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

Amy has gotten hooked on our New Girl Purse pattern by Tammy Tadd Designs. Here she is modeling the one she made for her daughter:

~Joyce

We just moved fabric again the other day, and I couldn’t help but notice how lovely this Paintbox group from Lonni Rossi looked on the shelf:

Lonni’s fabric always has such a nice hand, too. Come in and see for yourself!

~Joyce

I know, it’s almost August, and I’m talking about autumn. But we always have to plan ahead in quilting, be sure to allow enough time to sew our projects, right? Kristal made this great shop sample for us from the Thangles Autumn Leaves project pack. It includes the pattern and the Thangles you need to make this great quilt (it’s shown here hanging in the shop, folded over). We’ll put together a few kits if you want to make yours just like Kristal’s, but we’d be happy to help you pick out fabric for your own. And if you don’t know how to use Thangles, please ask us for a demo (and if you think you *hate* Thangles, please also ask us for the demo – often we show you a trick that turns you into a convert). I, for one, LOVE Thangles!

~Joyce

Lakehouse fabrics has done it again! They’ve reinvented their hydrangeas (which I find irresistible) – shown here without the two panel pieces:

They’ve also come out with a great “boy” line – perfect for baby boy quilts (just a little too late for my grandson):

Their fabric also has a great hand – come in and feel it!

~Joyce

Barbara Z!  I used the random number generator at random.org to pick a number between 1 and 73, the number of comments we got on our dressforms post.  It picked number 15, and Barbara Z is lucky comment number 15!

We will be making up a sweet bundle of fat quarters for Barbara today.     Please continue to check back on (and comment on!) our blog – there will be more drawings in the works.

And for those of you readers who have never been to our shop in person, please stay tuned as we make a few more tweaks on our new website, and soon you will be able to shop with us, too!

~Joyce

Even though I’m not feeling well, Phoebe and I have been scurrying around all day trying to finish the move so we can take the sign off the door that says “pardon our mess while we rearrange” – all before we leave to go to visit my mom in PA (and go see the Phillies WIN!).    So, there’s some stuff I need to put on sale RIGHT NOW, because it takes up too much room, or we have too many, or whatever.  Here goes – sale prices limited to stock on hand, in effect now through Thursday July 31:

50% off any non-fabric item with a clearance sticker on it

25% off all Michael Miller organic fabrics and trims – you can read more about them here:

http://makingitfun.blogspot.com/2007/10/sneak-peek.html

http://michaelmillerfabrics.com/Upload_WebPages/1160_HTML/i_organic_garden.pdf

20% off pillow forms

Tonight I’ll be making the rounds of the store and putting sale tags on individual bolts of fabric, too.

Don’t forget our finish the bolt sale, Sunday and Monday, 27th & 28th!

We got four boxes of new fabric in today, including more FLANNEL (which I know makes no sense in July, but, well, there it is).  Photos coming soon, but here’s a couple of links to excite you:

http://www.lakehousedrygoods.com/fabrics.php?s=0&np=2&sort=prh&cid=43&fid=371

http://www.lakehousedrygoods.com/fabrics.php?cid=36

~Joyce

Betty B. brought in two quilts to show us yesterday. One is from a Stashbusters class she took with me. Both of them are prizes for Quilt Bingo:

Our selections from August Fields from Amy Butler arrived today, along with a few home dec weight solids that go with the Amy Butler fabrics:

How many of you are Project Runway addicts like me? Ha! I knew it! I’ve been so grateful to Bravo for replaying all of the previous seasons lately. I have my DVR set to record any and all Project Runway episodes, so I’ve had lots to watch in my long-day-at-work-too-tired-to-do-anything-else stupor. 

Last February several of us from the shop went to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival together, and in the car we talked about how cool it would be if there were a Project Runway for quilters. I would SO sign up for it! I’ve always loved quilt challenges. I think I entered the Hoffman Challenge for the first time maybe 15 years ago? I remember the piece I entered in 1994, but I don’t think that was my first one. I’ve entered several other quilt competitions with restrictions, done challenges with my local guild, and I always enjoy how they stretch me creatively, force me to work with colors or themes that I might never otherwise attempt.

I figured that I couldn’t possibly be the only one who thought this sounded cool, so I created Project QA for all of you! During the weekend of August 16-17, we will be holding our first Project QA at the shop. We will have a minimum of six designers and a maximum of nine. You will be permitted to bring all your own tools, but your “stuff” (thread, fabric, other consumables) will be limited to a banker’s box that we will give you when you sign up. We will give you a yard of fabric and a theme when you arrive on Saturday. You will have all day Saturday and most of Sunday to work on your creation. We will feed you. I will do my best Tim Gunn imitation and visit and encourage you. You will not be permitted to take any work home with you overnight. You will, of course, be encouraged to purchase anything you might need or want to work on your creation. We want this to be fun, so survivor-style backbiting will not be tolerated. At 4:00 on Sunday, you will have to stop work. We will then judge you (a panel of three distinguished judges) on several criteria (interpretation of theme, originality, etc – we’ll tell you the criteria before you start). The winner will receive a $125 Quilting Adventures gift card. There will be three judge’s choice winners, each receiving a $25 QA gift card.

As I write this (July 20, 2008), we already have three people signed up. We need three more to make it a definite go. Please call or stop by to sign up TODAY so that I can have my Project Runway experience with YOU!

As the newsletter was being sent out yesterday, the UPS man came with boxes.  And then today he brought us some more!

Here is the new Lindsay by Karen Montgomery for Timeless Treasures:

And here’s Love a Tree, also from Timeless Treasures:

Hope to see you this weekend!  Remember, it’s cool in here. 

~Joyce