The Take Over

Dear bloggers, today is your day (and mine too, stay tuned).  Laura (blogmaster) is taking a leave of absence from her duties and leaving it to me, Kathy Niemann (email newsletter master). If you get the email you know I have computer "issues" so this should be hilarious.  Just to keep you coming back during my learning curve, Laura and I made an executive decision (Mary Ellen is out playing tennis, what she doesn't know can't hurt her.) So... we are initiating a give away of the lovely new Little Quilts fabric Whittier Crossing.  6 luscious fat quarters.  Leave a comment about your weirdest Halloween costume and you will be entered to win.  Contest ends Thursday Oct. 7that 12PM and a winner will be selected at random.  Notification will be by email.
*Anonymous entries are not valid and international winner must pay the shipping.

One of these beauties will be yours.  Can't wait to hear about the costumes.

Are you ready for some show & tell?

We love when shoppers bring us all the wonderful things they are working on!  Some are finished, some are "in progress" but they are all beautiful!  Enjoy the latest projects that have come through our doors.....

Mary Cook did this yearlong project from our store called Primitive Garden.

It was a combination of wool, homespuns and other cottons. It also included lots of stitching with perle cotton thread. She stopped by to show us the finished top. What a great job, Mary!

This quilt was made by Joyce Challis from the book 'When The Cold Wind Blows'. This quilt was stunning with all the appliqué and will make a great Christmas Quilt. Everyone loved it.

A great T-shirt quilt made by Suzanne Gipalo as a gift made with some of the early lines of Little Quilt's shirting fabrics.

Susan Riser stopped by to show a quilt made for her grandson. It was made from the Noah's Ark pattern by Little Quilts.  What a great idea for a young child!  I'm sure her grandson will love it!

These cute little crazy patch pumpkins were designed by our very own Alice Berg and is great for your scraps of wool and homespuns. We have a nice selection of these fabrics that would be great for these little guys. When you are in the store ask for a free pattern.  How cute would one of these guys be as a table centerpiece!

Way back in 1944 Rachael Davis pieced these Southern Lady blocks for a quilt for her daughter.  And then they were put away in a box until 2010!  Sound familiar?  Jeannette Smith finally took the blocks and pieced them into this darling quilt for her cousin, Joan Evans.  Jeannette is one of our customers from Corydon, Indiana, and we were so happy she brought the quilt with her to show us.  The quilt was machine quilted.  Jeannette said when she got the blocks they were all yellowed and stained, but she soaked them in Quilt Soak and now they look like new!  What a charming quilt.

We’re a drop-off location for the quilts for the Georgia State Fair in Perry, Georgia.  Jane Brownlow from Villa Rica brought in her entry today and it’s a beautifully appliquéd and hand quilted.  Jane’s quilt is called “Night Visitors”.  It’s not too late to get your quilts entered into fair – stop by and pick up your entry form soon!

Valerie Diffy also brought in her entry for the Georgia State Fair.  This beautiful appliquéd and hand quilted Christmas quilt is from the pattern “Joyeux Noel” by Mary Sorenson.  Good luck ladies!

Wow!  Look at these perfect feathered star blocks!  These ladies were all “star” students in Amanda’s Feathered Star class!

It may have taken 1½ years to finish, but we think this appliqué beauty  was worth the time!  Pat Cox brought it in today to send off to our custom quilter and  we were totally impressed with Pat’s appliqué work.  When it’s finished she plans to give the quilt to her daughter to hang in her cabin.  The pattern is “A Tisket, A Tasket” by Bunny Hill.

These students took the 18” Doll Clothes class with Linda Rice and finished the cutest outfits for their dolls! Heather sanders made a pants outfit and Ruth Warstler finished a dress outfit for her doll.  If you have a grand-daughter with a doll, she needs a new outfit!!!!



 

Connie Cameron stopped by with two great reproduction quilts to show us. The Tumbler Blocks quilt was made from a Primitive Gatherings kit with pre-cut pieces. How easy is that?! Connie said it was so easy she had it finished in eight hours.  We loved the reproduction star quilt, too.

 

 

 

Marsha Driver stitched this great  quilt from a pattern by Buttermilk Basin which was a block of the month done in Primitive stitchery. She embellished it with seed beads to add accents to the blocks where each month of the year was featured in the 12 blocks. Great job Marsha.

