Special Visitor to the store! Who could it be?

Mary Todd Lincoln showed up at Little Quilts this morning

and will be here again this evening for a class.

There is still space available in tonight's class. The costume is fabulous. You really need to see this one. Muriel does an excellent job making her outfits for these classes. She also gives a little history lesson along with great tips for making the quilt and she includes treats with recipes from the past. If you miss this one it will be repeated after the first of the year.

Need a project for all those fabric scraps?

We all have more scraps laying around than we know what to do with right?  Well now you can use them to turn an ordinary strand of twinkle lights into a festive piece of garland you can hang year round!

Supplies

Strips of scrap (cut 2 1/2 inches wide x 6-8 inches long)

1 strand of holiday lights

strips of ribbon, lace, ric-rac (optional)

All you do is tie the strips around the strand wires in between each bulb.  We tied 3 strips in between each bulb to make the garland in these pictures.  We used all the new Tanyard Creek by Little Quilts fabrics for this strand.  This was such a fun and easy project to do and would make any mantle smile!  You can even make these as last minute holiday gifts for your friends or neighbors!

We also used scraps of ribbon, lace and ric-rac that we had in our stash pile; we thought it added a little something extra to the lights twinkling through.

Mary Ellen has a new helper at the store

Mary Ellen's grandson, Liam (age 7), was so excited he had a day off from 1st grade!  Mary Ellen's daughter, Laura, brought him to work with her today and the boss put him right to work!  Liam was busy preparing Circuit Rider Blocks of the Month. 

Liam worked very hard for about 15 minutes and then asked "Nana" if he could take a break and get a piece of chocolate!

Coming Soon.....

Blog Give Away + "Tanyard Creek" by Little Quilts = One Very Happy Blogger

Check back soon.... you never know when we may be having another giveaway!!!

NEW LITTLE QUILTS FABRIC JUST IN!!!

We are proud to present the newest fabric designed by Little Quilts ~ "Tanyard Creek"

Rich colors of green, bronze, red, blue and gold. Shirtings too! This is the first in a series of fabrics branded under the title of "Reflections of the South". (Great! That means there will be more.)


Tanyard Creek - designed to represent a deep southern tradition of connecting with the past remembrances of treasured historical events and family history.

Free quilt patterns available at Henry Glass Fabrics Wish there were kits? Guess what?! We have kits!

Hospitality ~ Pineapple applique wall hanging.

The pineapple is a symbol of hospitality and a warm welcome for visiting guests.

All fabrics, kits & bundles are available in the shop and on the website.

Tanyard Creek ~ a clever use of the stripe fabric in the sashing.

A Clever twist on The "Hospitality" Pattern

Look, the Pineapple is made out of wool and embellished with a feathered embroidery stitch. Then it is finished into a pillow with a flange. Cute!

New Fabric "Wiscasset" by Polly Minick & Laurie Simpson for Moda

These are classics.There are so many fabrics we had to split them into two megabundles A and B. $55.50 each.


If you look closely, you can see charm packs and jelly rolls too. We love this fabric and you will too.

Entire line is here! AND a four quilt trunk show.

Kits available while fabric lasts..for the Stars and Poppies Quilt. 52" X 60". $74.95, includes binding. Pattern sold separately.

A unique version of Les Fleurs du Jardin

A different version of  Les Fleurs du Jardin done by Judy Gray in her colors.
Wanda started teaching this year long class last month.  If you have experience in applique, you can still join.  They meet the 2nd Sunday of each month.  We'll help you pick your fabrics.  The pattern is available for $55.00 for you out of towners.

So Many Baskets... What's the Madder"

A story of a neat quilt. This quilt was started by Jenny Michael, a long arm quilter from California in 1997 for a P & B Madder Challenge using their fabrics. She got tired of making 4" baskets, so put the project away. She remembers commenting 4 more, 4 more, 4 more! She missed the deadline for the contest. She finished parts of the top. Jenny showed the blocks to her friend Robyn Thornton who loved it and asked to see it everytime they visited. Robyn wanted to "just take it home and enjoy it". The quilt top went back and for the between the two homes for 10 years. The final quilt had not been sewn yet. Two years ago Jenny gave Robyn the top and leftover fabrics for her birthday and said "Figure out the pattern and make your own!". Robyn was talking to another friend Cathy Skarshaug, and she thought Robyn would not be able to figure it out so they contacted another quilting friend and teacher Kathleen Crittenden. Robyn says Kathleen brought her 25 pages of instructions that looked like a doctoral dissertation. Jenny and Kathleen helped Robyn with the central feathered star. Roby contacted Mary Ellen at Little Quilts to help provide the perfect dark chocolate fabric to finish it. Robyn says the quilt is now 'back home with Jenny to stay'! It's grand how quilters stick together and support each other's projects. It's a beatiful top soon to be a beautiful quilt!

