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

I saw the new Log Cabin Ruler demo’ed at Market, and I knew it looked awesome, but I figured I had to *make* something with it to see for myself. So I decided to work on a project from Amish Inspired Quilts.

First, let me talk a little about the fabric I’m using. I grew up in Pennsylvania Dutch country and always loved the Amish colors. The first quilts I ever made were using all solids (with lots of black). I still use lots of black, and have gotten away from solid-solids, but still use lots of handdyeds that read as solids. Becky Goldsmith & Linda Jenkins’ book (and the class that I took from them at Market) have convinced me that solids are BACK, and I’m loving it. I didn’t have enough solid-solids to used in these log cabin blocks, so I mixed solids with Java Blenders. Trust me, it looks prettier than the photo.

Anyway, the log cabin book and ruler – AWESOME! I’ve always done a log cabin by cutting strips, sewing the strip onto the side of the block, and then trimming it to size. Quick, easy, right? Well, not as quick and easy as taking the time to cut all your strips to the right size FIRST, and then….. CHAIN PIECING! These blocks went together fast, and they lay nice and flat because the strips were the right length and I used a true 1/4″ seam throughout. Quick and easy is fine, but I don’t like to sacrifice accuracy (unless I’m doing freeform/art-quilty stuff, and then my rules are different). I really like Marti’s new ruler, and her book has some great tips and patterns in it, too.

So here’s (a not good picture of) my blocks on the floor of the studio; hopefully I’ll get this put together later today and have it hanging in the shop later this week:

One of our customers, Wendy B., took my Mariner’s Compass class and sent me this wonderful picture of her finished compass, which she made into a pillow that has been taken over by her cat:

I’m so embarassed. I should know better.

The pictures below, in my last post, of Laura’s quilts? A part of what makes them so successful, of course, is the quilting on them. And these quilts were quilted by two of our local longarm quilters who, of course, are now WORLD FAMOUS just like Laura, because their quilts were hanging at International Quilt Market. So, my apologies to Deb Jacobs and Valerie Schlake for not tooting your horns sooner – your work is awesome, too, and you should be very proud!

We ordered some drop dead GORGEOUS fabric today. New Kaffe Fassetts, new fabrics designed by Elly Sienkiewicz, new Amy Butlers, a group of fabrics from a new designer named Felicity Miller (that Phoebe loved so much she offered to give up ordering the Amy Butlers!), and batiks and more batiks and RAYON batiks.

Spending money is hard work.

One of our employees and two of our teachers are famous! Many of you already know that Laura Blanchard designs quilts for Red Rooster Fabrics. Here, with their permission, are photos from their booth:

Betty Sanderson also works for Red Rooster; she makes the chair covers for their booth:

Kathleen Chrisman won second place in this year’s Sulky Doll Challenge; her doll is on exhibit here at Market:

Tomorrow we’re going to focus more on new notions and gadgets and patterns. We’re very excited about a line of home dec patterns we’ve ordered from Donna Babylon, and Phoebe had a Schoolhouse session with Marti Michell and is now an expert on the Log Cabin Ruler.

I took a class this morning with Jennie Rayment; she’s awesome. Would any of you be interested in taking a class with her at the shop next summer?

Phoebe and I are in Minneapolis for Quilt Market!

Our friend Pam Ronan picked us up at the airport and took us to the Mall of America. Now, Phoebe and I really aren’t shoppers, we’re just not mall people. But we got drawn in anyway, and had (for us) a major spending spree and a great time! Pam is lots of fun (of course, she’s a quilter!) and it was great to have our own guided tour. Here are some pictures we took at the mall (like good tourists).

Here are just a couple of shots of this incredible indoor mall/amusement part (the one parking garage is bigger than all of Regency Square Mall!):

Here’s one of Phoebe and Pam:

and Phoebe with a Lego dude:

Tonight we are off to a banquet, and then tomorrow we have classes from 10AM to 6PM, nonstop!

Here are some works that came about during/after recent classes.

Aida’s compass:

Jennifer’s postcard:

The summer classes are listed online now; the newsletter should be done in the next week or two. You can see all the classes, with links to the full descriptions (and most of them have pictures, too!) here:
http://www.quiltingadventures.com/classes.htm

We are very excited to be participating in the nationwide promotion Quilt Pink sponsored by Better Homes and Gardens® American Patchwork & Quilting® magazine. For our first quilt (or quilts), we are putting together kits of five pink and white fabrics and issuing a challenge to you: purchase the kit of fabric and follow the instructions to make a star block of *any size* to contribute to Quilt Pink. Diana Vourron has kindly volunteered to work with us on putting together a quilt (or more than one, depending on how many blocks we get) using the techniques she’ll be teaching in her UFOs, Orphans, Leftovers, Stalled Projects, and Fabric Hunks! class. The deadline for getting these blocks back to the shop is July 15, and they can be as small or large as you like. Please join in the fun for a good cause!

We have other Quilt Pink projects in the works; stay tuned for more Quilt Pink news.

Some of you know that I’ve been going through a rough time personally lately. So yesterday’s visit to the grandbaby was a nice break from that. Babies just make things seem better, yanno?

My granddaughter is adorable, but it seems like she’s just not terribly photogenic. At least, she wasn’t yesterday. But here’s one of here with her Aunt Phoebe that isn’t too bad (especially now that I got rid of the red-eye):