Sew Sweet Moda Blog Hop Day 4

It’s so nice of you to swing by for a visit. Hope you've got a full tank today because you'll be headed coast-to-coast from here in Connecticut to Ohio to visit Deb and then on to sunny California to visit Anne.

This time around, the Moda Blog Hop is about hometowns, sampler souvenirs, and a travel snack you can win, compliments of Moda, to celebrate National Sewing Month.

If you're new here, i'm Kate Spain and i design all sorts of patterns that are featured on all sorts of products from dishes at Crate and Barrel to wrapping paper at Michaels Craft Stores to fabric for Moda. Welcome to my hometown of Fairfield, CT! How about we go for a quick tour?

A little history if you like this sort of thing, if not just skip the next few paragraphs :) Fairfield, CT is in southern New England and has so much history, it's hard to figure out where to begin! The town was established by British settlers in 1639, after the area and beyond had been home for hundreds of years to the Pequot tribe.

In the summer of 1779, about 2,000 British troops burned the town to the ground, even the church. Ten years later, while passing through Fairfield, President George Washington was amazed by the many visible remnants of destruction. In his diary, Washington noted stopping in Fairfield where he stayed here at the Rising Sun Tavern.

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Fairfield was largely an agrarian town — prosperous due to, of all things, onions!

The crop was grown on the hills of Fairfield and shipped out of Southport Harbor. You can still buy heirloom seeds of the Southport Red Globe onion through the Sustainable Seed Co.

In the 20th century Fairfield transformed into a suburb to New York City, Stamford, CT, and Bridgeport, CT. Fairfield grew rapidly as neighboring Bridgeport became a booming manufacturing center for U.S. and ally efforts in World War I and WW II. The famous Corsair fighter plane, the first plane to fly 400 MPH, was constructed nearby.

 Today, Fairfield is home to about 60,000 people, two universities, and to General Electric and Bigelow Tea. Constant Comment and Earl Grey are two of my all-time favorite flavors.

So why in the world did we move here?? That's pretty simple:

The New Yorker is my fave :)

And maybe this place (i mean, mon Dieu! just look at those baguettes and home-baked tarts)...

Isabelle et Vincent French Bakery

Or perhaps we moved here because of this place...

Original tomato pie, plain and simple. yumm

...or this place...

"Thanksgiving on a Bun" is one of my favorite sandwiches from here

...but mostly, i think it was this that brought us to Fairfield:

There are 5 beautiful miles of public shoreline stretching along Long Island Sound (we like to call it the Gulf of Connecticut), and we've walked along these sandy shores so many times and have come to know them in every season.

What else? Oh yes, some famous people are from here. Fairfield was once home to Meg Ryan, writer and U.S. poet laureate Robert Penn Warren, actor Jason Robards, conductor/composer/musician Leonard Bernstein, and pop star John Mayer...and these two:

It's a cute little town, and we have loved living here. But last week, we moved. Just one town over to where wild parrots roam the sidewalks (not kidding, see for yourself):

and to the original home of:

I think we're going to like it here!

Here is the Oh Sew Sweet souvenir sampler block for you to add to all the others you've collected so far. You can download the instructions here. This block uses Moda's newest precut, Candy (those adorable 2 1/2" squares), and is made with my newest fabric collection called Cuzco — due to ship in early October. 

And what would a road trip be without a snack?? How about fueling up on one of these?

Moda was so generous to send me two layer cakes and six candy precuts of Cuzco, and i am so happy to give them away to eight lucky winners. To enter, please just leave a comment and let me know one thing you especially love about where you live. Winners will be randomly selected on September 15th. Good luck!

Thanks so much for pulling over for a pit stop. Have fun with Deb and Anne, and all my other wonderful Moda friends, but don't drive too fast or you might miss some attractions along the way.

Whoops, too late. You just whizzed right by a peek at my next fabric collection!