Whimsy Cottage Blog

Thankful

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving and I have much for which to give thanks.  My life is good and except for only having 24 hours a day, I can't ask for much.  I have purchased a new graphics program and am hoping I can put a picture in here that's large enough, centered and awesome.  I'll be thankful for that!

OK - I'm thankful.  This is Abby - she's 3 years old, keeps my almost-13-year-old standard poodle young, and sleeps with me.  If the TV is on and there's an animal on the screen, even a cartoon one, she drops whatever she's doing and races to the TV cabinet and jumps and barks and whines.  It's hysterical.  Loud and annoying, but hysterical.  Also, my front door's been painted since this was taken, so that this-door-needs-painting look has been squelched.

On to Whimsy news - three new quilts are at the quilters and I'm SO anxious to have them in the store.  Two have already been kitted - that's how excited I am about them.  And a top and a table runner are due this week-end - made by the ladies who work at Whimsy - they're wonderful and amazing and make my life nice.  I found a pattern that makes two quilts from one block - you divide the block - one-half goes to one quilt and the other half goes to another.  So Barbara Helferich took home all the fabrics we chose and has one quilt done...Sandy (wants to sell is tired of) the blue Christmas fabrics we have and she made a table runner with some of them to inspire you to buy them.  I haven't seen either of these quilts, but I trust my ladies!  Come see!

Another thing I'm grateful for is my customers - YOU!  So, as a thank-you, the store will be 20% off this Friday and Saturday, November 23 and 24.  That applies to everything not already on sale - fabrics, books, patterns and notions.  Hope to see you and Happy Thanksgiving!  Nancy

Good Things

I stopped by the Mountain Mist booth at Market to check out a new batting Sandy'd seen last Spring.  It's called Eco-Friendly and we got our shipment this week.  It's made from corn - here's the scoop -

"Using a revolutionary new process to create soft, durable batting from corn, EcoCraft introduces the next generation of environmentally-kind quilt products.  Our batting is made with 100% PLA - it's better for the environment and your family.  Stitch by hand or machine or tie up to 4' intervals.  "  And, it's hypoallergenic and washable..of course.  Come check it out - we have a touch-feely sample.

New fabric this week includes a Benartex line of circles and dots called "Woodstock" and new things from Rown/Westminster fibers...that's who makes Kaffe Fassett's fabric.  I'll include pictures as soon as I get this figured out.

We have a great book for children - or for parents of young children - or for us old ladies.  It's a fairy tale about the changing of seasons and nature.  It was written in Germany over 100 years ago.  But it's been brought back with the illustrations taken from a quilt made by Sieglinde Schoen Smith.  The book was read to her all during her childhood and after the untimely death of a son, with this story in mind, she spent a year and a day making a quilt.  And it is amazing.  I've seen it at two Markets.  Anyway, the tale is wonderful and the pictures are wonderful and the book will make a great gift for anybody!

I AM buying new software to get pictures in decent form to put in here.  Stay tuned! Nancy

Rainy Sunday

Feels like winter with grey skies and rain  - great day to stay inside and sew.  My college daughter, Kelsey, was home for the week-end and we tested a skirt pattern for her and cut out the real thing, plus watched a movie this afternoon.  Nice.

Yesterday's demos and make-it, take-its were fun - I hope everyone who came by enjoyed them.  I noticed all our new ric rac and pom pom fringe has arrived - they both are the giant kind, in lots of new colors.

View this photo This is a quilt I made for my granddog, Reuben.  He lays on a red couch covered with a sheet in front of the window at my daughter's house.  I think this will look much better than the sheet!  It's from Buggy Barn's "Crazy Dog Days".  I love their books!

I hope everybody's Sunday was cozy - I'm off to watch Sunday night football and do fabric math for two new applique kits!  Nancy

The Day After

Whew!  Elections are over.  It'll be nice to get back to regular ads - never thought I'd yearn for that.  And the signs - all those signs make me nuts.  At some intersections, they're like flags all in a row.  On a residential street, I always think they're a real estate sign and wonder why everyone's moving.  Last month I was in Portland and had dinner with my son-in-law.  We sat at a bar at the window so we could see everyone going by.  There was a wooden utility pole to the left, covered with colored notices.  As we watched, a guy whizzed up on a bicycle and stopped at the pole, pulled a bright, printed page and a staple gun out of his backback and with a quick, practiced hand, tacked it to the pole with the hundreds of others.  Then he whizzed away.  These politicky signs remind me of that...too many to see even one.  Hopefully, they'll start to disappear now. 

The store:  we're receiving more of the books and patterns I ordered at Market - I can't wait to make up samples of so many of them - I need more days, more hours.  And we did get a few bolts of fabric.  When that happens, we cut off a little strip, cut a scrap from it and tuck the rest inside the bolt.  The scrap gets pasted onto sheets and dated so whoever isn't working that day will see what's new the next time they work. 

Sheet from last Friday...I think you can click on it and it'll enlarge.  I'd love the wallpaper a room with all these sheets - it'd be very cool.

So, we're trying something new this Saturday, Nov. 10.  We'll be demo'ing (I bet that shows up on spell check) new stuff from 10:00 to 12:30:

• Sandy found a new fusible on her trip to Canada this summer, so I bought some - Misty Fuse.  It has a softer feel than other fusibles but has special needs in terms of transferring images to it - I hung around their booth at Market, tho', and picked their brain and came back with the info I wanted.  I've used it and love it - come see how it works.
• I got patterns and templates for a 3-D technique that makes blocks which are a cross between a Dresden plate and a New York beauty - I'll have a block to look at and we'll show you how it's done.
• Make-it & Take-it  -  Last year I gave several yards of batiks to The Caring Place, which they used to make card holders for their donors and they gave me one.  So we'll have stiffened batik squares for you and we'll help you make a little pocket that you can store all your fabric cards in.

Hope you can join us - plus you can see new patterns and books and fabric and our smiling faces!

Saturday, November 10, 10:00 to 12:30

Whimsy Cottage        4647 S. 2300 E., SLC, UT 801/274-1443