Bye Bye June... Hello July.

June is ending, but here comes July. If you visit our website.... The Quilt Shop Online, you can find a coupon for 25% off a fabric purchase in July. One coupon per customer... you need to bring the coupon with you when you visit the store. It isn't valid on kits, fabric packs or sale fabrics.
Start thinking about what new project you want to start.
Summer is a great time to start a new project!

Show your quilts!

Each year on Candlewood Lake there is a wonderful fireworks display right on the lake. They launch the fireworks from a small island. My house is right on the lake, so each year we have a big fourth of July celebration. That celebration is today.... ( so why am I sitting here blogging).
I always hang out a quilt. It has become tradition now.
This one is called Flying Free... it is made with the X block tool. We have the pattern at the Quilt Shop with the tool.
Not hard, actually lots of fun to make.
Moral of the story is, put your quilts out. Show them off. You worked hard making them, let others see them. You deserve the oohs and ahhs you will get.
Have a great weeekend.

One Block Wonder updates

Our one block wonder class continued this week. Now the fun started. Everyone had the chance to lay their blocks out. Look how neat these are.... No mine is not here. I'm having a really hard time with it. I'm so used to working with square shapes that have great corners. I just can't lay this out. I keep trying to make square corners. I will pull it out tomorrow and try again.
Thanks Mary Gay for a wonderful class. One more week to go.
If you would like us to offer this class again, please leave us a comment and let us know. We are starting to think about the fall schedule.

Wow

On Thursday our dear friend Mary came by with a special treat. Mary had started this Double Wedding Ring quilt for her daughter a few years ago. We had helped her find fabrics, find the pattern, etc. She brought it in to show us. This quilt is all hand quilted. It is just gorgeous.
Thanks Mary for bringing it in!

Coming later this summer....

If you would like us to save one of these tools for you, let us know. I think they are coming out in August. I know I want one!

The UPS man brought us something beautiful.

I was lucky enough to work at the store yesterday. My favorite time of day is when the UPS man comes. He always brings something wonderful. Yesterday was no exception. The first box had some new fabrics from Moda, beautiful white on white tonal prints, and some more yummy bella solids! But the second box was my favorite, that one had the Bali pops!
What is a Bali pop?
It is a package of 40 precut 2 1/2 inch strips of the most beautiful batik fabrics. They are packaged in collections with great names like Green Tea, Cotton Candy, etc. These are going to fly out of the store once Ginny puts them out. Give her a few minutes today to put them out, but then come on over and gets yours!
Do you need a project for these great strips... don't worry we took care of that too...
A new book came this week, Strip Therapy... it is a wonderful book filled with great projects for using 2 1/2 inch strips of batik fabrics.
Remember, we are opened till 8 tonight. Stop in to get your bali pops soon!
Have a wonderful day!

Have you ever done a swap?

I've been involved in lots of different swaps over the internet. They are fun. I found this one from the Quilting Gallery. This one is called In the Good Ol Summertime Mini quilt swap.
Click on the image to find out more. I signed up this morning. Now to think about what I can put on my mini quilt! Summertime... sun, sand, surf... ( not lately), bathing suits, flip flops, I've got to think about this one. If anyone has any ideas... please let me know. I heard a rumor the sun might be out tomorrow.
Enjoy today!

painting day at the Quilt Shop

Today, Amy, Ginny and I brought our chairs to the shop to finish the final painting on them.

This is Ginny's...minus the seat...

Isn't the color wonderful?
This is Amy's... she has started putting her dots on the chair.

And this is my monkey chair... almost finished. It just needs a coat of varnish on it and then it is done! Stop in soon to see them all.

Birdie sling bags...

Look how great these bags came out. These are the "Birdie Sling" class members from Saturday's class. Great job everyone!
Ginny hung up a new quilt on Saturday too. This is a new pastel version of the Disappearing nine patch quilt.

