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

Next Wednesday and Thursday (September 28 and 29), help us make room for new stuff! Our “finish the bolt” sale means you get 10% off whatever’s left on the bolt. Finish a bolt from the clearance crib and you get an additional 10% off the clearance price.

Hobbs 80% cotton/20% polyester batting on the roll – 108″ wide and 96″ wide fusible – are also on sale for 10% off. Indefinitely. And I won’t be getting more.

***********AND**********

Starting October 1: Martingale & Company®’s Buy One, Get One Free 30-Day In-Store Sales Event* On Select That Patchwork Place® Books

Mark your calendar for our once-a-year BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE book sale! Choose from preselected new and bestselling books from That Patchwork Place®, publisher of America’s Best-Loved Quilt Books®. But hurry—limited quantities mean this sale won’t last long!

*Limited to stickered quantities on hand. Free book must be of equal or lesser value than purchased book.

I need people to sew samples for the shop. I have changed my policy regarding samples, so if we’ve talked about it in the past and you might still be interested, please contact me again. My preference is by email to joyce@quiltingadventures.com Please understand that I need people who can do quality work in a relatively short amount of time.

Since my photographer stood me up on Saturday, here’s the one picture I have of the crowd from our Opening Celebration:

Some truly lovely quilts were brought to the shop over the weekend to be sent to AQS for Quilts for Katrina:

There seems to be some concern and confusion about where I am sending the quilts I am receiving at the shop as well as the quilts that have been made (and will be made next month) at workdays at the shop.

The first 29 quilts I received were sent to Quilts, Inc, in Houston. They were working with the Red Cross to distribute the quilts to the refugees from Katrina that had been relocated to Houston. When the number of quilts exceeded the number of refugees, Quilts Inc arranged to have the extra quilts shipped (by truck) to Katrina refugees in Mississippi. These quilts were not wasted; they did indeed go to people who were displaced by Katrina.

When Quilts Inc announced that they had enough quilts, I began shipping the quilts to the American Quilters Society in Paducah, KY. AQS has made a long term commitment to storing the quilts they receive until then can be distributed to Katrina refugees across the country, wherever they may find themselves. AQS’s website explains their program in more detail.

I understand that many of you would like to see your quilts go to refugees locally, but please understand that I am not able to do that. The quilts that are being collected and/or created at Quilting Adventures will continue to be sent to AQS for distribution. They are going to Katrina refugees, but I have no control over where.

Quilts for Katrina workdays are scheduled for:
Friday, October 7, 10am-5pm
Saturday, October 15, 12noon-5pm
We have received plenty of fabric donations and are much more in need of helpers!

MORE Rayon Batiks! And they’re GORGEOUS!

I have been waiting for many many years for someone to decide that purple and orange go together (I made a flower afgan in purple and orange a long time ago and everyone laughed at me). Well, FINALLY someone gets it (sorry about the glare):

I’ve been putting together bundles of door prizes for Saturday:

Don’t forget to check out the demo schedule in an earlier post.

Kathleen Chrisman came by today with two awesome dolls that I talked her into leaving with me. She’ll be teaching a class on this doll in the winter or spring, and she’s helping me get the doll club started here at the shop. I’m not going to attempt to take a picture of these; there’s no way I can do them justice. So you’ll just have to come see for yourself.

Quilts for Katrina Update:
Quilts Inc in Houston has received enough quilts for the refugees there, and so they are shipping any quilts they continue to receive to Mississippi. You can read more about it on their website. So never fear, the quilts I shipped on Monday will still go to people who need them!

The quilts I collected last night and from now on will go to the American Quilters Society for distribution. You can read about their efforts on their website. They will be distributing the quilts nationwide through legitimate aid groups. I am very committed to knowing that the quilts I collect go to those who need them, and I am grateful for groups like AQS and Quilts Inc who are doing the legwork of being sure they go to the right people. It’s so sad that disasters like this bring out scam artists but it’s a sad fact of life, apparently.

Here’s a picture of some that I got last night – but I got two more in since then and know of five more finished quilts on the way!

