New Sashiko Book . . .

I stopped by the Quilted Crow today . . . just to pick up some Sashiko needles . . . NOPE . . . didn't work out that way . . . I got a charm pack of "Wrapped in Paisley" by Kansas Troubles Quilters . . . some border fabric for the charm pack so I can make a table runner using my new twister tool . . . a new Sashiko kit . . . some variegated thread for the new Sashiko kit . . . 1/2 yard of Sashiko fabric for another project . . .

and . . . this wonderful new book . . .

I had heard about this book in California . . . but the store there was out of it . . . I had meant to order it online and had forgotten . . . but there it was today with the Japanese fabrics . . . I have spent the evening just going through it over and over . . . it's wonderful !!

oh yes . . . I did get the needles !!

"Me & My Sister Favorites" . . .

when I went to California I took a charm pack of "Me and My Sister Favorites" from Moda with me to show my granddaughter . . . I wanted to see if she liked them . . . because her 5th birthday is coming . . . and she recently got her "big girl" bed . . . and as she recently reminded me . . . I promised a new quilt when these 2 events happened !!

so I had found these terrific bright fabrics . . . because she had also told me "make it bright, Gran" . . .

anyway . . . I think she is going to be a quilter . . . she spread them all out . . . looked them over really good . . . kept feeling them . . . over and over . . . and she LOVED them !!

so now I had to find them in a bigger size than charm packs . . . I really needed 2 layer cakes to use the new Twister Tool . . . because I wanted to make a pinwheel quilt using this tool . . . you can check it out here . . . http://www.country-schoolhouse.com/twister_tool.htm . . . there are 2 sizes . . . one for charm packs and one for layer cakes . . .

this is a quilt that they have hanging at The Quilted Crow http://www.thequiltedcrow.com/that was made using the Twister Tool . . . the Quilted Crow also has a great video on using this tool on Facebook . . .

so . . . I searched everywhere . . . called everywhere . . . and finally went to the Moda site and found out that this fabric line was NEVER made in layer cakes . . . grrrrrrrrrrrr . . . so now the search began all over again . . . looking for fat quarters . . . I finally found a bundle and it just arrived . . .

I love the colors . . . it's going to be a really fun quilt . . . think I will press the fabrics today and get my layer cakes cut out . . . !!

The Farmer's Wife . . .

I just signed up for a wonderful block of the month class at Candlelite Quilts . . . it's call "The Farmer's Wife" . . . we will make 2 blocks each month . . . here's the book with 111 blocks from the 1920's . . .

this is what Cathy says about the class . . . "you will be creating an heirloom quilt inspired by Farmers' Wives of the 1920's . . . we will also discuss the entries of these women to the question . . . would you want your daughter to be a farmer's wife . . . it is a wonderful look back almost 100 years to see what women thought about life and families" . . .

I can't wait to start this class in June . . . we're going to be learning how to use templates . . . it will be like a combined reading group and quilting group as we discuss the lives of these farmers' wives . . . and Cathy always does a terrific job with her classes . . . this is going to be great !!

Love This Fabric ! !

when we were in California we went to Gold Rush country . . . my husband wanted to go to the Gold Rush museum . . . when we drove through the little town of Auburn . . . I noticed a quilt shop . . . of course . . . it was called "Cabin Fever Quilts" . . . it was a lovely shop with a really nice lady owner . . . the only sad thing is . . . it is going out of business . . . she is retiring . . . BUT they were having a huge clearance sale . . .

I was lucky enough to find these fabrics . . . "Mocha Meringue by Michele D'Amore" for Marcus Fabrics . . . I found three 1/2 yard cuts of the brown and beige . . . 4 fat quarters of the same prints plus a tan small print and a gray small print . . . that was all she had . . . except she did have the gray small print in yardage . . . so I got a yard of that . . . I think I have enough to make something . . . not sure what yet . . . the brown and tan have really large flower prints and I would like to preserve those . . .

any ideas out there ??

Sashiko Information . . .

I am leaving for home tomorrow . . . and will have some things to post later this week . . .

while I was here in California I found a shop that had a lot of Sashiko materials . . . and books . . . and a really nice woman who talked with me for almost an hour about Sashiko . . . it was a wonderful find . . . of course I spent almost my entire quilt shopping budget from my trip here . . . and will definitely be going back to this shop on my next trip . . .

this is the book I bought . . . it is japanese applique and sashiko by machine .  . neither of which I am doing . . . but it has lots of great ideas in it !! . . . the woman at the quilt shop told me about 2 great books . . . neither of which she has been able to keep in stock . . . so I was not able to get them . . . but I will be ordering them as soon as I get home . . . more on these later . . .

a few people have asked for Sashiko information  . . . so here is what I have . . .

the woman who teaches Sashiko in my area is Miho Takeuchi . . . this is her website . . . http://www.designbyaika.com/

here you can find all kinds of great info . . . including reading her blog and signing up for her email newsletter and purchasing materials . . . I have not taken a class from her yet but I have met her and seen her work . . . it's beautiful . . . I will be taking a class from her soon . . .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8xbrUg6rZk --- here is a video Miho has on YouTube . . . the instruction is terrific . . . these instructions have been really helpful to me in trying to teach Sashiko to myself . . .