A Memory From Little Quilts

As part of our 17th Anniversary Sale, we have decided to open up the vault and sell some of the models from the original Little Quilts patterns and books.  We know many of you learned to quilt from our books and patterns and we think these quilts will bring back many memories for you.  These are all vintage Little Quilts.  Most were made by Mary Ellen, Sylvia and Alice and a lot of them are hand quilted.  If you're interested in purchasing any of the items offered today, be the first to call the shop (770-578-6727) with credit card information and the quilt will be yours!

Today, we have three special quilts and an out-of-print book we think you'll love...

The first quilt is "Sue and Bill Stitchery" featuring four of the popular embroidery patterns from the Month-by-Month Stitchery Cards.  The 16"x 16" quilt is hand embroidered and hand quilted.  $25

"Follow The Leader" was one of the quilts in our second book "Celebrate With Little Quilts".  The Overall Bills are all buttonhole stitched and the quilt is hand quilted.  A 21" x 25" quilt perfect for a little boy's room, and all patriotic celebrations.  $55

"Bunny Harvest Quilt" is one of the quilts in the book "Bunnies By the Bay Meets Little Quilts".  This great 16" x 21" quilt is perfect for fall.  It's hand-embroidered and hand-quilted.  

It will come with a hard cover copy of the "Bunnies By The Bay Meets Little Quilts"!  The 8" x 9" book (perfect for a little 'coffee table'!) features the whimsical styling of collectible bunnies from Bunnies By The Bay displayed with our charming quilts.  There are lots of fun projects including the pattern for the quilt above, included in the book. Mary Ellen will autograph it personally to you or a special friend!

Call now to get the Bunny Harvest Quilt and the book, both for $45.

If you'd like one of these quilts, call the shop.  We want the quilts to have happy homes!  Watch the blog this month for more offerings of special vintage quilt treasures.

Baltimore Album Design consult

These show and tell photos were taken in Wanda's Advanced Baltimore Album class.  Paula  brought her blocks for design help.  Only 4 more blocks left to make!  She's decided not to use the eagle block and the basket block on the far right - she felt they didn't fit in with the rest of her blocks that are wreaths.  She's thinking about framing those two blocks since she's not going to use them in this quilt.

Patchwork of the Crosses

I was trying to do some reorganizing in my sewing room a few weeks ago and in the process I found some fabrics in my stash that I thought would make beautiful Lucy Boston blocks...

These were Jo Morton fabrics.  All the honeycombs for the center of the block came from the same gorgeous stripe.  The red corners came from a separate Jo Morton fabric.  When I was looking through my Jo Morton stash, I was amazed how many beautiful fabrics I have in my stash!

Another block... the fabric used for the center honeycombs was given to me by someone who thought it would make a great Lucy block.  I think they were right!

These fabrics were left over from the very first Lucy Boston block we featured on this blog. The fabric, designed by Judy Rothermel, continues to be one of my favorites.  I didn't want to leave any unused scraps of these gorgeous fabrics in my stash!

This is a block in progress.  When I was looking through my collection of finished blocks, I decided I wanted a little more purple and green in my blocks.
Unfortunately, my sewing room reorganization came to a halt once I found the fabrics and sat down to make the blocks!  I'm so excited about all my blocks.  I have a sizable number now and am beginning to visualize a finished quilt - it's getting there!

How are you coming with your blocks?  Are you using fabrics from your stash?  Send me pictures of stash blocks and I'll post them on our Pinterest Board.
Need more paper piecing supplies?  Order from our website.
Don't forget we have the finishing papers for completing the outside edge.  They are odd sized pieces and you'll be happy to have the papers!  They're also available on our website here.

Wool Gathering at Little Quilts this Sunday

...join us for wool club 1:30pm to 4 pm in the classroom this Sunday. Stitch in for anyone who enjoys wool: appliqué, felting, hooking, yarn punch and more. Share your show and tell. Don't be left  BAAA hind.  Fun group.

Little Quilts 17th Anniversary Party & Sale

We'll be celebrating Saturday the 31st, and Monday Nov 2. Come by and see our special memories as seen in our vintage display case in our Little Museum (aka - notions room!).

We'll have 20% off most everything in the store, and goodies for all. Can you believe we opened our doors on Nov 2, 1998 with a little more than 500 bolts of fabric! Stop by and help us celebrate..we promise we'll  have 'treats' and no 'tricks'

And the winner is...

Wasn't the Jaftex 85th Anniversary Blog Hop fun?  We had such a great time making our quilt and sharing our tips, but the best part was seeing all the comments from you!  Thank you all for participating.

Of course, there were lots of prizes given away in this event and we were so excited that the Grand Prize winner, Barbara Sokol, lives in our very own Peach State!  Barbara lives in Hartwell, Georgia,  and she normally shops at Annie's Pretty Pieces in Hartwell.  We know she's going to love that brand new Janome Skyline S5 machine!  Barbara...Congratulations!  
2nd Prize winner, Pat DeVore lives in Ohio and shops at Abigayle's Quiltery in Berea, Ohio.  She won the Aurifil thread box and  fifteen fat quarter bundles.
3rd Prize winner, Cathie Scanlon from Seattle won the Schmetz needle anniversary tin and six fat quarter bundles. Her favorite quilt shop is Karen's Quilt Shop in Seattle.

