Placemat purse

I guess summer ended? Sure feels chilly this morning.
This is one of our new classes, the placemat purse. You will learn to use your decorative stitches on this project, plus how to use some different Bernina presser feet.
This would make a great gift for a graduate.
Placemat purse class
Sunday May 17th 12-2
or Thursday June 18th
6:30-8:30
Have a wonderful day!
Stop in to see us soon

Kits

I
noticed while we were packing up from the New Milford show yesterday, we have a lot of new quilt kits in the store. Kits are great for someone who doesn't feel confident enough to pick out their own fabrics. If you have never tried one of our kits, try one. We do the hard part, picking the fabrics, all you need to do is cut and sew. ( ok, so maybe you do the hard part, but at least we did something :) ).
Here are some of the quilts we have kits for right now. They will be at the Somers show this weekend, along with some others....... you'll just have to go to find out!

Make your plans for next weekend....

Next weekend is the Northern Star Quilt Guild Quilt Show in Somers NY. The Quilt Shop will be a vendor at this show.
This show is a must see, the quilts are always wonderful, the vendors are great, it is just a wonderful way to spend a day with other quilters. Call up your other quilter friends and make a plan to attend this show.

Sock Monkey is back as a class

It was so nice to see so many friends at the quilt show today. Remember, the New Milford show is also going on tomorrow, 10-4.
We are going to have a sock monkey class. We have the socks for sale at the store. This class is fun, there is a little machine sewing, some hand sewing, but lots of laughs and fun.
Saturday June 6
10-1
Call today and sign up!

I have a new friend.....

Yesterday as I was washing dishes, ( again), I looked out my window and saw a baby deer on the lawn. I went to get my camera, when I opened my door, there was the mother deer right on my front porch.
Has anyone else noticed that the deer are no longer afraid of people? We had a nice chat about not eating my pansies, and please leave my daffodills alone!
This weekend, Lois and I will be at the Quilt Show in New Milford... It is held at Sarah Noble Middle School. Come on over and see us! It is going to be a great day to take a nice ride.

Project Linus is this Saturday

Project Linus will be held at the Quilt Shop this Saturday, April 25. We need people to come sew quilt tops together, then take their quilt top home and finish it. These quilts are given to sick children in the Danbury area. If you have never done it, come and try it. Stay for an hour or stay the day, we need people to help.
Hope to see you this weekend.

Coming soon to the Quilt Shop

Look what is coming soon to the Quilt Shop, The Bernina 820. If you have no interest in machine embroidery, but still want some of the great features of the 830.... this is the machine for you. I'll let you know when it arrives. Check out the Bernina website to learn more about this great machine.

Unprecedented Sewing and Quilting Features

• Gives you the most space to create with a 12-inch (304.8 mm) extended arm, a 12.8-inch (325 mm) diagonal space and 5.12-inch (130 mm) height
• At 1,100 stitches per minute, it’s the fastest of any home sewing machine
• The Bernina Stitch Regulator comes standard for easy free-motion sewing
• A pop-out jumbo bobbin offers 40% more capacity than most home machines
• Bernina Dual Feed gives you better control of your largest quilts
• The presser-foot height adjustments make your thickest layers seem diminutive
• The entire space is lit by a row of bright LED lights
• Multiple spool holder keeps large and small cones at the ready
  
  

ABC's come to the quilt shop

I just can't get away from the alphabet! Amy made this quilt and is teaching the class for it. This is a quilt from the new book, Fat Quarter Fonts by Terri Atkinson. Amy used lots of different color solids with some of our fun black and white prints.
This quilt would be fun in any color combination. Do you have someone starting kindergarten soon? This would be a great quilt for a preschool age child.
Wed May 20 and 27- 10-12
or
Aug 3 and 10 6:30-8:30

How many unquilted tops do you have?

