Lightning? Hail? Rain? Welcome to the Desert!

Last night Dan and I went out for sushi, made a Target run, and then because Baskin Robbins is too darn close to Target, decided to go for ice cream.  It had been sunny all day, high of 72, but this is what we saw as we left BR:

 

 

Inspiration Can Come From Anywhere!

I probably use the camera function of my phone more than anything else because I'm always seeing something I want to "save for later". You never know when a quilt may pop into your brain from something you've seen in travels.











Shots of the carpet in the hallway of the Hampton Inn where I stayed in Webster (Houston) TX. Loved the texture/colors.....











Hallway carpet in the Hampton Inn in Arlington (Dallas) TX. Similar colors, totally different textural look to it. Both of these carpets brought to mind some of the modern quilts that I've been seeing and liking very much.











Pictures in my hotel room here in Arlington. Reminds me of the pieced backgrounds that Ann Fahl uses in her appliqued quilts. Every time I think of Ann I vow to make one of those quilts someday.

What kinds of inspiration are you seeing while you're out and about? Please share!

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Location:Various hotels in Texas

Feather Frenzy at AllBrands, Houston TX

I hope there wasn't any name confusion from the title of my last post. Sew Contempo was purchased by AllBrands last year and that explains the name change. If you are a regular attendee at Houston Quilt Festival and missed the Sew Contempo booth, that's because it was an AllBrands booth. Whole different look!

Six ladies took the Feather Frenzy class -- one left a bit early, but I got pictures of the rest and their fun feathers!


Susan did a super job with both the stencils and freehand feathers!


Lynda's freehand feathers were beautifully rounded!


Gwen shows off her feathers!


Rita used thread that matched her fabric for maximum texture!


Kay mastered the art of getting a textured stem to show off her feathers!

It was a fun day and everyone was very proud of what they had accomplished!

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AllBrands (Sew Contempo), Houston TX

I've taught several times at Sew Contempo and I definitely count the store manager, Sharon Smith, as a friend. Always look forward to the days I spend here and the time we share! These were some of my favorite quilts and fabrics displayed in the store this time:


I don't know that I would have the patience for all that redwork, but isn't it beautiful?





Love these colors!!!


Pretty wall hanging -- great life outlook!


And this is just a Texas moment created with fabric and a bit of embroidery!

I had 10 ladies in my Fluff & Stuff class and six of them decided that we should have a third day to further work on their free motion skills, so we did Feather Frenzy on Wednesday!

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Creative Sewing Centers, San Antonio TX

Terry once told me that Creative bought more panels than any other store in the US and I'm inclined to believe that!


These are all pictures from the West Avenue location of Creative Sewing Centers. When I look around here at all the fabric, I think if it isn't here, maybe it hasn't been printed yet?




Cindy McCord was in both classes; this is some of her work from the Feather Frenzy class...


She started a new class craze -- Cindy Feathers! She does the little one first, then the big one and, finally, puts the little accent marks in the smallest feather. Cindy said this is a feather she can do easily and would be happy to stitch on a quilt!

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Creative Sewing Center, San Antonio TX

Still catching up with my travel schedule -- taught two days in the West Ave. location of Creative Sewing Centers. We did one day of the design class, Beyond the Basics and one day of Feather Frenzy. I thought it interesting that before taking the classes, students thought the feather workshop would be more difficult when it's totally the other way around!


Cindy McCord in the design class -- zoom in on this, it's really pretty!





Love the color choices and the variety of threads....


It's not common to have a man in my class, but WOW! Look at those feathers! He asked if he could take photos of my quilts -- I told him "only if I can take pictures of yours!"


He had brought this Storm at Sea that he had made for his wife to replace one that was stolen.





The detail work was exquisite -- look at the tiny piping just inside the binding -- and those points! Such a painstaking excellent job on this!














Some pictures of the store -- there is just so much fabric here, lots of quilts on the walls. There are also more panels here than any store I've ever visited. Vince and Terry have hired friendly, knowledgeable people, one of whom totally bailed me out on a camera problem. Things were getting dicey and she just stepped right in and fixed it in about 20 seconds. Thanks, LaToya!

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Stores for Batts in the Attic Merchandise

Every day we process orders from the website for my DVDs, Batt Scooters and Batt Snips. Sometimes we get orders from residents of cities where I know they are carried in stores, so I put together a list of where I have shipped items recently and I know other stores carry them as well, so you can ask locally and save some shipping if they have them!

The stores that I know are stocked up are:

Authorized Vac & Sew, Fresno CA
Sewing Machines Plus, San Marcos CA

A Scarlet Thread (Scooters only), McDonough GA

Arlington Sewing Center, Arlington (Dallas) TX
Patches & Scraps, Midland TX
Creative Sewing Centers, San Antonio TX

Nuttall's Sewing & Fabric Center, American Fork UT
Nuttall's Sewing & Fabric Center, Ivy Place (Murray) UT
Nuttall's Sewing & Fabric Center, Riverton UT
Nuttall's Sewing & Fabric Center, Sunset, UT

If you are a store that carries Batts in the Attic goodies, please let me know so I can get you on an updated list!


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Location:Houston,United States

Creative Sewing Centers, Loop 1604 Store

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This is a newer store for Vince and Terry Soll, owners of Creative Sewing Centers. The store located on W Loop 1604 N is around 1-1/2 years old and is quite different from the West Avenue store. I love the way the fabric is displayed and the quilts all over the walls!


This small machine embroidered quilted wall hanging is beautiful -- the colors are gorgeous!





A lot of machine embroidery -- I have four sewing machines that embroider and like playing with it -- I'm intrigued at the quilts that are made incorporating these techniques....


Fun, quick, easy!


These designs are built in to the Dream Machine from Brother. I can think of a couple of little girls who might like this quilt!


Do you love this? Posted on the classroom wall -- I think STABLE definitely describes my fabric collecting habit!


I bought the Anita Goodesign collection that includes these embroideries -- I love this table runner and can definitely do the embroidery on my Dream Machine. Terry used a ruler from Cozy Quilts Strip Club to make the blocks. I forget the name of the ruler, but I know I have it at home, so if you'd like more info on that, just leave a question in the comments.

I like the way Terry used the background fabric for the corners of the blocks at the bottom so it looks like a heart! I REALLY like hearts!!

The class at this store was on Thursday -- Next up, Friday and Saturday at the main store on West Avenue....

Location:San Antonio TX

Busy Week!

I taught Beyond the Basics in both stores for Creative Sewing Centers here in San Antonio. In the store located on Loop 1604, I had some really creative things going on!





Dinah had never ever free motioned! She had been given the class by a friend who had signed up and then not been able to attend. Dinah decided early on that she was in WAY over her head, but she persevered and Look!!! She did really well and I think we have a new free motion addict!










Loved these feathers and how Ann chose designs to fill them.




Each of them chose different stencils to work with and then learned background fills to enhance the stencils and also just to practice for their future work. Patricia had a lot of fun with this!













-Wowie zowie --- Gloria chose red! That's confidence!







Love the way this woven ribbon border is stitched!


Laura's feathers are really pretty and, of course, I love it because it is the perfect shade of pink! Laura owns and runs a health care company with 150 employees so this is therapy!


My illustration of various background fills during the class.

This is a beautiful store -- my next post will show you some of the quilts and fabrics here in West San Antonio.

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Location:San Antonio TX