Iris Festival

 The winner is Becky Haley! $50 gift card! 

I wish I was better at photography. Her piece is amazing. Everyone did such a wonderful job. 

Thanks to everyone who participated - watch for next year's details!

The Iris Challenges are hung from the ceiling with care...

Iris Festival Challenge

Well, we've had a busy week for sure. The Iris Festival Challenges are all in & were judged by the Chamber of Commerce.
I'll show you a peek, but you really must stop in to see them. They're magnificent. What amazing talent we have among our customers!
Iris Challenge Fat Quarters were purchased with rules & entry forms. There were size constraints, & each has to include a visible piece of the Challenge fabric. The entries are all hung in the shop now, & will be up until June 1.
We'll announce the winner of a $50 gift card Saturday at the Iris Festival.

These two are front & back of a two-sided entry.

Quilt Show Success!

Here's our booth at the Best of the Valley Quilt Show this weekend. We had a great time & saw lots of friends. After a year, we feel like maybe we're getting the hang of this vendor both business.
The quilts are phenomenal. I'll take some quilt pics tomorrow. It's just been too busy so far. Notice the groovy green light over our booth? They replaced it last night & today I felt like I was under a spotlight all day! It was great.
We took lots of batiks, animal prints, Very Hungry Caterpillar, Yo Gabba Gabba, brand new Christmas, local olives & citrus fruit, pomegranates, some trendy new gray & yellow, Hoffman Challenge, & some soft new Moda prints.
The Thimble Art patterns are flying out of the booth. Everyone is loving these dimensional patterns.
We have some new Pockets a Plenty sample bags, thanks to our teachers & customers. These bags are so versatile & everyone who makes one ends up making a bunch!
So it's been a good show, with one day left. Tomorrow we're open 10-4. Drop in & say hello.

Best of the Valley Quilt Show

We're making big plans for the Best of the Valley Quilt Show April 13, 14, & 15 in Lindsay, California. It's just a hop, skip, & a jump up the road from us. That's not the only reason we're excited, though.
It's a big show with cash prizes & lots of beautiful pieces. All our best quilters bring their best work & it's amazing to see.
One of the most interesting aspects of the show is the way all the local quilt guilds & clubs work together to make this show fabulous every year. You'll see several organizations there with membership booths & opportunity quilts. All the docents & workers are members of local quilting groups. They run an amazing show. You just have to come & see!

We're cutting & stickering & getting ready to pack it up!

For more information, look here: http://www.botvquilts.com/ We hope to see you there! Mention this blog post for 10% off your fabric purchase at the show!

Thank you for a wonderful party!

We thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone last weekend. Lots of friends stopped in to have a cupcake & say hello. It was a lot of fun. Thank you to everyone who came & sent goodies, balloons, or flowers. Everything was beautiful!
Debbie won the first door prize, so she got to choose. If your ticket was drawn & you weren't still at the shop, we called you. So check your messages.
Everyone blew a birthday whistle to see if their discount would be 15% or more. It was fun, but a little touchy when the threats started! ;)Don came to our Grand Opening last year & bought this cross stitch kit. He came back Saturday to show off his beautiful work. He did a great job.
Crave Bakery made the cupcakes for us. Wasn't that sweet? People are still talking about how delicious they were. And a customer, Misty, made this amazing mermaid cake. It's so cool!
Thank you to everyone for a fabulous first year! We appreciate all our wonderful customers & friends very much. You've really made this year one to remember!

It's our birthday!

Come join us for our birthday party this weekend!
We have whistles, & cupcakes, & prizes, & lots of fun planned.
All fabric in the shop is at least 15% off!
Blow the whistle to see what your fabric discount will be.
Crave Bakery is bringing cupcakes, & you'll love all the door prizes!
This is our way of thanking you for a wonderful first year.
It's been a wild ride & we've loved meeting so many new friends along the way.
Everyone has been so helpful & supportive, & we just appreciate you all so very much!
So come out & enjoy the weekend with us.
Saturday 10-6
Sunday 1-5
Free shipping on all domestic web orders!

Springtime in the Valley Quilt Show

So now we're packing up for the San Joaquin Valley Quilt Guild Show in Fresno. I'll share something very personal...I'm not fond of packing. We just packed for the retreat last weekend, & now here we go again.
But it's so exciting to plan out what to take. We can't possibly take everything in the shop, so the decisions are tough. We're taking a lot of batiks, some new panels with their coordinates, some cute new kid prints, & several new collections with their free patterns. I'm even prepared for Fresno's new Modern Quilt Guild. I have some kits packed, some gorgeous batik rolls, & some sweet new 10" cuts & rolls.
It's hard to know what everyone will want, & try to guess what other vendors won't have. I don't want to take the same stuff everyone else takes. So I'm wandering the shop, filling boxes with a variety of stuff that may or may not be right. It's such a disappointment when a customer comes up at a show & asks for something that I left back at the shop. "Why, yes. I do have that. But it's back in Porterville."
Oh well. It will be fine. It will be lots of fun. Especially after the UNpacking & set up are finished. (And before the packing up to come home begins.)

The best part of vending at a quilt show is meeting so many new people. The other vendors are always very nice to us newbies. We learn a lot from watching them work. Some of them do this every week, & they have it down to a science. You can bet they aren't blogging tonight about how they don't know what to pack! They're very kind & helpful answering our dorky questions, too.
The folks who run the show are always so nice to us, & we really enjoy all the new friends we meet. So far, every show has brought us new friends who come to visit often. I love seeing them again at the shop.
If you're in the area, check out the show here: http://www.sjvqg.com/. And when you come by, be sure to say hello. We won't even make you help pack. ;)

You're invited to our First Birthday Party!

March 31 & April 1

Special Birthday Discounts - Door Prizes - Fun!

Saturday 10-6 Sunday 1-5

Thank you for a successful first year.

We appreciate all our quilty friends - old & new!

Retreat fun

We're having a great time at the retreat. Here are a few photos of our fabric in action!
It's so cool to see where our materials go & how much fun they have after they leave the shop.
These Peonies are all gone now - they've magically become pillowcases!Here is Sheri with our tea cups. I can't believe how many projects she finished this weekend!
This T shirt quilt needed just the perfect piece to border each block...
Here is the Camelot collection... it's just about gone now, but didn't it turn out nicely?
One of the last Avignon Layer Cakes has become a Twister.
And look at this pretty block!
This has been a lot of fun. Many of these retreat participants have been in our shop, but some haven't, so we're making new friends. We're enjoying getting to know them all better. There's so much creativity & talent here this weekend!

Retreating!

We're packing up & planning to go to a retreat this weekend. It's exciting to select the right tools & supplies to take for the retreaters. We're sneaking in some kits & patterns & fabric, just in case someone needs an emergency project.