Quilting Adventures ~ The Friendly Store for Everyone Who Creates With Fabric!

We have a great new class coming up on Friday, September 10 – yes, I know September sounds far away, but guess what? It’s almost here! Anyway, I asked Kathleen (who is teaching the class) to write a guest blog entry about her upcoming class – here she is:

Come join me on September 10th for the day to make your own designer purse. This is a unique class that offers you eight purse options. Your purse will be different from the one beside you.

How is this possible? First you chose from two purse designs: a medium size square/rectangle purse or a clutch purse. Next you chose from four fabric techniques: simple strips fabric, planned wrinkles fabric, sheer layers fabric or Textiva fabric.

That’s right – you will actually create your own fabric for this purse before you assemble the purse. And the options don’t end there. Do you want pockets? How about a handle? You make all the choices during the class to create the designer purse you want to take home.

I have spent the last several months working on a book proposal that features not only this unique concept but also these purse designs and fabrics…along with others of course. The proposal is in the hands of several publishing houses. Who knows, maybe your finished designer purse will be photographed to be included in my upcoming book.

Here are some samples of the projects:

Call or stop by to sign up today!

~Joyce

Here’s a preview of some of the great projects we’ll be demo-ing on Saturday during our Anniversary Celebration:

Rapid Fire Hunter Star Ruler – demo at 11:15:

Double Diamond Ruler – demo at 10:15:

3D Bow Ties – demo at 12 noon:

Fused Quilts – demo at 10:45:

PLUS – there will be door prizes all day, a little gift at the door, refreshments, special displays, and so much more!  We hope you’re planning to join the party this Saturday, June 26, starting at 10AM!

~Joyce

If you’ve been in the shop recently, you may have noticed our new hanging “system” on the walls.  DH and I have been working on it for a few months (okay, he did most of the real work and I did all the nagging), and it’s DONE now.  I think it looks so awesome – I find the whole feel of the shop to be calmer.  I do so like order. 

In the weeks in between putting up the slatwall and hanging quilts (with some time out for Quilt Market etc), some of our samples were pulled down and not hung up again.  And I just realized the other day that one of those samples is for a class that is THIS SATURDAY (June 18), and I didn’t have the sample hanging at all for the last two weeks!

Fractured Stars is one of those “stack and slash” quilts, where you create a scrappy look that is actually pretty coordinated and controlled, but still has that happy scrappy look.  I think this quilt would be totally AMAZING in some of the new holiday prints we’ve gotten in – and it’s all from fat quarters:

So, to make up for not having the sample hanging for the last few weeks, I’m going to give away a free seat in this Saturday’s class to one lucky winner.  Please leave a comment below, and Thursday morning I’ll use random.org to pick a lucky winner!

~Joyce

How did it happen, that it’s June already?  That means that our HUGE Anniversary Celebration is just over three weeks away (which means that I need to get to WORK!).  I’ll be doing demos on some of the cool toys we picked up at Market as well as some old favorites.  I’ll be posting the full demo schedule later this week, so stay tuned. 

In the meantime, we’ve got some great summer classes planned!  Thursday  evening, June 3, is one that seems especially suited for working on in the summer.  It’s Circular Patchwork, and it’s one of those techniques that when you’re finished sewing the pieces all together, it’s done (like, it’s already quilted and bound and ready to go!).  In class you’ll learn the basics, not make a whole quilt – so the supply list is minimal, and you’ll finish a set of blocks you could make into a cute pillow:

Friday we’re starting the weekend with a bang with our I Can’t Believe It’s a Sweatshirt class.  Yes, I know you don’t need a sweatshirt *now*, but if you make it now you’ll have it when you need it again!  This class starts at 2PM and runs until 8PM, so those of you who have “normal” jobs could maybe just leave work a little early and still make it to class!

The class that was scheduled for Sunday has been canceled, so that’s a good opportunity if you need to use our big tables, design wall, one of our machines, or die cutter – just call to reserve a time!  Wait, what’s that you say?  You didn’t know we rent out our die cutter?  Follow this link to read all about our Die-ing to Cut Club.  You can cut strips, charms, all kinds of things – including triangles for One Block Wonder:

We have just ONE SPACE left in the Birdie Sling class that starts Monday evening, June 7:

This link will take you to the June calendar where you can check out the full schedule.

Are you working on your contest entry yet?  It’s not too late to get started! 

~Joyce

Okay, folks – I’m going to be sewing in the classroom ALL DAY Saturday, and I need you to come keep me company!  I’ll also be playing with some of the new tools and gadgets from Market – the double diamond ruler, and the bloc loc ruler, maybe the strip tube ruler, and some others depending on what comes in tomorrow’s deliveries.  NO CHARGE for you, but please do call or email to sign up so we save you some space.

Think of all you can get done in a full day of uninterrupted sewing!  Besides, where else can you have this much fun? 

