Fabric Center

The knitting ladies at Elemental Yarns told me about this amazing quilt shop in Morris, IL. It is about a 15 minute drive from the yarn shop. The Fabric Center is a sewing machine superstore. A quilter's paradise is all I can think of! It has a very large selection of batiks as well as bolts from most of the well known fabric designers. I certainly like the way the bolts that are not against the wall are displayed. They are so easy to see.

This shop has everything a quilter could want in tools, patterns and books. Friendly sales people are eager to help. They are very knowledgeable about the sewing and embroidery machines on display as we found out!

Did I walk out empty handed? Not on your life! I'll show off a few purchases next time. Today, I'll share some photos taken around the store. More shop photos tomorrow.

Lots of books and patterns

Landscape Fabrics

Quilts hanging everywhere

Lots of batiks!

Note how the bolts are displayed

Welcome SPRING!

Well, spring arrived this morning. It's overcast here and around 7 C so maybe we are slowly getting into the swing of things - I hope! I have been working in my studio all morning making some shimmer ornaments.

I was just visiting a few quilting blogs and came across 24 Blocks, a site for quilters. Take a look at the quilts featured there (scroll down the page as well as check out the archives). There is lots to see and read. Something to do while you have a cup of brew.

The sun is trying to come out after all. :)

Enjoy!

Charm Madness

This post is especially for quilters who love working with scraps of fabric! Sew Lux Fabric and Gifts is sponsoring a Charm Madness Blog Hop. I'm not into sewing up little pieces of fabric but this hop challenges participants to use charm packs and to present a tutorial about the project they use. You never know what new ideas will be circulating in a group of very enthusiastic quilters.  For daily updates, check here.

Canadian Artists - textile & fibre

Today I'm highlighting some Canadian Artists. Please drop by their sites. You won't be disappointed.
Enjoy!

Quilted Textiles of Andree Fredette
Andrea Graham, Feltmaker - Fibre Artist   Blog
Fibre Artworks of Deborah Milton
Patti Morris Fabric Art Designs
Karen Neary, Nova Scotian Quilter
Lesley Turner, Stitch Artist
Nancy Yule, Fibre Artist
Lesley-Anne Green, Fibre Artist
Quilt Matters, Ottawa, Canada
Pippa Moore, quilter, teacher, designer and writer from Vancouver Island

Grab a cup of something while you look around!

Canadian Talent # 3

As promised, here are a few more Canadian fibre artists and related stuff!

• Elaine Quehl
• Heather Lair
• Ana Buzzalino
• Anna Hergert
• Anne Morrell Robinson
• Barb Robson
• Coreen Zerr
• Dianne Stevenson

Well, this is it for today.
Enjoy!

Canadian Talent # 1

I've decided to dedicate the next couple of posts to listing some of our Canadian textile/fibre/stitching artists. I think it would be well worth your while to check them out.

• The Needle and Thread Network is hosted in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
• Karen Henry
• Bethany Garner
• Valerie Hearder
• Laurie Swim
• Lynne Heller
• Andrea Graham - feltmaker
• Maggie Vanderweit
• Greta Kristiansen-Jacobs - quiltmaker
• Linda Palaisy - embroidery

More to come.
Enjoy!

Houston International Quilt Show 2010

I am very envious of all those quilters who are going to be attending the International Quilt Show 2010 in Houston, Texas this week! Having been there in 2001, I know what a spectacular week they will have. I have been monitoring some of the posts from there.

• Susan Brubaker Knapp has posted a few pictures of Quilt Market on her site, Blue Moon River. Quilt Market opens October 30 - November 1. This is a Trade show only and not open to the general public. The International Quilt Festival opens to the general public November 4 - 7. Susan has beautiful art work on her site so don't forget to have a look. It's very inspiring!

• Rose Hughes from Raven Speak Quilts already has two posts with photos. 

• Alex and Ricky from The Quilt Show have updates from Houston too.

• Lisa Walton, textile artist from Sydney, Australia shares some of her Houston experiences with us. 

I'm looking forward to seeing more of the posts as the week progresses.

Thoughts on 'Work in Progress'

You know, it isn't until a photo is taken and made larger that sometimes mistakes are discovered! That happened to me with the photo in the previous post. Something wasn't working out. I took a good look at the photo and  some modifications are in order!
Now that I think about it, quilters do a similar thing when they view their quilts through a reducing lens.