… drygoods design

one of my favorite online fabric shops, drygoods design online now has an actual physical store. and in seattle, no less! keli opened her doors about two weeks ago and i dropped in for the opening to celebrate. keli has such a terrific eye for fabrics, and though you definitely get that from her online shop, it's super apparent being in the store. everything just cries out, "i'm pretty! buy me! don't i look great with the fabric right next to me? you should bring that one home, too!"

so clearly i couldn't leave empty-handed. i picked up some lovely prints and a figgy's pattern that just might have me finally sewing clothing. for ingrid, that is. and since the smallest size is 18 months, that at least gives me some time to figure out how to make it happen.

i contributed this little piece to her display of lovely quilt blocks. she ingeniously stretched them over canvas so they stood alone as works of art decorating the walls. i love that idea.

keli even has some summersville in stock, which seems to be hard to find even though it was only released like, what, three seconds ago? i spent the other night ironing the new additions to my fabric stash, sipping on some wine, and dreaming about my next visit to the shop.

… read-a-thonning

last saturday was the spring edition of dewey's 24-hour read-a-thon. i participated for the first time almost 2 years ago and then again last april. this time i was an unofficial participant, since i knew that with a baby there was no way in hell i could actually spend that much time reading. but i figured that if i at least squeezed some reading into the nooks and crannies of my day that might add up to at least a significant (to me) amount. here's how it went down.

5:00--official read-a-thon start time. still sleeping. sleep is precious.
6:45--wake up.


7:00--put scones in the oven and make tea.

7:10--read midnight in austenland (10 minutes).
7:20--baby wakes up, playtime and breakfast.
8:20--nurse baby and put down for nap #1.
8:45--read midnight in austenland (45 minutes)
9:30--baby wakes up.
10:00--walk to farmer's market with the family, play time at home, eat lunch.
11:35--nurse baby and put down for nap #2.
12:00--read midnight in austenland (45 minutes).
12:45--baby wakes up, help c get baby ready to go out to lunch, and see them off.

1:00--read midnight in austenland (2 hours).

3:00--finish midnight in austenland and pick up little women (30 minutes).
3:30--baby and c return from outing, playtime.
4:00--nurse baby and put down for nap #3.
5:00--baby wakes up.
5:30--go to friend's rollerskating birthday party.
7:30--return home, eat dinner.
8:15--nurse baby and put her to bed (this is a later bedtime than usual… please don't judge me!).
9:00--take a bath and read little women (1 hour).
11:00--get into bed, still reading little women (20 minutes).
11:20--fall asleep.
total reading time: ~5 hours and 30 minutes. and even in those 5 and 1/2 hours i was still doing other things like snacking, reheating tea, puttering around, etc. so it's not the 23 1/2 hours I spent reading my first read-a-thon, but still i'm tickled that i got to spend that much hunkered down with a good book or two.

… what i'm working on

primarily this, at the moment. yup, i was finally able to assemble the retro flowers quilt top. christina from the sometimes crafter generously donated her pattern to our charity bee, and i was thrilled to get a chance to try something new and challenging. and, hey look! there is currently a retro flowers quilt along going on, so if you're up for some company in tackling this super pattern, now's the time!



seeing these sunny, gorgeous blocks from my fellow bee members all together is pretty much warming my heart with their hot, hot glow.



i'm so glad i chose this quilt for my do. good stitches love circle members, because after making two of these blocks myself i know that i would never be able to do a whole quilt all by my lonesome. so much work! it's satisfying, but still. i am lazy, truth be told.



i'm still tossing around ideas for the back, this being the general concept for one of them. i set aside two flowers that go perfectly with the backing fabric i picked out. now i'm just unsure if i want to surround them in coordinating solids, or maybe just float them randomly on the back. or nestle them close together? hmmm…



in other do. good stitches news, i made these awesome improv chevron blocks for natalie last month. it's a super fun block based on this tutorial. and don't you love those colors together?



and just today i got started fussy cutting and framing some polaroid blocks for rachel for the group's april quilt. i've never really been a fan of fussy cutting, but i have to be honest, i'm kind of digging this right now.

i suppose that's the benefit of being in a bee: trying new things and opening yourself to techniques you might now have done before.

… visiting pink chalk fabrics

lucky me, i got to tag along with katie and visit the pink chalk fabrics headquarters the other week (talk about mind blogging, i thought i wrote about this ages ago!).



before we invaded fabric mecca, though, we all met up to have lunch with melissa, who just had her darling baby girl. is it weird that even though i have a nine-month-old baby i am already nostalgic for the newborn days? she was so sweet she slept the entire time. sigh... newborns, amiright?









ingrid tagged along and even got into the spirit of fabric pulling. what a little helper she is.



i came away with the loveliest stack of fabrics. i finally found something i like enough to back this long-unfinished quilt (and, oh no! i just noticed that it's now been over a year since i finished that quilt top). and we got to raid kathy's scrap bins which she sold to us at the most amazing price. there are some seriously lovely treasures in there, not to mention that her "scraps" are often quarter- or half-yard cuts.

and it was such a delight to meet kathy in person, who is just as nice as you would imagine. she didn't seem to mind at all the fact that four fabric-crazed ladies and one baby were turning her beautiful workroom upside down. it's always heartening to know that there are good people behind the shops you love to order from. thanks, kathy!