We had two lucky winners from the Little Quilts drawing. When we contacted winner Helen LeBrett from Hearldsberg, California  she shared that she started quilting more than 15 years ago with our book "Little Quilts All Through the House" published by Martingale & Company. Coincidentally, when we contacted our other winner, Debbie Miller, from South Carolina, she shared that she visits our store once a year as her son lives in a nearby town.  She also started quilting 20 years ago with our book!  She took hers to the copy shop and had it spiral bound so it would lay flat. She said she had made every quilt in the book! Both won a collection of Folio fat quarters to get a start on their own Hunter's Star quilts. You can see our step by step tutorial on the star and the unique striped binding  on the Hunter's Star on our  blog post from Sept. 25th.

If you'd like to go back and check out all the designers who participated in the Blog Hop, you can get a complete list here on the Henry Glass Blog.  You will love the creativity on the designer's blogs.

Congratulations to all of the contest winners - we can't wait to see what you'll create with your wonderful prizes!  Thank you, Jaftex, for a very successful and fun event and thank you to all of you for participating!

Row by Row Sunbonnet Sue

We thought this was the cutest Row x Row quilt we've seen - the title, "You Never Know What Lurks Below", is just perfect! 

Jane said she took some liberties with the rows and changed some of them up  slightly, to fit her quilt.  

The maker is an 87 year old quilter who loves to quilt.  She found a piece of fabric with the sky, water, lighthouses and boats in her stash.  (You never know what lurks... in the stash!) She also added a little label to the bottom corner of each row with the title of the row, and the name and location of each quilt shop.

Show & Tell

One of the best parts of working at a quilt shop is seeing the amazing quilts and "works in progress" you are all working on!  This has been a great week for Show & Tell in the shop and we thought you might enjoy seeing some of our favorites.

Sharon finished the applique on this project several years ago and finally decided it needed to be a framed work that will hang over the fireplace in her kitchen.  The framer did a wonderful job of keeping the border stripe perfectly straight and covered the project with museum quality glass to help keep the colors from fading.  Pattern was designed by Karen Mowery who worked at Little Quilts occasionally prior to her death several years ago and specialized in drawing folk art children...a very heart-warming show & tell for all of us here at the shop who remember Karen fondly.  If you have small quilt tops in your UFO stack, consider having them framed - even a single  block framed can become a beautiful work of art.

Amy brought in a stunning hooked rug that has been a "work in progress" for a long time (none of the rest of us have those, right?)!  Her children have been after her to finish the rug and she's hoping to surprise them this Christmas when they walk in and see it on the floor completed.  Pattern was designed by Amy and her husband, who are architects, over thirty years ago and Amy has been working on the rug off and on ever since.  We like the way the design and the colors have kept it contemporary even after all those years.

Allison finished a spectacular English Paper Pieced bed-size quilt with 1/4" hexies (sorry, it's a show quilt and we can't show the top), but Allison decided it needed a special back so she's piecing the back  with 1" honeycombs...unbelievable!  The piece she's holding is about half the size she needs and then she can start the quilting.  Wow!

Patchwork of the Crosses

During my summer travels, I was able to read the last book in the Green Knowe series written by Lucy Boston.  

 This book, tells the story of Roger d'Aulneaux, a young boy part Saxon and part Norman, whose father was the original Norman settler who built the manor house of Green Knowe.  The house was built during a turbulent time in England's history shortly after the Norman invasion.  It was built not only for the comfort of the d'Aulneaux family, but also for the safety and security of nearby villagers in the case of  war.  As Roger's father explains, he doesn't expect peace, but he expects the strong, solidly built house to survive.  And, of course, it does - all the way to present time!

The details of building the house were fascinating from getting the stones to location, to the arrival of the stone masons who became friends with Roger, to the discussion of the most fashionable place to build the fireplace.

You'll also enjoy discovering the origin of the St. Michael statue!

  

During his boyhood adventures, Roger discovers two ancient throne-like stones.  As in the earlier books, Boston never bothers to explain what, exactly, Green Knowe’s magic is, but the stones are definitely magical because soon Roger is traveling forward - and a little bit backwards - in time. Imagine what it must have been like for Roger when he showed up in the 20th century and had to deal with the changes in the countryside, no moat to protect the property, and horseless carriages. And it was especially fun when he started meeting the children from the previous books!

If you've been reading these books while piecing your Lucy Boston blocks, I know you'll be as disappointed as me that this is the last book in the series. This was probably my favorite - it tied up a lot of "loose ends" for me! 

Have you been enjoying the books?  I was able to find all of them in our library system.   

I hope you're keeping up with your blocks.  We're more than halfway finished!  

