Lisa Bongean's Weblog

Fat Quarter Shop Blog

Becky Nudge, from Crown Point IN, guessed my favorite quilt in the antique show… Here she is with her prize of reproduction 5″ charm pack of 100 charms 50 light & 50 dark… She was the first to guess the ocean wave w/pink and green stars… I think we will have to re-create this beauty… Congratulations Becky!

I am glad that there is so much interest in this Summer’s BOW…so many calls, emails and questions but I finally have something to share with you…thanks for being excited and patient with what we are doing here at Primitive Gatherings…

This will be your only sneak peek into this years Summer Block of the Week….

Here is the info as I know it today…The blocks will be 10″, my Wool & Needle Flannels will be the backgrounds and setting and borders…three will be used in the quilt. There will be 12 blocks, 6 setting blocks and a simple border. The quilt will finish somewhere around 52×66…i will guarantee it will not be this exact size so no planning on this…this is the ONLY info I know right now and what is below….

If you sign up for the Summer BOW…you are agreeing to receive 12 blocks. The first block will be $25 and will include all the flannel for the 12 blocks.  Weeks 2-12 will be $12.50.  (I so wanted to keep it at $10 but cannot do it this year.  Sorry and I hope this doesn’t change your mind.  I have never raised my wool prices in my store since opening it in 2003, and I think I will be forced to do it this year.)

My inspiration for this years BOW comes from a picture of an antique quilt that I have had hanging around for a long time in my inspiration file… it’s time to recreate this and do my thing to it…as I was stitching the block last night I was thinking…i really want  this look old and folky…like a pioneer woman made it…she didn’t have enough green so she used a little blue…she didn’t have any thicker thread to do wool appliqué with so she unraveled a burlap sack and used that to blanket stitch around the wool appliqués…you get it?.  This quilt will be simple, folky, fun and will not take a bunch of different threads…I have used only 3 threads on the first block and will keep it very minimal…like on the prairie…not much available.

If you sign up you are only committing to the 12 blocks…the setting and borders will be offered as an option.  I am guessing it will cost around $75 for the finishing for the setting blocks, setting triangles and simple border…remember this is a guess and I have not finished this quilt, but re-designing in my head… it is an option so you don’t have to commit to that yet…

Please don’t think about this long as we have ordered all of the flannel in Moda’s warehouse of this particular print and what they have on order is all coming to us in May.  There will be no more until July or so…if you want to get “in” this year…don’t hesitate…we are limited to less than we had last year…unless you are willing to wait almost all summer for your background to come in?  

Now to start planning the “freebies”…this will be a complete surprise…but they are always fun to get!  The same rules apply this year for the freebies…if you come and pick up your block each week or have it mailed each week you get that weeks “free” block…if you don’t pick it up…you don’t get it free…it will cost you $$$ if you want it…just a little added fun for you all…

We will start signing up today!!! 

It 

Hey –how is everyone out there?

I am supposed to be doing new design pattern directions…but i am going to take a break, write a post and eat 2 dove dark chocolates…want to see my sewing studio?

here is a fish eye look at part of it…see the new black furniture?  just what this primitive girl needs…black…look how it makes my room look so much bigger? Can you see where my computer is?  Just barely to the far right corner…i am sitting there right now…too bad it doesn’t look this clean…lol   it is never clean…and why should it be…i am always creating messes…well…here are the two quotes from the “dove” goddess…”Do what feels right.” and “Be the first to hit the dance floor”…I think that one was really meant for Nick…so I will have another…”Let your sensuousness shine through.” Hmmm…it is my 14th Wedding Anniversary today…that is all I am going to say about that one…I was going to show you all a pic of all of the fabric that came in to the warehouse the last 2 days…My Seasonal Little Gatherings is here…but I can’t find the pic on my phone..oh well…trust me it was a lot…hope you ordered some because it is HERE!!!

more…later…on my next break…LB

Easter weekend was spent moving the inventory downstairs and then removing everything out of the front section of the store from entrance to the back…the remodel was supposed to be a week earlier in between shows, but the carpet was back ordered…oh well we can still do it being gone…it is called having good help.

The new extended tile entry went in as scheduled…this past Monday the lovely 40 year old teal carpet was removed and by tuesday the new neutral was laid. Tuesday evening Amy went in and removed our primitive wallpaper which looked like it was shot up in a BB gun contest, from hanging all the samples on it…see the white wall. That’s where the wall paper was…
The rest of the walls that didn’t have paper on them will all need to be patched because of all the nail holes…lots of nail holes..

Luke was picking up the paint yesterday and snapped these photos for me to share with you…because you want to see it all happen right?…the hole shop will now be black shelving with tan walls….we had lots of different colors before…but I would like a more uniform tidier…but still primitive shop…

Dale from Natural Encounter will now come in and revamp the out checkout area…their store looks awesome so i am confident he will do a great job!

Before we left for the show Nick painted our new wool cubbies that will fill this new room, there were so many of them I don’t know how they all are going to fit. I will have Luke send a pic of them all in the warehouse waiting for their new home…

I will have Luke take a pic of the functioning part of the store too….it is stuffed full…but I didn’t want to close the shop…did you ever drive out of the way to go to a shop and then they were closed? I don’t want to do that to anyone…so we are remodeling one section at a time…Plus it is a lot of stuff to deal with so doing part of it at a time is manageable…

Today is set up day here in cincinnati…and we have a huge booth filled with lots of new samples…i will give a sneak peak later on as we are working all day to set it all up…i think this will be one of the best booths we have ever had and the most “stuff” we have ever brought….i hope you who are close are getting ready to come visit us!…..
We don’t start set up til noon…so some of us are sleeping in…I think it is time for me to stitch…
all for now..LB

We have arrived in Cincinnati! And to appease Nick we are attending the Reds-Cardinal game….I don’t know why attending the quilt show is not as appealing to him as a baseball game…so Nick will be watching the game and Jess and I will be eating… Nachos,popcorn,cotton candy … And checking out players butts….just to name a few things

I ain’t gonna lie to you… It’s going to be chili tonite…where’s the popcorn guy!