When we went up to Brainerd MN on a family vacation last week, I will admit that one of my top priorities was hitting a local quilt shop–Country Fabrics and Quilting.  The girls + Espen went on an afternoon outing to eat and shop.  My sister-in-law, Emily, has started quilting, but had never been to an actual quilt shop–I couldn’t wait to have her see it!!  We had to be sensitive on time since we had non-quilters with us, but I could have totally spent hours there.  Here’s what I snagged in the short time we were there.

A charm pack and some yardage by Aneela Hoey.  Little Apples is her latest with Moda.

Charm packs (small squares of each print in the line of fabric) is a great way for me to go since I have trouble deciding quickly on what fabrics I want from a line.  I can take the charm pack home, decide what I’m going to make, and then if I need yardage of a certain fabric I can call the shop up and have them send it to me.

Another charm pack and some binding yardage from Sweetwater.   Hometown is a great line from Moda.

I also bought home dec weight fabric from Hometown to make another wet bag for Espen’s room.

A wet bag is for all those stinky cloth diapers that are waiting to be washed.  It is lined with PUL so keeps the smell in.  It will hang on the side of Espen’s changing table.

I also bought some yardage of solid grays.  Did I mention that I am really into gray?

Some more gray things I liked.

That bike is darling!

These adorable Japanese prints.

A cloth diaper pattern,  by Favorite Things, because a new cloth diaper is a treat around here.  And a Terry Atkinson pattern because she does such great patterns, I learn so much from her, and who can’t resist pockets/zippers/organizers.

Good thing I sell quilting patterns so my spending doesn’t make that much of a dent!  You can find my patterns and sooooooo  many other wonderful patterns at Country Fabrics and Quilting in Brainerd MN.  I can’t recommend the shop enough–make a trip!!

I was inspired by the Pleasant Home blog to use up some of the fabric that I have in my stash.  She says she is not going to buy any more new fabric until all of her projects are caught up…I’m not going that far, but it does feel good to get a 3-year shelf sitting project started!

So here is the project of the weekend.  I bought this fabric when I worked at The Calico Shoppe in Eau Claire WI.  As I was ironing the fabric, the smell of the fabric brought me right back to the shoppe.  Oh, how sweet!  A little trip down memory lane…

The pattern I am using is “Twist and Shout” (I modified it a bit) by Terry Atkinson.  I was again reminded why I like her patterns so much–she does a fabulous job of making everything as easy and fast as possible.  If you are a beginner quilter I highly recommend doing some of Terry’s patterns as your first projects.

First I made my “strip sets.”

Then you do a secondary cut.

Here you see my 3 piles from my different strip sets.  (strip sets=fast cutting!)

Your blocks go together just by sewing the strips together in different ways.  I started this last night and I already have all the blocks done!

I am using Civil War fabrics for this quilt.  After I wash it and it gets all crinkly, it will look like it has been around for years–love it!  This quilt will actually be a gift for a special someone…can’t wait to get it done in time for the big day!