Western PA Shop Hop

Let's go to the hop, ba da da dum,

Let's go to the hop, ba da da dum......

If you are a quilter and live anywhere near Pittsburgh PA, you were probably in our store at some point over the last several days. We just hosted the Western Pennsylvania Shop Hop and had a record number of hoppers.

This year the hop had a dance theme and we hosted the Sock Hop. Not all of the stores get as "in to it" as we do, but we figure if you are going to do it, do it right! It was great fun dressing in 50's gear, listening to the music all day and having fun with the customers. We even purchased hula hoops. We considered offering them to customers that were waiting in line so that they could entertain themselves - but then we discovered that we can't do it anymore either! (Here is a tip for you: the LARGER the hula hoop the easier it is to use. We are blaming the smaller hoops on our inability to keep them going. That is our story and we are sticking to it).

We packed official Bazooka bubble gum in our goodie bags and offered our hoppers the chance to help themselves to our penny candy selection and bottled water before they went on their way to the next shop.

Our hop always has a progressive quilt. The hoppers pick up one pattern at each of the 12 shops, another pattern is in the shop hop booklet, one is on the internet site and one was available on kick-off day when the passports went on sale.

Each shop owner has a designated job for the hop and this year I designed the quilt. Our version features cherries to fit with our 50's theme. The background is bright white even though it look funky green in this photo.

In a month or two we will have the pattern and kit available to purchase. I will add it (with a better photo) to the website.

Now all the shop owners have left to do is attend a meeting tomorrow morning so that we can draw all of the prize winners from the passports that were turned in and call the lucky winners!

Then we start the planning for Shop Hop 2011. Do any of you hoppers have ideas or suggestions? Feel free to comment, we are always looking for great ideas!

Design Wall

A few weeks ago Debbie from Quilting Possibilities in New Jersey posted a photo of her design wall and openly wondered what everyones looked like.

Well, here is mine:

The green table runner on the left is the Scrappy Table Runner by Nina McVeigh. Bernina will be sending the instructions (if they haven't already) in a consumer email. As a new Bernina dealer I have been busy encouraging everyone to sign-up for emails at:

http://www.berninausa.com/

The site is packed with wonderful projects as free downloads and great tips and video that you can access for free. As you can see I was a good little dealer and made the sample. When you see Nina's version you will also see that we have very different taste in fabric.

The cheery cherry blocks in the middle are the beginnings of my version of the Western Pennsylvania Shop Hop project. Here in the greater Pittsburgh area our shop hop happens in June but we start selling passports (still just $5!) in April. This Thursday, April 8th is the kick-off day for the sale. (The quilt doesn't have to be finished by then, I have until June to do that!) This years theme is dancing and our shop is having a sock hop. The cherries seemed to fit a 50's theme.

On the far right is the banner I made for my niece Abby. She is making her first communion in early May and I was asked to help with this project. I can't remember when I had so much fun. That's a green satin background that I quilted before layering the other items on top using applique. The grapes are assorted size and different color purple buttons. You can't tell but the leaves are three dimensional and it is hard to see the shear ribbon leaves on the wheat in the photo. I learned to embroider and position script on this project - ya gotta love that virtual positioning on the Bernina 830! It was a really enjoyable creative process. Rarely do I get to do something this much fun that I don't have to write instructions for when I'm finished. Several of the girls here at the shop have suggested that I write a pattern because they know it would sell - not a chance, Abby is one-of-a-kind! I have 2 years to plan for her brother Andrew!

That large roll of fabric leaning on the wall is 60 yards of one of the prints from my Counterpoint line. It is intended to be the new drapes and pillow shams for my bedroom. Someone (me) decided that having FOUR windows in the bedroom and another DOUBLE WIDE window in the bathroom was a great idea. Because tackling 60 yards of fabric is a daunting task, that roll has been leaning there for months. The other reason it has been on the back burner is that I just finished putting together the matching King size quilt top. (Don't be too impressed, the pattern is just large squares). Now I have to deal with the batting. King size batting is 120" by 120". To fit our bed, with the new high mattress and calculating for quilting "shrink" the quilt should be at least 132" wide to have the proper drop on each side. Would someone please have a chat with the batting manufacturers and tell them about this problem?

What's on YOUR design wall?