Fat Quarterly Retreat Name Tag & A Catch Up

I want to first thank each and every one of you for your warm, welcoming reaction to the shop announcement.  You have been absolutely fantastic; filled with well wishes, enthusiastic, encouragement and several really great suggestions.  I am entirely overwhelmed by how amazing you have all been.  Thank you.  I am so grateful to be part of such a phenomenal community.

Now, you might have noticed that my blogging has fallen to the wayside lately.  I'd like to quickly remedy that.  Let's start with a little catch up....

You may remember that I made a name tag for a secret partner.  It has finally arrived at her house!  Want to see it?

This little tag was embroidered for Sarah, of Narcoleptic in a Cupboard...clearly.  I think she's super fantastic, so I wanted to make something that reflected her fantastic use of color and her clean, clear style of design.

Her little blog mascot is this cute wee monkey...

...so I stitched her little cutie taking a nap with quilty dreams on the back.

I think she's happy with it, so I am completely thrilled.  Did you happen to see Sarah's post when she received her little name tag?  I am so over the moon that she posted photos with Miss Ellicat.  What could be better?  If you have not already read her post, get on over there....you will giggle yourself silly.

I can't wait to meet her in just a few week's time!

In other news...do you remember Love on the Blocks?  Well, how could you forget the School Bus orange?  I still see it when I shut my eyes!

Well, it was purchased earlier this week by a lovely man from Galway.  He is a phenomenal pianist, teacher and eternal optimist.  An all around fantastic guy.  I was just absolutely shocked when he bought it...then a little sad it was leaving my home (if I'm honest), but now I am just absolutely thrilled that it will go to a new home where I know he will take great care of it.  I'm hand delivering it tomorrow night over dinner.  I just can't wait.

And...this is the last bit...honest... I hosted a little pop up shop over last weekend for the local Irish Patchwork Society meeting.  You might remember that I have an awful time controlling myself when the little shops come into our monthly meetings.   Well, this past weekend was my turn to show off the fabrics from the shop.  It was a great preview for the local ladies before the shop launched.  Want to see the little stand?

I could take a lesson or two from several of you (Kat, Fiona, Fiona, Mary, Susan) so feel free to toss ideas out there as to how I can spruce it up a bit.  Still, the ladies were happy...which made me happy.

That's the news, guys.  Again, thank you so very much for making the shop launch such an exciting adventure.  You are a wonderful group of ladies.

In case you haven't already entered our launch giveaway, you can page down to here for a chance to win a 25% off gift cert, head to Susan's for a chance to win Aurifil thread, to Hadley's to win Kona solids or to Sarah's to win your choice of FQs.....  What are you waiting for?

Fat Quarterly Retreat Name Tag Swap

Look what gorgeousness arrived in the post yesterday!  My name tag for the Fat Quarterly retreat!  I am so in love. 

Helen made this beauty and added a little broach pin on the back to secure it.  The stitching is just beautiful and detailed, the fabric is perfectly me and the design just so fresh and to the point.  I will wear this little beauty with great pride.  Helen, thank you.  It's totally made my week!

Teeny Tiny Name Tag Peek

I dove into the Fat Quarterly Retreat name tag swap without 30 seconds of thought.  Of course I wanted to take part!  What's more is I was assigned a super duper partner.

I did a little flickr searching for inspiration. There were several there that I really liked, but I wanted something original for my partner.  So then I ignored my inspirational mosaic for a while.  Didn't want to copy anything already out there.

But then terror set in.

There are no shipping deadlines except for "the end of this month" and I started seeing blog posts of tags arriving.  Must. Get. Stitching!

I embroidered the front and back, then stitched them together into a little 3.5 x 3.5 (ish) tag with a ribbon lanyard.  Maybe that's not sturdy enough and I'll make something a little more robust for my buddy before the retreat....not sure there.

I wish I could show you the back, but that would be a dead give away to my partner so I'll have to wait for the great unveiling after it arrives in its new home.  Fingers crossed she likes it!

Name Tag Swap

I am heading to London for the Fat Quarterly retreat this June.  I am so over the moon excited about this trip I can not tell you.  I will save my gushing for a post closer to the big day.

To get to know a few folks attending, I signed up for the Name Tag Swap on flickr.  Luckily, I have been assigned the most fab partner ever!  I can not wait to create something great for her.

So, I started searching for a little inspiration on flickr.

1. My Name Tag for Sew It Together yay!, 2. Sewing Summit name tag, 3. Name Tag for the Sewing Summit, 4. DSCN3107.jpg, 5. Hello, my name is..., 6. Name Tag!, 7. my PMQG name tag!, 8. Name tag for STLMQG, 9. name tag for sewing summit 

There are so many great examples out there to draw inspiration.  I love the hand stitching in "Mandy" and "Amy".  I love the colors in "Diane", "Faith", "Susan", "Lynne" and "Jeni".  I love the attention to the blog in "Jennifer", "Faith" and "Kate".  

Here is the question, do you guys have a favorite style?  What would you want in a name tag?  What floats your boat when it come to a name tag?  Careful what you say...you might just find yourself walking around London with it strapped to your front!