Wow, I want to try this!

Our quilt guild is having an interesting challenge this year!  64 crayons were dropped into a lunch sack and everyone chose a crayon without looking.  Lucky me loves most colors, but I only only own “blue” jeans – I am not a blue lover. Can you guess which color I chose?  Robin Egg blue – which is actually an aqua to my eye.

I have been messing for months trying to find robin egg blue fabric.  Buying online is difficult because only the majority of the quilt has to be “your” color and I cannot find matching fabric if cannot compare them directly.  Yup, I’m that particular and blues clash!  If I’m going to make a quilt, it’s gonna look good!

So far I have selected a pattern with oodles of applique and there is a quilt show in town this week, just maybe I’ll find some fabric I love there!  I have been to all the local shops, of course.  Many do not carry solids anymore, just batiks!  If the solid is not of a high quality, it is too hard to applique, too.  I will use Kona; this is Kona 1514 – IF you can find it and I need several shades on both sides, lighter and darker.

Equilter.com has been a help.  Too bad they are soooo near and yet do not have a store front so I can look around!  Believe me, if they were close I would work there!!!  Our guild president this year does!  She doesn’t buy fabric there, however.

I found a video on You Tube that may hold my answer!  It uses crayons!  Go figure!  This isn’t the way I’ve seen it done before; check it out and see what you think!!!!

by Terrie Linn Kygar

 

Here is a link to Terri’s book at Connecting Threads:  Creative Quilts From Your Crayon Box, by Terrie Linn Kygar.  I love this site because you can see multiple pages from books here!  As I am writing this, the book is on sale for 49% off – $12.50! 

Robbie Marie

Chooze Shoes!

Mismatched Chooze shoes* are perfect for quilters, don’t you think???  Chooze shoes come in toddlers, youth, and grown-up sizes.  How is it that shoes always look cuter the smaller they are?  It is sad, but true, so I chose to show toddler sizes, but check the website for more options!

Chooze are a shoe with a cause and I like that!  I found this on their website:Make a statement and look good at the same time!

Robbie Marie

*no affiliation whatsoever, just impressed.

IKEA has fabric!

The very BEST part of IKEA is their fabric!  I just adore the super-sized prints on fabric with some “meat” to it.  Their fabric is perfect for general decorating and bags and was very affordable, about $5.99 – $8.99 a yard.  The colors are so vibrant and intriguing, nothing we can get at JoAnn’s! 

It is probably a good thing that IKEA is 45 minutes away across town!

~ Robbie

New shoes should be a food group!

Shoes are like cute little puppies and kittens!

When you have gone shoe shopping I know you’ve noticed that the smaller the shoe, the cuter it is!! A women’s size 6 looks like a completely different animal than a size 12, right?? On a side note, my son has worn size 13 shoes since he was 13 years old and I have been thankful ever since that there isn’t an adjusted price to correspond to the amount of leather in his shoe, but still the smaller ones ARE cuter!

So, one of my favorite places to buy shoes is The Rack. I got a got a pair of cute size 8 women's Keen sandals this weekend, but they are NO way as cute as these!

Where is the justice???

~ Robbie

source

IKEA has arrived in Denver!

source

(Well, actually it opened in Centennial, a suburb south of Denver.)

We have been waiting for IKEA to open for such a long time! It is hard to believe that it is actually open! The Denver Post ran a story in September of 2008 announcing that IKEA was going to open its first Colorado store in 2011. We have been anticipating the opening ever since. There is even an IKEA fan page with a countdown clock to the opening! Gobs of people have camped outside the store hoping to be the first inside for days. Even IKEA could not afford all the publicity it has gotten from the news media. It is all kind of funny!

Ikea Centennial, a photo by old town drafting on Flickr.

So, have I gone to see what it is all about? You bet! DAYS after the opening my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson set out to see what all the hype was about. Parking was very controlled - kind of like parking at a Broncos game. We took their “Bob” stroller and although it was a little large to maneuver around with all the people, it was actually no worse than pushing a shopping cart through the aisles.

By far the worst part of IKEA was trying to buy food! Oh my goodness! The lines were totally misleading! What we thought was the front of the line was simply another line! It took f-o-r-e-v-e-r to get our food. I am not so sure that I will try that again! I had their famous Swedish meatballs and they were good; were they worth the wait? Not so much.

source

What did I buy? Not much! I bought 1.5 yards of linen fabric, which I cut myself, I think it is too thin to do much with, but we'll see, a small salad spinner, and a $1 pillow to see how the stuffing will work in small items. All in all, it was a cheap day out and I got a lot of walking in.

Am I ready to go back to IKEA? Maybe after Christmas! 

~ Robbie