Ladyfingers Sewing Studio

Nestled in the rural farmlands of the Oley Valley in Berks County, PA, is a shop called Ladyfingers Sewing Studio.  This was Sue's second stop in the Row By Row shop hop. 

This shop is owned by Gail Kessler who is the designer of over 140 colors of Dimples for Andover Fabrics.  Located in the restored 1860 Griesemersville Hotel which served travelers between Reading and Philadelphia, I was greeted by some feathered friends (although I'm not sure this guy was being friendly!)

But I immediately understood the reason for the chickens that are part of their row.

I had been to this shop before with my mother, who lives about 25 minutes away, but it has been a number of years since my last visit.  It is every bit as delightful as I remember, with an abundant supply of fabric, patterns, books, notions and Benina sewing machines.  Truly a feast of color.

After purchasing a kit with pattern for the row and a license plate, and taking a short look look around, I was ready to move on to my next stop.

My feathered friends were still wandering the parking lot outside.

Turning left out of the parking lot, I followed the Oley Turnpike to my next turn onto Covered Bridge Road - an obvious clue to what came next that I didn't pick up on until it was right in front of me - duh!

And also another connection to the Ladyfingers row design.  I traversed the covered bridge and continued through the scenic countryside to my next destination.

More Row By Row in PA

After a few days in PA, Sue will finally be on her way to quilt camp in New Hampshire tomorrow.  So today she decided to take advantage of an opportunity to visit her first Row by Row quilt shop.  It is a shop near Womelsdorf called In Stitches.  A well stocked and charming shop, Sue says it was good to have a short outing from elder care and pick up her first row pattern and license plate.  She plans to stop at a few more shops Saturday as she makes her way north.

Taking a cue from Elizabeth, she decided to try her hand at a selfie.

The interior entrance to the shop is shared with another business.

Lots of notions, batting, fusibles and other products were in good supply.  Fabric was charmingly displayed on a church pew.

There was a very nice display featuring their row and free pattern, the special H2O fabrics, tote bags, pins and other patterns for items using the H2O fabric.

Here's a close up of their row.

And the pattern and license plate.  "Sew Obsessed" - a very apt description!  Find out more about the 2015 Row by Row Experience here.

UFO Busting for June

We're a little late with this post, but it's time to link up with Vicki Welsh of Field Trips in Fiber again for June's UFO Busting report  in our quest to get some UFO's out of the studio.  Click on her badge on the sidebar for a direct link to her post about it.  At the end of every month Sue is doing a post about what she's accomplished that month, and linking it to Vicki's.

Sue's report:
Once again I have finishes to report, but as last month, they just aren't the things in the UFO pile!  It seems that new deadlines crop up every month, so most of what I am doing is new start projects.  But they are small so I am mostly able to finish them. My report for June follows.

For my end of month count, this is where things stand:

• Projects in progress May 1 - 7
• Projects completed -2 1/2
• New projects started -3
• UFO's trashed - 0
• Projects in progress May 31 - 8

The new starts/finishes are:

Above, 2 sample rows with fish screens for Artistic Artifacts' Row By Row H20 shop hop.

I made 6 postcards like the one above for a postcard swap.

This piece, which I blogged about a few days ago, is the 3rd start, but not quite finished.  I am working on some stitching in the background, so this will take a little bit longer. 

For the rest of July, I am off to quilt camp with Elizabeth, so it's likely there will be more starts and few finishes.  But I am taking at least one UFO along, so maybe there will be some finishes after all!

Lake Winnipesaukee Quilt Shops

Elizabeth shares this info about NH quilt shops:

A driving trip around Lake Winnipesaukee takes us to two quilt shops participating in the Row by Row Experience.  Since we had to drive to Belmont for a mooring sticker, we made stops at these two stores to collect their patterns and license plates.

Our first stop is the closest place to buy fabric and quilting supplies, the internationally known Keepsake Quilting in Center Harbor at the northern end of the lake.  If you are ever in the Lakes Region of NH, this store is not to be missed. It is a quilter's delight!

This year their row features three appliqued loons on pieced blocks of Lady of the Lake, Delectable Mountain, and Bear’s Paw.

Further around the lake  to the south but still right off the Highway is The Quilting Frog in Weirs Beach, NH, right by the traffic circle. 

In keeping with their name, the row features a frog and some lilypads along with quilt blocks at both ends. 

When Sue arrives in another week, we will be visiting more shops around the state. Last year we also visited a few in Maine and Vermont. We'll see what this year brings; after all, we need some time for "quilt camp" too!

Inspired By....a Pair of Earrings?

Sue has written before about her art quilt bee and the challenges that are issued every other month.  In May, the challenge issued for June was to create a quilt inspired by a photo from another participant.  Each person's photo was passed 3 times to the right and after the last pass, that was the photo your quilt would be based on.  Most were calendar or magazine photos.  Sue, however, ended up with something a little different.  What she got was a pair of earrings that was passed around.

Some might consider this more challenging than a photo, but Sue was actually glad to have a shape to work with, especially since she knew there was a piece of fabric in her stash with a similar design.  Plus, she knew it was a shape she could work with for making a thermofax screen.  So she proceeded to make a screen using the image in 3 different sizes - to incoporate one of the elements of design - repetition.

The screens were printed on color catchers, a non-woven fiber product used in laundering to pick up excess dye.  As you see in the 3 pieces in the photo, they are varying shades.  We use them in washing hand dyed fabrics so you end up with a variety of colors.  Another plus is that the edges stay clean and crisp.  Next was figuring out an arrangement on the background fabric.

After doing some free-motion quilting on the background the prints were cut down and stitched in place.  Then Sue decided some embellishment was called for.  Each of the prints was overlaid with an embellishment thread or yarn that was zigzagged in place.  Then it was time for some hand stitching.

First was adding some more color, orange, to highlight the shapes on the background fabric that echoed the shape of the earrings.  These were stitched with a back stitch.  Finally, the last addition - which is still a work in progress - is adding random hand stitches (ricing, or chicken scratch) to the background.  Below is a close up of the start of that stitching.

This stitching will be used to fill up the background between the various motifs on the fabric.  The thread is a variegated perle cotton which Sue thinks adds texture and interest and a little more stability to the piece.  Time consuming, yes, but worth the effort.  And it's only a 12" square.  She also thinks this piece might be good for mounting on an art canvas as the final presentation.  We'll post another picture when its finished.

Not Everything in NH is Quilting

Believe it or not, not everything in New Hampshire is quilt camp.  As the season begins this year, Sue is still in Virginia and Elizabeth is in New Hampshire with her mother, Barbara, along with her husband, Bob and two long-time friends.  Everyone is delighted that the friends decided to come visit and we are taking some time to show off the Lakes Region and the two guys are working on building a new gazebo attached to the front deck, something Barbara has been wanting for a long time.  Here is the progress after three days of building.

We took some time to visit a local attraction known as Castle in the Clouds.  Lunch on the patio here is a favorite because of the spectacular view.  

 Also on the castle grounds is a pond with some of the biggest rainbow trout imaginable.  They get so big from tourists giving them food all summer!

 Of course, we like to take some time to look at our own view too.  This is from our community dock looking up towards the Ossipee Mountains where Castle in the Clouds is located. 

Row By Row, Connecticut & Massachusetts

After spending the night on the Delaware River, just before entering New York, the hour to leave was early.  After consulting the Google map provided by Row By Row, Elizabeth decided to make stop 2 near Hartford, Connecticut.  About ¾ of a mile off the Interstate in Southington, Connecticut is one of three shops called Close to Home.  They specialize as a sewing center, window treatment, and vacuum store.  Again, friendly staff greeted her and were happy to show off their row.  What looked like a tiny store from the outside turned out to be a large inside space with a nice classroom.  If you lived locally and could take instruction there, it would be a great place to go.  The fabric selection here was nice, again with plenty of new fabrics from which to choose.  This store is also participating in a Connecticut shop hop in the fall and the quilt pattern being given away then makes a spectacular quilt. 

The row at Close to Home included 4 blocks with thread embellished appliques on them, it was festive and kid friendly without being childish.  They sold it as a kit with the option of a separate kit of embroidery threads.

A little over 100 minutes after leaving Close to Home, Elizabeth was in Massachusetts at A Notion to Quilt in Shelburne, MA.  Six miles off the Interstate on the Mohawk Trail (Route 2), a rural and scenic route, was the store.  Wow, they really lived up to their name, it was full of notions, as well as sewing machines and long arms; a class was also going on and there was fabric galore.  They had room after room of fabric and notions with lots of fun machine embroidery threads and designs too.  They have a lovely display set up for their row which features a bridge of local fame.  Now a walking path on what was once a trolley bridge, it was also featured in their 2014 row. It would be fun to go back and walk the actual bridge.  

The display included a map of the USA for visitors to pin where they are from as well as the license plates and other trinkets associated with the shop hop.  It would be fun to see this map when the shop hop ends as I am betting it will be full of pins from all over the country.  Stopping at this store with the friendly staff was a real pleasure as even the drive from the Interstate to the store was easy and restful.  A Notion to Quilt is not to be missed if you are row hopping this summer.

If you are planning your own shop hop this summer in search of rows, be sure to check out Facebook where you can view pictures of all the participating shop’s rows, as each state has their own dedicated page for sharing information about the shops and the rows.  (search state name + row by row)  If you are hopping in New England, let us know about any “not to be missed” shops.