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

We’ve been so terribly neglectful with our blog. It seemed like such a great idea, but, well, somehow keeping up with it always gets kicked off the to do lists. So, no pictures now, but I did slip the camera into the bag and will try to take pictures at the shop later. And then maybe even post them!.

Last Friday evening we had a sample sewing party. It was great fun – pizza and chocolate and good friends – and the camera sat in its case on one of the worktables all night. But we can take pictures of some of the samples to post. We got some awesome stuff finished or part way finished or at least started!

We now have over 600 bolts of fabric in and entered into the system and on the shelves, with more arriving daily. I’ve already accepted that it won’t be here for opening day, but that just means that people have reasons to keep coming back! We’ve got a decent selection of tools and notions (with some on backorder), and lots of books and patterns, too. Oh, and thread! I’m opening up with a selection of my personal favorite “basic” thread – Mettler cotton finish (50wt), Mettler fine embroidery (*awesome* for hand piecing), and Mettler hand quilting. I’ll be adding more thread as time goes on and am very open to suggestions, but for now, we’ve got the basics covered nicely.

More later (I hope)……..

Okay, so let’s be honest here – do quilters care about carpeting and shelves in a quilt shop, or do they care about fabric more? Hmmmmm… lemme think about that…..

Well, I’m still hoping Phoebe will do an update with her carpeting and shelving pictures. She had some kind of artistic concept going with her photography, very inspired. But as I was folding all these freshly washed pieces of fabric that we cut yesterday, I just thought I had to share:

Friday night I’m having several friends come help me for a sample sewing party. They have to bring their own machines, but I provide everything else (including chocolate!). We’ll have several projects all cut out and ready to sew, and hopefully by the end of the evening we’ll have several of them finished and/or ready to quilt.

The group on the upper right of the pictures is “The Fire Within” group by Sherrill Kahn for Robert Kaufman. We’re going to use those in a leaves wall hanging/table runner, all fused.

The fish fabrics are from the “Secrets of the Reef” collection by Luana Rubin, also for Robert Kaufman. Those are going to be used in a small quilt with fussy cut fish and flying geese.

The black/white and multi geometric fabrics in the middle left are the “Geometrix” collection by Karen Combs for Blank Textiles. We’re going to use those to make the Geometrix quilt that’s been featured in several recent magazine.

Right middle are two pieces from Kaufman’s “Florentine” collection. The fabric on top may well be my favorite fabric of all so far (we’ve unpacked and entered into our POS system ~500 bolts). We’re going to use those to pieces to make a fabric box from the new book by Linda Johansen, “Fast, Fun & Easy Fabric Boxes.”

The two pieces on the bottom left are going be made into a “Petal Pouch” from the new pattern by Valori Wells.

And the group on the left on the bottom are going to be a purse; most of the fabrics are by Michael Miller. Phoebe picked them out, and the pattern is from a book of purses that I simply can’t remember the name of (and it’s at the shop, and I’m not).

Already picked out at the shop, but not yet cut, are a group of fabrics to make a winding ways quilt using Marti Michell’s templates and a selection to make a dress for Phoebe from CNT’s Xceptional Patchwork pattern.

I am absolutely thrilled to know that Bonnie will be coming to the shop and teaching two classes (and doing a book signing) this fall. I first “met” Bonnie through the Tarot Art Quilt Project, although when our quilts were in Chicago together we didn’t actually get to meet FTF. I finally met Bonnie at the Bernina Fashion Show in Houston last fall; she sat down next to me and I noticed her name tag. We chatted a bit before the show, and she’s as much of a delight in person as she is on line. Phoebe took a “schoolhouse” with her at Market in April, and then we both bought a few copies of Bonnie’s newest book (that she signed for us – one dedicated to us personally, the other two just autographed – and they will be for sale in the shop!). So it wasn’t a huge leap to write and ask her if she could fit us in her schedule somewhere this fall!

I’m very excited about having Bonnie come teach for us. Her portrait quilts are amazing, but not only that, so are her *student’s* portrait quilts. I’ve posted information on how to sign up on the Quilting Adventures website, and as always, you can email me for more info, too.

Phoebe and I are leaving this morning for PA to go see my mom, so we will both be offline for a few days. While we’re gone, the carpet and vinyl will be laid at the shop!