oh, so pretty.

What was the prettiest thing in Atlanta?  Whipstitch.

Magnolia Lane from Laura Gunn!
Magnolia Lane by Laura Gunn

Anna Maria Horner!!!
Innocent Crush by Anna Maria Horner

oh, this bag!


pretty ribbons
lovely ribbons!

I'll take a few...
I'll take a few, please...

Need I say more?  Well, perhaps just a little.  Whipstitch is truly sewist's heaven.  The ambiance is so fresh and sunny, the staff is super friendly and all the goods are arranged to delight the eyes with color, color, color.  I could have stayed there all day.... 

Kona love!

eye candy.

Freespirit Houndstooth palate
Houndstooth by Freespirit


And look what I found at the back of the store, tucked a bit out of site...

STACKS! bottled rainbows

Stacks and stacks of Bottled Rainbows!  Maybe soon to arrive at a home near you?  (Actually, they're backordered on the fat quarter set of Kona solids for Bottled Rainbows, with orders expected to ship real soon.  Goodness, friends!)

Actually, the best part of my visit to Whipstitch was meeting and chatting with Deborah, hands down.  Deborah is the woman behind the store, the classes, the blog, even the book.  Oh, not to mention a husband and 4 kids!  As you can imagine, she's a wealth of wisdom, and I had so much I was dying to ask her!

And I did.  I mean, I asked her everything.  That lady is patient!

But, really, I learned a lot.  Like, she's working on a new book (yeah, yeah!).  She also gave me lots of advice on a new project of mine - making my own dresses.  Little tips like how to make a "wearable muslin", that I don't need a dress form and I may as well sew in my underwear (you know, cause I'll have to keep trying it on!).    She gave me so much confidence that I went out and bought fabric.  More on that later!



I asked Brandon to take some candid shots. From the looks of this one, I was talking about something really important that took Deborah quite by surprise.  Hmm... that could be when I tried to convince her that all her fabrics were begging to come home with me? 

She didn't buy it.

darn.

Really, I have no idea. But, we were obviously having fun.  And, candid shots are no easy achievement, let me tell you!

I did find a few fabrics at Whipstitch that I purchased for the "ocean" block of our Bottled Rainbow.  That particular shade of blue seems to be in recklessly short supply.  Designers, please take note!  But, I'll be sharing my stashings another time.   

cutting

fresh Fabric!

Until then, a great big THANK YOU to Deborah and the ladies at Whipstitch for such a fun visit. You can bet that I'll stop by every time I'm in Atlanta!