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

Amy (who works here) sent me this picture of the valences she made for her living room.  She used some of the new Amy Butler fabric and the Reversible Valence pattern from Karen Montgomery:

We had a UFO PJ party tonight – actually, it’s still going on, but I snuck away to post this.  I’ve been working with some friends on a quilt to give to our friend Margaret who is currently undergoing chemotherapy.  We used the “string piecing” technique (I do sell a pattern for this and it’s wonderfully easy!), using the same fabric as the center strip of all of our blocks.  Phoebe finished sewing the final block tonight, we arranged the blocks on the design wall (with some help from our friends) and here’s a picture of the result:

Sorry, I see now that it’s not a great picture, so please use your imagination to see how beautiful it is.    I got it all sewn together and ready to be longarm quilted by Deb Jacobs, and I’m very happy to have it together.  It looks really great!  I’ll be sure to post a photo when it’s all the way finished.

~Joyce

Our email at the shop was down for several hours yesterday, and everything going in or out during ~7AM to ~2PM was lost.    If you tried to email us during that time, please resend!

I’m going to be playing hooky today (don’t tell anyone!), but our Spring Cleaning sale continues – see other blog entries or the website for more details – or better yet, just come in and shop!  Today (Thursday) and Friday are our regular finish-the-bolt days, when you get 25% off when you buy what’s left on a bolt, even if it’s a whole 15 yards!  This would be a great time to pick up fabric for quilt backs or a duvet cover or curtains….    We’re also in the process of rearranging the shop a bit to create an area with all kinds of home dec inspirations – be sure to check out my reversible valance and the incredible (but not too complicated) Roman shade Betty made!

And another thought on the subject of spring cleaning -  if any of you are ever getting rid of a used “wheelie chair” – like a secretary’s chair, with or without arms – please keep us in mind.  Or if your office is getting all new chairs, please let me know!  I would love to replace the chairs in our classroom with chairs that are a bit more comfortable, and a used office chair certainly beats a metal folding chair!  I’d love to get my hands on more “wheelie chairs,” for a good price. 

~Joyce

Linda O. made this *adorable* smocked dress for her granddaughter:

Here’s Sue Ann W.’s fish block that she made to enter into the block contest on the McCall’s Quilting cruise that she went on, and if I remember right, I think hers was chosen as one of the favorites.  I’m still pouting that she didn’t take ME along on her cruise! 

Here’s the wonderful postcard that Cathy T. made after our Hand Dyeing Made Easy class:

And a photo of the happy students from that class with the jars of dyed fabric:

That’s all for now – still trying to catch up on all my delinquent blog entries!

~Joyce

First, an update on the Spring Cleaning Sale going on now through March 30:

• 50% off rayon batiks
• 30% off glitter thread
• 30% off Peepers glasses
• 30% off hand dyed silk, velveteen, specialty FQs for crazy quilting including silk dupioni
• 20% off velveteen fat quarter bundles
  
• 30% selected bolts of wide backing
• 100s of bolts marked 20-60% off
• Finish the bolt (27th & 28th only) – 25% off
• Selected books and patterns 20-50% off (more items added every day)
• 30% off fat quarter bundles

Here’s a link to the news story from last week’s CBS Sunday Morning on quilting, in case you missed it (or, like me, you set it to record on the wrong date):

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=3942008n

One of our very talented customers – who is going to be teaching for us soon! – won a design contest on Design Sponge. Here’s her winning entry:

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/03/2008-diy-winners-1st-place.html#more-9222

Here’s a link to the info on the fabric flower class Kirsten will be teaching at QA:

http://www.quiltingadventures.com/fabricflower.htm

And this bit of news from Kathleen, about her Felted Landscape class this Saturday:

If you have wanted to learn how to machine needle felt, this class is for you. This landscape is full of different fabrics and fibers to give you a rare opportunity to see how they all work together in one unique wall hanging. This class was designed as a one-day class specifically to be able to play with machine felting and lots of fabrics including cottons and silks. Fibers include yarns, wool roving and Angelina fibers. You will leave class with a finished textile landscape ready for you to add borders when you get home.

I’m so far behind in my blog postings – I have assorted photos on the desktops of both of my computers just waiting for me to upload them and write about them.  So this week I’m going to make my best effort to catch up.

Here are three customer show and tells.  The first is an Amy Butler Weekender bag – a pattern that I hear is not for the faint of heart.    Unfortunately, I don’t know who made it, so if it’s yours, please email me so I can update this with your name!