And, by the way – if you aren’t a QA fan on Facebook, you’re missing a chance to win a free 2010 (yes, this year, but still great pictures and there’s 7 months left!) Quilting Arts Calendar.  So just click here to read all about it!

I hope you’ll join me on Saturday!

~Joyce

It was VERY late when I got back to the room last night, and since I knew our flight home today wasn’t until this afternoon, I figured I’d save the final Market blog entry for this morning.

We already have a few colors of Radiance from Robert Kaufman – it’s a lovely blend of silk and cotton that shows off machine quilting so beautifully!  Look at the sample below.  More colors will be showing up on our shelves in the months to come:

The new book _City Quilts_ arrived at the shop while I’ve been gone, but here’s one of the quilts from the book, made in Kona solids, hanging in the Kaufman booth:

I thought you’d enjoy seeing our technique for selecting batiks – Hershey’s kisses!

Yes, I ordered Dr. Seuss, but it won’t be coming in until the fall!  Here’s a couple of photos of some of the prints (yes, we ordered the whole line, 23 pieces!):

From Kokka, I couldn’t resist this cute cute CUTE Peter Pan print:

And yes, we ordered Heather Ross, too:

Here are a couple of shots of Terrie Mangat’s booth, showing her current fabric lines (we have a few pieces of Los Sanctos on order):

Our bags our packed – the one of fabric from Sample Spree may very well go over the 50 pound limit at the airport, so we’re prepared to break it open and pull out bundles  to carry on if we have to!  Tomorrow I’ll be getting all the new goodies to the shop and hopefully by Wednesday morning we’ll have things all ready for you to come see (and buy!).

Since this weekend is Memorial Day, we don’t have a class scheduled for Saturday.  So I’m going to do a come-hang-out-and-sew-with-Joyce-and-check-out-some-of-the-new-Market-tools session on Saturday.  There’s no fee, but I do recommend that you sign up in advance to reserve your space (you can do that online or call or stop by).

Please send good thoughts to the Airline Gods on our behalf, and we hope to see you soon!

~Joyce

We’ve got some great springtime classes coming up in the next few weeks! 

Now that the weather is warmer (well, it was, and you know it will be again), check out Monica’s class on the Great Fit Gored Skirt starting next Monday evening, May 17, at 6PM. This skirt is one of our favorites around the shop.  You can make it tame enough for work or wildly show off several of your favorite fabrics, AND it is flattering on most any body size and shape!  The class is beginner friendly, too, as well as for folks who have sewn for years but just want to make themselves a pretty new spring skirt.

Friday evening, May 21, Kathleen teaches her Beaded Button class.  These buttons are really so simple to make when you know how, and they make such elegant closures on your favorite jacket or bag.  Or you can make a larger one to wear as a pin – the possibilites are endless!

Want to learn some basic pillow-sewing techinques *and* have a lot of fun at the same time?  Join Jonathan for his Pillows with Flange, Overlapped Back and Ties on Tuesday evening, May 25.

You know about our upcoming QA Fifth Anniversary Contest, right?  Well, are you one of those folks who hasn’t tried their hand at fabric postcards yet?  Catherine’s class on Puzzle Postcards on Wednesday evening, May 26, is the perfect chance to learn the basics of making fabric postcards in plenty of time to enter our contest!

There are lots of other classes scheduled for May – these are just a few highlights.  Click here to see the whole schedule!

~Joyce

We have photos to show from our recent needle felting classes with Margo Duke. Her Majesty Margo, as she calls herself on her website, is the author of Needle Felting Magic and Making More Needle Felting Magic. Here she is describing her techniques.

and demonstrating some stitching.

These are some of her wonderfully colorful fibers.

And some students choosing from them!

And a few more photos of students working hard, getting lots of inspiration, and having a great time!

We didn’t get photos of the finished projects but know that lots of students did.  Would some of you be kind enough to send us some to share here?  Send to infoATquiltingadventuresDOTcom, please. 

~MaryT

Time for another free class giveaway.  This time it’s a free seat in the Wild and Woven Bitty Bag class on Wednesday evening, May 5, at 6PM.  If you’ve never taken a class with Catherine Etter, this is your perfect opportunity – she is So Much FUN!   Here’s what you’ll be making in class:

So, to enter, just leave a comment below.  I’ll pick the winner with the help of random.org on Tuesday morning, so please leave a comment before 8AM Tuesday in order to enter the drawing.

Good luck!
~Joyce

April is almost over, but we have two big events still coming up – Fat Quarter Frenzy is this weekend, and the Quiltathon is next weekend.    And there are quite a few classes left on the April schedule that still have room!

May starts off with a bang, with four new classes in the first week alone!  Here are just a few of the highlights:

Pillow with Cording and Zipper, Monday evening, May 3:

Wild & Woven Bitty Bag, Wednesday evening, May 5:

House Block – a great next-step for beginning quilters, after the first quilting class, starting Thursday, May 6:

On Saturday, May 8, learn tricks to sewing curves in the Winner’s Bouquet class:

Please call or stop by to sign up soon!

~Joyce