A Terrific Stash Enhancement Experience ;)

I mentioned on Monday that I did a little shopping at my favorite quilt stores in Chicago and Wisconsin.  There are five stores that I always try to get to and really enjoy.  The amount of stuff purchased surprised me when it was all neatly laid out.

Quilt Store Bounty

The three stores in Wisconsin were all participating in the "Row by Row" experience.  I picked up all three free patterns - they were really cute; I just love the little fishies!

"Row By Row" - Free Patterns

There were no batiks at all in the scrap bin at My Favorite Quilt Shop in Green Bay this trip; however, I was able to stock up on lots and lots of wonderful neutrals at $4 per pound.  My stash had very few neutrals before, now it abounds with them.

Scrap Bin Bounty

I saw these attachments at the Sewing Basket in Plymouth, Wisconsin.  For $20 they convert an ordinary vacuum cleaner into a sewing machine cleaning powerhouse.  I plan to use these attachments instead of the canned air I have used in the past. Apparently canned air pushes dust ever more deeply into the crevices of your machine.  Who knew?

Handy Vacuum Attachments

The main thing I was searching for this trip was mid-range yellow batiks, which, let me tell you, are difficult commodity to come by. The only store that had a nice selection of medium range yellows was QuiltFabric.com in the western suburb of Willowbrook, IL.  I bought quarter yards of each of these yummy yellows.

I also found these three cute black fat quarters for my leaders and enders project in the bargain bin at My Favorite Quilt Shop in Green Bay; - there are always black fat quarters in the bargain bin.

Stash Additions #1

I bought some clear vinyl for some projects that currently exist only in my head.  I have not seen much clear vinyl at the local quilt shops here in Fort Worth, so I thought I had better stock up at Fabrics Etc. in Bensenville, IL.

Clear Vinyl

This was the first time I ever saw one of Jacqueline de Jonge's drool-worthy "Be Colourful" patterns in real life, and I was unable to resist its siren song.  This wonder is currently queued up behind my Dear Jane in the rotation.  (Apparently it is true, I am definitely planning to live forever. lol)  See, I have designed things in Electric Quilt that I have no idea how to begin constructing.  If I can learn how to put this puzzle together, then I figure the sky is the limit.  

Challenging Quilt Pattern from quiltfabric.com

Quilting Divas, which is very close to my Mother's home on the west side of Green Bay, had this cute panel.  When you sew the parts together it forms a tree.  I thought it was a cool idea, and would force me to keep it simple by design.  Divas also had a terrific selection of batiks, though very few yellows.  I had to satisfy myself with these lovelies instead.

Stash Additions #2

I got this cool cupcake fabric panel from Fabrics Etc. too.  One of these days I'm going to keep a panel quilt in the rotation until they're all done... maybe.

Fun Panels

I am such a sucker for batiks.  I do not even remember which stash addition came from which store.  They are all so beautiful!

Stash Additions #3

I have enough batiks for about four Dear Janes, but I just adore working with them.  I can see myself making multiple (hopefully simpler) batik quilts after Jane is completed, just so I get to keep playing with them.

Stash Additions #4

And finally, the last stash addition, from one of the five stores.  I really love them all, but the red below (and the red and blue just above) are really spectacular.
  

Stash Additions #5

By keeping to quarter yard cuts of each batik I was able to acquire lots of lovely new fabrics for Jane without breaking the bank.  It wasn't until the last shop, where I became bewitched by the five part "Be Colorful" pattern, that the bank got a bit bent.  lol  I'll have to be very frugal for the rest of the year.  :)

Shopping through Scottsdale

We shop hopped all over the greater Phoenix area while we were on vacation in Scottsdale last week.  It was fun to return to several shops we were familiar with, and to discover a few new gems as well.