Isn't it pretty. We have charm square packs for you to use to make it yourself. Can't you picture it in a little girl's room?

that yellow was too pale!

Ok, I'm having too much fun with this chair...
I had to stop painting my chair yesterday, as it rained. I then went shopping this morning and found brighter yellow paint. Now that looked more like something I needed!
I repainted the chair this morning, then I started having fun with sock monkey fabrics....

This is the seat of the chair.....
and this is the side of the chair... I am using good ol Mod Podge to attach the fabric squares.
I'll add about 3 or 4 coats of mod podge on top to seal them.
Oh no, we aren't done yet.... next we go back to the quilt shop. Tuesday afternoon we are all finishing our chairs with another technique..
Stay tuned!

the chairs....

Remember those poor chairs that we found in the backyard? Well.. they don't look too sad anymore. We sanded, we primed, we painted,

and then we recovered the seats....
Stay tuned, there is more to come....

Meet our newest customer... vroom vroom

This is our newest customer, Becky Taylor from Rye NY. Becky rides her motorcycle to come shop at the Quilt Shop!
Pretty cool huh?
Way to go Becky. Thanks for visiting our store and letting us put you on our blog.
We love our customers! You aren't just customers, you are friends.
Stop in on Saturday to say hello! We love to see you.

The end of the year....

This week is the last week of school, that means, clean the classroom, pack things away, do 32 repor cards, 32 folders, 32 "see how I have grown" books, wash 32 cubbies, 32 chairs, and all of the rest of the furniture...
Then this year we added a new wrinkle.
Change grade level, move to a new room.
So now, I am cleaning out my new room, and slowly moving in.
The moral of the story is..... have I sewed all week..... NO
Am I crabby and grumpy.... YES
How would I feel better.... go in my sewing room and sit down and sew... and that will happen tomorrow at 3:00. School ends tomorrow.
I always feel better when I sew a little every day. This week I should have sewed, it would have helped with the stress, but I didin't.
Don't let this happen to you.... try to sew a little every day.

The chairs..... well, everyone has taken a chair home. ( mine is still in the car). We are meeting at the store next week to create! If you come into the store, look very carefully, you will see a preview of what we are doing with the chairs.... hint hint... look down on the floor near the Bernina 830.
Thanks for your patience everyone! The blog and website will be updated daily starting next week.
Come see us this weekend! It might be rainy outside, but it is sunny in The Quilt Shop!

what I will do on my summer vacation

Bernina has come up with so many new projects to help people learn the functions of their machines. This is one of those projects, the 830 tote bag.
I am going to make this! You heard me say it, I am going to make this!
I printed out the directions about 2 months ago, but next week once school is over, I am going to get myself some denim and start sewing my 830 tote.
Did you ever have a project you really wanted to make, but never did.
This is the time to do it. Remember, a few minutes a day and you can get a lot done!
3 1/2 days left of school. Then I am starting this bag!
You can get your own copy of this pattern at the Bernina web site.
Have a great day! Let's hope the sun comes out soon!

Happy Scrappy 2

Did you know that Ginny has a second pattern? Everyone knows about Fabric Fling, but you may not know about Happy Scrappy! Well, she just came up with a new version of Happy Scrappy, this is Happy Scrappy 2. Better get busy writing this up Ginny, I think everyone will want this pattern.

two chairs

So yesterday we found these two sad looking chairs sitting outside by the fence...
We couldn't just leave them there.... so we brought them inside.
And then.....................
What do you think we will do with these chairs?

Still working on the one block wonder....

I'm getting excited about this quilt. All of my triangles are cut, and we started sewing them together this week. Look how neat this is coming out.

Everyone's looks so neat...

Stay tuned for more updates!

Sale days, sale days....

Tomorrow is the last day of our Summer Sale.
Are you looking to start a new project? This is the time to do it,
we have lots of bargains ready for you!
Come on over tomorrow and visit us, we are open from 9-5.
Hope to see you then!