Do you have a pile of unquilted tops at home? Do you want to learn how to finish them yourself and save $... well, I have 2 classes for you
We have 2 classes in machine quilting that will teach you how to finish those quilt tops.
The first class will teach you how to layer a quilt, what kind of batting to use, how to get your quilt to lie flat, how to piece a backing, and how to use the walking foot on your machine to quilt your quilt.
The second class is a class on free motion quilting, we will learn to drop the feed dogs on our machines and quilt 5 basic shapes that are in different quilting designs. You will also learn several quick and easy designs to quilt.
These classes fill up quickly, so if you are interested I would sign up soon.

Walking Foot class
Wed May 13 6:30 – 8:30 or Sat June 27 10 – 12
Free Motion class
Mon June 15 6:30 – 8:30 or Sat July 18 2- 4

You can use our Bernina machines in our classroom, or bring your own machine to class.
Have a great day!

The Big Tumble

One of our new classes is called The Big Tumble. This is a tumbling block pattern and Amy's sample is just beautiful in all blues. You will learn to do Y seams. It is not as hard as it looks. This class is offered Sat June 13 and 27 from 2-4, or Tuesday June 9 and 23 from 6:30-8:30.

Our New Schedule is here!

Our new Spring/Summer class schedule is ready! A big change this time, we are not mailing it. It will be here on the blog for you to download and print out. We will have some copies at the store for you. Our new website is being worked on and as soon as it is up and running, the schedule will be there too!
We have some great classes this time. Remember, you can sign up over the phone. Just call us with your credit card number and we will hold your spot in a class.
Keep on checking the blog to find out if other classes are added.

Storm at Sea

We have these new templates at the Quilt Shop, along with the book that goes with them.
I've always stayed away from Storm at Sea blocks, but now I just might try it.

Show Time!

Next weekend we will be a vendor at:
MOUNTAIN LAUREL QUILT QUILD
PRESENTS
A TWO DAY QUILT SHOW
APRIL 25 & 26, 2009
SARAH NOBLE SCHOOL, NEW MILFORD, CT
Saturday, April 25th, 2009 10am – 5:00pm
Sunday, April 26th, 2009 10am – 4:00pm

Stop by our booth to say hi! We'd love to see you.
We will be bringing some great fat quarter packs, kits and lots of other goodies!

Does it get any better than this?

About 2 weeks ago I found a great pattern for a table runner on the Bernina 830 website. It used the Endless Embroidery feature of the new 830 machine. A week ago I bought my fabric and my thread and today I tried it. It was so easy, I used the jumbo hoop so I was able to duplicate my design, stitch it, then move the fabric in the hoop and easily realign my design thanks to the registration marks the 830 stitches in. I set up the 830, pushed the start stop button and then let it go! As it was stitching happily away, I was on my 440 piecing half square triangles for a Clothesline Club project. One machine is good, but having two is better. One can embroider away while you piece or quilt on the other machine.
This is what my finished project will look like...

.

Starting tomorrow The Quilt shop will pay the tax on any qualifying Bernina sewing machine purchased Thursday April 16th through Monday April 20th. This just about includes all models which are on display for you to try at the store. Many of the machines have a gift with purcase. If you are thinking about getting a 2nd machine or to move up to a machine with more features, this is the time to do it. Stop in to see us!

Look what I tried yesterday

Bernina has started their own blog. Yesterday I saw this project on their blog, using the free motion couching foot with the embroidery module. I tried it yesterday on the 730, it worked like a charm. I left my sample at the store. Next time you stop in, ask to see it. It was fun! Best part is, we have the cording at the store in a rainbow of colors. Click on the link below and see it.

Bernina blog

Happy Easter to everyone

Easter dinner is done.... now I can get to my sewing room!
Actually today I am making yo yos. If you haven't tried the Clover Yo Yo makers, pick one up next time you are in The Quilt Shop. I forgot how much fun it is to do hand work. Sometimes we get so busy with machine projects we forget about doing hand work. My Clothesline Club wants to do a class on yo yo animals. I am now making the yo yo clown. So far he has a body, I'm working on his legs today. These yo yos work up very quickly. We will be getting the yo yo makers in soon with a selection of yo yo projects too!
I'll post his picture as soon as he is done.
Have a wonderful Easter day with your family!

