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

Well, it’s Sunday, January 31, and QA is going to be closed again today.  Most of us live in neighborhoods that haven’t seen a plow yet (my street never sees a plow – I always have to wait for it to melt), which means we can’t get there to open.  I’m assuming that most of you wouldn’t get there to shop, either.

So, hopefully, we’ll open at 10am tomorrow, and in the meantime, stay safe and warm and have a great snow day sewing.  And maybe tak some time browsing the February calendar – we’ve got some great classes coming up!

~Joyce

Today is Saturday, January 30, and QA will be closed due to the weather.  We don’t have much snow *yet* but it’s definitely coming down and there will be lots more before it’s even time to open the shop.  Those of you who were signed up for today’s class have already been notified that we’ve rescheduled it for March.

I’ll be deciding about tomorrow – whether we’re going to open, and what to do about tomorrow’s class (since it’s very possible that the teacher might be snowed out of Richmond) – in the morning, Sunday morning.  If I decide to reschedule the class, I’ll be calling those of you who have signed up.

Hopefully all of you managed to get to the shop earlier this week so that you can take the best advantage of the weather today and have a great day sewing! 

~Joyce

Karol D.’s beautiful Sewing Kit Rollup from Cathy’s class.  Sorry we’re so late posting this – the move changed our timing a lot!

Shannon C. made this adorable Portabella Pixie dress for her daughter!

Phyllis B’s mother stitched the original quilt blocks and put them together into a quilt with no sashing in 1967. Phyllis took it to college where it was well used. Recently, Phyllis took the blocks apart, which was pretty easy, since it had never actually been quilted. She reassembled the top with the addition of pale green sashing, new alternate setting blocks and one more block stitched by her mother to complete the new top. This was a gift for Phyllis’ mother this Christmas ’09, but we are late posting the photo, so as not to spoil the surprise!

This is a very cute black and white purse that somebody brought in on New Year’s Day. Unfortunately we were SO busy we forgot to write down who it was – if it was you write in and let us give you credit for your cute bag!

Patti C. brought in this gorgeous quilt – all blacks, whites and reds from her stash!

Julia and Jeannie made this cute Lucky Stars quilt in Cheryl’s class:

Jennifer H. used her Winter Break to finish working on lots of quilts! She made this beautiful french braid using a lot of Amy Butler fabrics.

We’ll show more soon!  Thanks for being patient with us and remember that we LOVE seeing all your projects!

Happy Sewing

~Kristal

Hi Everyone – I just wanted to call your attention to some of the great classes we have coming up, many of them new this year!  This is by no means all of them, so if you want to check out the rest, you can go to the calendar page.

We are seeing more and more interest in Hand Embroidery, and we’ve got the perfect class to get you going coming up on Sunday, January 31, 1-4.  You’ve got lots of different patterns to choose from, and you’ll learn all the basic stitches to get going.  Here’s the class sample:

Tuesday, February 2, we have a NEW class on the Disappearing Nine Patch.  This quilt looks *so* complicated, but it’s honestly just a humble nine patch, cut and reassembled:]

Another new class that is perfect as  a next-step for garment sewing and a great introduction to sewing for kids is the Once Upon a Time skirt from Bananafana.  It is so CUTE! and you’ll learn so many awesome garment sewing techniques along the way:

We also have a special event planned for Sunday, February 14 – a Hand Stitching Mini-Retreat!  Plan to spend the day at QA – your registration fee includes lunch, drinks and snacks – and get away from the world for a while in the company of other folks who enjoy handwork.  This is a bring-your-own-project event, and we don’t discriminate – it can be hand piecing, quilting, embroidery, applique, even locker hooking!  There will be teachers on hand to offer advice and support and even a few demos thrown in for good measure.  This is going to be a fun and relaxing day; don’t wait too long to sign up to join us!

And that is just a small taste of what’s coming up!  Several of them are already full (or almost there), so if you had a class in mind, you might not want to wait much longer. 

Oh, the giveaway.  Leave a comment below to win a free Hand Embroidery class on January 31.  I’ll pick a winner using random.org on Tuesday morning, January 26 – so leave your comment before Tuesday at 8AM to enter.  Good luck!

~Joyce

One of the volunteers from the Easter Seals Virginia’s Eggstravaganza stopped by today and asked me to share with you their call for donations for their egg-themed auction event.  They would love to have some textiles this year – quilts, wallhangings, pillows.  You can read more about the event and the call for entries on their website, or you can stop by the shop and pick up one of the flyers she left with us.  If you do enter, be sure to send us a photo for the blog!

~Joyce

Since we’ve moved to Willow Lawn, we’re getting more requests than ever for referrals to people who do custom sewing, embroidery, monograms, draperies, alterations, etc.  I *know* that some of you must do such things, but we don’t have any kind of list of people to refer folks to.  If you do any of these kinds of things and would be willing to have us give out your name and contact info to people who inquire, please follow this link and send us your info.  Be sure to include the type of work you so, so we don’t send someone to you who wants curtains if all you do is monogramming. 

~Joyce

We got new fabric in today, Georgia by Pat Sloan, from P & B:

We also got lots of new embroidery supplies in this week.  The new 36 colors of Presencia floss, more tea towels (including pretty ones with stripes), and some new embroidery transfer patterns, too.  We have a couple of new embroidery samples on display, too, both from books by Rosalie Quinlan.  They’re all part of my ongoing “I Hate Embroidery” self discovery journey. 

Come check it all out!

~Joyce

Happy New Year!  We wanted to share some pictures from our New Year’s Day Grand Reopening.  We had a great turn-out – thank you to everyone that came that day!

Joyce and I did demos all day – see the following pictures.  I’m making some silly faces…

This following picture shows the Endangered Species Quilts that we have on display by Rob Appell.  We also have many Four Patch Kaleidoscope Quilts from Quilt Moments by Marilyn Foreman on display in our classroom too.

Now that we have settled into our new location at Willow Lawn we are going to start doing weekly free demos again!  Our demos will be Saturdays at 11 am & 2 pm and Sundays at 2 pm.  The demos start this weekend, beginning with the Four Patch Kaleidoscope quilts!  See this link for more information.

We hope you’re enjoying 2010 and hope to see you soon!

Happy sewing

~ Kristal

Classes will be starting up again in just over a week at QA, in our new space, new classroom!  Some of them are already filling up quickly, so check the schedules – you want want to miss anything!

Sunday, January 17, Kathleen is offering a new class – the Texture Magic Tote!  You’ll learn all about how to use Texture Magic *and* make this cute little tote bag:

Since Monday is a holiday for many of you, we’ve scheduled a great garment class with Monica – the Mandarin Jacket:

And that’s just a little taste of what’s coming!  Follow this link to see the whole January calendar, and then use the arrows to move forward to February and March.  Then call or stop by to sign up – or you can sign up using the links on the class pages!

Hope to see you soon!
~Joyce