So it has been a while since I last posted (December!). So sorry to keep you out of the loop. Facebook gets a few posts and then there is mail chimp for the shop communications. This year has been flying by in a whirl! We have participated in several guild quilt shows, I have been teaching across Texas for guilds and shops and at retreats! REGISTRATION for our Kids Kamps are happening now!
We just completed our first year as a brick and mortar quilt shop and we are very excited for the future. Our next big event is our Customer Appreciation “Quilt Thump” on Saturday, June 17th right here in Luling, TX. Our quilters have been collecting “seeds” and will be rewarded for supporting our first year with chances on raffle bags and auction items. Please call 830-875-5432 to rsvp that you will be attending the quilt thump! It won’t be the same without YOU!
Another auction item – quilted and bound! RSVP NOW so you will have the opportunity to own this quilt!Auction item – this adorable sample is quilted and bound. Backing fabric is cuddle cloth – oh so yummy!
We have Row by Row coming up starting June 17th. We have a really fun row this year and are super excited to be participating in Row by Row Junior program as well.
Our first Junior program. Kit is pre-cut READY to sew! A great row to start with!Our Row for adults! We have a variety of kits available for this pattern, from rugged outdoors to Tula Pink. We hope you will have a little bit of fun with our row. (Pattern/Kit do not include border/binding – we have an optional charm kit available as well)
And as always we are adding new samples to the shop on a very regular basis – here is what we have to show this week.
Fabulous fabrics from Marcia Derse make this a rich yummy quilt! A quick easy Villa Rosa pattern and you will have this kit made up in no time at all.Dimples for color and a fabulous background from Libs Elliott. You need to see this quilt in person to appreciate how happy it is! We supply the Dimples – you choose your background and accent border fabric!
We add to our tools and notions wall almost weekly, our list of classes is varied with a variety of teachers as well.
Need inspiration? We will be starting a wearables group soon! Are you interested? Let us know!
And on the home front we had an exciting storm last night. As I washed dishes I realized the water pressure was low – hubby went to check and came back in “You won’t believe what the problem is” See for yourself! Luckily I am married to Mr. Fixit and we were back in business in time to go watch the sunset over the horizon!
Stay safe and dry! Stop by the shop and visit for awhile!
First off, I am not an Austin Powers fan, not even in the slightest! However, I do love “Mini Me!” (Silver lining in every cloud). Sunday was a Mini Me day. Each of the grandkids will be displaying quilts in our local quilt show in May, it is their choice, they are not forced to do this. I am a firm believer that kids can do pretty much anything to some degree.
Little Toot’s adventure began at an early age, here she is working on the featherweight to help momma make Aunt Jess’s wedding quilt. She is 1 in these photos!
Getting ready to help momma make a quilt!Have to get everything setup!Sewing with Momma – I hope Aunt Jess loves her quilt! Little brother is in the lower right!
At age 3 I taught her how to use my embroidery machine. She would choose her design, select the threads and was able to rethread the machine for each thread color change. All I had to do was hoop the fabric and set up the design.
She put a design on a shirt for Grandpa! He still wears this shirt!
What a model!
She had her first quilt in our local show when she was 4.
It is important that they do as much of the project themselves as is safely possible. I chose prairie points for the quilt because a 4 year old can fold a square to make a triangle and then fold it again, now they may have gotten straightened out a little bit when I ironed – but she did it! We also used glue AND pins so as she sat on my lap and pushed the go button and pulled pins I didn’t have to worry about the fabrics slipping. For this quilt we did it on the domestic machine, not the LongArm so she could participate by helping guide the fabric under the walking foot.
She wanted butterflies, I asked how we would do that, she pointed at a stencil I have on my wall and said “with that” I showed her to mark the design and then I quilted it (no easy feat for me on the domestic!)
Marking her quilt!The proud winner – she still thinks she won the quilt show – don’t you tell her any different!Even little brother was proud of sissy – this year he will have 2 quilts in the show!
All of the blocks in this quilt below were machine embroidered by Little Toot, starting at age 3. She chose placement of the blocks and all of the coordinating fabrics.
She sewed the blocks together and when she had long rows to sew together I sat behind her and helped with keeping the fabric feeding straight. I had planned another border around the outside, but, said she was done with the top – OK! This is her quilt!
Once the top was done we headed to our local quilt shop for some fabric for the backing and binding. Grandpa commented that he was surprised there wasn’t something in my stash that would work – I reminded him that this was her quilt and all of the fabrics for the top did come from the stash! At the shop Miss Sally was very helpful, but in the end the decision was up to Little Toot! She went with her first choice! (even though she had auditioned at least 20 fabrics)
Here is her quilt and a few of the photos (not the most flattering of me – but that is life!)
What?Oops, she got off her 1/4″ because I distracted her – time to learn how to unsew!Feeding in the longer pieces!
Once we returned from fabric shopping, she realized she was going to quilt this quilt all by herself! I asked what she was going to quilt on her quilt, she said butterflies, I asked how she would do that. She showed me on the whiteboard, then I said OK – now draw that design without the pen leaving the board – that is how it will work on the quilt machine. Then we practiced for a few minutes on a piece of muslin – then MAGIC! I was STUNNED! I was AMAZED! I was reminded of the shear pleasure of whimsical quilting and quilting just for fun!
Outlining the blocksOh happy dayShe really had fun in the plain blocks!Oh this one has nothing to do with quilting – we had the music up a little loud and “Do You Want To Build A Snowman” came on – we had to just stop and enjoy the moment!Do you smile like this when you quilt? You should!I could not be any prouder! And if it is a sin to be prideful, then call me sinful!Showing GrandpaLook right here grandpa!They don’t teach cursive in school, and especially not in 1st grade, but she does it anyway!Yup! Me Too!Not too Shabby! She might even win the quilt show again!
Don’t be so busy making a living that you forget to have a life! Enjoy these moments, they can be gone in the blink of an eye! Create those memories, for in the end that is what it is all about!
