Thank you everyone for a wonderful day

We had a great snowball retreat. Everyone was a great sport and I think we all had a great time.
Thank you so much to our 14 friends, who came and enjoyed it with us! As we cleaned up tonight, we started talking about doing another one during the summer. ( Thank goodness I wont have to wear my snowman costume then! :)). Now to get ready for shop hop in March!
Remember, our sale is next weekend, Feb 6 and 7th. We have room left in our Mystery Class on Feb 7th.
Also, our pickle dish class starts Tuesday night. There is still time to sign up. Just call us on the phone!
203-743-0543
Thanks again everyone for a wonderful day!

what can you do with a roll of toliet paper?

We have the best customers in the world! They put up with our silly games today!

another game...

and the fun goes on and on.....

blizzard

Look out, here comes the blizzard

Ladies, get to your machines....

Lois gives the instructions to start the snowball quilt... and off to the machines we go....

our warm up project....

Can you say babushka?

breakfast.....

Thanks to Elmer for a great breakfast. We even had prizes at breakfast.

and the day starts....

Need I say more......

Ready or not, it's time for our snowball retreat

If you have a few minutes tomorrow, try to stop in to see us during our Snowball retreat.
We are going to have a ball. Each sewing area is decorated with snowflakes, the ceiling has white balloons all over it, we have games, ( one of them involves toilet paper.... Hmmmmm) it is going to be a fun time.
I will be posting pictures throughout the day. Check in to see the fun!

costume time again

The mystery quilt is finished, but I can't show you! It is so pretty!
We still have room in the mystery class, so if you want a fun way to spend Super Bowl Sunday, call us to sign up. It is going to be a fun filled day, plus we are having a sale that day.
Now I need to start my costume for the snowball retreat on Saturday.
Throughout my years at the quilt shop, I have had lots of different costumes. I've been an apple, a munchkin, and many other assorted characters.
Saturday will be no different! Now where did I put my glue gun, fusible web, timtex, elastic, and pillows.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm?

I am now a blockswapper too!

Yes, I did it to0. I signed up for blockswappers. Lois did such a great job explaining it and those quilts are just so beautiful, how could I say no? Plus it is only $5, and it is going to be fun!
I pulled out all of my floral fabrics last night.
Here is the best part, you can sign up at anytime.
Call us if you want more information, or want to sign up.

New books arrived this week.

shhhhhhhh, look what I found

I was taking pictures today of all of the new things at the store... look what I found on the back table in the classroom. Remember those new April Cornell blue and yellow fabrics? Looks like a new blue and yellow tumbler is coming soon.

Valentine's day is coming soon.

Look at our great new Valentine's display. We have lots of new fabrics, a tumbler quilt kit, pillowcase kits, and more more more. Kids of all ages love new pillowcases.
Get yours soon, before they are all gone.

Blockswappers.... we are off and running

Hi
Our blockswapper group is ready to go. Lois had her first informational meetings today. If you missed it, try to come to our next one on Saturday at 10:00- Just call ahead so we know you are coming.
Check out the quilts that you could make if you sign up for blockswappers.....

Mark your calendars now!

Our winter sale will be held Saturday Feb 6 and 7th. Lots of great bargains for everyone! Plus, on Sunday is our Super Bowl Mystery class. Imagine it, a mystery class and a sale besides. We have a few more open spots for this class, so please think about calling to sign up.
I can't show you the quilt... I can't tell you anything about it, but I can tell you that in true Quilt Shop fashion, we will have fun!
Plus, you are home in time to watch the game, or pretend to watch the game while you sew.... :)
Mark your calendars now for this great Quilt Shop event.

Hip to be square....

Ginny just finished this quilt on Saturday. This is the Hip to be square quilt. We are offering a class on this quilt. The pattern comes 2 ways, either a baby version or this larger version.
This is a great quilt to make if you want to showcase larger print fabrics.

Build your stash

Last week Ginny and Lois went through all of the bins of scraps in the store. Our loss is your gain, we now have fabric grab bags for sale. Each bag has 2 yards of fabric in it, it's just lots of different pieces. If you are trying to build a fabric stash, or just want to add to an old one, these are great. These would also make a great gift for a quilter friend.
Check them out next time you are in the store.

a new tumbler.... just wait till you see it

We have a new tumbler kit all ready now! Can you guess what kind it is?
This one is a little bit different than our other tumbler kits. Amy pieced it yesterday, Ginny is working feverishly to finish it up. I'll post the picture as soon as it is done.
Here's a little hint, look at the tumbler it comes in!

