machines (I don't remember which one).

10. Acorn Quilts is on the northern side of Rockford. Oh, how I loved this store. They have beautiful fabrics. It's contemporary in style... chic really. Did I mention the fabrics? Yum. They had many pre-cuts. I even liked the manner in which they bundled their kits. Details matter. This was truly one of my favorites (way to go Rockford, 2 of the 4 stores there are on my Go-Back-To List)

Sunday, September 25
11. My husband (sans doggies) joined me again and we went to the Prairie Stitches Quilt Shop in Oswego,IL. My, my, what a year they're having. They're featured as a top ten quilt shop -- and their quilt is on the cover. They have oodles of fabrics -- from contemporary to Civil War reproductions to 1930's. Lots of fabrics. And wool. Wait til you see the wool wall they have. It's lovely and I want it. They also have a lovely wall of patterns. Nicely displayed.

Tuesday, September 27 Dave and the doggies again joined me. We had a road trip!

12. Phat Quarters in Galena. Galena had floods this summer and Phat 1/4s got hit. They are in a new location and still selling Berninas.

13. Sew Generously in St. Charles. Another Bernina store... and this is the store that is giving away the Grand Prize... yep a sewing machine. In a strip mall, the store was bright and cheerful. They had a lovely quote on the wall:

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'. Erma Bombeck

I really liked the variety of fabricss they had there. I was hoping for some 30s reproduction but they didn't have any. That's okay I found something else I really liked.

Wednesday, September 28

14.  My home shop. Prairie Stitches Quilt Shop in Batavia, IL. This is the shop where I learned about this hop. I took my one quilting class here.  It feels like home.  She has a good mix of contemporary and traditional fabrics.  On either side of the shop the walls are filled with goodies: one wall is almost exclusively patterns.  The other wall has doodads and notions.  There is a great space for classes as well, it's very open.

2011 is the year I am learning to quilt, that is, I'm exploring what it means to Quilt and be a quilter. The shop hop was a great experience. I'm learning fabrics. I'm getting lingos and meeting people who quilt. I've definitely refined my likes and dislikes. It's been a great experience and I got some great fabric (mostly fat quarters) in the process.

And now for my purchases from the last 14 shops of this hop (see previous post for those purchases):

 It's clear that I like those blues...

French General (most).  This is my next project.

I just want to swim in these colors.  My favorite from all 22 shops.

In summary: I'd highly recommend beginner quilters participating in something like this.  It's helped me immensely look at stores in a new way (i.e. not just looking at the fabric).  I think the next time I participate in something like this, I would have projects in mind... Look at those blues. If I knew then what I know now, I'd buy yards of those fabrics.

My favorite stores (in alpha order -- it's the librarian in me):

• Acorn Quilts in Rockford, IL 
• Material Girl in Crystal Lake, IL 
• Prairie Shop Quilts in Batavia, IL
• Quilter's General Store in Rockford, IL 

The Three Month Quilt Shop Hop

I spent a good portion of today hopping from shop to shop: about four hours with a half hour break for lunch.

I decided to join the Three Month Quilt Shop Hop this summer. It covers pretty much all of northern Illinois. I learned of the shop hop at my local quilt shop Prairie Shop Quilts in Batavia. Since this will cover many miles, and I want to get to all those shops, I thought I'd need to get a good chunk of these shops out of the way.

So, I hit the northwestern suburbs today:

1. I started with Quilter's Destination in Arlington Heights. I didn't take any pictures (didn't think of it til much later in the day) of the shop which is located in a small strip mall off Rand Road. The notes I made on my foursquare comments, was Batik City. Lots of batik and it's right when you first walk in. The staff were eager to help and encourage me to continue in my quilting. They encouraged me to take classes... Also, they sell Janome machines. {smile} I would glad go back to this shop. There were several different pre-cuts available for purchase. I think they had an excellent selection of patterns as well.

These are the items I purchased at Quilter's Destination:

2. I headed west to my next shop, A Touch of Amish in Barrington. A Touch of Amish is located right across the street from Jewel... in an older home. There is ample parking in the back of the house -- a whole parking lot. The shop was very busy this morning, which I imagine is a very good thing. A Touch of Amish had batiks and a few contemporary lines but mostly this is mostly an old school quilting store. The woman who helped me seemed to be the store owner and answered my questions. They sell Quilt Smart products... one particular pattern caught my eye: Black-eyed Susan. It's very attractive. A Touch of Amish didn't have many pre-cuts for sale. Fat quarters seemed to be just for left-over fabric.