If you need additional paper piecing supplies, or glue refills, check our website.

Check the Pinterest Board for inspiration in making your own blocks.

Patchwork of the Crosses

This is one of my favorite blocks... it's in my favorite color and I love the strong design that developed.

These are the fabrics I used...

Our Pinterest Board will show you all the blocks we've done so far plus many more blocks designed by you!

Go to our website if you need to order paper piecing supplies.

Modern style gift quilt

Staff member Tricia made this quilt for a good friend. She used her Kaffe Fassett stash as well as her Aboriginal fabrics she's been collecting. Don't you love this quilt?

Another Wonderful Women of the Bible Show and Tell

Hope brought in her Women of the Bible Quilt to select borders for it. She and a 'sewing friend' in North Carolina downloaded the blocks and each made their own quilt. They had one rule....they had to use fabric from their stash. They couldn't purchase anything except their borders! Her friend's stash was batiks. We can't wait to see the batik version! Great job Hope!!

Women of the Bible Quilt - Gorgeous!

A real show stopper....Here's another Women of the Bible quilt top. Renee came in to select backing fabric for her Women of the Bible Quilt (patterns were Free to email subscribers). She and her mom each did the quilt. Renee's had that 'teal' feel with the stunning border. Her mom kept up in another state making her's a 'blue' version. It's great that we are seeing some 'sewn top' at least. Keep on stitchin!

An oops by us for October Saturday Saturday Sampler Participants

If you got a kit today to make the Second Saturday Sampler block...this post is for you and very important.  When Cutting the green, your pattern says: 1 - 2 1/2" x 12". It should be 2" x 12"...
Have you heard the expression measure twice, cut once? I guess that goes for proof reading too.

Wonderful Sampler -Gypsy Wife pattern

Sue brought her version of 'Gypsy Wife' by Jen Kingwell Designs in to pick out backing fabric. Would you believe she made TWO quilts. One for a wedding gift and one for her daughter! She figured if she was cutting for one quilt ...she might as well cut out for two! It is stunning. Call us 770-578-6728 if you want us to order the pattern!!! It a great 'stash buster'. I bet most of us could make the quilt all from our 'stash'!

Patchwork of the Crosses

In a previous post, I shared some of my ideas for using up scraps left over from making the Lucy Boston blocks.  One of my favorites is to use the scraps as filler or stuffing for pet beds that are then donated to a dog rescue group.

The mats are so easy to make and I use all types of fabric or batting scraps to stuff  them so there is absolutely no waste coming from my sewing room.  In fact, I've had so many people drop off bags of their scraps plus the scraps I collect from the shop, that I've been able to make MANY mats to donate to the rescue shelter!
I thought you might enjoy seeing one of the happy recipients...

This sweet dog was found close to death with heavy chains still wrapped around his neck and stomach - you can still see some of the marks left by the chains.  He's now one of the happiest dogs you'll ever meet since he's been placed in a loving foster home until he can find his "forever" home.  As you can see, he LOVES the mat he was given.
As quilters, we tend to save even the smallest pieces of fabric for a future quilt project.  And most of us still  have those bags or bins full of  scraps still sitting around waiting patiently to be used.  For me, this is a "guilt free"  way to get some of those scraps (that I'm  honestly probably never going to use!) out of my sewing area.
When I received this picture, it just made me happy!  And I'm loving the cleaned out scrap bins in my studio!!

Scrap Quilts are the Best

Joelle's quilt was made from our $.25 scrap bin (fill a ziplock bag for $5) Joelle also used a wool batting making it a VERY cozy quilt!  It's stunning and she finished it off with 'big stitch' quilting with red thread! It's gorgeous!

Tricia used the Second Saturday Sampler blocks and made two alternates each month from her stash of Christmas fabrics.  She used Muriel's setting from the 2014/2015 Second Saturday Sampler for the quilts.  Tricia brought these two quilts in to choose border fabrics for Christmas quilts for her two daughters.They look like true stars are set in 'tile'.

Quick Error Correction to email newsletter....

Big Ooops. Just to correct ourselves as soon as possible, the price quoted in the email newsletter for a special on the Farmer's Wife Sampler 1930's book was not accurate.  The book retails for $28.99. Little Quilts special price is $23.99. This is the correct price. Thanks.

New Little Quilts fabric line!!!

Arriving any day now!!!! Drum roll please!

Roswell Mill....the newest collection from Little Quilts. Check Little Quilts website for kit info. 18 piece collection in our 'Reflections of the South" Collection - Roswell Mill. Click here for close up photos and free patterns.

Wool Works...Works!

Wool Works is a fun time for all, and for sure the show and tell is the best part.  Here is a peek.

Carolyn loves wool applique.  Her newest table runner

Patchwork of the Crosses

A bright and cheery block for fall...

These are the fabrics I used for this block...

This is an easy block to piece and will add a great splash of color to your quilt!
Check our Pinterest Board for other inspirational blocks.
Go to our website to order paper piecing supplies.