I scored two gorgeous Christmas panels for $2 at a quilt show held in the Gilbert Historical Museum.  The show was only OK, but the museum was really interesting.  Women gather weekly to hand-quilt on vintage frames.  Their work was awesome.  There was also lots of military memorabilia and historical re-creations of home-life of early Gilbert; plus, the whole downstairs of the museum is devoted to model trains!

Santa Panel

I was totally unable to resist this gorgeous Christmas panel, despite having about five other Christmas panels already, and never having done anything with a single one.  Someday I will; you'll see. lol

Christmas Door Panel

I am also a complete sucker for quilty novelty fabric.  The tote bags I have designed in my head!  Who can resist "Lake Applique" and "Spool Pond"?

Quilt Country Print

A half yard of "Quilt Girl" fabric needed to make Texas its new home too, as well as this cool vintage sewing machine fabric.  I should make something for my Singer-restoring sweetie-pie out of that.

Fabrics my husband made me get

We went back to the Olde World Quilt Shoppe, which is well known for its selection of wools and wool patterns.  I bought enough white (and it is not at all yellow) to make the snowmen in this pattern, as well as in the pattern I bought there last year.

Cool wool and pattern

I fell in love with this pale powder blue silk dupioni at the Bernina Connection.  It will make the most gorgeous needle case holder.  Now I just need to design one and make it.  I have a large collection of wonderful Bohin needles that need a beautiful home.

Pale blue changeable silk

The Bernina Connection also has a terrific selection of batiks.  You know me and batiks.  Despite having a collection sufficient for the creation of several complete Dear Janes, quarter yard cuts of these seven lovelies beckoned me to buy them and bring them home.  So I did.

Batiks and thread

The bottom two batiks come from 3 Dudes Quilt Shop in Phoenix.  I just love the green with the blue streaks - yummy.  I bought the white Isacord at the Bernina Connection.  I have heard what wonderful thread it is, and I have decided to give it a try.  

Apparently I have been living in a hole because I did not know that YLI still sold some of their thread on wooden spools - yes the yellow thread is on an actual wooden spool.  How cool is that?  Quiltz, which we have visited several times, had an excellent selection of YLI thread, each color lovelier than the one before.  It was a hard choice, but I settled on this rich yellow.

My husband was a terrific sport, as usual, and I bought lots of pretty things for not too much money.  All in all it was another fabulous trip to Scottsdale.  (And by the way, Fountain Hills really needs a brick and mortar fabric store.)  

Annelies, This ones for you - Las Vegas Style!

These three fat fellows sat atop the entrance to the Koi Sushi Restaurant in Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas.

As soon as I saw them I thought of Annelies van den Berg and her "Hear no evil" collection. These guys were about four feet tall and about 15 feet up in the air. You had to walk right under them to get into the restaurant. We went to Koi for sushi our last night in Vegas and it was very good, not as good as our favorite sushi place in Fort Worth, but still very good!

We walked the Sky at the Grand Canyon Skywalk

I had been fascinated by reports of the Skywalk being built on the Hualapai Reservation at Grand Canyon West long before it was complete. In fact, several years ago I checked it out on Snopes.com because the only available pictures of it were artists' representations and it was rumored to be a hoax! I'm happy to report that it is as real as a heart attack but lots more fun!













Grand Canyon West is located several hours east of Las Vegas, past the Hoover Dam and pretty much completely in the absolute middle of nowhere. The roads are good until you get on the county road 21 miles from the Skywalk. The first 14 miles of that stretch is a horrible washboard of a gravel road. No houses, no turn-offs no nothing. Absolutely miserable and I REALLY had to pee! We went very slowly, like less than 20 miles per hour to avoid tearing out the bottom of our rental car. We thought it was going to be like that the entire way to the Skywalk, but at mile 14 we crossed onto the Hualapai reservation and lovely smooth blacktop roads. Heaven. We later heard that both the state of Arizona and the Hualapai have put up their 6 million dollars to improve the bad road, but the county isn't coughing up its share.