It’s been a long weekend and I’m tired, but I wanted to post a quilt update on our Quilts for Katrina project. Here’s a picture of what I boxed up this afternoon:

I’ve got these seventeen quilts (and one teddy bear!) boxed up and ready to head to Houston tomorrow morning.

We have kits and other “jobs” available for people to pick up and take home with them to work on. You have your choice of:
• A bag of fabric and/or UFOs, some cut some not, enough to make a top.
• A piece each of arylic fur and flannel – these need to be sewn together around the edges, turned right side out; topstitch around the perimeter; tie every few inches to keep the layers from shifting; and wash it. We made one of these yesterday and it turned into an incredibly cuddly wrap for a child!
• A roll of prequilted muslin. We need this cut into 65” lengths and two of them sewn together to make a ~65 x 80” pieces. And they need to be washed, too.
• There will be bindings that need sewing as the quilts come back from the longarmers.

One of our shop scissors – a ginghers marked “shop use only” accidentally went home with someone on Friday, and I think a different pair was left in its place. If you find them, we’d appreciate it if they could make their way back home.

Right now, we don’t really need more donations of fabric, batting, etc (although money to help with shipping is welcome – there’s a donation box at the register). What we really need is people to come pick up “kits” to take home and bring back before the next work session. Please stop by the shop if you’re able to help!

I just sent three huge and heavy boxes to Houston, to the Comfort America Project. Twelve quilts and a bunch of sheets. Thank you to all who contributed!

On Saturday, September 17, we will be having our “official” opening celebration! Please join us and check out the demos we’ll be doing every hour (we’ll have all the demo products on sale at 10% off, plus we’ll be happy to do impromtu demos inbetween as time allows).

10:00 Machine quilting tools and supplies
11:00 Thangles (these are used for our Buck A Block which starts in October)
12:00 Angelina fibers
1:00 Fabric Postcards and Artist Trading Cards (ATCs)
2:00 Kaleidoscope ruler by Marti Michell
3:00 Marking tools
4:00 Photo transfer

Donations:
All fabric 100% cotton, PLEASE!
* 5 1/2″ or 6 1/2″ squares
* 4 1/2″ strips
* large fabric pieces for backing
* UFO tops (preferrably twin size)
* embroidery floss or perle cotton for tying
* polyester batting (this has been requested because it dries faster than cotton)
* any cash donations will be used for polyester batting, shipping, with any remaining cash going to the Red Cross

Work days/times:
Friday September 9, 10AM -5PM
Saturday September 10, 10AM-5PM
Please call or email us to let us know when you will be working to avoid overcrowding!

If you have a finished quilt that you will be donating to Quilts for Katrina, please feel free to bring it to the shop. I will package them together and ship to Quilters Comfort America (http://www.quilts.com) in Houston for IMMEDIATE use!

When Phoebe was little (back in the dark ages, shortly after all the dinosaurs died off), she loved her American Girl dolls. We read the books as bedtime stories, and she loved all the wonderful clothing. My mother and I both made clothes for the dolls – I knitted some, Mom sewed some – and I made a few doll quilts as well. There’s something special about that bond between a girl and her “sewing mentor” and their dolls.

It’s with that in mind that we’re starting a “Dolls and Quilts” club here at the shop. Betty Ring will be leading the group, and the first meeting will be Saturday, September 24, from 2-4. The club is for girls and their dolls and their “sewing mentor,” whether that person is Mom or Gramma or Aunt Susie or yes, even Dad. The girls are encouraged to bring their dolls and any clothes or quilts they have made (or someone else has made for them!) for show and tell. Each month there will be a project that Betty will “teach,” both an outfit and a quilt. It will be mostly a demo kind of session, where Betty will walk you through each project and pass along helpful hints for making that months’ project. Optional kits will be available for sale separately for each project. The class fee is $15 per couple (girl and mentor); dolls may attend at no charge. You must sign up in advance, just like our other classes.

Here’s a picture of the Bumblebee halloween costume for the October meeting (Sunday, Oct 16, 2-4). I think it is just *way* too cute: