The Annual Bluebonnet Quilt Shop Hop

This past week was our area's quilt shop hop. I just love participating in this event each year, although I only visited 2 of the 12 shops this time around. I spent so much money in the first two that I decided I was better off just skipping the other 10 shops. I have no self control :)
We usually have warm, sunny weather, but this year we had rain and some thunderstorms. I didn't mind since I love those types of days (and believe me, we have very few of them here). As I was driving down one of the roads in our neighborhood I had to stop for these cute little guys crossing the street with their mama. I was happy I had my camera handy, even though it's not the best of pictures.

I had a good day, even though I only visited two shops. I began with a stop at Dunkin Donuts for a large coffee (and two chocolate frosted donuts, but we'll just forget about those!). Of course, they were needed to sustain me for the drive to the two shops. (I drove 127 miles just visiting those two... one was south of the city and the other was in the far west side, and we live on the northeast side... lots of driving involved.)

At the first shop I found these pretty fat quarters. I didn't have projects in mind, but loved the way they look together, so had to buy several. I don't have many yellow fabrics so I picked up that cute yellowish-cream one on the left, and the one on the right was my "freebie" from that shop. I think I'll probably use them with some cross stitch project. The others will make their way into either cross stitch project finishes, table runners, small sachet pillows, etc.

At the second shop, which is one of my favorites, I found two fabrics that go perfectly with the ones I already had on hand for a baby quilt. I already had the second and third one (which are William Morris fabrics and a little unusual since so many of his are dark. These are pretty florals in a pink and blue, as you can see.) I also had the white fabric, and the blue toile I bought last year during the shop hop. It's difficult to see, but is a Texas fabric with blue bonnets and some small ranch scenes. Although I'm not originally a Texan (I'm an east coast girl, but have also lived in Arizona), I decided to use a teensy bit of this toile fabric in the quilt since I live here now ~ kind of a little "signature" within the quilt. The two fabrics I bought this year are the blue on the left, and then the pink over on the right between the William Morris pink floral and the white. I was so happy that the colors match perfectly.

I'm looking forward to starting the quilt and have decided that it won't be too fancy. I'm just going to cut the fabric into squares and sew them together in a pattern that looks pretty. I plan to add some white eyelet lace around the edge of the quilt ~ once I get that far. I promise to share some pictures as the work begins!