And the Winner is....................

Congratulations Meredith!  You have won the Bundle of Shirtings AND Autographed copy of "Little Memories."

Meredith's favorite fabric style to work with was anything Moda!  I'm not surprised that many of you commented that you loved to work with the Reproductions.  I know my mom loves those as well.  Little Quilts has a new line of fabric coming very soon called TANYARD CREEK.  You can view swatches at Henry Glass Fabrics. Scroll down to Littel Quilts and you'll see it.

Congratulations again to Meredith!  Happy Quilting everyone!

While the cat's away, the mice will play!

Hello bloggers!  It's Laura, Mary Ellen's daughter.  Mom left today for Quilt Market in Houston.  While she was gone, I decided to sneak up to the computer and post another Give Away!  Shhh, don't tell!  I bet she didn't think when she hired me that I'd be sneaking around giving things away while she was gone!  Shhhh, it'll be our little secret!

Since the Little Quilts Shirtings are so popular and versatile, I figured we'll give away another

BUNDLE OF 6 FAT QUARTERS & an

AUOGRAPHED COPY OF THE BOOK

"LITTLE MEMORIES" By Little Quilts

(Don't worry, if she catches me I'll just talk my way out of it like I did when I was a teenager!)

Here's your give away question:

What is your favorite style of fabric to work with?

Your name will be entered in the drawing when you post your answer.  Drawing ends Saturday, October 10th at 6pm.  I'll post the winner Saturday night.

Anonymous comments not eligible ~ International winners will pay shipping ~ One entry per blogger

Show & Tell from a Little Quilts Customer

Little Quilts gets visitors from all around!  Linda Brimigion, from Lakeland Florida, loves wool so she shared with us her wallhanging, "Bud Garden" from Primitive Gatherings; a great combination of wool and Jo Morton fabrics!  Linda works at Quilts on Plum Lane in Dade City, Florida and she made this sample.  Thanks so much to Linda for sharing this beautiful wallhanging!  Mary Ellen is off to Quilt Market so we're sure she'll order the pattern so we can all make our own "Bud Garden."

Linda also shared with us her sample from the book, "It's a Wrap" from Martingale.  A fun technique wrapping strips of fabric around clothesline rope.  She also embellished it with buttons. This is another great way to use your stash of leftover strips!

October Saturday Sampler Alternate Blocks

Alternate "Forest Path" blocks for October in

Asian, Feedsack, and Blue & Yellow

East Cobb Quilt Show

We must show a few highlights from this past September's East Cobb Quilt Show.  Here is an original design by Lynn Rinehart called "Multiply", that was inspired by a Koi pond at a Kauai, Hawaii, hotel.  Isn't it beautiful?  Lynn entered four quilts in the show this year.

Here is one of Sylvia Johnson's quilt, "Maddie's Quilt", made for her first grandchild, Madeleine Rose.  It is quilted by hand.  The four center blocks as you see are vintage embroidered blocks and are so perfect for a baby's first quilt:

This simply stunning miniature is only about 15" square, can you believe that?  It was made by Mary Kay Mouton and shows incredible paper piecing and quilting skills.  This won the First Place ribbon for the Miniature category:

And the winner is...............

Results of the Giveaway are in!

Sue Cahill has won the bundle of Little Quilts Shirtings. It was fun to hear from everyone and it appears that the LogCabin block got the most votes. The Nine Patch also did well and Sunbonnet Sue and the Ohio Star tied for 3rd!

Country Cabin Quilt

25 in x 25 in

My personal favorite is the Log Cabin as there are sooo many settings you can use and it's great for using up scraps from your stash. I like to cut 1 1/2" strips and 1 1/4" strips from fabric left on the cutting table and store each size in a cute basket. Then when I am looking for something to sew, I'll sew a few blocks with the 1 1/2" strips and a 3 1/2" center square, with 3 rounds around the center. This is my favorite size for throw or bed size quilts. I use the 1 1/4" size strips and 1 1/4" centers for table runners or table topper quilts like the one shown on the cover of Little Quilts All Through the House.

Check back soon... you never know when I'll wake up ready to give away more free stuff!

Happy Quilting,

Mary Ellen