I love how each quilt shop carries different amounts of fabrics. The shop near me in Florida carried a wide variety of Batiks. One of the shops near me in Indy carries an array of modern prints. A shop we visited in Charleston has mostly civil war era fabrics.
So readers, what is your favorite fabric?
I’d love to know what you look for when you’re adding to your stash.
Have a creative Thursday!!!
I have not posted in some time because I have been preparing to move. Gone are my days of living three miles from the ocean, back to the cold Midwest I go.
My favorite quilt shop filled with amazing women will not be right around the corner from me anymore. Don’t worry they are an email or phone call away in case of emergency.
Now I must find new shops. This will be fun, but scary at the same time. It’s like finding a new favorite restaurant. What do you like? How much help do you need? Do they have everything you want or will you have to find somewhere to supplement a craving?
Luckily, one of my good friends will be around to help me out with this endeavor. She is just into quilting so it will be great to get her perspective.
Before leaving Florida though I did use a technique that I had never tried. A very sweet client wanted to complete a quilt-as-you-go quilt for her granddaughter but was struggling with the piecing. She brought her blocks in and asked for our help. Since I had nothing else to do, hahaha, I said I would take it home to do. The process is easy to do, but watch out for pins. I was pricked so many times by pins on this project. It was great that each block was already quilted especially since this was a full sized quilt. I’m going to have to try this on a smaller project. Luckily, I have about three baby quilts to make for 2010.
October 6th was my grandma’s 96th birthday. She asked for a flower basket to go with her stained glass window wall hanging. Okay where to start.
My original idea was to cut out flowers from material and applique them to a basket weave print material. Surprisely my stash does not have many flowers. I really wanted to use what I had and get through some scraps. I visited my gma in October and she gave me a great idea…raffea woven into the basket. Sew and Quilt had a great ribbon that I wove into the basket. It was very delicate but worked great.
During QuiltFest in Jacksonville I was taught how to make cute fabric flowers. All you need are circles, thread, and a needle. That simple. Follow the pictures below for visual instructions.
Do not cut the thread, you will use this for all of your petals to keep them scrunched together. If you need to change thread, make sure to do a secure stitch at the end to ensure your scrunch holds. Repeat the petal process for 6 or more petals to make a flower. There will be an empty circle in your flower. I used a smaller flower then a yo-yo to fill in on some. On others I used buttons. So cute.
Here is the completed project. Gma should be getting it this week and I will update with her response.
This week I am helping out my favorite shop Sew & Quilt Shop at the Jacksonville QuiltFest. This is my first quilt show and I am really enjoying my time there. Tomorrow is the last day and I can’t wait to tell you all about the stuff I’ve learned.
Yesterday was the first time I played on a long-arm quilting machine. My addiction has begun. Now I need $10,000 to make my kick butt sewing room/business with great machines and a long-arm. Using the machine was one of the easiest things that I have done and covered a lot of ground quickly. I want this machine:
Okay Santa, my wishlist is made. I will make sure I stay on the nice list.
While I was on a break today from the booth I went to look at the quilts entered in the show. There were tons more and some are so intricate. Here are some of the quilts that caught my eye.
Can you tell I like bright colors and the non traditional quilts?? Can’t wait to update all of you tomorrow.
The last thursday of the month, the quilt shop around the corner from me puts on a free class. They encourage you to participate in Show and Tell and showcase what projects you are working on.
I’m looking forward to the new classes in September and seeing new fabric. I try my best not to buy too much these days. My stash is quite large I really need to work on utilizing what I have already. I’ll post tomorrow if there is anything I’m really looking forward to. Each time I go I get so many more ideas flowing and realize how much work really goes into making quilts. The women that attend this class have great skills. Too bad I work full time and can’t spend all day sewing. Maybe 30 years from now.
Despite my lack of posts over the last couple of months, I have been quite busy in my sewing room. Two of three big quilts are done and the last one is far from complete. There is not enough time in the day.
I have a new obssession…shopping online for fabric. When I say shopping, I should clarify and say browsing or window shopping. There have been minimal purchases made.
In an earlier post I mentioned that 95% of fabric is bought in chain stores. I have done my best to resist the coupons that come in my email and support the independents. The ideas, books, knowledge is well worth the couple of extra dollars. As for shipping, everyone seems reasonably fair.
Today I’m showing my support for Project 95. Do you need a list of good independent shops? Visit www.fabshophop.com to find quilt stores that have great fabric and good prices.
Here is a link to the shop right around the corner from my house. These ladies are the best!! www.sewandquiltshop.com
