The Traveling Quilter Goes To Berlin Ohio

We went on our last camping trip for 2017 and we went to Berlin Ohio. 

For anyone that doesn't know this is Amish country so LOTS of quilt shops.  I

 spent wayyyyy more than I should have of fabric, partly because I found some long out of print fabrics that I could NOT resist buying. 

 I am hoping to sell some in the near future and make some of that money back though.

Alrighty, who wants to go on a trip?

 We start out with kittens in the truck!!! 

 You can see Finn on my husband's lap and Cole on the console.

Once we were set up in the camper it was business as usual and Cole the sponge thief!

We went to downtown Berlin and shopped at Country Gatherings and many of the shops in town.

There are a couple of quilt shops right downtown and I can't remember all of their names.

This one was so cute! 

The Country Craft Cupboard.  

I was on the hunt for some very specific things.  

I needed red and green fabric for a swap. 

 I also needed greens for a MSU quilt for the camper.  

Additionally I was looking for some skin tone fabric and some aqua/mint ish fabricsand gold and silver metallic for another project

(I can't tell you as *someone* reads this and can't know what I am using them for).  

I found some red and green fabric here that I could use.  

I also bought some wool for a Christmas project for my husband. 

(I forgot to take pictures of this)

We went on to Millersburg and Miller's Dry Goods.  Another of my favorites!

That ended the first day.  

We spent the night in the camper as it rained almost the entire time we were there. 

 I brought a quilt to bind and Finn and Cole were my helper cats.

So I guess I need to take better notes for blogging but in no particular order are the rest of the stops.

We found a cute little market and the broccoli and cauliflower were the size of your head!

 The clouds were spectacular and made for some good photos as we were driving places too.

Many a hilly or winding road were found.

 More quilt shops.  This one was called Anything Sews.  Not a big shop but many nice things!

I loved the Lone Star shop.  The Amish ladies running the place were super friendly and helpful!

Mercantile on Main.  This shop was really nice and had a very nice selection!

There were a few more shops but I didn't take any more photos.

 If you are anything like me you probably want to see what I bought right?  

OK here you go.  

Most of this was half yard cuts or less.

For my swaps, 1.5 yard cuts.

Bought this adorable pattern and more red for my Happy Christmas project

Hubby wanted these tea towels which just need the sides hemmed.

Skin tone and some for the secret project

I loved these appliques, but probably won't make the little quilts.  

After making the other fox quilt I think they would be cute appliqued on other pieced quilts.

Hubby wants me to make the camper placemats.

I loved the idea of that cat for a pillow for the camper.

Happy Christmas/MSU fabrics

Happy Christmas/MSU fabrics and striped binding!

Secret projects

More secret projects

Happy Christmas/MSU quilt

 We stopped at a cheese shop on our last full day in the area

So. much. cheese!

On the road home Cole was at home on the console.

Finny seems to like to be by my feet!

One last quilt shop, Country Charm Fabircs in Jeromesville, Ohio, when we were on the road.

I also bought some OOP fabric but will not be showing that as I think it is 

more fun for everyone to 

find it in the "wild" just like I did!

I hope you enjoyed our trip, I know we sure did!

~XOP~

WIPs With Friends

Wednesday brings another installment of WIPs With Friends. 

 I took a Fiber Works class with my SIL on Monday night.  

If you don't know the patterns go here and check them out.  I

t is a pretty cool collage technique. 

 Patterns are by Laura Heine.  

I, of course, chose the cat.  My SIL chose the sea horse. 

 I wanted to make my cat look like an orange tabby (Jack) and she was going for the pattern look.

We just learned how to transfer the pattern on to pattern eze and then do the base fabrics to form the animal we were making.  

Once the base is in place you fuse it to the pattern eze and cut it out.  

Then you attach it to the background you chose for your piece.  

The magic happens when you fuse flowers and stuff on top of the colorful base.  

Here is my cat, Jack so far. 

 This is just the base.

I re-did the nose like 6 times!  I ended up using the tiger's nose from Tula Pink's Eden line.  

It was purrfect! 

 I also wanted the eyes to stand out more so I fused them on to a bit of black.  

I love how they turned out!

This is the seahorse base my SIL did.  

She and I did our own shop hop and acquired all of these fabrics to use for this project 

(mostly Kaffe).  

So far I think we are doing a great job with them.

Our next class is November 4, so there won't be much more to share with these until then. 

I linked up with Sew Fresh Quilts

What are you working on?  Use the Linky to add your current project.

~XOP~

An InLinkz Link-up

Fish Quilt Progress

I was determined that this past weekend I would make good progress (if not finish) the fish quilt top.  I only had a few of the blocks made but midway through Sunday I had all the blocks made

 and up on my design wall.

I still needed to put in the sashing at this point.  

My thoughts were, "well, you could do the in-between sashing."  

So I added that.

And how much more time would it take to put the long sashing strips in?  

Surely you could join the rows now.

Hey, as long as you are this far may as well finish it up and put the outer borders on.

Somewhere around 11pm I managed to have the top finished, the batting cut and the backing pieced and ready to bring to the quilter on Tuesday! 

 It was too dark to get a photo and I had a class last night that got me 

home around 10pm so this is the best I have right here. 

 The backing is a cream flannel with golden retrievers on it 

(they look a lot like Abbey, our dog).

I am dropping this off with Kathy at Thread Bear Quilting today!!

My plan is to her her quilt Fly lures all over it.

This is an Anne Bright pattern.

One more Christmas present almost finished!!

More about the amazing class I took tomorrow during WIPs With Friends.

~XOP~

Happy Friday The 13th

I found this and it reminded me of my cat Cole.

I hope you are all having a great day.  

Enjoy your weekend!

~XOP~