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

We’re starting May off with a bang with three classes by Esterita Austin.  These classes are for all levels of experience, do NOT require machines, and have very easy supply lists!

Saturday, May 2 – Creating the Illusion of Depth
Sunday, May 3 – Sheers to You!
Monday, May 4 – Rock, Wood & Water

And Linens for the Shelter is the next weekend, May 8-10.  For each donation of a *new* sheet, towel, pillow, or blanket, we will give you a free fat quarter and a chance to win a gift basket valued over $50!  For each pillow that is donated, QA will match the donation with a pillowcase made from our fabric. 

Saturday May 9 is a great day to try your hand at garment sewing!  In the morning we have the Great Fit Gored Skirt class:

and in the afternoon, the Apron Class:

Or, if Hand Quilting is calling your name, you can take my Hand Quilting Class for beginners:

There’s LOTS more going on in May – this is just a few highlights!  Check out the entire class schedule here.

~Joyce

I was just getting ready to put more books on the clearance rack, but then I noticed that it’s already pretty full!  It’s cluttered and kind of messy, I know, but it *is* the clearance rack, after all….  Anyway, would all you kind blog readers please help me out and come to the shop between now and Sunday, May 3, and anything that’s *not* fat quarters or remnants (or special $2 and $3 patterns and magazines) that you get off the clearance shelves is 50% off?  There’s a lot of awesome books and patterns and other goodies on there.   Just mention it to us at the register – say you saw it on the blog! 

Thanks!
Joyce

Let me start off this post with a request, please.  Many of you have been asking for garment fabric – will you please take a minute and let us know what kind of classes you would like?  Follow this link and fill out the form to send us your ideas!  Some classes we do have in the works – a simple t-shirt so you can learn the basics of sewing with knits, hemming silks for scarves, plus all the classes listed below which are mostly targeted at new beginning garment sewers.  Also, we have some folks who want  to form a group that focuses on wearable art – would you be interested?  If so, please let us know!

Here’s what we’ve currently got going on for garment classes.  Most of these are for beginners, but folks with more experience are always welcome!

Great Fit Gored Skirt – Saturday, May 9, 10AM:

Apron Class – also Saturday, May 9, 2PM (stay for the day!):

SWAP – Sewing with a Plan - meets Tuesday evening, May 12.  Come get garment help fromm an expert!  And check out the QA SWAP blog, here.

I Can’t Believe it’s a Sweatshirt – Saturday, May 23, 10AM (yes, I know it’s not sweatshirt weather, but it’s a great class no matter what the weather!):

PJ Pants for Beginning Garment Sewers – Saturday, May 23, 1PM – this class is for adults and kids over 10 who know how to use a sewing machine:

Call or stop by to sign up today!

~Joyce

We’ve got some great handwork classes coming up in the next few weeks!  Handwork isn’t as slow as people often think it is, and it make a great portable project to take with you on your summer vacation or those long afternoons at the ball field. 

Hand Applique for Beginners starts tonight, Thursday evening May 23, and has only one space left, so you’ll need to act quickly if you want in on this one.  But don’t worry, we’ll offer it again!

Phoebe will be teaching Hand Embroidery on Sunday, April 26.  This one- session class will teach you all the basics and open up all kinds of doors to great projects!  There are several patterns to choose from, including the one Phoebe used for her sample:

Hand Quilting for Beginners is offered again on Saturday morning, May 9.  Hand quilting is very meditative and relaxing, once you get the hang of it. 

Thursday evening, May 14, Susan will be teaching Hand Piecing Tumbling Blocks.  You’ll learn the basics of hand piecing, and this class has the added bonus of working with a shape for which we own a die for the cie cutter machine.  You can cut out a full size quilt in probably less than an hour, and your pieces will all be *perfect*.

Beginning English Smocking repeats on Saturday morning, May 30:

And last but definitely not least, Crazy Quilting – Beading is offered again on Sunday, May 31 – this class was full with a waiting list last time so don’t wait to sign up for this one!

Hope to see you soon!
~Joyce

Penny S. sent this photo of a skirt she made from fabric she got for “finish the bolt” day:

And Deanna C. wrote:

“Here are two photos my husband took of me and my completed yoyo sweater.  Fun facts about it are that it took from September 2004 (purchasing fabric) to March 2009 to complete the sweater. That’s where your Quilt Therapy Class came in as I needed all the incentive I could get to keep plugging arway on it. The support of the our group really helped me stay on track!  It is also constructed of 866 yoyos (622 for the vest and 122 each sleeve). ”

Here it is!

Sheila S. showed us her Super Simple Strips quilt today:

Thanks, all, for sharing!
~Joyce

We’ve still got room in all of the sessions of our upcoming class series on One Block Wonder Encore!  If you’ve done stack and whack, or even the first One Block Wonder, you may want to check out one (or more!) of these upcoming classes.  But beware – once you get hooked in One Block Wonders you won’t want to stop!

