Sorry, guys, nothing interesting happening here at the moment. Got a lot on my mind and can’t sleep, but I have nothing to share other than these photos of the amazing display of Yoshino cherry trees in our little town. Enjoy…
(Click on the photos to enlarge)
Back soon,
Melisa
Signs of Spring have been popping up all over for the last couple of weeks, but just in the last few days I’ve really noticed lots of flowers and trees blooming. I took some time yesterday to get a few pictures near the shop…enjoy!
The Bradford Pear trees are bursting and so luscious looking! My allergies don’t like them at all though!
These beauties are blooming just outside my office window!
The Conyers Cherry Blossom Festival is this weekend at the Georgia International Horse Park, and I noticed on the way to work this morning that the cherry trees are on the verge of blooming, too. Conyers used to be home to Maxell Corp. years ago, and the company planted hundreds of cherry trees throughout the city and started the annual Cherry Blossom Festival, too. The cherry trees are a sight to behold when they are in full bloom…I’ll be sure to get pictures to share with you in the next few days.
Melisa
The Greater Atlanta Quilt Shop Hop shopowners met at Intown Quilters yesterday to select prize winners and finish up the last minute business from this year’s shop hop.
Sarah drafted a customer from the shop to draw the winning passports – this is Sally who was visiting from Nashville. And the winners are:
Grand Prize ($100 gift certificate to each shop-$1,100 value): Diane Warren, Alpharetta, GA
Second Prize (Elna 3210 Gallery Series sewing machine, attachments & Sew Steady table-$500 Value): Mary Ann Still, Loganville, GA
Third Prize (A basket of fat quarters and quilting notions-$250 Value): Barbara Moss, Locust Grove, GA
Each shop also had a $100 Value drawing, and the winner of our drawing was Pat Deacon, Mableton, GA
Congratulations to all the winners!!!
The wrap up meeting is also the shop owners’ opportunity to see the others’ Shop Hop quilts during our own Show and Tell. I thought you might like to see them all, too!
Tiny Stitches – Theme: As American As…Popcorn and a Movie
They actually did two shop hop quilts – the quilt on the left features movie-themed fabric, which was discontinued before Shop Hop, so they made a second quilt – on the right, named The Color Purple…get it, movie name?
Intown Quilters – Theme: As American As…Folk Art
Little Quilts – Theme: As American As…A Picnic
Georgia Sewing & Quilting – Theme: As American As…Mark Twain
Quilts and Fixins – Theme: As American As…The Wild, Wild West
Patricks – Theme: As American As…Walt Disney
Red Hen Fabrics – Theme: As American As…The Family Dog
Heritage Quilts & Fabrics – Theme: As American As…4th of July
Patchwork Cottage – Theme: As American As…Best Friends Forever
A Scarlet Thread – Theme: As American As…Disco
Sweet Home Quilt Co. – Theme: As American As…Mom and Apple Pie
I named our quilt “What’s A Little Check Among Dottie Friends?” because every fabric in the quilt is a dot except the black gingham check used as a frame around each block and as the inner border. I always use black and white in my shop hop quilts…it’s just a tradition!
This should be my last shop hop post for another year! You’ll want to go ahead and mark your calendar with next year’s dates: March 24-27, 2011! Hope to see you!
Melisa
on another successful shop hop weekend! The weather was terrific (except for rainy Sunday!) and we had over 1000 visitors in the shop during the weekend! That’s a LOT of shop hoppers! We were so busy I didn’t have much opportunity to take many pictures, but several customers have published their “Shop Hop Reports” on their blogs. Ride along with Karin and her mom on Day 1, and hop with Karmen here. I’m sure there are other reports out in blogland, too, but I haven’t had a chance to get caught up yet…if you find any, let me know, would you?
I did take some time Sunday afternoon when it slowed down a little to get some pictures of new samples and displays in the shop. If you didn’t make it to Shop Hop, you need to come in soon and see all the changes we’ve made…I think you’ll like it! (Click on the pictures to enlarge)
Can you believe he was still smiling after four days??? And Kris, Mellie and Cathy still had big smiles, too! Or maybe they were smiling because they knew it was almost over? Hmmmm….