Next is our customer Debbie E., who took this great rose print from Michael Miller and fussy cut some appliques for her sweatshirt:

And last but certainly not least is this awesome one block wonder, that I *think* is by Carolyn I:

I’ve made some modifications to the blog settings so that you can leave comments now (I’d had it turned off because we were drowning in spam comments, but now that we have more of you reading, it doesn’t seem fair to keep you from leaving comments!).

~Joyce

Our National Quilting Day celebration on Saturday was great fun! Kathleen did demos of some of our “weirdo” supplies – things like foiling, painting with dye-na-flow, working with Angelina fibers:

The other classroom was full of home dec ideas – pillows, shams, bedskirt, things for baby’s room – here’s just a few of the samples:

Here’s the reversible valence that I made using Karen Montgomery’s pattern – it was SO easy and looks SO cute!

When you’re wanting to give a room a new look, do keep our shop in mind! We have great patterns and ideas and all of our fabrics can be used for most home dec projects, too. We’ll be doing some rearranging this week and putting our home dec samples all together in one area, so be sure to check it out!

Also this week – we’re having a Spring Cleaning Sale! I know some of you are on spring break this week and may be doing some spring cleaning of your own, so when you need a break from it, come see all the bargains we’ve got! I put clearance tags on about 50 more bolts (novelties, dots and stripes) Saturday evening and will be doing more all through the week. Tomorrow Glitter thread and Peepers glasses go on sale for 30% off. We’re going to start going through books and patterns and moving some to the clearance area to make room for all the new goodies that are on the way. And remember that Thursday and Friday are our monthly finish the bolt days, 25% off when you buy the rest of the bolt. But don’t wait until then to come in or you might miss some of the other great bargains.

~Joyce

Please join us on Saturday, March 22, to celebrate National Quilting Day! We’ll have demos and door prizes and refreshments. AND, for every $10 you spend, you get one chance in our drawing to win 10% off for the next year!

Our demos will focus on two general categories – “weirdo” techniques and supplies (as I affectionately call paintstiks, Angelina fibers, foil, etc) and home decorating made easy! Here is the demo schedule, below, but please note – if we are in between demos, we will be happy to give you a mini-demo on any of these subjects:

1030	Angelina and Crystalina fibers and Textiva film
1045	Pillowcases and shams with no exposed seams
1100	Painting with Dye-na-flow; lutradur and cheescloth and why they’re cool
1115	Bedskirts
1130	Couching, Diva cord maker, and other ways to use fun fibers and yarns
1145	Pillowmaking tips and tricks
1200	Machine felting
100	Foiling
115	Reversible valence
130	Paintstiks & rubbing plates
145	Sewing for baby – receiving blankets, crib bumpers, bibs and more!
200	Angelina and Crystalina fibers and Textiva film
215	Pillowcases and shams with no exposed seams
until 3	Demos on demand!

We have the new Quilting Arts TV DVDs playing on our demo computer at the front of the store – come check them out! If you buy the set of DVDs, we recommend that you register at the www.quiltingartstv.com website to copy off the materials list that is available for each of the shows.

Come check them out!
~Joyce

Our new QA shopping bags are finally here! They sell for $3.99 each, OR you can get one free with a $100 purchase:

AND, we’re having a contest. Here are the rules:

Deadline April 22, 2008 (Earth Day)

1.    You must use one of the following patterns to make your bag (we have all of these in the shop):
•    BFF (Best Friends Forever) Handbag by Bee Creative Studio
•    Traveler’s Tote by Indygo Junction
•    Eco Market Tote by Favorite Things
•    Double Duty Bag by Sew Baby
OR you can buy one of our new Quilting Adventures totes for $3.99 (or get one free with your purchase of $100 or more) and embellish it.

2.    You can use any fabric, trim, techniques, and/or embellishments that you like.  Make your shopping bag say something about YOU!  Be sure that your bag has your name and phone number on it somewhere (so that we can contact you – securely pinned to the inside is fine).

3.    You may enter as many bags as you like.  QA employees and teachers may enter the exhibit but are not eligible to win prizes.

4.    Entries must be in the shop by the end of business April 22; no exceptions.  The bags will remain on display in the shop through April 30, after which the entrant may pick them up during normal business hours.

5.    Entries will be judged on workmanship, creativity, and originality by a panel of judges.  First place is a $25 QA gift card.  Three judge’s choice awards will also receive a merchandise prize.

6.    Each time you use your own bag instead of our plastic bags, you’ll get an entry ticket to win one of our quarterly gift baskets.  The more times you use your bag, the more chances you have to win, and fewer bags will end up in the landfill!