Welcome to the Quilt Shop C and T friends

Welcome to The Quilt Shop in Danbury CT. Our store has been in business for 15 years and we have loved every second of it.
We love making quilts out of strips. Our motto when it comes to using fabrics is, " the more the merrier" We try to use as many fabrics as we can in each quilt we make. That is why we fell in love with the book, StrataVarious Quilts.

We have made 4 quilts out of this book, including the cover quilt.

C and T books are the best! The directions are always clear and easy to follow, there are plenty of pictures to help you create beautiful quilts on your own.
Our feature pattern at the Quilt Shop is Fabric Fling.
Fabric Fling was designed by Ginny Murphy, the owner of the Quilt Shop.
We have made this quilt at least 20 times and each one is more beautiful.

Thanks for visiting our blog.
Please come see us in person soon.

my one block wonder continues....

I am starting to get excited about how this will look. I'm still in the cutting phase of this quilt, but I couldn't resist trying to lay out some of the pieces.

Ginny's new quilt

Ginny found this quilt in the new issue of McCalls Quilting magazine. She immediately went for the new Jennifer Paganelli fabrics and got to work. This quilt had a beautiful edging of ribbon loops. The dual feed on the 820 made it easy to do. We have the magazine at the store, plus all of these fabrics.

Isn't this wonderful

Today we had a visit from our friend Betsy Ryan. Betsy had taken one of my machine quilting classes awhile ago. During the class she had brought in her beautifully appliqued Christmas quilt.
Well, today she brought it in, all finished and quilted. She did a wonderful job!
Thanks Betsy for bringing it in to show us!

Sock Monkeys come to play

Our Sock Monkey class was today at the Quilt Shop. Everyone did a wonderful job.
I tried to make a sock elephant... yes I know, he looks like a monkey with a trunk.
It was a fun class!

Come to a webinar....

You are probably saying, what is a webinar? I know I did when I first heard the word.
A webinar is an online meeting, and Bernina has wonderful webinars filled to the brim with great information. This Friday, June 12th they are holding another webinar about embroidery features of the 830. If you are droolling over this machine, thinking about buying it, or just want to see what it can do, sign up for the webinar. There are 2 sessions , a morning session and an evening session. It doesn't cost anything, you can watch it on your computer in the comfort of your own home. Visit the Bernina website and sign up today.

Dual Feed, our new favorite thing....

My one block wonder....

Teachers make the worst students. It took me 2 hours yesterday to pick my fabrics for the one block wonder class. I did pick the new Jennifer Paganelli stripe. Then I had the wrong ruler, then I didn't have the book. I remembered what my kindergarten friends say each day, don't give up.
So I kept plugging along.
Mary Gay is a wonderful teacher! She is patient, kind, and takes you through this process step by step, slowly guiding you so you never feel like you are over your head! She was sweet enough to share her ruler and pins with me. I did get some cutting done in class.
This morning I got up, found the right ruler, and cut some more.
This is one of those quilts you need to have faith with. Just keep plugging along.... there will be something good at the end.
I tried to take some pictures of my progress... my battery died in my camera! :)
I know... don't give up.
I'll post pictures later.
Have a wonderful day.
Try to sew something!

Sock Monkey class is Saturday

Our Sock Monkey class is this Saturday, June 6th from 10-1. We still have some room, so if you want to make your own Sock Monkey, call us and sign up.
We have the socks at the store.
We also have sock monkey fabric, and a great sock monkey lunch box!

We are on the web!

The Quilt Shop is now on the web. Check out our wonderful new website.
The Quilt Shop online!

Our class schedule is there, you will find a list of shows and events that we will be attending.
You will also find a coupon there for 25% off one fabric purchase during the month of July.
One coupon per customer please.
Make sure you bookmark our website and visit it often. We will still have our blog for daily updates, but the website will have lots of other information about The Quilt Shop.

Quilting with the stars