We got there in the late afternoon and decided to take our turn out on the Skywalk right away. We parked in the designated area near the 'airport' and took the bus to the glass bridge. There was hardly anyone there and we had the place almost all to ourselves. I was pretty scared, but there was no way I was going to chicken out now. I looked straight ahead for the first 15-20 feet until I was directly over the 4000' abyss, then I looked straight down. It was a heartpoundingly spectacular view! They locked up all your personal effects (purse, camera, keys etc.) and gave you surgical booties to put over your shoes to keep the glass nice and clean. They had us wear the booties inside out and were they ever slippery! We sat down and reversed them so the grippy side pointed outwards and then it was lots better. (You really don't want to feel like you're falling on your butt at 4000 feet.) It was really cool to see birds fly below us. And the view was incredible. We had our picture taken where you can see the depths of the canyon below us. It was an experience I'll never forget as long as I live. I felt very brave to overcome my natural fear of heights and do it anyway. I highly recommend it!






















We had reserved the Tranquility Package, which included both the Skywalk and a night at the Hualapai Ranch in one of their cabins. It was tranquil all right. We were there the night Ike hit Galveston and we had no TV, no radio, no phones and no cell phone reception. We didn't find out whether or not Galveston was still standing until tourists started trickling in the next day.

















The accomodations were pretty basic, especially after living at the Venetian for a week.


The bed in the cabin with its combination AC/heat pump which doubled as a blow dryer in the morning. I think it's important to stay flexible and innovative while on vacation. lol

















Here's the bed in our suite at the Venetian (with its 3 count'em 3 flat screen tv's. I mean, do you really need a flat screen tv while you're brushing your teeth? It was luxurious like I had never seen before!)
























One thing special about the Hualapai ranch (besides the food, which was included in the price and EXCELLENT) was Norman. Remember the 80's movie, City Slickers, with Billy Crystal and how he came back to New York with a calf? That's Norman. He's ALL grown up now and on display at the ranch. Speaking of all grown up, did you know that Norman's co-star in the movie is none other than Jake Gyllenhaal, who played Billy Crystal's 10 year old son

















Apparently Norman is still doing a little light cattle driving - days only. He seemed kinda grumpy while we were there, he didn't want to have his picture taken, even though he's a very handsome fellow. I think I got his Shirley Temple side in this shot.

















They served excellent chow under the watchful eyes of this catamount. It was the best biscuits and gravy I have ever had. Apparently cholesterol doesn't concern the Hualapai, for which Larry and I were both thankful!


















This tiny little horse was just adorable.There were lots of activities going on during the day at the ranch, I would think kids would have a ball. I seem to recall periodic cowboy gun battles and lots of horse back riding.

















And on Friday night we had a campfire with an elder of the tribe. He told us stories (there were about 12 of us staying at the ranch) and answered any questions we had about the area and the tribe. He was very interesting and it was lots of fun. They had the makings for s'mores too. I think they've done this before! lol All the people that worked there (cowboys and indians) were exceptionally friendly and outgoing. They are obviously trying very hard to make your visit a pleasant one.


















Larry and I hiked by ourselves to the rim from our cabin in the morning. The view was spectacular. It was amazing, no electrical wires or any signs of humanity for as far as the eye could see. The sky was frequently thick with helicopters though, they flitted around like big metal dragonflies.

Las Vegas Quilt Shop Hop - the final day

After Larry's conference at the Venetian was over we headed out past Hoover Dam to the new Hualapai Sky Bridge to spend the night on the reservation. On the way out of Vegas we stopped in two lovely, very different quilt shops.




















