Once Upon a Time...

I think I've let it slip a couple of times on blog that I'm a Disney fan, but that's not completely accurate.  I'm a Disney fanatic.  Okay okay, I guess "obsession" is a better word when describing how I feel about Disney.  In fact, for my 30th Birthday I will be traveling to Disney World with a handful of friends and my parents.  And, since I'm a Disney pro, I go all out- I've replaced a zipper of a Figment backpack from my childhood and then decided that I need a Disney themed wallet for the trip.  Why buy when you can make?  So, I grabbed the book Easy Japanese Quilt Style (a Christmas gift from my friends Shelagh and Doug) and loosely went off a pattern for wallets- I made two: Disney 'Once Upon a Time' themed, and one from the left over fabric from Courtney's Thank You quilt.

The idea for these wallets is really cute, but the directions are not the clearest ever, so I had to sort of loosely follow the instructions and sort of go with my gut on how to put it together.  Courtney's was easier than my Disney wallet, simply because all of the fabric already coordinated, while I had to decide which of my Disney fabric I was actually going to use.  I have a lot, but not a ton of options- no Mickey and Minnie (bummer), but two different Disney Princess themed, a little bit of left over Ariel from pot holders I made Courtney for her Birthday, a fair amount of Winnie-The-Pooh, and, of course, the Alexander Henry fabric that I'm convinced looks exactly like "It's a Small World."  I settled, however, on staying with the Disney Princesses.  Combining all of the fabric on such a small project looked a little messy and disjointed.

The thing that I really loved about this project is, now that I know the basic way to put a wallet together, I feel like I could make my own pattern and make it more functional and a better size.  If I do, I am going to attempt to write my own pattern.  Hopefully I will be more clear enough for people to understand me. This project also made me really appreciate Elizabeth Hartman.  Her instructions are so clear and easy to follow.  I hope she writes a million more books!

I can't wait to get to Disney World, so I can use this little guy!

Stranded in Cincinnati

Like thousands of other travelers, my flight to NYC was canceled on Monday- the earliest I was able to get home after that?  Friday.  I was really annoyed, but my parents live in town, so I had a free place to stay and got to spend more time with them.  The best part though is I got to do some quilt-related stuff that I didn't have time for during Christmas- mostly quilt related.

First, my mom dug out an old quilt she has (we're guessing it's from the 1920s) that her great aunt made.  She was foolish enough to let my brother and me play on it as children, so it has stains and a lot of wear and tear, but it is truly amazing.  Completely done by hand and very detailed.  It has crossed my mind that I should try to recreate it as a project... we'll see if that happens.

 

THE most exciting thing that I did was go to the most amazing quilting fabric shop I've ever been to.  When my mom's best friend (a long time quilter) told me that we would be driving 40 minutes to a store called the Fabric Shack, I have to admit, I was quite skeptical.  I sure did eat my words when we finally got there- this place is AMAZING!  If you are ever in the Cincinnati/Dayton/Columbus area, you must go.  First off, they have great prices and a truly amazing selection. They still had bolts of Lizzie House's Castle Peeps (which I've been eyeing for months) for only $7.99 a yard (needless to say, I bought quite a few half yards of this).  I even could not resist buying fabric for a baby blanket for when one of my closest friends has an other baby- please note that she just gave birth less than two months ago... I think I'll be sitting on this fabric for quite some time, but it was just too good to pass up!

They also have great remnants tables, that were only a few dollars a yard for anything.  There is room after room after room of fabric.  We spent a couple of hours and around $100, I probably could have spent all day and four times that amount, but $100 goes a lot further there than in NYC.  I also got a lot of quilting tips and some new items that are supposed to make quilting a lot easier (although I did have to pass on the walking foot because it was like $90).

Not only did I get a bunch of amazing new fabric, but tons of books and magazines to add to my collect which, before my trip, was only a few magazines and photocopies of stuff from books from the library.  I finally got Elizabeth Hartman's book for Christmas from my parents.  I also got a fun Asian fabric inspired book from family friends, and then my mother bought be a really great book called "Fresh Quilts" (mostly I think because she felt sorry for me to being stranded in Ohio).  I also took a quick trip to Half Price Books and bought a hand full of old quilt books at a very dicounted price.  Thanks to all this new stuff, I now have about a million projects I can't wait to start (and hopefully finish).

I also was able to see the wedding dress exhibit and the Thomas Gainsborough exhibit at the Cincinnati Art Museum.  Both were really wonderful exhibits.  I always love to see old and amazing gowns and it was pretty amazing to see the actual pantings that I've studied and used as research. I, of course, bought a book on the wedding dress exhibit.

Well, that was my trip- twice as long as planned, but turned out really nice and productive.  I'm happy to be home though- with a cuddly kitty cat and tons of new projects on the horizon!  Happy New Year!