 

 

Phew!  We made it through them all!  See.... i told you our customers have been busy!  And a special thank you to Alice for sharing her adorable cray patch pumpkins!  Keep them coming!

So much to share... so little time.

Well, school is back in full swing and hopefully you're all working on finishing summer projects or if you're super organized and on top of things you may even be starting your Fall or Holiday projects!  We've had lots of beautiful show & tells come through the store lately (check back soon for lots of pictures!) and we have some fabulous trunk shows for you as well.  So grab your coffee or tea, sit back and enjoy.....

Have you ever heard of hitty dolls? They are based on a storybook that's 140 years old about wood carved dolls. Fung Hicks and Celia Caldwell came to the shop today to buy fabric to make clothing for their dolls. Celia enjoyed looking at the dolls that were carved by Fung's husband Bruce with different types of wood, maple, mahogany, ash etc. Fung showed a doll carved by well know carver Janice Cordell from Arkansas. Collectors make clothing and other articles for their dolls that they keep in special collectors boxes.  Collectors of hitty dolls communicate through many online groups and blogs.

We’re going wild making ten-minute table runners.  They’re so quick and easy to make, you could easily make a different table runner for every day of the year!  Use Christmas or Hanukkah fabrics for a quick holiday hostess gift or stocking stuffer or choose some of our beautiful fall fabrics to get a head start on your fall decorating.  Kits are available for the fall table runner.

You’re not going to want to miss out on our newest swap adventure!  Buy a cinnamon stick, follow the directions rolled up inside the stick and turn in your baggie of 28 half-square triangles by Oct. 1. The half-square triangles are made using a special “sew on the line” paper (similar to Triangles on a Roll); sew easy!  And you don’t even have to remove the paper when you’re finished!  By Oct. 10, we’ll have the blocks swapped and you can come in and pick up your baggie of 28 different half-square triangles.  A fun and easy way to achieve one of the quilts in the “Friendship Triangles” book by Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts, or come up with your own original quilt using your swap blocks. 

This is one of the quilts you could make using your half-square triangle blocks!

Little Quilts new line of fabric, Whittier Crossing, continues to be popular in the shop.  The soft pink, teal and brown colors add just the spark you need to get that old-time reproduction look.  Kits are available for a quilt and a table runner using these new fabrics.

While in Paducah for the quilt show, Mary Ellen and Muriel saw a charming antique quilt  hanging in one of the shop windows and decided to come home and make one just like it.  The good news is they actually did make it using the new Whittier Crossing fabric line and it’s just as charming as the original!   We don’t know the name of the pattern and we only had the snapshot we took to reproduce the quilt, so there’s no pattern available, but we thought you’d enjoy seeing it.

If you need to refill your coffee or tea, go right ahead, we've got more......

Trunk Shows Galore!

This trunk show just arrived and what a clever idea!  Start by making a quilt background – the center of the quilt is plain and it’s surrounded by several pieced borders.  Then make small seasonal blocks  that can be attached to the center of the quilt and rotated each month.   The trunk show is from Under the Garden Moon and the pattern series, “As Time Goes By”, includes separate  patterns for the background quilt as well as blocks for each month.

Also here with the Under The Garden Moon trunk show is this pink and brown beauty.  The pattern is “Love At Home” and includes directions for the quilt shown as well as directions for a larger Christmas version.

Our newest trunk show from Bare Roots! Projects are done in very soft colors with a touch of whimsy -- a great combination of embroidery and quilting.  All the projects are from the book "Down To Earth".

From Heartspun Quilts,  we also have all the quilt projects from the Prairie Women Sewing Circle.   

Purses, and purses, and purses – Oh My!  You’ve got to see the collection of purses, wallets, and tote bags from Anything But Boring.  They’re hanging all over the shop ready to inspire you and they definitely live up to their name as there is nothing boring about them!  They’re all quick and easy to make and fun to use.

Happy Quilting and be sure and check back soon, we've got so many beautiful show & tells to share!

These projects will be made in our upcoming class called Prairie Women. It is a monthly club that will take you on a journey back in time. Muriel will share stories about prairie women and their quilt making and what their daily life was like. If you like history and want to learn what life was like in the 19th century you should join this group. The first meeting will be Oct 7th and will meet on the first Thursday of the month. Both morning and evening classes are available. There is still time to join. Monthly patterns, bonus projects and other surprises will be offered.