Elaine doesn’t look quite so thrilled…she was stamping passports…but I think she just didn’t want her picture taken! That’s also our giveaway, a big apple-themed decorative box filled with books, patterns, kits and apple-themed fabrics. Look at all those entries stuffed in that jar! Wonder who the lucky winner will be?
New pincushion displays…looks good enough to eat!
Scenes from the Front Cutting Room
Reproduction Room
Kid’s Room
Hope you’ve enjoyed the tour. We’ve changed things around so much, we’re having to stop and think where we moved things! We’re ready for new spring shipments, and then we’ll have to rearrange again! It’s never ending, but oh so much fun!
Melisa
Definition: to make like new; restore to freshness, vigor, or perfection.
This was my goal today, and it was my intention to really do absolutely nothing…just to BE. I had declared a Pajama Day, but unfortunately, I did have to get dressed and go out to run an errand that couldn’t wait. So, since I was out already I decided to stop into one of my favorite local haunts, Lingering Memories. I had not had an opportunity to go junking since well before Christmas last year so I was long overdue!
Look who I ran into! Elvis himself!
The light shining through the crystal captured my attention.
My grandmother’s china…and in a white cabinet just like hers, too!
Lace and pearls in a pretty shadowbox.
Threads in jars and threads on spools…yummy colors!
Hippity Hoppity, Easter’s on its way! This cute hooked rug almost came home with me!
Here’s my loot: two old wooden thread spools, complete with thread – $3.00 each! These will find a home with similar spools at the shop. And five feedsacks…get this…five bucks each! SCORE!!!
It’s amazing what an hour of junking and a short, okay, three hour nap will do to rejuvenate the body and spirit!
Melisa
That’s the number of unread blog posts on my Google Reader. I should probably just ‘delete all’ and let it start again, but I’m afraid I’ll miss seeing, hearing, knowing something really, really good! It has been 17 days since I last read any blogs…almost sounds like a confession, doesn’t it?
From the looks of things, I won’t be getting much sleep tonight so I’m going to try to catch up on at least some of my favorite blogs! I’m tired, but not really sleepy so I’ll see how long it takes to A) get sleepy enough to go to bed, or B) get caught up on my favorite blogs!
Back to regularly scheduled programming tomorrow…stay tuned.
Melisa
Just finished up Day 1 of the Greater Atlanta Quilt Shop Hop, and we had a ton of fun at Sweet Home! Many familiar faces and lots of new, too. Here are a few highlights…click on the pictures to enlarge.
Here’s the infamous Apple Tree that I’ve been working on for weeks! I think it turned out pretty well, and everyone seems to love it! The hardest part? Getting the apples to hang! I finally piped glue into the tree and stuck the apple wire hangers into the glue.
On second thought, maybe that wasn’t the hardest part…on Wednesday afternoon, Mike and I put the final paint touches on the tree on the back porch at the shop. My plan was to let it dry and then move it to the front porch early this morning. Then I realized it would take a small army to move the thing! So Pam, Kris and I managed to get it onto the moving dollie…down a flight of steps…and out into the misting rain! Now, it IS paper mache, remember? Not a good mix with rain! So I’m pushing the dollie, Pam is holding the tree steady, and Kris is jogging alongside holding a giant umbrella over the tree. Up the driveway we go, along the sidewalk in front of the shop, and up the handicap ramp onto the front porch. You should have seen the looks we got from passing cars! And we were almost hysterical with laughter…if I’d had a third hand I would have definately taken pictures.
A close up of some of the fabric apples…a little misshapen, but aren’t some apples like that? I had fun making these, including picking up the stems from the parking lot in the rain at 9PM one night!! I love the way the tree turned out, but it was not one of my better ideas…the execution of the idea was a killer!
They’re smiling in this picture…it was still early in the day! That’s Pam on the left, Jo Beth in the middle (she came out of retirement just to help me out for a few days during shop hop!!!), and Mellie on the right.
Jo Beth was quite the celebrity…autographing her Quilting Bea patterns for our customers! They loved her designs, as do we, and it was fun for them to meet her!
These are some of Jo Beth’s designs…Bunnies and Baskets, Summer Trellis, and Buttons & Bows. We have kits for the Bunnies and the Summer Trellis, and patterns for all.