Basic Hexagon Blocks Class
Constructing Cubes Class
Design and Layout Class

Another class that has a similar effect with fabric as one block wonder and stack and whack is the Kensington Kaleidoscope, coming up on May 30.  This is an advanced beginner class – the cutting is the trick!

Please call or stop by to sign up soon!

And for those of you who asked, here are a few more pictures from Red Rock Canyon:

~Joyce

Finally!  Some pictures of the Phoebe’s challenge quilts.  We got some really awesome entries, and everyone did something totally different..

First up is one that Christina C. made.  Unfortunately it’s not the greatest picture (all the quilts were above my head!), but the green down at the bottom and along the sides is actually 3D foliage made from a batik.

Next is this really cool one that Margaret G. made.  All the triangles are done separately from the quilt, like prairie points.  You can also some of the amazing bead work she did underneath the triangles.

This one was made by my friend Jefferson, one of our youngest sewers.  (I think he’s 7 – am I right?)  It’s kind of hard to see, but for his embellishment he used buttons in the middle and buttons on two of the corners of the border.

Alane (Jefferson’s mom) made this next one (I believe she had some help from Jefferson’s sister Lorelei, but I’m not sure).  She did hand embroidery all around the edges – in German.  I still haven’t gotten a translation, but I will next time they come in!

These last two were made by our employees Mary N, and Mary T.  Mary N. bent the rules a little bit and made this awesome apron..

And Mary T. made this fun quilt.  She knows that I love stars! 

Aren’t they all cool?  I’m so glad that we used the great monkey fabric for the challenge…  What will we think of next? 

~Phoebe

It’s been piling up on my camera and in my inbox again. 

June K brought in this quilt during National Quilting Day to show us.  She made it from one of our Tonga Dimes packs and she calls it “What If”:

Our customer Mary B. made this bag, tissue and chap stick cozys for her friend Sandy, also one of our customers:

Here’s the class photo from the Scrap Therapy What’s Up Dot class:

Cheryl S. made this great class for an auction at her daughter’s school using fabrics that the kids hand-painted:

Here’s the back of it:

From Cheryl’s Hopscotch class – we *think* this is Joan B, but if it’s not, please tell me so I can fix it!

Please keep sending these, even though it often takes me forever to post them!  Send the photos to info @ quiltingadventures.com (remove the spaces before and after the @, of course).  We love seeing what you’re up to!

~Joyce

PS – I actually wrote the above post over a week ago, saved it as a draft, and forgot to post it!  So the backlog is even bigger now.  But keep it coming – as long as you don’t mind waiting to see it posted!  You can always post your own photos on our Facebook page, too. 

More great classes coming your way at QA:

One Block Wonder Encore class series returns Wednesday evening, April 22, with the Basic Hexagon Blocks and the 29th with Constructing Cubes.  Each of these classes is a stand-alone, so you can take one or all of them.  Once you get started with One Block Wonders, you won’t want to stop.  They are deceptively simple and so much fun!

Do you want to learn how to do hand applique?  Our beginner class starts again Thursday evening April 23.  You make a pretty hummingbird block that you can finish as a pillow or wall hanging and you’ll get experience on making sharp points, gentle curves, and perfect circles!

On Saturday, April 25, Laura is teaching the Stained Glass Dragonfly Paradise class.  Please don’t wait to sign up for this one – there’s almost always  waiting list and we don’t want you to be disappointed!

Sunday April 26 we have two fun classes, both beginner friendly, and neither requiring a machine – a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon!  Cathy will be teaching how to make a Hand Carved Stamp to print your own fabric, and Phoebe is teaching Hand Embroidery for Beginners!

Tuesday evening, April 28, you can learn a great way of sewing Grandmother’s Flower Garden blocks together by hand that isn’t English paper piecing!  This is also a great introduction to hand piecing, would make a great summer, carry-along project:

Wednesday evening April 29, Monica will be teaching the Sweet and Sassy Drawstring Purse class.  It’s not too late to make a new bag for spring!

Please call or stop by to sign up for these classes soon – you won’t want to miss out on the fun!

~Joyce

I just took some pictures of the new garment fabric that arrived and realized that the Vegas pictures are all still on the camera!  But I know you guys want to see fabric -

Here are some of the new fabrics by designers Nicole Miller, Maggy London, Betsy Johnson, and Perry Ellis – some knits, some woven:

And here are the new silk duupionis, noils, printed charmeuses & georgettes:

Okay, so I haven’t unpacked it yet. 

And I don’t want to bore you with too much about my side trip to Red Rock Canyon, but here’s one photo of two things that make me INSANELY happy – my DH and a Joshua tree:

~Joyce