I just can't get away from snowmen!

I almost finished this.... but I couldn't wait to show it off.
Last year I saw this quilt in a magazine. I was able to find a copy of the pattern on ebay and I was bound and determined to have it hanging in my house for January!
All he needs are his buttons!

Phil is waiting for you!

Our snowman Phil is waiting for some more friends to sign up for the Snowball retreat on January 30th. What a fun time we are going to have!
Next weekend is also our first Let's Go Dottie class.. we have room for a few more people in that. If you are thinking about taking a class, this would be an easy one. The blocks are not hard to make, you get to use lots of new fun dotted fabrics, and have fun at the same time.
Remember you can sign up over the phone, 203-743-0543,
Please think about joining us, we'd love to have you!

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, hold on, Spring is coming

Look what else came this week, these are part of a collection called Garden Path from Clothworks. There is a great panel that goes with them too! Tonight is supposed to be a very cold night. Somehow I think working with fabrics like this would make it a little bit warmer!

I have to have some....

I walked into the back of the store today and look what I saw.... these are the new April Cornell fabrics. I restrained myself.... I took a picture of them, then came home. All afternoon they have been on my mind. What can I do with these? I have always loved yellow and blues. These are so soft.
Tomorrow I am going back... I know I will be thinking about them all night. I'm going to search through my quilting books and find something special for these. Better get yours soon, they wont be around long!

Come be a blockswapper!

Come, join the Fun—Be a BlockSwapper!

Ask for this monthly club program at The Quilt Shop so you can….

• Make and swap blocks with other participating quilters each month and…
• Use the blocks to make your own totally scrappy quilt.

Don’t wait—get swappin’ at The Quilt Shop! Ask for it today!

We will be having an information session about this program,
Thursday Jan 21 10:00 AM or 6:30 PM
or Saturday Jan 23 10:00 AM
Come and find out how to get started with this great program. It's lots of fun, it's easy and you come away with lots of great blocks to make quilts.

My new project

Remember these fabrics that I cut for myself last week. Well, they sat around in my sewing room, just kind of staring at me, ( kind of like that money in the insurance commercial on tv.) After we took down the Christmas tree, I could get to my quilting books again. I came across a book about Kaleidoscope quilts by Marti Michell. I found a quilt called Morning Glory. Now, I have a rather icky history with Kaleidoscope blocks. For years I tried them, but I could never get them to come out the right size, or lay flat, it was awful. I bought every ruler, every gadget, etc. I had chalked it up to, maybe this isn't the block I will ever make, and moved on. When I saw this quilt, I just had to try it once more. Here is my result....





Now why did this work? Well, I did use the Marti Michell Kaleidoscope ruler, which made this a breeze, but I think the main reason is my new Bernina 830. I used the dual feed feature to sew these pieces together. Everything matched up beautifully, The dual feed feature keeps all of your layers together while you sew. It's great for machine quilting, but I find myself using it all the time for piecing.
Now all I need is another snow day to make the rest of these blocks.

Quilting is good for your brain....

This is no surprise to us, but if you need to justify why you buy so much fabric.... read this. Quilting and sewing are good for your brain

What class do you want to take?

I try to take at least one class from each new schedule. I hadn't thought about it until yesterday, our friend Peg came in to sign up for pickle dish. As I looked at the quilt to help Peg pick out her fabrics, I started thinking, this looks kind of fun. I wouldn't have to do a big quilt... ( uh huh) .
I'm thinking about doing it in 30's fabrics.
This quilt is paper pieced, so your "pickles" come out perfectly each time. It isn't hard, there is just a lot of sewing to do.
Yes I have plenty of other projects to do, but if I take this class, my paper piecing skills will get better, and I will learn about how to do some curve piecing.
What classes are you thinking about? No matter what class, you will learn something new, create something, and have fun!
Ginny sent out an e mail this morning about our upcoming sale, the snowball retreat, the mystery class, etc.
Remember you can call us and sign up over the phone.
203-743-0543.
Stay warm!