Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Birthday!

This is the day my age changes from one non-descript number to another....and the gifts go to you!

During our vacation, my goal was to buy fabric in every city where we stayed overnight. This was hindered by Richmond not having any quilting shops (the fail is strong in that city) and Victoria's quilting store being notoriously hard to find (quel dommage!). I settled for a handmade glass necklace in Victoria.

These were my souvenirs from Cranbrook, BC, from a tiny store called The Cotton Tree Quilt Shop. Isn't that the most perfect red? The brown print has script about chickadees.

I scored Big Time in Port Alberni. On the quay was an end-of-the-world quilting haven called Kismet Quilts. I totally cleaned up! They even had some local prints and designs, two of which came home with me. I squee'd when I saw an entire bolt of those ants!

Kelowna had rolled up it's sidewalks by the time I got there. They were having a local celebration or something in the park (now affectionately known as "Downtown Douche-fest") and weekenders had every single hotel room booked from Calgary to Vancouver. I'm not exaggerating. We couldn't stay long and ended up sleeping in our van after driving nearly four more hours to Golden. My favorite Kelowna quilt shop was closed for the weekend, but my second choice was happy to serve. Here are my purchases from Cottage Quilting:

Now on to the presents!!

Those of us who have lived on The Island know that this print is quite obviously of First Nations inspiration. Since I am not a fan of that culture, I bought this fat quarter specifically to celebrate our vacation by giving it away to a lucky reader. I believe these are halibut, salmon, and orca.

Secondly, a confession.

I bought a package of hexie papers before we left home, with lofty intentions to sew something cute from my new acquisitions. I learned that basting these little bits together is bloody hard work!! Hats off to women who can create anything of size by EPP! I had problems right from Go. I did manage to get one flower put together, but it was excruciating. I don't feel bad about giving away my one lonely flower and the remainder of the new package of hexie papers.


If you would like either of these two gifts, send me some birthday love! Tell me a favorite memory from your birthday or a vacation and mention which gift you'd like to take home. I'll pick two winners on Saturday.

6 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday Michelle. Funny I should be reading this today. A friend and I have birthdays a week apart (and 10 years), so we usually go to lunch sometime between our two birthdays (because you can't have too many celebrations). Our birthdays are in Dec. but life got in the way and we ended up celebrating today! Chocolate Explosion cake at Boston Pizza. I must be getting old, when my favourite birthday memory is the latest one!
    Hope your celebration included playing with fabric.

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  2. You don't need to put me in the draw, but just thought I'd comment and say whoever your travel buddy is must be very patient, a fabric lover, or love you very much!! That's a lot of quilt shops in one vacation!!

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    1. My husband (who must be in love with me) is happy to take me to quilt shops because he benefits from my craft, too! But, there might be another reason why BOTH of our names are on the Fabricland membership....

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  3. Quilt shops are getting fewer and farther apart. I would love to win the hexi papers as I have a friend going to teach me how its done. I am having surgery on my foot and it will help me pass the time. Love your choices of fabric.

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  4. Happy Birthday! I think fabric (or yarn!) makes the perfect travel souvenir. I found some lovely stuff in Maui and every time I look at it, it reminds me of our trip. I love that fishie fabric and I know a fella who loves fish!!

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  5. My favorite birthday - hmmm I have a few- one when I was home when I was 16 a very long time ago- my mother made homemade fish and chips and a fancy chocolate cake with maple walnut icing- My friends loved it as much as I did. More recently I have had birthdays that involved recieving a new sewing machine- very lucky girl that I was...
    I love the Haida fabric- I can think of a few good uses for it.. Thanks for the chance to win such pretty fabric.
    It looks like you had a fun quilt store hop on vacation. There used to be a Quilt store in Victoria called Full Moon quilt shop. I know that there is one in Chilliwack called Hamel's that is suppose to be great as well. We were down in Banff and stopped in a few quilt stores on our days away- one in Canmore, one in Olds and another in Rocky Mountain House on the way to Banff. It was fun and I found some great deals in Rocky as she was having a sale 3 meters for 20 dollars.
    Hope all is well with you and your little ones. Your aprons are cute.
    Regards,
    Anna

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