Quiltique was very bright and modern, with white walls and lots of beautifully displayed quilts. They were a Bernina dealer (yeah Bernina) and one of their display quilts showcased the most amazing machine embroidery I have ever seen. Each block was thoroughly embroidered, as were the borders. It was very lovely. I would have loved to have taken pictures of it to show you, but Quiltique has a policy of "no pictures"! I was very surprised. This was the first time I had ever run into that! Most stores are eager to be showcased on any blog (free publicity anyone?) or are simply so friendly that they are happy to accommodate us happy snappers. Anyway, their reasoning was that someone could steal the idea or pattern for one of their displayed quilts from a picture on my blog and, therefore, allowing pictures was just too risky. I thought it was funny. I can't imagine anyone trying to recreate a quilt using a fuzzy picture from my blog. lol Especially since the pictures I post tend to reflect the most elaborate designs and intricate detailing (like their machine embroidered quilt - try to recreate that one from just a picture!) It was a very nice store with a lovely selection of fabric, but they lost points with their attitude. Before he was stopped, Larry actually took several lovely general pictures of the store, which don't showcase closeups of any particular quilt, but out of respect for their policy I'm not going to post them.


















I managed to find lots of stuff to buy, including these lovely batiks (of which they had a fabulous selection). I decided to make one of my bag patterns in black and white and red, so I'm all set with these three bold fabrics. I just love how they play off of each other.

I also bought this silk collection for a neat little clutch purse. This silk collection is called "Silk Adaptation" by Mary Jo Hiney Designs. It contains seven 7.5" x 10.5" silk fabric pieces. I just fell in love with the color mix - all those beautiful bluey lavenders!




















They really had lots of great little fabric collections for sale; I couldn't resist them at all. This beauty is called by the unlovely name of "Grab Bag" All 22 pieces are handpainted and 100% cotton and at least 4.5" wide and 21" long. "Grab Bag" is a product of boldoverbatiks.com. I'm not sure just what I'm going to do with it, but it certainly will make a spectacular "something"!


















Fiddlesticks was a tiny little shop a few miles out from Las Vegas that was just crammed with goodies.





















The ladies at Fiddlesticks were exceptionally friendly (you know, normal) and had worked wonders within their small space. While we were there they were massively busy putting together quilting kits which would be presented each in their own old-fashioned tiny little suitcase. They were trying to get them put together for a class that was coming up or a quilt show or something, I don't remember. I didn't care for the quilt itself too much (Larry didn't get a picture of it, so I guess he wasn't attracted to it either) but the presentation in the little case was just darling!





















Somebody does lovely little flying geese (see above). I wonder if they used Thangles? Probably not since more than 2 fabrics were used.

I found lots of stuff to buy here too. Some more batiks, including this 2 1/8 yard piece of pink flowers on blues in the remnant bin for only $8.91. What a great deal. I was afraid it was mismarked, but she just rang it right up. I honestly can't think anymore what I intended to do with the fat quarter of bug fabric. I must have had some plan and I'm sure it was ultra cheap, but for the life of me I don't know why it came home with me!

This concludes the Las Vegas Quilt Shop and Wedding Chapel Hop! It's been a slice!

The Las Vegas Wedding Chapel Hop

We stayed first at Planet Hollywood, which used to be The Aladdin, which was where Elvis married Priscilla so long ago. PH has a lovely wedding chapel, with attractive pricing, but nothing that can compare with the wedding chapels at The Venetian (where we stayed during Larry's conference.)




















The Venetian chapels (there were three) were very nice. All three looked out over the 10th floor Venetia garden/pool area. The Venetian believed in decorating with live orchids (including the bathroom in our room) but they really outdid themselves in the chapels.




















Here is the area behind the chapels. It's all done up in granite, marble and orchids.





















Lots and lots of orchids! All very real, all very lovely.





















At the Venetian, you also had the option of using the Wedding Gondola, which was this beautiful white gondola. I never saw it in operation during our stay, though it was one of the less expensive wedding package options. I somehow can't see Mom and Al cruising down the Venetian canals being serenaded by their singing gondolier, but Mom would fit right in amongst all the orchids upstairs!



