This is the item I purchased at A Touch of Amish:

3. A few short miles west of Barrington is the Pieceful Gathering Quilt Shop in Fox River Grove on the Northwest Highway. Look for this shop on the north side of the street:

Pretty. The shop is the first floor of the house. According to the friendly clerk, Pieceful Gathering has two long arm machines upstairs where they have a quilting service. While I was there I heard the whirl of the machine doing it's thing. The fabric is almost exclusively civil war reproductions. They had a nice selection of accessories. When it was finally my turn to check out a woman raced from upstairs to show the clerk the pattern she had just finished. She was as giddy as a school girl... wanting the clerk to take a picture of what she'd just done... the clerk reminded her that customers were waiting. I told her it was fine to go take the picture. We went back and forth several times, til I finally checked out. It was a weird exchange. They had a good selection of fat-quarters and some nice patterns... even if the fabric wasn't my style.

This is the item I purchased from Pieceful Gathering:

4. After lunch in Crystal Lake, I headed downtown Crystal Lake to Material Girl. Material Girl was known as Millie's for many years and one of the best fabric stores I'd ever been to. I met Millie once just before she sold her shop and she was wonderful -- the woman knew fabric. She could pinpoint a store my mom mentioned to her in downtown Los Angeles. I'd been wanting to get to Crystal Lake to see what the new owner had done to it.

It's worth the wait. And, it's worth the drive. What a great store. Once I have a real handle on projects I want to start, I am heading to Material Girl. Fabrics are organized by genre then color. All the old buttons Millie had collected over the years? Still available. We're talking buttons that must be more than 20 years.... but also current style buttons too. That is what was so great about Millie's Shop... she had so much. So does Material Girl, but in the best way possible. The staff were busy with fabric salesmen, but available for assistance. I love this shop and I can't wait to go back. They had an amazing selection of fat quarters and pre-cuts as well. It's a good thing I didn't have my debit card because I was ready to buy at least one jelly roll. This isn't really a quilt store as the other stores were. It's a fabric store. And it's great.

These are the items I purchased at Material Girl:

5. I'm as west as I'll get and now I head back south to Huntley, IL and Quilt In Joy. Quilt in Joy is in a small strip mall in rural Huntley.

Quilt in Joy has a nice selection of contemporary fabrics. This was a nice shop with nice women who knew their clientele. They had a small selection of patterns (things were starting to look alike by now) and a good selection of fat quarters and some pre-cuts as well.

These are the items I purchased at Quilt in Joy (I love this line and it killed me when I had to put two away, I ran out of money):

After I purchased these two fat quarters I realized I was on to something. Don't you love how these purchases look together?

6. My last shop for the day. I was tired of driving by now so by the time I located Sewing Concepts in Carpentersville (Google Maps, I shake my first at you, this shop is not on the right side of the street!!) I was done looking at fabrics. It's a good thing... this store was light on the fabrics. It's a Janome dealer as well, which is nice to have close by, but talk radio was playing loudly and the two people working were a little grumpy with each other. I'd been to the Sewing Concepts in Woodstock which I found delightful.

This is the item I purchased at Sewing Concepts:

sorry about the sideways shot: but it's a binding maker. I've been looking for this for sometime, and to have the 15% (I think) discount just made it better.

I have 14 more shops to go in my passport (although I've been to Prairie Shop Quilts, but didn't have the passport to have it stamped.

Do you hop shops? If you don't, try it. It's amazing to see the personalities of the stores. They all seem to have a specific niche they fill.

Shop on...

Where I Sew

Five years ago I told my husband I needed a place of my own. It didn't happen and didn't happen ... and ... I blamed him. Then I started sewing. And 2011 became the Year I Try To Quilt. Now, finally, a purpose for my room.

This weekend I tackled it. It wasn't hard but took lots of shredding and organizing. I just finished with it and I'm really pleased. It faces west and I love that room.

The Ikea table holds the sewing machine and lots of room to hold material and projects. A plastic storage unit is underneath as well.


Repurposed shelves holds the start of my stash a filing cabinet has misc stuff.


My work table is another Ikea purchase.  There are shelves down there for books, paper patterns, my sewing box, and my cutting mat is as big as the table top!  It's a good spot!

I'm so happy this room finally has a focus and I finally have A Place of My Very Own.

It's my first.

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Stash Building

Went to the Fabric Store in Morris IL. They don't have a website -- but they're worth finding. I resisted most things, including looking at new Janome sewing machines. I'll save my pennies.... I did find these fat quarters.




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