Beaded Fabric Ornaments

Paula Nadlestern has done it again! Her new fabric line, Fabracadabra, reminded us of her Patternista line that we used to make Beaded Ornaments a few years back. The new motifs are equally beautiful and up to the task of becoming awesome ornaments. The following pictures show the ornaments in the making and finished. They are now hanging at the shop, alongside the ones made from Patternista. The Patternista ones had been living in Delphine's sewing room, making one corner particulary pretty! Come in and see them in person, buy a panel or two along with a starter pack of beads, a few balls and some pins, then sit down and have some fun with beads and sequins. We don't have to use fabric just to make quilts!

Sun Drenched and Blue Paradise

Delphine worked one these gorgeous samples at the Bayshore Christian Women's Quilt Retreat this past weekend! Aren't they just stunning? 

The blue quilt is made from the Blue Paradise fabric line by Benartex, and the orange and pink one is Sun Drenched by Benartex. The pattern is a free download (available here: www.benartex.com/uploads/Image/quilt-gallery/537/Flowerscapes_pattern.pdf). You can also pick up a printed version of the pattern in the shop for a $2.00 color copy fee, or we'll give you the pattern free if you buy all the fabric needed to make the quilt! The pattern makes a 42-block quilt. Delphine used half the fabric called for and made 20-block quilts, plus 4 extra blocks to use in the backing and for other projects with other prints from the collection.

Here's the top of the Blue Paradise quilt:

...and here's the back:

Here's the Sun Drenched top:

...and here's its back:

Primitive Gathering Antique Flower Garden

Delphine has been working on making a sample of Primitive Gatherings' Antique Flower Garden! It's a beautiful wool applique on flannel, which is so nice for your hands to work with.

Here's the cover of the pattern, showing what the finished quilt will look like (it finishes at 44" x 46"). We have the recommended flannel for the background plus wool kits from Primitive Gatherings for the applique! The wool kit is not pre-cut. You do need to trace out all the pieces onto fusible and then cut them out. But we like tracing and cutting with scissors, so that part can be enjoyable and relaxing, not tedious.

This is the center medallion with the applique fused on. Beautiful, isn't it?

Nope, we didn't toss some green noodles on the quilt. Those are skinny strips of wool for the border vines!

Lots and lots of little pieces!

The totally fused quilt top! Delphine made an "oops" when laying it out and realized half-way through that the fabric was width-wise, rather than length-wise on the board. So the nap of the flannel is exactly going sideways, but you really can't tell even close up. And now the quilt is wider than it is long, the exact opposite of the pattern layout! But, at that shape, it'll look nice on a wall, so not a bad mistake to make.

How National Quilting Day Started

Our National Quilting Day festivities have begun! Come on in and join the fun!

If you want to know a little more about National Quilting Day, here's a little summary of it's history based on the National Quilting Association's website (nqaquilts.org/nqd/).

National Quilting Day began in Kentucky with the Kentucky Heritage Quilt Society. In 1989, they decided to set aside the third Saturday of March for a "Quilters' Day Out" to celebrate Kentucky's rich quilt-making heritage. It was a hit! Just two years later, in 1991, the National Quilt Association officers were so excited about the event that they voted to make it national. The first National Quilting Day was held in 1992, and quickly grew into a world-wide celebration of quilts and quilting. In just the very first year, quilters from all over the world asked to participate and were gladly welcomed in. And it's been going ever since, on every third Saturday in March. This year, that's tomorrow! But our celebration at the shop has already started and will run through Monday!

Happy National Quilting Day!

Saturday, March 21st, is National Quilting Day!

We are celebrating from Friday, March 20th, to Monday, March 23rd!

As part of this celebration of quilting, we have these offers going on:

A Free Gift just for coming in!

Spend $20.00 and receive a Free Fat Quarter!

Buy a Kit and take 25% off your backing and/or batting!

Buy a spool of Thread and get another one at 25% off!

Buy a cut of Fabric and get another one at 25% off! (one yard or more required)

Buy 1 Fat Quarter at 1% off, 2 at 2% off, and so on, up to 40 at 40% off!