This is a shot of the front foyer, looking over from the checkout. We have a little kitchen vignette going in the foyer with lots of table runners and topper kits, and “foodie” things like cinnamon bun pincushions and strawberries, etc., representing our “As American as…Mom and Apple Pie” theme.
Smiles abound…looking into the Front Cutting Room from the Kid’s Room.
If you see something in the pictures that piques your interest, email me – not everything is on the website yet. We’ve got kits for just about all of the samples.
Here’s our Shop Hop Quilt. I named it “What’s a Little Check Among Dottie Friends?” because every fabric is a dot except the little black check (and the white background of the blocks.) I haven’t been able to get a really good photo of it yet…will have to wait until I have a little more time to “stage” it properly, but you get the idea…hope you like!
Our block is the center of rows 2 and 3…same block, just using different fabrics…looks totally different, doesn’t it? 
There are 11 shops in the Shop Hop, and all are represented with a block in our quilt. I needed 12 blocks for the design, so I used our block twice.
We’d love to see you if you’re in the Atlanta area this weekend! And if not, I’ll keep posting updates as we go along.
Melisa
The Heart of Georgia Quilt Guild show this weekend included a special exhibit from the guild’s Baltimore Album quilting group of quilts made from the pattern, Friendship Garden, from Barb Adams and Alma Allen. The group worked on this block-of-the-month project in 2008 at their monthly meetings, sharing techniques and encouragement. Each quilt has a unique personality based on fabric choices, changes to pattern elements, and different border treatments. (Click on the pictures to enlarge.)
Friendship Garden, made by Dale Smith. Machine pieced, hand appliqued. Longarm machine quilted by Regina Carter.
Susan’s Friendship Garden, made by Susan Crook. Machine pieced, hand appliqued. Longarm machine quilted by Faye Schnable.
As the Crow Flies, made by Angie Allison. Machine pieced, hand appliqued, Longarm machine quilted by Regina Carter. Quilt also received the Vendor’s Choice Award from Quilts and Fixins.
Seven Black Birds, made by Sandy Gilreath. Machine pieced, hand appliqued. Home machine quilted by Sandy Gilreath.
Birds and Berries, made by Mary Sims. Machine pieced, hand appliqued. Longarm machine quilted by Regina Carter.
Friendship Garden, made by Joyce Jones. Hand and machine pieced, hand appliqued, hand quilted.
I just realized as I was going through the program guide that I must not have gotten pictures of all the quilts in this special exhibit. Also in the exhibit (no photos) were: Braves Garden, made by Hilda Pruett; In the Garden, made by Faye Schnable; Friendship Garden, made by Linda Strickland…mea culpa!
Melisa
I had the pleasure of vending at the Heart of Georgia Quilt Guild’s “Silver Anniversary Celebration” Quilt Show this weekend. This is an opportunity that I don’t miss, and I am so happy they continue to invite us back to participate in their show. The talent in this guild is simply amazing, and it is always inspiring to see their beautiful creations displayed.
Each vendor was given an opportunity to choose their favorite quilt and award a “Vendor’s Choice” ribbon. I can’t tell you how difficult this was to do! I took lots of pictures the first day and then I had to sleep on it before I could decide!
Sweet Home Quilt Co. Vendor’s Choice Award. “Hope” made by Kathleen Melikian. This quilt also received the Quilter’s Choice Best Mixed Technique Award. Quilt is machine pieced, hand appliqued, and longarm machine quilted by Regina Carter. The border is Kathleen’s original design.
Close up of the Vendor’s Choice award ribbon…hand made by the guild members! All of the award ribbons were made by the guild members and were pieces of art alone!
There were so many beautiful quilts on display and I only had a limited amount of time to see the show so didn’t get nearly as many photos as I would have liked. Enjoy!
Antique Churn Dash, made by Susie Dumas. An antique top, Maker Unknown, purchase in Paducah, KY, and hand quilted by Susie.
Apple of My Eye, made by Ethel Bill; hand quilted by Kathy Reid. Quilt won Best of Show for hand quilting at the Georgia National Fair in 2008.
Art’s Log Cabin, made by Tess Thorsberg, celebrating the arrival of her first grandchild.
Baltimore Bunnies, made by Carol West. Machine pieced, hand appliqued and embroidered. Hand and longarm machine quilted by Carol West and Regina Carter.