The Venetian was just spectacular on all levels. Here is the lobby, which IMHO gives the Cistene Chapel a run for its money. It was just delux all the way through. I was very, very impressed!





































Words fail me. And this was only the main lobby. As I said before, the Venezia Tower had it's own lobby on the tenth floor, which was smaller, but just as opulent.



































Here is the lobby of the Venezia. You have to take the elevator from the main Venetian lobby up to the tenth floor, then there's the Venezia lobby. I had never heard of a lobby being on the tenth floor before.





















Here is a detail of the Venezia lobby ceiling. Totally amazing. I think Mom and Al should have their wedding here!

The Las Vegas Wedding Chapel Search and Quilt Shop Hop - Day 2

I found out on Saturday that Fabric Boutique was open on Sunday, so we decided to go there then. Fabric Boutique is a big beautiful shop, with lots and lots of bolts of fabric. The store is very attractive, with nice high ceilings. They have lots of beautiful things on display that I had never seen before. One of the most interesting things about shop hops is how unique each store is. Sure, some of the stores may share, say, a civil war flavor or a Laurel Burch sophistication, but the products each store carries are overwhelmingly unique. I think this speaks very well of the creativity and individuality of quilters as a whole.




















I've been seeing the fabulous bags that people have been blogging about for a long time now, and today I finally succumbed to the temptation. I bought two different bag patterns at Fabric Boutique - they had a very large selection. One of the patterns is for a medium-sized tote bag; I bought the coordinated stack of gold batik fat quarters to use for it, well, part of it at least! I'm still looking for a coordinating darker batik for the straps. After all, I have two more stores in this hop!





















I found the Laurel Burch Christmas fabric that I wanted to use on my Christmas siggies for the swap (due October 1st!) I bought these additional fat quarters of it; I decided not to buy additional yardage, because I still like the secondary fabric I chose at my LQS. I also bought this beautiful jewel toned fabric. It has a definite stripe to it. I've been planning to make a small quilt using a striped fabric and alternating the direction of the stripe to make a basket-weave pattern. I saw one of these basket-weave quilts in Albuquerque and have been looking for an appropriate striped fabric ever since with no luck. I saw this fabric today and just fell in love with it. Unfortunately, lots of other people fell in love with it before me and there wasn't much left. I may have to improvise. Here are my Fabrique Boutique fabric purchases.




















I'm not surprised Larry gravitated to this dragon quilt wall hanging. We fell in love playing D&D in college, so this well-crafted lizzard was sure to catch his eye. (Though if he keeps taking pictures of me from the BACK he's going to see the dragon lady in me!)






















Here's another one that caught my blackjack-loving husband's eye. I wonder if he noticed the name of the pattern was called "Card Trick" or if he just gravitated to the Las Vegas sign fabric, which, I think, is available at nearly every quilt store in Vegas.




















I identified another one of Larry's hidden talents. He is an exceptional fabric folder! Fabric Boutique has a large scrap bin with a box of sandwich baggies next to it. All the fabric you can stuff in the bag and close it without it splitting costs $3.00. I selected the scraps and Larry neatly folded them into the bag. I was going after brights and I think I found all that were in the bin. Larry got an amazing amount of fabric into that tiny bag. It is completely stuffed and weighs about a half pound. I was very impressed with his technique!






















Wedding Chapel Hop - Stop 1 - The Little Church of the West

On our way into Vegas yesterday, we noticed a quaint little stand-alone chapel on the Strip, very close to the famous "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign. We went back there today and looked around. This chapel has been around since the 40's and has a somewhat western theme. It was very cute and would be a very economical choice. Their packages started at less than $500.

















The interior was very dark after the bright Vegas sunshine. Now if Mom and Al fancied a victorian wedding (and nothing could be less likely) this would be just the place!

















There's no arguing that it's conveniently located near the airport, with the best parking on the strip, but somehow, I think I had better keep looking...

















...in a minute. All this shopping and hopping is tiring!