It's time to start creating!

Yes, that's right!  It is time to start creating!  And just what do we have up our sleeves at this time?  Well, we are working on our next Block of the Month quilt.  I know, block of the month quilts have been around for a while.  Most of the ones now seem to be the really complicated ones in civil war patterns that are similar to Dear Jane.  We decided to move in a different direction.

Our Block of the Month for 2012 was a round robin quilt where we did border treatments.  Our goal was to teach how to add borders to any size quilt and have them come out passable as well as to try some different things that you may not already be doing to your quilts such as pieced border treatments.  This series was a lot of fun and all of our quilts turned out differently.  I'm hoping that we will get some pictures of them at our meeting in January when we will (hopefully) have time to work on them and at least get them close to completion.

Now, you're probably wondering what could we be doing different this time?  Well, this time we are planning a row quilt.  Yep, a row quilt and and we're looking for some of those rows to also offer the same opportunity to encourage you to try some things that you may have not tried before to add some complexity to your quilts.  I believe we will begin to offer this in the spring.  The design is almost completed and then we should have some samples in the shop before the class gets underway.

If you would be interested, let us know! We're always happy to take sign ups in advance!

Happy Quilting!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy the short week everyone!  If you have family traveling, or are traveling yourself, we hope everyone arrives safely at their destination.  May your turkey be delicious!

If you are looking to stay out of the crowds and get some quality sewing time in this weekend, you can find a new mystery quilt project at www.quiltville.com.  Bonnie Hunter is going to be starting her latest (and I'm sure greatest) mystery quilt.  Currently you can find fabric requirements on the site with the first set of directions coming on Friday.  Enjoy!

Happy Holidays!

I know....

I know, I spend a lot of time talking about how fast time goes by....today is no exception.  Why?  Well, I looked at the calendar today and realized that Thanksgiving is next week!  Can you believe it?  I know I can't.  Because then the next think you know it's going to be Christmas and I still have so much stuff to make!  Do you have a long list of gifts that you make for Christmas?  It seems like my list gets longer and longer each year.  I have always tried to "mass produce" one item that can be used as a gift for everyone.  That has kind of fallen by the wayside.  I've done table runners and angel wall hangings and chenille snow dog wall hangings and crocheted scarves.  Now it is to the point where I don't like to do such mass production because I get bored.  After all it's mainly the same color scheme and the same blocks and the same finished project and there is less joy in making 12 of something than there is in making one or two of something.  I guess that has to do with keeping it fresh.  Now that it is November I am faced with finishing an afghan (or perhaps restarting it with some different yarn....haven't made up my mind on that just yet) and quilting up a table runner with some matching place mats.  I know, that's not very much at all.  And you are right, it really isn't.  However, it means that I haven't begun to use my creative juices to come up with other projects that will fill in any other gaps for gifts.

So, what do you have going on?  Are you a maker or a buyer of gifts?  Be sure to be specific as I'm looking for ideas!

Getting back into the swing!

Whew!  Now that election day is over we can put all those lovely ads and junk mail behind us and get back to what's really important - quilting!

It's time to dust off those pilgrim hats and cornucopias because Thanksgiving is just around the corner!  Do you have a special Thanksgiving Day table runner that you have made for your table?  If so, send us a picture!  We love show and tell and can put your handiwork on the blog for everyone to admire. 

I am more of a Christmas gal so I don't really have any special Thanksgiving decorations.  Maybe one of your will inspire me!

Don't forget - we will be at the Holiday Market this Saturday from 9am - 1pm at the Hauberg Civic Center, 1300 24th Street, Rock Island.  Stop in and look around and don't forget to say Hi!  There are sure to be lots of goodies available!

Just a couple of new things!

Whew, can you believe that today is Halloween already?  I know, where did the year go!

We have a couple of exciting new things here.  There first is that we will be able to start accepting credit/debit cards.  What?!?  Yep, that's right.  We have decided to give Square a try.  Bear with us as we get things figured out.  We are hoping for a small learning curve.

The next exciting thing is that we will be at the Hauberg Civic Center in Rock Island for their craft fair.  Looking to do some Christmas shopping?  Be sure to stop in there!  It will be November 10th from 9am to 1pm and is located at 1300 24th Street, Rock Island.  Hope to see you there!

UFO's always seem to take over.

Happy Monday and boy is it a dreary one out there today! Looks like a great day to curling up with a good book and a hot cup of tea.  Or perhaps a hot cup of tea a good movie and a fun sewing project.  Perhaps a UFO that needs finishing?  If you are anything like us, I'm sure you have plenty of those!  I know my list has gotten pretty lengthy as far as UFO's that I would like to see finished.  I'm not sure how far I'll get before the end of the year though.  We will just have to see how that goes.  Currently I'm working on finishing some pajamas for my son that I had started over the summer.  I only have to put in the elastic for the waistband on the pants.  That's it.  I've gotten 3 pairs finished now and have 2 more to go.  But I also made shorts as well as long pants so I will still need to finish the shorts so he will have them for this spring.  I know I have plenty of time, but I'm on a bit of a roll so I should probably just get them finished and put away. 

Sometimes UFO's confuse me.  I know that when they became UFO's one of two things happened.  I ran out of time to get the project completed and moved on to something else, or I had some trouble along the way and got frustrated and quit before I did something silly.  Sometimes when I pick those projects up now I wonder what was so frustrating about that project that I put it to the side.  Other projects I can pick up and see right away where my frustration came to play.  Those I usually put away again to percolate some more unless I am feeling in need of a challenge.  Believe me, most days are challenging enough that I usually just put them away again for a later day.  Do you work the same way?  Do you have UFO's stashed around where you just got stuck?  If you need some help with them, stop in some time!  We love show and tell and you never know if a different perspective will help get you ready to work on that project again.  Who knows, maybe I'll bring out my trickiest projects and see what someone else has to say about them.

Good Morning!

Good Morning Quilters!  Things are starting to settle down again now that we are both back from vacation and have had a chance to get acclimated to our regular schedules.  You always think that you can just slide back in to where you left off, but that just doesn't seem to be the case.  At least for us!

This week we are finishing up some quilts needing to be quilted so once again our wait time is very short.  If you are working ahead on Christmas presents and need some things quilted, now is the time to bring them in! 

If you are looking to do something fun this Saturday, we will be having our Scraptastic Saturday Class (starts at 9).  Char will be covering at least 6 different patterns that involve pulling from your stash.  Cost of class is $50 and a soup/sandwich lunch is included.  Space is limited and so if you would like to join us for this, let us know as soon as you can!

I know, I sound like a commercial don't I?  I'm sure you'll forgive me this time.  Currently I am working on trying to design a quilt with a modern flair.  Stay tuned as I hope to get it figured out soon and we can offer a class for our newest creation.

Stay warm - it's been feeling chilly out there! 

Happy Quilting!