BEST OF SHOW – Baltimore Quilt, made by Sumie Martin. Machine pieced, hand appliqued. Longarm machine quilted by Regina Carter. This quilt also won several other awards as you can see from the ribbons attached; unfortunately, I failed to note what they were! Sumie worked on this quilt 4 1/2 years!
Blue Anvils, made by Alice Smith. Wonderful miniature!
Blue Bonnets, made by Audrey Shirah.
Chimney Sweep, made by Eloise Johansen. Machine pieced and hand quilted.
Fish Got Lips, made by Tess Thorsberg. First Place in the guild’s 2009 Challenge – Four is Enough. The quilt had to have four appliqued blocks.
Four Little Pitchers, made by Sandy Gilreath. Another entry in the guild’s 2009 Challenge. Pitchers are original designs inspired by a collection of pitchers; vine is an adaptation of a published pattern by Emily Senuta. The project uses Cherrywood hand-dyed fabrics and is free motion machine quilted on a home machine, using variegated thread.
Friendship Bouquet, made by Mary Sims. Longarm machine quilted by Regina Carter.
Kentucky Album, made by Tess Thorsberg. Third Place in the guild’s 2008 Challenge – Out on a Limb. The quilt had to have a tree and had to include some orange fabric.
Log Cabin at the Beach, made by Donna Brannen. Machine pieced and hand quilted. Quilt took 3 years to piece and 3 years to quilt!
Melisa’s Bunnies, made by Susan Crook. Machine pieced, hand appliqued and embroidered. Longarm machine quilted by Dianne Dye. Susan made this quilt for her daughter, Melisa. I had the pleasure of meeting Melisa at the show…she is the only other person I’ve ever met who spells her name like I do…one ‘L’ and one ‘S’!!!
Out of the Box Poppies, made by Donna McDowell. Longarm machine quilted by Dianne Dye. Pattern is Star Struck from local designer, Pat Wys at Silver Thimble Quilt Co.
The Pleasures of Pomegranates & Poinsettias, made by Sandy Gilreath. Recognize this one? It won Sweet Home Quilt Co.’s Sponsor’s Award at the 2009 East Cobb Quilt Guild Show. Still one of my favorite quilts!
Scrappy Stars, made by Dale Smith. Machine pieced and hand appliqued. Longarm machine quilted by Dianne Dye.
Simply Vintage, made by Dale Smith. Machine pieced and hand appliqued. Longarm machine quilted by Regina Carter.
Winter Garden, made by Kathleen Melikian. Machine pieced and hand appliqued. Longarm machine quilted by Regina Carter. Vendor’s Choice Award of A Scarlet Thread. The quilt also received another award, but again, I failed to write it down.
I’ll share a special exhibit in another post, along with some incredible doll beds and quilts made by the members. I hope you’ve enjoyed the show…if you weren’t able to see it in person, you missed a really great show!
Melisa
We’re vending at the Heart of Georgia Quilt Guild “Silver Anniversary Celebration” quilt show in Macon, GA this weekend, and we’ll have many of our new samples and kits in our booth. While packing up this afternoon, I snapped a few sneak peeks to share with you.
I’ve gone pincushion and bag crazy, and we’ve got lots of new samples of all sorts to prove it. Strawberries and Cream, anyone? We’ve got the patterns for all of these, but they aren’t loaded to the website yet. If you need to know, just shoot me an email.
This is the Grommet Grab Bag by Indygo Junction. We’ll be making more things with grommets…have you tried them? Easy peasy…
New versions of my favorite table runner pattern, Waffle Time by Atkinson Designs. Notice the quilting on the red/black? It’s forks and spoons! How fun is that???
A cutie patootie panel quilt made with RJR’s Caterwauling fabric line…fun and funky!
The shop will be stripped bare tomorrow morning so we can take a lot of these samples with us to hang in the booth in Macon, but we’ll be re-hanging everything come Monday, just in time for the Greater Atlanta Quilt Shop Hop next weekend. I hope you’ve made your shop hopping plans already because we pull out all the stops and you won’t want to miss it! Don’t worry, if you can’t do the hop, I’ll post lots of pictures of our theme decor and all the new samples. Plus I’ll be posting from Macon, too, so come back here for scenes from the show, too.
Melisa