Sock Monkey has lunch

Sock Monkey has been moved to a new spot at the store, along with all of his beautiful fabrics and now his own lunch box. These lunch boxes are great for carrying sewing supplies for classes, small toys for your kids, or your lunch for work each day!
We have the special sock monkey socks in stock so you can make your own sock monkey!

One block wonder

Mary Gay will be teaching another class in June called "One Block Wonder"

Isn't this beautiful?
One Block Wonder-
June 4,11,25 and July 2
10-12
or 6:30-8:30
$50
As a faithful blog reader, you can be one of the first to sign up for this class.
Sign up soon, this class will fill up quickly.

Welcome Mary Gay Leahy to the Quilt Shop

We are so excited to welcome Mary Gay Leahy to our Quilt Shop family. Mary Gay taught many popular classes at the Country Quilter and will now be teaching 2 great classes at the Quilt Shop.
As a blog reader, you are getting a preview of these new classes. The first class is called Stack and Whack. Our store is filled with beautiful fabrics that would look great in this quilt. To help you audition fabrics, look for our special "stack and whack" mirror that we have set up to see what your fabrics will look like in this quilt.

It looks hard, but it is so much fun.

Stack and Whack
Thursday May 14,21,and 28th
10:00-12:00
or 6:30-8:30
$40

This class will fill up quickly, so call us soon to reserve your spot. 203-743-0543

here comes the bunny

The bunny is coming! On Monday night I spent 2 hours stuffing bunny bags with bubbles, pencil sharpeners, little notebooks, pencils, play dough and a little bit of candy. 32 bags filled and ready to go to school tomorrow.
Both classes think that the bunny took their bags. Today they made "missing person" posters for their bags.
Tomorrow morning I will get to school early, throw cotton balls all around the school, put half chewed carrots all over my classroom and wait for the fun to start.
Then at 3:00 tomorrow my spring vacation starts. My Bernina 830 will be started up tomorrow night, I have a great new project lined up for it. My 440 will keep on piecing my quilted tablecloth I started last weekend. Some people go to Florida, I go to my sewing room surrounded by all of the things I love, my fabrics, my threads and my 2 Berninas!
What are you sewing now? Did you start a project for spring? A table runner, a table cloth, a pillowcase adds some beautiful colors to a room.
Try to set aside a few minutes for sewing this weekend. Tired of coloring real eggs? Try making fabric eggs, they wont make a mess, they last a loooooooooong time and they give you a reason to go in your sewing area. Check out the directions here: Patchwork Easter Eggs

New class added

We have added one more machine quilting class to our schedule.
Machine Quilting- the basics will be held Wed April 29th from 6:30-8:30.
If you are interested, please call the store to register- 203-743-0543.
This class will show you how to layer a quilt, learn about different kinds of battings, etc and how to use your walking foot for straight line quilting designs.
We have lots of fun, sign up soon

Mark your calendars now, a new class is coming

Have you ever wanted to make one of these adorable yo yo animals? We will be having a class in it on Saturday, May 16 as part of our Clothesline Club meeting at the Quilt Shop. The class will run from 10-12 and the cost is $10. We will have patterns available for you to purchase for many of the yo yo animals, cats, dogs, elephants, rabbits, etc. Start making yo yos now and bring them to class. We will use them in class to make these animals. If you are interested in this class, call us soon, 203-743-0543 and save your spot in the class.

Clothesline Club is this weekend

We will have our Clothesline Club meeting this Saturday from 10-12. The new group of fabrics have arrived and it will go fast. This new collection is called Home Sweet Home and contains an adorable panel of little girls hanging clothes on a clothesline. That inspired me for the topic of our meeting this month, "clotheslines". If you would like to join us, please call to register. You need to be signed up to attend.
Hope to see you there!